Adult social engagement through video game community

Abstract

This qualitative research explores an adult’s process of social engagement that occurs when playing digital video games by conducting in-depth interviews with 32 informants aged between 40–72 years old, and a focus group interview with a group of 4 informants who have been active members of game groups for more than a year. The research found that the process of social engagement through digital gaming comprises of 7 steps starting from the player’s motivation to play video games, immersion of game engagement, communication via in-game activities, sharing of emotions while playing games together, creating group communication channels, doing collective activities outside the game world, and finally developing a real social group. The social engagement process leads to 5 different types of adult game players; Solo player, Pseudo solo player, Local guild player, Online guild player, and Social player. There are 4 factors that influence an adult’s social engagement process, which are the adult’s characteristics, the game’s communication and social features, the players’ collective goals, and shared emotions while playing games together.