Online console game club as a resource a case study of the perceived meaning of club membership

Abstract

What kind of community an online console game club is? Console game playing has often been viewed as having only negative influence on young people’s lives. In this research, a group of gamers (N = 8) was investigated. They were young adults who played the National Hockey League (NHL) console game regularly. The qualitative case study focused on finding out what made the club meaningful in the club members’ opinions and how they describe activities and interaction in the club. The study showed that the console game club had multiple positive effects in the members’ lives, which were analysed as emotional, social, cognitive, and functional resources. The study suggests that online game networks could provide new ideas on how to arrange, for example, online education in way that the young adults could find motivating and meaningful to attend.