Chapter 5 Characteristics of Video Gamers and Video Game Communities Introduction

Guidance and tips were often offered to members of the community when looking for LAN treasure, as well as sharing and distributing items. For instance, during Insomnia53 (i53) a BYOC gamer found an old keyboard, placed inside a new keyboard box, of which was presumed had been replaced and left behind; ‘Ewwwww… this thing is digesting, it’s so grimy and you can see the ‘food bits’ wedged between the keys… anyone want this?’ (LAN Treasure seeking BYOC Gamer – Field-notes) (see Figure 5.15).

Finally, on the last day of LAN, when seeking for LAN treasure, it is important to remember that the internet shuts off from 12pm (time varies), raffle starts around 2pm (check forum for accurate time), cleaners start work around 3am (they will bin everything, including LAN Treasure), and everyone must be out by 4pm (for the tear down). Once the internet shuts down, it is ‘natural’ for BYOC gamers to pack up and go home, as LAN has finished. This suggests that LAN treasure was usually searched between the time when BYOC gamers pack up and before the cleaners and tear down begins – because they were known to ‘bin everything’.

Besides seeking for LAN treasure, BYOC gamers often stayed for the raffle that happens in the afternoon. Upon collecting your lanyard, each BYOC gamer is provided with one raffle ticket, with the option to purchase more throughout the LAN event from the tuck-shop. The raffle consists of numerous prizes with several high tickets items, such as high-end PC’s, laptops, monitors, headphones and much more. It is common for a crowd of BYOC gamers to form around the tuck-shop, while numbers are drawn out from a two to three big black bins (because there was so many). All BYOC gamers were instructed to keep hold of their raffle tickets, because once the raffle is drawn, there was no redraw, and winning raffle numbers were posted on the forum to be claimed, of which then the moderators will be contacted to provide proof, then prizes will be posted. After the raffle, it was common for BYOC gamers to start making their way home, while others continue to seek for LAN treasure, before the cleaners start ‘binning everything, including LAN treasure’ from 3pm.

However, as from Insomnia54 (i54), when Multiplay was bought by the retailer Game, the raffle stopped – because it was considered to be ‘unprofitable’. We tend to view rituals as ageless; ‘rituals tend to present themselves as the unchanging, time-honoured customs of an enduring community’ (Bell, 1997, p.210). At the same time, rituals do tend to resist change. However, from the field-notes, on the last day of LAN from Insomnia54 (i54) onwards, with no raffle, the BYOC hall looked fairly empty by 1pm, where the majority of the BYOC gamers had already packed up their equipment and making their way home, while several stayed behind, continuing to seek for LAN treasure, then saying their ‘goodbyes’, before heading home.

Surviving LAN Death

According to the Urban Dictionary (2016), a LAN Death is:

…when you go to a LAN party and you drink too much caffeine, causing lack of sleep, and eat too much. You start to feel really sick until you can't game anymore and usually ending up going home’ (Urban Dictionaries – LAN Death)

Occasionally, several BYOC gamers will experience something called ‘LAN Death’, either during or after LAN. For instance, from the field-notes, after attending Insomnia56 (i56) the researcher caught LAN Death:

Although this was not necessarily a ‘community practice’ that everyone participated in, it was considered ‘common knowledge’ that LAN Death can spread and to take precautions during LAN. This included taking care of one’s health and personal hygiene, such as regularly washing hands, taking showers, using hand sanitiser, and bringing medication (multivitamin/ vitamin C tablets and painkillers). In addition, once infected with LAN Death, it was common to ‘warn others’ (as it is known to be contagious) and to ‘feel sorry’ for those with LAN Death. Therefore, similar to Mäyrä’s (2008) understanding of video game culture, it is useful to consider ‘subcultures’ and its cultural force that influences individuals in complex ways through cultural trends. This suggests that video gamers often organise themselves into groups and behave in ways that are based particular norms, values, and sometimes even languages. As Taylor and Witkowski (2010, p.7) writes; ‘days of little sleep, energy drinks, and near-constant party-like atmosphere have taken a toll and people seem to cycle between exhaustion and trying to soak up last bits of time with friends’. Hence, it was common for BYOC gamers to become ill from lack of sleep (fatigue, tiredness and ruined sleeping patterns), too much caffeine (caffeine withdrawal), consumption of ‘junk-food’ (poor diet and constipation) and being in a big room with thousands of people for several days (circulation of germs). This can sometimes led to ‘unpleasant drawbacks’ to the body, especially those who go back to their ‘normal’ and ‘routine’ everyday lives the next day. Hence, similar to aspects of a holiday, several participants mentioned taking days off work to ‘recover’ from their trip to catch up with sleep, correct sleeping patterns, and get over the ‘LAN blues’ (sadness that LAN is over and back to reality).

The ‘competitor’ refers to individuals who attend video game events for competitive purposes, such as competing in video game tournaments and competitions. Hence, one of the main purposes in competing is for the ‘chance to win’. This is important; because unlike the socialiser, competing in a tournament may not necessarily mean to socialise with others, but to compete against them – especially in online tournaments, where players swiftly move from one opponent to the next. Likewise, the difference between a participator and a competitor is determined by the ‘desired outcome’, where the participator participates in something for the ‘sake of taking part’, whereas the competitor competes for the ‘chance to win’. This suggests that there are video game related practices that are considered more specific to those competing competitively; such as approaching the ‘competitive game scene', building public relations (PR), seeking sponsorship, spectating lives matches and much more – examined further later.

From the data gathered, the local Smash events (Manchester Monthly Regionals) often consist of an attendance between 5 – 15 turning up to weekly practices located at the hosts accommodation (usually hosted by a fellow Smash player that invites others to their own home (see Figure 5.16); between 20 – 30 turning up to monthly regional tournaments located in a local venue; and between 80 – 100 turning up to annual national tournaments located in a venue with accommodation facilities.

Due to the nature of the game being played offline, it required face-to-face interaction and to physically be in front of the video game screen with your opponent, in comparison to other video games that can be played online and over the internet. Hence, the Smash community was considered a more ‘traditional’ community, with regular meet-ups and face-to-face interaction. The Smash community mainly consists of Super Smash Melee (Nintendo, 2011), Project M (Project M Development Team, 2011) and Super Smash 4 (Nintendo, 2014) players (from October 2014) – Super Smash Brawl (Nintendo, 2008) and Smash 64 (Nintendo, 1999) was considered the smallest communities within the Smash community. For instance, the Manchester scene was mainly focused on Project M, with Melee and Smash 4 set-ups. Heir to the Throne 2, the 2^nd edition of the Heir tournament series, currently stands as one of the largest Project M tournaments to date, with 257 entrants and the second-largest European Melee tournament with 269 entrants, behind B.E.A.S.T 5’s 375 entrants.

Upon researching the Smash community, I entered the field as a non-competitive Smash player. I would often attend Smash events and spectate from a distance and approach Smash players when they were not playing. Earlier in my research observations I often felt that I had to learn new ways of behaving and possibly new skills to overcome the overwhelmed feeling with unfamiliar events – in particular, the ‘strange language’ amongst Smash players. For instance, Powdermaker (1968, p.419) describes the problem for field anthologists:

During the first month or so the field worker proceeds very slowly, making use of all his sensory impression and intuitions. He walks warily and attempts to learn as quality as possible the most important forms of native etiquette and taboos. When in doubt he falls back on his own sense of politeness and sensitivity to the feelings of others. He likewise has to cope with his own emotional problems, for he often experiences anxieties in a strange situation. He may be overwhelmed by the difficulties of really getting “inside” an alien culture and of learning an unrecorded or other strange language. He may wonder whether he should intrude into the privacy of people’s lives by asking them questions. Field workers vary in their degree of shyness, but some people of any sensitivity experience some feelings of this type when they first enter a new field situation.

Dealing with the unfamiliar is bound to produce at least some formative experience. Shaffir and Stebbins (1991) suggest that the use of unstructured procedures in field investigations, the pursuit of new propositions, and the participation in strange activities are the stuff of which memorable involvements are made. Hence, field researchers always live, to some extent, with the disquieting notion that they are gathering the wrong data, that they should be observing or asking questions about another event or practice instead of the present one. However, these feelings of uncertainty diminished as the researcher grew more familiar with the group (Shaffir and Stebbins, 1991). For example, I was often approached by other Smash players teaching me how to play Smash, provided guidance to get better, and support to understand specific game terms and slangs. However, due to the high levels of dexterity and button pressing precision, I was unable to play one’s role to be a competent Smash player. Therefore, as an ethnographic researcher that did not just want to ‘turn up’ and observe from a distance, I considered taking on other roles within the Smash community – in particular the role of a volunteer and participating in community practices that took place away from the video game screen.

Volunteering – The S.W.A.G team

Firstly, volunteering is an activity in which time is given freely to benefit another person, group or cause (Wilson, 2000). Although there is limited research in video games and volunteering, the importance of volunteers in sporting events has been extensively acknowledged during the past decade (Giannoulakis, Wang and Gray, 2008). Blanc (1999) noted that volunteers remain essential to the viability of the sport system and many community-based and sport organisations would have difficulty surviving without volunteers (Auld and Cuskelly, 2001). For example, the Turin organisation committee recruited 18,000 volunteers for the 2006 winter Olympic Games (International Olympic Committee, 2006). Furthermore, 40,000 candidates applied for the 2006 FIFA World Cup volunteer program and a total of 15,000 volunteers were ultimately recruited to support the soccer tournament (FIFA World Cup, 2007).

Meanwhile, PlayExpo events seek volunteers in exchange for a ‘work half, play half’ scheme, where volunteers are able to ‘play for free’ in exchanged their ‘work’ for half a day. However, it is important to highlight that this was not necessarily the same case within the Smash community. From the research observations, volunteers consist of tournament organisers and several selected members of the Smash community. It was common for tournament organisers to look to members of the Smash community for gaming equipment/set-ups (from TV’s, GameCube’s, Wii U’s, copies of the game itself, and controllers). Rather than an ‘exchange’ for their voluntary services, it was often a community effort to provide set-ups or help set-up to run a Smash tournament for little to no profit in return. Similar to Hodkinson’s (2002) use of the term ‘subcultures’ and the remarkable levels of commitment, those who were consistent with the operation of social pressures relating to tastes and norms tended to received more social rewards, in comparison to those who ‘flirted’ around the boundaries. Hence, those who contributed high levels of commitment received benefits in forms of recognition and status; as Captain Falcon (Interviewee, Smash UK) states:

It can be a tricky to run your own tournament… we usually know the ones who make the effort for the community and runs the most tournaments… well good tournaments… because there can be good and bad ones… you usually have to ask around for help and if you’re a good TO (tournament organiser), most people will offer help back… usually it’s the old Smashers that help run the tournaments for the new Smashers… and after a couple of tournaments the new Smashers often offer help… so it’s like a cycle to keep the community building…

Captain Falcon (Interviewee, Smash UK) suggests a sense of perception that individuals are involved in a distinct cultural grouping and share feelings of identity with one another. In particular, the description of ‘old Smashers’ (old Smash player) and ‘new Smashers’ (new Smash players) provides and identity distinction between ‘us’ and ‘them’, which suggests a rites of passage to be identified from a ‘new Smasher’ to a ‘regular Smasher’ (Van Gennep, 1908).

In addition, as mentioned earlier (in chapter 4), for further Smash events (because I could drive), I was asked by members of the Smash community to transport gaming equipment and provide support running local Smash tournaments. Hence, I considered my voluntary activity to be purposive (related to doing something useful and contributing) and solidary incentives (related to social interaction, group identification, and network), as described by Farrell, Johnston and Twynam’s (1998) examination on sport volunteers by investigating the attributes of satisfaction and motivation for 300 volunteers at an elite sporting competition.

Community Practices – Playing Man Hunt

Organiser: Right everyone, I’m now going to explain how to play ‘man hunt’…

At midnight, we’re all going set off from my house and walk down the canal, until we reach a forest that’s in the middle of no-where… We form two teams – Team Red and Team Blue. Without using phones, torches or flashlights, Team Red’s objective is to walk across the forest, while avoiding Team Blue to get to this bridge [points at bridge], which is safety. While Team Blue’s objective is to catch Team Red while they go through the forest, so they don’t get to safety. There will be a time-limit of 30 minutes, and then we swap over, so we can determine which team has won, based on the number of people on the bridge at the end…

Finally, everyone must participate, or you won’t be allowed back in my house!

This was one of the responses from a participant that took part in playing ‘man hunt’:

Researcher: How was it?

Captain Falcon: I couldn’t see shit! I kept falling over, bumping into trees and the worst part was after struggling through that forest and almost reaching the bridge, some lazy git from the opposite team was camping behind a tree near the bridge and tagged me!

Researcher: Oh dear, did you find it worthwhile though?

Captain Falcon: Yeah, it was actually quite fun. Something definitely worth experiencing. Not sure if I’ll do it again though. But we did work as a team to get across, as we could see the other team cheating and using their phones and shouting. So we tried to avoid them, by going round them. The forest was pitched black, but after time your eyes do get used to it. I was actually quite surprised that my eyes managed to adapt to it and I could see more I anticipated in that darkness.

Besides that, yeah it was worthwhile. I found it to be a great way to work together and get to know each other.

This suggests that Smash players often enjoy the sociability of video games, where social activities and conversations tend to continue away from the sight of a gaming screen (Taylor, 2003). For instance, Ness (Interviewee, Smash UK) mentioned that Smash provided them a sense of belonging from participating in a social activity.

Researcher: So what do you like about smash events?

Ness: It’s all about the people and people here are really friendly. So sometimes it’s not so much about showing what you got, but also talking to other people and meeting new people. It’s about making connections. Like ‘Jigglypuff’ over there [waves at ‘Jigglypuff’] [‘Jigglypuff’ waves back], after getting to know him a couple of times, he housed me for this tournament. He said I get the sofa tonight, man.

Rather than simply ‘attending’ and ‘participating’ in tournaments, the Smash community provided a space for Smashers (Smash player) to come together, which may not necessarily be to play, but to meet new people. This suggests that Smash players frequently attend to these events for the talk, conversation, and discussions, which create social ties and bonds within a community (Jansz and Martens, 2005).

You Play Hearthstone? - Being a Sponsored Hearthstone Player

This section considers the reflections from the ethnographer’s participation in competitive gaming – in particular a competitive and sponsored Hearthstone Player. It is important to highlight that becoming a competitive gamer was not intentional nor was it the purpose for this research – it was something I enjoyed playing, and it became very popular, very quickly.

From Insomnia53 (i53), I began gathering data from a competitive gamers’ perspective and remained in the field for an extended period (until December 2015). Unlike studies that examine video gamers from a distance, I wanted a section that provided an insight from being a competitive Hearthstone player within the Hearthstone community. From a researchers’ standpoint, this prompts the question, do you have to be a competitive gamer to study competitive gamers? The initial answer to this question is no, however, in a field investigation, the pursuit of new propositions can sometimes require the participation in strange activities for the purpose of researching the unfamiliar (Shaffir and Stebbins, 1991). As mentioned previously, Powdermaker (1968) suggests that field investigating can sometimes lead to feelings of being overwhelmed by the difficulties of really getting “inside” an alien culture and of learning an unrecorded or other strange language. Hence, to overcome these difficulties, I suggest becoming a competent player is essential and becoming familiar with the community – this does not necessarily mean winning tournaments, but at least competing in enough tournaments to grasp an understanding from a players’ perspective in competitive gaming. It is important to highlight that this work has been challenging in terms of the researchers’ relationship with the field – especially the levels of commitment, social progression and tuition involved in competitive gaming, which are often taken for granted. Hence, this section argues that competitive gaming involves more than players simply competing against each other and coming out on top, rather it involves a significant amount of preparation, practice and interaction with other players to compete in eSport events.