How Do Affordances of Gaming Technology Influence Involvement in the Digital Gaming Based Communities?

Abstract

First-person shooting games are massively popular and have prominent established digital communities. Over the years, FPSG has seen changes in game design and gaming device technologies. Previous work was primarily to understand the video-game communities’ operations and identify affordances of FPS games. This paper studies how affordances of FPS gaming technology influence the social interactions in the digital gaming communities and comprehends the relation between their virtual and real communities. We explored these communities using qualitative research methods like interviews, surveys and ethnography (auto-ethnography and anthropology) and analysed the findings with the help of theories of social constructivism, technological determinism, actor-network and affordances. The results reflected that communities determine which type of games will be prevalent, which inherently decides the technology that will prevail. Technology influences the shape and structure of the community using it. The stability of communities’ social networks depends on how actants are held together and whether new networks emerge through a new flow of information in the games. Different properties of affordances offered by the game, such as communication, exploration etc., influence social interactions in the community. The relationship in the virtual and real communities are not exclusive but are a continuation of each other. Members of the community with a relation beyond the game will have a stronger bond.