The Gamer's Mindset: A Retrospective Study Exploring Young Adult Males' Online Gaming Experiences

Abstract

This study investigated the in-depth experiences of young adult males describing their adolescent online gaming behaviours. Qualitative data was collected from three interviews and five focus groups, with a total of 19 participants ranging in age from 18 to 26. Braun and Clark’s (2006) thematic analysis was used to analyze the transcribed data. Six themes emerged: (1) Reasons for gaming; (2) Understanding gaming culture; (3) The role friendships play in online gaming; (4) The role trash-talking plays in online gaming; (5) Understanding cyberbullying in the context of gaming; and (6) Barriers to not reporting. Participants reported that the concept of gaming culture is too broad an area and that researchers should examine the sub-cultures of games (such as genres) to gain a better understanding of gaming culture. Participants also discussed how online gaming helped form and maintain friendships. Participants revealed that trash-talking, the use of name calling and disparaging, taunting and boastful comments, while perhaps appearing hostile to others, was considered banter and a way of joking around and connecting with friends. Trash-talking was mostly done with friends and rarely done with strangers. Participants regularly trash-talked in certain genres (i.e., first person shooters, sports games, or battle arenas) as well as in certain games (i.e., Call of Duty, Madden, or League of Legends). They considered trash-talking as being normal, and did not consider these behaviours to be cyberbullying. Participants believed that cyberbullying happens in gaming, but rarely. In the gaming community it may be that gamers have their own set of norms that distinguish their behaviour from the common understanding of cyberbullying. Future research should begin investigating specific sub-cultures of gaming as well as examining how cyberbullying does or does not occur in online gaming.