Playing Games: A Qualitative Study on Online Gamers

Abstract

This paper first covers the traditional meaning of 'gaming' and 'playing' followed by the changes fostered by the use of internet. Online gaming as an emerging phenomena is then discussed in the light of changing trends in the available resources, opportunities and lifestyle of the modern youth. The purpose of this paper is to study the lived experience of online gamers and to derive core psychosocial constructs from their inner life. Using the qualitative research method of semi-structured interviews, five case-accounts are used to explore what meanings does an engagement in an online game carry for them. Understandings around their motivations, dissociations, negotiations with reality as well as social adaptation are critically arrived at, using theoretical concepts and citations from personal stories. As this up-and-coming trend is becoming increasingly popular, its future implications are discussed by considering its ramifications in the area of education, clinic and society as a whole.