Gaming as Participatory Culture 1

## ***Gamers and Participatory Culture***

 The communities of gamers have transformed the way information is shared through the gaming world. Technology has changed so much over the past twenty years, especially dealing with how users communicate with each other on multiple platforms. There are many different gaming platforms that are available today and many of them encourage discussions amongst the millions of users who play daily.

## Gaming Culture

*“Beyond the games themselves, there exists the fantasy gaming culture that can be characterized as sharing ‘‘worldviews, lifestyles, tastes, and affinities, as well as collectively— imagined selves/identities”(Hansen).*

It is no secret that that the gaming world in itself is a subculture of mainstreams society. It is a very interesting one at that. It is not cut of from the world with underground meetings or meeting places around the town, but secretly engrained into everyday life. At any given moment there are millions of users all around the world that take part in playing video games. Whether on the latest iPhone, desktop, ps4 console, people of all ages, races, ethnicity, backgrounds and social classes are all taking part of the video game world. There is nonstop communication and a sense of openness in the gaming culture. The quote above accurately describes the factions that are the gaming culture. People can be more than themselves in this vast community. They can contribute ideas and act as teachers or producers of content. There is a never-ending dialogue that goes in this subculture and because of that gamers have solidified their space in participatory culture.

## Affinity Spaces

With millions of people playing video games daily, across multiple platforms, there are many ways for people to communicate ideas, thoughts, or grievances about the games their playing. Whether someone wants to find friends to play a multiplayer setting in Call Of Duty, or learn how to build a city in SimCity, gamers have always found ways to gather the information they seek. Forums, blogs, chat rooms, YouTube videos, comment sections are all ways in which actual players of games go to in order to get information. In these types of places, vast multitudes of people share tips, clues, suggestions, cheats about the games they play. According to Henry Jenkins “affinity spaces can provide greater motivation for the production and circulation of information, may offer a “hothouse” context where new ideas may emerge, may offer motivation for people to intensify their participation”(Jenkins). These affinity spaces create communities where the consumer can actually have their ideas talked about by people who care. There is a building of information that users already know and on return there are calls for improvements in the games being talked about. These types of communities are very progressive and change is constant. Always-new ideas being put out there and discussions being had. There is not some super exclusivity I these communities. Anyone can have a say that might better how consumers play games or to just help other users navigate sometimes challenges game forms.

## **Sources**

1. Hansen, Kathleen A. "Gaming As Culture: Essays On Really, Identity And Experience In Fantasy Games." Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly 85.4 (2008): 932-934. Business Source Complete. Web. 19 Oct. 2015.

2. Jenkins, Henry. "If It Doesn’t Spread, It’s Dead (Part Five): Communities of Users." *Confessions of an AcaFan*. N.p., 20 Jan. 2009. Web. 19 Oct. 2015.