Chapter 5 Characteristics of Video Gamers and Video Game Communities Introduction
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‘It is important to be friendly’From the data gathered, it seemed important for video gamers to be social within an event environment. Taylor (2003) highlights that communication within a virtual environment requires ‘people skills’ during gameplay; such as being known as a good player or being a reliable team player. Taylor (2003) suggests that knowledge to actual gameplay becomes crucial to being known as a ‘good player’; where these skills can act as a real commodity and be transferrable to other aspects of ‘ordinary’ life. One important aspect within video game communities is the representation of oneself; whether if it is being friendly, nice, horrible or rude, these personalities often reflect off individuals, which can sometimes determine their inclusiveness or exclusiveness to a video game community. For example, from the group interview, Bowser (Group Interview: Smash UK) mentions that; ‘…usually, everyone is really nice… no-one will want to play with you if you’re not nice’. Similar to aspects of being a ‘good player’ within the virtual world, as Taylor (2003) describes it, these rules also apply to communities that meet face-to-face. In addition, Rengar the Pridestalker and Kah’Zix the Voidreaver (Group Interview: Insomnia) mentions that it is considered ‘weird’ to be anti-social; Rengar the Pridestalker: That was weird… there was a 14-year-old kid who bought his mum to LAN… don’t get me wrong, we see kids often, but mainly in the expo hall, not in the LAN hall… she basically just sat with him throughout the entire time, she looked so bored… and the kid didn’t even get to make any friends because the mum was so over-protective… she should have just let him embrace it… How else will he grow up? He needs to learn… hopefully, he learnt not to bring his mum next time… Kah’Zix the Voidreaver: It’s hard though, but at the same time, I didn’t see anything wrong with that… he’s at an age where he’s not quite old enough to go with friends and definitely not by himself… Rengar the Pridestalker and Kah’Zix the Voidreaver (Group Interview: Insomnia) mentions a situation where a 14-year-old boy goes to LAN while being accompanied by his mother. It is important to highlight that the majority of the video game events have the option to purchase a family ticket for admission during public opening hours (usually between 10am-6pm) - however, due to the nature of a LAN event, in particular BYOC (bring your own computer) gamers, a BYOC tickets grants 24/7 access to the BYOC hall - therefore, this requires BYOC gamers to independently ‘look after themselves’ throughout the duration of the four-day event; from food, sleep arrangements, etc. This suggests that age and video game events can be considered an important matter. For instance, attending video game events requires video gamers to be of a certain age to participate in certain activities – such as age appropriate language or behaviour. For example, from the field-notes during Insomnia55 (i55), there was an incident where the tabloid made an announcement; Tabloid: …please can ‘Jay Cartwright’ report to the information desk. Your friends are waiting for you. LAN Gamers: *Everyone laughs* ‘Oooooo… friend….’ ‘Friend…’ ‘Reception friend…’ ‘I’m not your fucking friend!’ ‘I’m so glad we don’t have any kids around us, we can be so inappropriate…’ In this particular situation, the LAN gamers were ‘making fun’ of the ‘lost child’ announced on the tabloid with the ‘friend’ reference from the TV series ‘The Inbetweeners’ (‘Will Gets a Girlfriend’, 2008). Despite video games being stereotyped to be played amongst children, within an event environment, age mattered. In order to ‘fit in’ to certain video game communities, you could not be too young, nor too old. Even though some video game events were family based, where there were options to purchase a family ticket, those who were considered themselves old enough to attend video game events without parents, but too young to consume alcohol legally, often ‘missed out’ on participating in certain video game related practices. 
Figure 5.2: The ‘after-party’ pub gathering after London MCM Comic Con [Photographed by Ying-Ying Law] For example, MCM Comic Con (London) often involved (unofficial) ‘after-parties’ at the end of the day at a nearby local pub (see Figure 5.2), where numerous individuals attend to socialise with each other. However, this required ‘ID’ (18+ identification) to get in – of which the researcher was ‘ID’ed’ twice by the security guard, once upon entry and twice while sat down with a Diet Coke. It is important to highlight those who attend video game events and participated in the consumption of alcohol often ranged between the ages of 18-25 years old – as a researcher at 26 years old, I was considered on the higher end of the age spectrum – although I was often mistaken for looking younger. For example, from my field-notes, after revealing my age to Rexxar (Interviewee: Insomnia), he was surprised that my age did not match my appearance; Rexxar: Oh my god, you’re 26?! I thought you were younger…. I’m 18… you’re like, 10 years older than me! You’re old enough to be my Mom! Despite being identified as ‘old’, I often kept quiet about my age, because I did not want to be considered as an ‘outsider’. For instance, as mentioned earlier (in chapter 4), Taylor (2012) faced power imbalances related to her age when compared to her participants, where she was considered as an ‘outsider’. Therefore, within a video gamer culture, communities may restrict members, even without stating explicit requirements. Even though video games have been considered to consist of a friendly environment, some of them involve forms of inclusion and exclusion, including age. Download 21.28 Mb. Share with your friends:
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