Gaming lounges in India afford socially productive gambling: The moral economy and foundations of play in Udaipur, Rajasthan

Abstract

We use ethnographic observations, interviews, and surveys to illuminate video game‐related gambling in India, where players use as currency decorative in‐game weapon covers referred to as skins. We focus on gaming and gambling related to virtual items acquired in the popular shooter game Counter‐Strike: Global Offensive, and our study unfolds among young adults who play in face‐to‐face centers called gaming lounges or zones. We consider how networks of video game players, themselves influenced by familial and societal demands, form moral economies that regulate why video game items are exchanged and how they are evaluated. Further, we use moral foundations theory to clarify ethical plurality in these settings, with tensions between moral demands shaping how and whether skins exchanges are judged to be socially productive or harmful. We show how gaming lounge owners’ personal values, some religiously informed, render emerging adults who play in these settings less at risk of excessive gambling, which is not tolerated either within close‐knit gaming groups or broader society. Overall, our analysis points to the utility of bringing into dialogue moral economy and moral foundations perspectives to uncover the cultural meanings of linked gaming and gambling in this context.