The social networks and distinctive experiences of intensively involved online gamers: A novel mixed methods approach

Abstract

Relying on a novel integration of both survey data (N = 3629) and egocentric social network interviews (N = 53), this study explores associations between patterns of social support and online gaming involvement and experience. In both our large survey and network interviews, informants who possess a greater number of “alters” (social ties) who support their gaming are more likely to report deriving pleasure from their online play. We also find that intensive or “hardcore” gamers show evidence of “homophily,” with such players having a greater number of gamer-alters in their “important person” social networks and thus a more homogenous social composition. Importantly, more intensively involved gamers’ social networks also tend to be less dense and more fragmented. Interpreting the results, we argue that network consensus of social norms may compel gamers to both behave and judge their behavior in certain distinctive positive and negative ways. At the same time, gamers may also construct different types of networks by surrounding themselves with more supportive and like-minded alters. The employment of an ethnographically derived, mixed methodology allows us to go beyond more standard approaches that often rely on survey data alone. Our method lets us test social network theory hypotheses within gaming-related offline/online networks, ascertaining possible causal processes underlying links between social support and online gaming involvement and experience.