| Essay #2 Observation Notes Instructor: Shamecca Harris Writing for the Social Sciences Spring 2020 Commentary Personal reactions, opinions, feelings, and questions | Name: Samuel Cartagena Online Community: Reddit Date: 3/24/21 Main Notes Direct observations – concrete, verifiable details |
| I have noticed that a lot of this pro-community seems to behave almost within an exclusive manner. It almost appears as if the individuals within this community have been members of said community for a long time. I realize now that a lot of these gamers in this community seem to invest an incredible amount of time playing games with random people on the internet, but most of that gaming occurs without communication with others. They seem to harbor some level of anti-social traits within their approach, given that they seek to discuss or play games that are not as popular. This leads me to believe that this sub-culture seems to prefer to behave as a counterculture of sorts. They behave as a culture whose values and norms of behavior differ substantially from those of mainstream society, sometimes diametrically opposed to mainstream cultural games and influences. The benefits of video games seem to apply towards specific genres, as every genre seems to report different results and outcomes. | The members of the “pro-gaming” community seem to average about 9-10 hours of online activity per day, with 5-7 of those hours being dedicated to playing games with friends, and 3-4 of those hours with being on calls with their friends, but not actively playing any video games. User OpenRoad defends the integration of gaming as a culture by referencing a scientific article that analyzes the benefits of gaming, (Granic, Lobel, and Engels, 2013), stating that, “gamers often report pride in their accomplishments (specifically at overcoming challenges) as well as flow.” Flow being defined as a state in which a person performs an activity in energized focus, while being wholly invested into the activity. User _federal adds onto the benefits of gaming culture within our body. “Gaming can be a great stress relief, or a way to recover from PTSD. It’s shown to give users faster reflexes and reaction times and to be able to organize and “multi-task” (compartmentalize) things more effectively.” The same user adds that gaming culture also displays a social benefit, stating that gaming, “fosters prosocial behavior that existing research indicates may extend well beyond gaming. This includes rewarding others, effective cooperation, and helping behaviors. Interestingly, this is true of violent video games as well.” User HeloRising defends the benefits of gaming from a personal perspective that advocates for both the social and the psychological aspect of our lives. He goes on to state his own negative experiences in life, and his issues with depression due to the complications of his family dynamic. He developed issues within social aspects, and grew to become a reserved and disagreeable person, before even escalating to suicidal behaviors, and even a few attempts. He states the benefit of video games on his life as having provided him with an escape from this thought process. “Games were something that I could put my mind to that wasn’t fixating on how bad I felt and how alone I was. It let me disconnect for a little while and decompress.” The members of this community use specific jargon to refer to one another based on the games that they play. The term “normie” is used frequently in these threads, to refer to someone that discusses or plays a game that has gained an incredible amount of popularity. This term was used quite often to refer to those who were not as invested games as the others. The term “based” is used to congratulate other members when they make controversial statements. The term seems to refer to someone who is agreeable, admirable, and worthy of support. This term was utilized quite often whenever someone would make statements that advocated for a particular game. The members of the “anti-gaming” community seem to invest less time in online activity and seem to harbor an immense amount of criticism towards the cultural ecosystem that gaming contributes. They believe that gaming offers an incredible amount of creativity, depth, and insight into our culture as any other creative medium but criticize that it brings about more issues than it does connect. User old_gold_mountain even goes as far as to state that gaming culture exists as a“mostly male, sexually frustrated bubble that responds to any criticism with a knee-jerk defensive reaction and further solidification of its toxicity towards people in the “out” group.” (2018) A deleted user replies towards the statement by adding that, “Gaming was traditionally the refuge of “nerdy” less-socially-and-romantically-successful men.” (2018) User -birds replies to the same thread and discusses the increasing popularity of this culture that continues to grow. “But an unfortunate side effect of that is that it created an environment where any criticism from outside that same culture (i.e., typically young white males) is now treated as illegitimate.” The users of these forums do not utilize any specific jargon or special terms. |
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