Chapter 5 Characteristics of Video Gamers and Video Game Communities Introduction

This form of exploration of player reputations, which can also include trash talking or playing ‘head games’, can also affect the meta-game as well (Salen and Zimmerman, 2004). While this live stream was happening, the stream feed was filled with spectator comments from both supporters.

Finally, Garfield (2000) suggests the influence of real life on a game in play. For instance, the physical environment of play such as a noisy atmosphere, temperature of the room or good lighting can have an effect on the game amongst players playing in these situations – in particular, the internet. During Insomnia53 (i53), there were issues with the internet disconnecting during tournament games –the internet connection was connected using Ethernet cables, and entire rows of computers disconnected occasionally, creating problems for tournament organisers to make ‘rematch calls’. Similarly, during Insomnia55 (i55), a few of the smaller BYOC halls experienced a power-cut, which caused tournament delays until the issue was resolved.

Besides what happens during the game, other than the game itself; in particular, Eurogamer Expo [2013], queuing to play the next game demonstration is a common feature that occurs at video game events that is often recognised amongst video gamers, which can often take around two hours, depending on popularity (see Figure 5.28) – the waiting game.

From the data gathered, almost all the participants considered themselves to be part of a community in some form. These communities varied in many ways; from range in size and involvement; how active the community is, to how the community is maintained and supported; the representation of the community itself; and the accessibility for community members through the processes of inclusion and exclusion. As Denlaty (2003) writes;

Communities have been based on ethnicity, religion, class or politics; they may be large or small; ‘thin’ or ‘thick’ attachments may underlie them; they may be locally based and globally organized, affirmative or subversive in their relation to the established order; they may be traditional, modern and even postmodern; reactionary and progressive (Denlaty, 2003, p.2)

Hand and Moore (2006) suggests that video gamers often consider themselves to be part of a video game community with extensive and complex patterns of social interactions, culture, and norms.

For instance, video game communities within video game events can differ in size, from a small group of individuals that attend video game related events together (such as going with a small group of friends), bigger groups of individuals that organise amongst themselves to ‘stick together’ throughout the event (such as being seated together for LAN events) and individuals that consider themselves to be part of a wider community from being surrounded by others with similar interests. In addition, these complex patterns within video game communities varied amongst video game events. Every year there has been an increase in the number of video game events available year after year with more activities to appeal to more people. Therefore, the motive for attendance amongst video gamers can differ too.

Nonetheless, several video game events only occurred at certain times or irregularly throughout the year, sometimes two or three times a year; of which consists of people who are usually separated by distance to come together. This suggests that video game communities within video game events may differ to ‘traditional’ communities. For instance, Delanty (2003) suggests that early time community was often highly political and even contractual, in comparison to the opposition to today’s society and based on non-contractual ties. Community lies at the formation of politics but it was eroded by modernity, which led to the disenchantment of community. Delanty (2003) states that the discourse of community has been dominated by the narrative of loss and recovery; where modernity destroys community which must be recovered and realised in a new form. Therefore, what is stressed is the fluid nature of community as an expression of modalities of belonging. This suggests that the concept of ‘neo-tribes’ from Maffesoli (1996) may provide a more profitable way to theories video communities within video game events, which refers to the formation of these tribes being fluid, loosely organised and by no means fixed, yet still places an emphasis on community and belonging. For instance, Bulbasaur (Group Interview: I-Series) talks about his experience from attending Insomnia Gaming Festivals since 2008;

Bulbasaur: I went in 2008… so 7 years ago? So from i34… to i54?! Wow… 20 times! Well… it was weird, only because how it has been developed… i34 was probably still the biggest I’ve ever been to, in contrast… like they moved from Newbury to Stoneleigh… and it was 2500 in one room, there was no VIPs, no small rooms, it was just one massive thing with everybody in it, which was awesome but at the same time horrific because if something happened, it escalated very fast, there’s no real place to hang about, no real community aspect… but it was massive and so tournament based… but literally after a couple of events the recession came…. It just crashed really badly, they couldn’t get responses, they couldn’t get enough money to pay for it, so they ended back up to Newbury… and reduced it to like a really community LAN… which was really cool, everyone was like ‘yay we got it again’, but now I think we’ve got both… like you choose which room you want to be in… you can go explore or be anti-social… you can have your own kind of event… it’s like ‘we did this’ and other people would be like ‘I didn’t know about that’… which is good in a way, maybe there should be more communication, but it seems that certain groups of people have their own way to have fun…
Bulbasaur (Group Interviewee: I-Series) suggests that the move back to Newbury promoted a stronger sense of community from being in one room, rather than several smaller rooms. For instance, during i53, i54 an i55 the venue was moved to Coventry from Telford, which consists a number of smaller rooms in comparison to ‘one big hall’. With the increasing numbers of attendance at Insomnia Gaming Festivals, Craig Fletcher (Multiplay 2015) announces that it has become more than a LAN, where it is not just about the BYOC experience, rather it will be the core of the event with more cosplay, bands and board games, including hobbies we pursue as gamers that bring us all together and become more open to the general public through the celebration of gaming. As Charmander (Group Interview: I-Series) states; ‘iSeries feels, to me, like the place where existing communities come to meet up, rather than being part of an 'Insomnia community' that we all use to look to for activity…’ Hence, within a busy packed schedule with so many things happening, these ‘certain groups of people’ often ‘do their own thing’, rather than ‘act as one’. This suggests the fragmentation of separating people into smaller groups, rather than a BYOC community as a whole.

However, Cohen (1985) states that community is to be understood less a social practice than a symbolic structure. Cohen’s (1985) argument tended to shift the focus away from the older emphasis on community as a form of social interaction based on locality to a concern with meaning and identity. This approach was also reflected in Anderson’s (1983, p.6) book, Imagined Communities, which ‘are to be distinguished not by their falseness/genuineness, but the style in which they are imagined’. Anderson (1983) suggests that community is shaped by cognitive and symbolic structures that are not underpinned by ‘lived’ spaces and immediate forms of social interaction. For instance, ‘Sonic’ mentions that queueing is a common feature at Eurogamer:

Researcher: Is queueing common at Eurogamer?

Sonic: Oh yeah. Queueing is very common at Eurogamer. Like yesterday, I’ve queued three hours for Battlefield 4, two hours for Titanfall, one hour for Assassin’s Creed 4 and one hour for FIFA 14. Usually, the first two days of the event (Thursday and Friday) is generally quieter in comparison to the weekend (Saturday and Sunday). Today, I’m queuing for Playstation 4, Xbox One and Oculus Rift. So I’m trying to get the big ones out of the way first before it hits the weekend. Otherwise, the queues would be even bigger over the weekend.

From my observations, most of the participants recognised that queuing was a common feature, which ranged between ten minutes (after ‘running in’ with the crowd when the show opened), to over 4 hours to play on the latest video game releases and video game consoles. In relation to communities, the Eurogamer community consists of several communities, where groups and individuals come together in one location. In particular, gamers with an interest in certain video games and queue for several hours for video game demonstrations before game releases; ranging from the latest game releases to indie game developments. However, when a participant was asked whether they felt Eurogamer provided them a sense of community, Chell (Interviewee: EuroGamer) responded

Chell: I don’t feel as though I’m part of the community as such. But it feels more like… a community as a whole, if that makes any sense. Like we are not connected, when we come together… with… erm… we like the same stuff or similar interests, so we’re like a collective group that isn't connected to each other physically, but emotionally? Atmosphere-ly? If that’s a word?

Even though the participant mentioned not being part of a community, Chell (Interviewee: EuroGamer) felt, to some extent, connected to the physical environment that was surrounded by others with similar interests and a sense of community ‘as a whole’ – the imagined community (Anderson, 1983). Therefore, due to the disparate nature, the gaming community amongst those who attend Eurogamer is not possible to measure its size. This suggests that the concept of ‘imagined communities’ may provide better understanding of communities, which suggest a collective connection through similar interests and being ‘imagined’.

Throughout this research, there were several communities that were connected to certain video game events; from the LAN communities that attend LAN events together; the Final Fantasy Fans that dedicate themselves to attend every Final Fantasy event; the Smash community that regularly attend weekly gatherings, regional and national events. However, it is important to highlight that several participants did not just attend one series of events, rather it was common to attend more than one series of events; such as those who attended Final Fantasy orchestral concerts also attended London MCM Comic con for the Square Enix store; and those who attended Insomnia Gaming Festivals to compete in tournaments also travelled to Sweden for Dreamhack. Therefore, this supports the argument that video games can be consumed in different ways, where particular gaming interests to attend certain events can attract gamers to travel from one event to another.

This suggests that it may be useful to explore video game events from the crowd audience, the excitement and so on. For instance, Gustave Le Bon (1985) study on The Crowd: A study of the Popular Mind explores the concerns with how crowds can make participating actors feel and act in a different way than they would in isolation. This form of transformative power parallels the work with Durkheim’s (1995) work on ‘collective effervescence’. Durkheim’s (1995) study on ‘Elementary Forms of Religious Life’ introduced the notion of ‘collective effervescence’, suggesting that its presence in religious assemblies helped revitalize the spiritual beliefs of the group and foster feelings of social solidarity amongst its members:

Vital energies become hyper-excited, the passions more intense, the sensations more powerful; there are indeed some that are produced only at this moment. A Man does not recognize himself; he feels somehow transformed and in consequence transforms his surroundings (Durkheim, 1965, p.422).

Durkheim observed the following in the ceremony’s social environment:

When they are once come together, a sort of electricity is formed by their collecting which quickly transports them to an extraordinary degree of exaltation. Every sentiment expressed finds a place without resistance in all the minds, which are very open to outside impressions; each re-echoes the others, and is re-echoed by the others. The initial impulse thus proceeds, growing as it goes, as an avalanche grows in its advance. And as such active passions so free from all control could not fail to burst out, on every side one sees nothing but violent gestures, cries, veritable howls, and deafening noises of every sort, which aid in intensifying still more the state of mind which they manifest (Durkheim, 1965, p.215)

For Durkheim (1995), the ‘hyer-excited’ moments that happen at certain events can be considered to be ‘magical’ in itself - similar to the magic circle, which can be transformed. This suggests that Durkheim’s (1995) work on ‘collective effervescence’ can be considered to be useful as a metaphor to apply to video game events.

In addition, with considerations to explore video gaming as a culture (metaculture) and video gamers as part of a community (game communities), Brian Longhurst (2007) notion of ‘elective belonging’ provides a useful way to theorise video gamer culture, where it seeks the divide of video gamers into distinct categories and considers the movement of ‘groups’ (such as neo-tribes), while also allowing moments of the exceptional. Therefore, it is important to consider the extent of how video gamers interpret the meaning of video gaming within these exceptional moments away from the video game screen; through the attendance of various video game events and participation of various video game related practices that may not necessarily take place in front of a video game screen.

In conclusion, this chapter considered two principal research questions, who are the visitors and what motivated them to participate in video game events?

Firstly, most studies often explore the question ‘who plays video games’, rather than those who attend video game events. Although the stereotype of video gamers as predominately white male adolescences is commonly assessed, there is no specific pattern of representation across various video game events. Therefore, the social demographic of consuming games has shifted to the extent where we can no longer identify an ‘average gamer’ amongst people who can access a computer – correspondingly the social demographic of visitors that attend video game events can also be as diverse as someone who can access the venue.

Secondly, there has been limited research focusing on the motives of video gamers attending video game events. Previous studies have often focused on the immediate forms of play, where academics have ignored the social context of playing with video games (Newman, 2008). Therefore, by focusing on the motive of video gamers attending video game events, it may provide a shift from examining video games with narrow understands of (direct) play, and consider the wider social aspect of video gaming away from the video game screen. Hence, the findings suggest that there were three characteristics amongst the reasons for attendance – in particular, to the social, participative and competitive elements of video gaming.

The ‘socialiser’ usually consists of individual that come together for social purposes, besides playing the game itself. This can include the opportunity to meet like-minded people, communicate through social networking, or simply to ‘hang out’ with others. This suggests that ‘being there’ and together’ provides a welcome atmosphere with considerations to a worthwhile leisure lifestyle share amongst gamers (Jonsson and Veragen, 2011). The socialiser illustrates that video games can be considered a social activity that extends beyond the video game screen.

The ‘participator’ refers to individuals that attend video game events for participation purposes. Video game events consist of various social and cultural practise, besides gaming itself, where communities come together and interact in meaningful ways; from exhibitions showcasing products and selling goods, cosplay, signing sessions, workshops, and much more. Many of those who attend video game events often engage themselves through various forms of socialisation, tuition, and social progression, that are often taken for granted – in particular, where groups of individuals participate in various video game related practices, forming a sense of community within a temporal time and location. The participator illustrates the social and cultural video game practices within video game events, besides gaming itself.

The ‘competitor’ refers to individuals who attend video game events for competitive purposes, such as competing in video game tournaments. One of the main purposes in competing is for the ‘chance to win’. Even though competing in a video game tournament consists of playing video games in front of a video game screen, there are aspects of competitive gaming that takes place away from the video game screen – in particular, the ‘metaculture’ or ‘meta communication’ (Egenfeldt-Nielsen et al., 2008). This can involve gamers coming together in out-of-game meeting places, discussing and sharing strategies, creating ranking systems based on their performances, modding and poaching. Hence, the competitor illustrates that there is more to video game tournaments than playing video games – it can involve various video game related practices away from the video game screen, which can support the social interaction amongst those who compete in video game tournaments.

The purpose for identifying the three types of video game attendees (socialiser, participator, and competitor) is to categories the various reasons for attendance within their different forms of social encounters within video game communities. The continuum of socialness, activeness and competitiveness suggest that there can be varying levels of commitment amongst those who participate in video game related practices. For example, those who participate in various video game related practices may nip in and out of certain communities and follow other people into other series of commitment. This form of fluidity relates to characteristics of a neo-tribe (Maffesoli, 1996), where communities are loosely organised and by no means fixed, yet still places an emphasis on community and belonging. This suggests that gaming is performed in the context of existing social and cultural networks, friendships, and relationships, where various video game practices implicated in video gaming can contribute to the construction of gaming communities and identities.

In addition, this chapter considers the importance on examining competitive gaming from a non-competitive and competitive researchers’ standpoint: from a non-competitive player within the Smash community, as well as a competitive/sponsored player within the Hearthstone community. For instance, conducting research from a non-competitive Smash players’ perspective provided an insight to consider ‘other roles’ within the Smash community. This included taking on the roles as a volunteer to support the Smash community from working in the kitchen, to transporting gaming equipment, and becoming a tournament organiser. In comparison, from a competitive Hearthstone players’ perspective, this provided an insight to consider the competitive elements of gaming through the processes of career progression. Hence, competitive gaming involves more than players simply competing against other players and coming out on top, rather it involves a significant amount of preparation, practice and interaction with other players to compete in eSport events.

Furthermore, this chapter does not explicitly examine gender in a separate section. Due to the scope of this thesis, it only focuses on the findings related to gender, rather than other diversities, including sexuality and race – as the findings suggest patterns in attendance amongst male and female attendees, trends in participation of video game related practices and elements of player identification. The findings suggest that LAN events (such as Insomnia: iSeries), exhibitions that consist of a vast number of the latest game demonstrations (such as Eurogamer) and more tournament-based events (such as Smash and MBA events) tend to consist of a higher proportion of male attendance, than seen at video game related conventions (such as MCM Comic Con), smaller exhibitions (Play Expo), and video game related orchestral concerts (such as, Distant Worlds and Symphony Legends), which tend to have a ‘more balanced’ ratio of males and females. Although, Taylor and Witkowski’s (2010) study on LAN events (Dreamhack) suggest that there was an increasing presence of female gamers; my research observations suggest that women still appear significantly under-represented at LAN events. Consequently, due to higher numbers in attendance to exhibitions that consist of a vast number of latest game demonstrations and competitive events, the findings suggest that playing video games and competing in tournaments were popular amongst men. In comparison, video game events that featured a variety of interests (including anime, manga, and sci-fi) tended to have a ‘more balanced’ ratio of male and female attendance. Although, it is important to highlight that, to some extent, women still remain in a supportive role within a male dominated gaming environment. For instance, volunteers working in the kitchen for Edintines 2 (Smash UK) were mostly women (Smash Wives and Girlfriends), and there were only 5 female Hearthstone players (including the researcher) whom competed in the 128-person tournament at Insomnia Gaming Events. However, due to the ‘more balanced’ ratio of men and women attendance to conventions and video game related orchestral concerts, the findings suggest that women are increasing participating in video game related practices in other ways – such as purchasing merchandising, cosplay and much more. Hence, the findings suggest that a specific pattern of representation may not be consistent across all video game events.

In relation to video game communities, almost all the participants considered themselves to be part of a community in some form. As previously mentioned (in chapter 3) MacCallum-Stewart (2014) suggests that is it no longer enough to analyse one type of community in order to understand the plethora of players who take part in various video game related practices (besides gaming itself) and the behaviours they exhibit. For example, MacCallum-Stewart’s (2014) outline of case studies model briefly outlines the communities discussed as case studies to provide some context to each other. Even though the video game communities are defined separately, it is important to highlight that the majority of the participants have attended more than one event, and consider themselves part of more than one gaming community.

Overall, the findings suggest patterns of characteristics of video gamers and video game communities; from the socialiser, participator and competitor, as well as video game communities with similar characteristics to neo-tribes (Maffesoli, 1996) and imaginary communities (Anderson, 1983). Hence, this suggests an importance to consider the extent of how video gamers interpret the meaning to video gaming within these exceptional moments away from the video game screen.