Reddit Gaming Communities During Times of Transition

Abstract

We studied the Reddit communities for three game franchises at the time of a new release in each franchise to see what the members of the Reddit community for the now-older game would do in terms of their community involvement and membership. Specifically, we sought to determine if community members transitioned to the community for a new game, leaving behind their established community devoted to the now-older game. Our main finding was that most people did not move to the new community, but instead remained with their established community. We argue that nostalgia played an important role for community members, whom we frame as fans. Data came from Reddit communities for The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, and the Civilization franchises, comprising data on over 10 million posts from five different year-long time periods, each centered on the release of a new game in each of those franchises.