Emese Domahidi

The Relationship Between Online Video Game Involvement and Gaming-Related Friendships Among Emotionally Sensitive Individuals

Some researchers believe that online gaming spaces can be socially accommodating environments for socially inhibited individuals, such as the socially inept, socially anxious, or shy. While previous research has examined, and found, significant links between these populations and online video game play, it remains unknown to what extent these spaces are contributing to tangible social benefits for the socially inhibited. The current study addresses this question by evaluating the link between gaming-related friendships and shyness, as quantified by emotional sensitivity. Drawing from a representative sample of German game players, the results indicate that emotionally sensitive players are using online gaming spaces differently from their less emotionally sensitive counterparts and reporting tangible differences in their in-game friendship networks. This suggests that online games hold the potential to be socially advantageous for shy individuals by allowing them to overcome their traditional social difficulties and generate new friendships as well as strengthen old ones.

A Longitudinal Analysis of Gaming- and Non-Gaming-Related Friendships and Social Support among Social Online Game Players

ABSTRACT Research examining online games often focuses on their potential to negatively impact players. One of the most common concerns is that playing online with others can displace offline relationships and, consequently, detrimentally affect one’s level of “offline” social support. However, there has been little empirical evidence supporting these causal claims. The current study addresses this by outlining a longitudinal analysis between gaming- and non-gaming-related friendships and social support among a representative sample of social online players (i.e., people who play online video games with others). The results indicate that social online video game play with online or offline friends is not related to perceived social support, positively or negatively, cross-sectionally or longitudinally. Taken together, these results dispute the long-held claims of the social displacement hypothesis and instead suggest that social online video game play does not have negative real-world consequences on players’ offline friendships or levels of offline social support.

“And all of a sudden my life was gone…”: A biographical analysis of highly engaged adult gamers

Highly engaged gaming and its potentially adverse effects have been the subject of ongoing debate in media and science, most commonly in relation to problematic playing behaviours among adolescents. Although adult gamers are also known to be vulnerable to addictive playing behaviours, this aspect of highly engaged gaming among adults has rarely been investigated. To address this issue, biographical interviews were conducted with 35 adult gamers to explore their interaction with the game, integration of gaming into everyday life, and social interaction in real and virtual life. Participants were also asked about their reasons for becoming involved in highly engaged gaming, and for ending that involvement. The findings indicate that highly engaged adult gamers are a heterogeneous group. Three general types of gamer emerged from the interviews. One of these types showed no signs of problematic behaviour; however, the other two types tended to neglect aspects of everyday life and the real-life social environment in their playing behaviours.

Go for games: Managerial career networks in creative industries

ABSTRACT The digital games industry has developed from a secondary sector of the media entertainment industry to one of its major driving forces. Despite its economic relevance, it is still a transitional industry with quickly evolving structures. As such, it is also an interesting object for the analysis of the development of media industries. The current study uses a combination of social network analysis and expert interviews to map the emerging network structures within the German games industry. It reconstructs the career pathways of key managers in the industry, including their former and current business relationships. The studys findings indicate that the current breed of managers primarily enter the games business from other economic sectors. For this reason, the industry network is still characterized by weak organizational interconnections. However, the strong connectedness of a younger generation of managers hints at a future strengthening of the underlying business and communication network.