Chapter 1: Video Games: Addiction and Pathological Behaviour

356 Pages·2013·5.31 MB·English

1

Video Gaming: The Sociology of a Lifeworld

Submitted by Victor Christos Gazis to the University of Exeter as a thesis for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology in September 2012

This thesis is available for Library use on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no
quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement.

I certify that all material in this thesis which is not my own work has been identified and that no
material has previously been submitted and approved for the award of a degree by this or any other
University.

Signature: …………………………………………………………..
2

Acknowledgments

I am particularly grateful to my PhD supervisors Professor Anthony King and Dr Matthias
Varul for the support and guidance they have shown me throughout my time at Exeter
University as a PhD student. I am also sincerely grateful to the University of Exeter
sociology department for funding, and also for the academic support and stimulating
environment in which to work. My thanks also got to the inhabitants of Amory 313 and
Amory 034 – Dr Mark Doidge and (soon to be) Dr Daniel Smith - for their academic support
and advice and also for their support and friendship.

I would also like to thank all my research participants especially the staff and pupils from
the schools in and around Exeter for organising and being involved in focus groups, Jon Hare
for sparing me so much time for an invaluable interview, Tom Goodchild and Greg Bryant
for agreeing to be interviewed far too early on a Sunday morning (particularly after a beer
festival the night before). The boys from the poker night. ‘The Lads’ for welcoming me into
their homes and their community. The Flowing Penguins for allowing me to join them in the
Eve Universe – particularly Jusforkix for his gatekeeper role and continued support. David
Hamblin for an invaluable interview and an enjoyable few hours in his company.

And finally my love and gratitude goes to Karen Bennett for her love and support and for
her continuing tolerance of this often stressed and obsessive man.
3

Abstract

This thesis contributes to contemporary sociological debates about video
games and video gaming by building upon the works of game theorists such
as Eskelinen and Tronstad (2003), Juul (2001), Taylor (2006) and
Thornham (2011) that explore the interactive and participatory nature of the
pursuit. The data within, derived from an empirical study involving focus
groups, interviews, observation and analyses of games and gaming practices
and participant observation amongst communities of video gamers is
analysed using theories and theoretical frameworks from film and audience
studies, classical sociology (in particular Durkheim) and the sociology of
sport. Emanating from the data video gaming is revealed to be an
‘organised sport played in a domestic environment’ in terms of embodied
practice, conduct and sentiment. The prioritising of agency over structure in
data analysis reveals multiple multisensory social practices that encourage
engagement with the medium and create, maintain and develop a vibrant
and constantly evolving video game lifeworld. Using the ‘career’ of the
video gamer, as a conceptual framework, this thesis brings to the fore the
masculinity and masculine social practices central to the video gaming
lifeworld, and the multisensory social practices through which
heterogeneous video gamers (from occasional lone gamers to fully
immersed MMORPG enthusiasts) actively immerse themselves into, build,
maintain and develop the video game lifeworld. A lifeworld wherein
gamers develop their motivations to play and keep playing video games
consequent to rewarding performances and interactions with other
participants.

Key Words: video games - addiction - ‘passive consumer’ – empirical –
multisensory – ‘career’ – social practices – active - lone gamer –
MMORPG – lifeworld
4

Chapter Index:

Chapter 1: Introduction 8

Chapter 2: Towards a Lifeworld Analysis of the World of Video Games and Video
Gaming 28
2.1) Structure/Agency: A Prevailing Dualism in Video Game Theory 28
2.2) Demonization of the Electronic Entertainment Industry: Nihilism, Individualism and the
Controlling Power of ‘The Screen’ 30
2.3) Challenging Nihilism: Individualism and the Controlling Power of The Screen 36
2.3.1) Challenging Nihilism: Individualism 36
2.3.2) Challenging Nihilism: The Controlling Power of The Screen 41
2.4) Towards a Lifeworld Analysis of Video Games and Video Gaming 44
2.4.1) Constructing a Lifeworld Analysis of Video Games and Video Gaming 48
2.5) Structure of the Thesis 52

Chapter 3: Play a Historical Evolution – From Epic Contests & Cultic Games to Globalised
Sports and Video Games 56
3.1) Play and Contest in Classical Antiquity: Rituals and Cultic Games 59
3.2) Play and Contest in Europe, From Folk Sports to Association Football 62
3.3) Play and Contest in an Age of Globalisation 72
3.4) Globalised Play: Video games an Organised Sport in the Domestic Environment 73

Chapter 4: Video games and video gaming - a ‘System of Provision’ 84
4.1) Size and Structure: A Quantitative Analysis 87
4.2) Qualitative Analysis of a Historical Evolution 102
4.3) Marketing and Sales: Networks and Social Relations 111
4.4) An Enduring Culture of Masculinity: Linking Production and Consumption in the Video
Game Lifeworld 113
4.5) Utilising the SOP as a Foundation for Further Research into the Video Game
Lifeworld 121
5

Chapter 5: From Audience to Agent - Representing and Enacting Masculinity in the Video
Game Lifeworld 123
5.1) Cinematic Representations of Men and Masculinity 131
5.2) Representational Strategies: Aspiration Masculinity in Mainstream Video Games 139
5.3) Content Analysis: Theory, Exemplar and Methods 144
5.4) Content Analysis: Call of Duty Black Ops 146
5.4.1) Explicit Plot of Call of Duty Black Ops: A Soldier’s Story 151
5.4.2) Implicit Plot of Call of Duty Black Ops: Masculinity Lost and Found 154
5.5) Beyond Film Theory: Agency and the Performance of Masculinity 159

Chapter 6: From Agent to Team Mate–Embodiment, Performance and Skill Development 168
6.1) Developing a Phenomenological Analysis of Video Games and Video Gaming 169
6.2) Case Study 1 – Game: Need for Speed Hot Pursuit 173
6.2.1) The Race 179
6.3) Case Study 2 – Game: Call of Duty Black Ops 183
6.4) Analysis and Interpretation of Embodiment in the Pursuit of Video Gaming 188
6.5) Embodiment and Skill Development: Background and Rationale 191
6.6) The Skill Development Process 196
6.7) Analysis and Interpretation of the Skill Development Process 204
6.8) Embodied Practices Amongst a Masculine Gaming Community 208
6.9) An Enduring Culture of Masculinity and The Continuing Exclusion of Women From
Competitive, Organised Social Play 210

Chapter 7:The Career of an Online Video Gamer: Training, Teamwork, Competitive Play 217
7.1) Lone’ gaming and Organised Play 220
7.2) The Training Ground: Call of Duty 223
7.3) The Training Ground: EVE Online 225
7.4) Online Training Guides for Team and Competitive Play 230
7.5) Peer Led Training Regimes, Team Play and Social Cohesion 235
7.6) YouTube Videos: Totemic Performance, Potlatch and Social Cohesion 241
7.7) Totemic Performance and Social Cohesion 245
7.8) THE EVENT: An EVE Online Mission - Planning, Preparation, Combat and Teamwork 246
6

Chapter 8: Fan communities: Social Cohesion, Consumer Behaviour and Sales 253
8.1) Neo-Marxism: Traditional Manufacturing and Development in the Production of Video
Games 256
8.1.1) Neo-Marxism: Corporate Immaterial Labour and the Video Game Industry 257
8.1.2) Neo-Marxism: Fan Culture and the Immaterial Labour of Video Game Fans 260
8.2) Towards an Alternative analysis of Fandom in the Video Game Lifeworld 262
8.2.1) Video Gaming: A Complex Lifeworld Where Consumption meets Production 263
8.2.2) Football and Fan Communities: Exemplifying a Complex, Symbiotic and
Mutually Rewarding Relationship 277
8.2.3) The Video Game Industry and Fan Culture: A Mutually Rewarding Relationship
of Participation, Rituals, Effervescence and Community 270
8.2.4) Hype, Social Cohesion and Sales: a Symbiotic Relationship 272

Chapter 9: Multisensory Participation: Agency, Performance, Sociality and Community 285

Glossary of Terms 298

Games List 300

Film References 306

Literature References 307
7

List and Index of Tables

Fig 1: Video game and console market size, 2006 – 2010 89

Fig 2: Money spent on video games in millions (UK) 90

Fig 3: Video gamers by platform (UK) 91

Fig 4: Sales trends by product – DVDs, music, computer games 95

Fig 5: Google trends – consumer interest by product 95

Fig 6: Numbers of active gamers (UK) 96

Fig 7: Time spent on games (UK) 97

Fig 8: Active players and payers (Global) 97

Fig 9: Video game ownership by gender, age and socio-economic status 98
8

Chapter 1: Introduction

It’s the winter of 2008, the middle of a night, and I am half way through a night shift. As
well as working here (at a well known supermarket) to pay the bills, for the last 4 years I have
also been paying my way through university – my undergraduate years are complete and my
masters is going well. At this point in my studies I have two key sociological and academic
interests – contemporary social theory (particularly Baudrillard) and different sociological
and psychological perspectives on understanding addiction - interests which I intend to focus
on for my upcoming masters dissertation. That night, like all the others, we (all the smokers)
are sat outside smoking chatting and generally passing the time. Amongst this group of
workers are a group of lads – aged between nineteen and thirty. For the fourth or fifth night
in a row I realise that the lads are talking enthusiastically, loudly and exuberantly about video
games – or to be precise football, women and video games. As a non video gamer much of
the conversation is beyond my comprehension – on occasions the lads discuss guilds, Orcs,
mystical lands and quests on others conversations revolve around more sinister topics such as
the delights of driving into pedestrians, visiting strip clubs, beating up prostitutes and
swearing at and belittling online opponents.

Despite my lack of knowledge of the world of video games and video gaming as a budding
sociologist I became increasingly fascinated by both the social interaction and its point of
focus. As a child and young teenager video games, or perhaps more correctly computer
games, had entered the domestic environment – my first experience was playing a game
called Blue Meanies From Outer Space on a Commodore VIC20 one Christmas. And as a
teenager, and a young adult, they had increased in exposure and popularity. However
throughout these years they had never been a part of everyday conversation, communication
or, most significantly, social interaction and social bonding. Video gaming, it occurred to me
for the first time, had become sociologically significant. And, furthermore, with a keen
interest in addiction studies I could not fail to pick up on the language ‘the lads’ used to
describe their levels of interest and immersion into the pursuit – the language of addiction.
These lads were, in their own words, totally addicted to WoW (World of Warcraft) or to GTA
(Grand Theft Auto) or to the latest racing game. However, it occurred to me that this was an
addiction like no other I had come across before. This was an addiction expressed with pride
9

and confidence – not one talked about in hushed whispers for fear of familial or professional
intervention.

Later that year having successfully completed my masters thesis at Birmingham
University I was thinking about fields of sociological significance as I considered potential
research for a PhD theses – a thesis which at the time I fully intended to focus upon
behavioural addictions in contemporary society - and of course my workplace experiences of
listening to ‘the lads’ talk about video games and video gaming came to mind. On a mission
to gain a theoretical understanding of video game addiction with the goal of developing an
original contribution to the field I began to review existing literature on the subject – both in
online journals, news articles and, of course, published academic literature. Initial
investigations revealed that, in 2008 (there has of course been great developments in
sociological analyses of video gaming in recent years – found in literature to be referred to
throughout this thesis) popular public opinion, journalistic expositions and dominant
academic scrutiny focussed primarily on the negative consequences of video games: video
game addiction and associated pathological behaviour. The tragic events of the Heath High
School shootings in West Paducah, Kentucky USA and the Columbine high school massacre
- where addiction to and pathological behaviours deriving from exposure to video games and
video gaming had been cited as causal to the tragic events that took place - by still loomed
large in the memories of academics, parents, significant others and journalists alike. This
despite the ‘Heath High School Shooting’ court case being dismissed as ‘The court held that
the defendants could not have foreseen this ''idiosyncratic'' reaction to their products, which
are, moreover, protected by the First Amendment’, and the dismissal upheld on appeal in
2002 (Liptak, 2002), and the eventual dismissal of the case brought by parents of the victims
of Columbine against the companies responsible for producing, publishing and distributing
violent video games (Ward, 2001).

My early literature review revealed that the controversy surrounding video games and
video gaming had not escaped the attention of journalists who, without substantial empirical
scrutiny, often focussed their attention on the propensity for video games and video gaming to
have a negative impact on video gamers and their behaviour. Particular attention had been
paid to their perceived influence on addictive, anti-social and pathological behaviour - thereby
10

adding to the intertextual discourse which has caused video games to be demonised and held
to account for much of the problematic behaviour exhibited by children and young adults
today. For example Wheeler (2009) wrote an article for The Sun newspaper1 (UK) stating
“World of Warcraft ‘like crack’” – a view she claimed was supported by ‘Sweden’s Youth
Care Foundation’. An article in the Guardian (UK) newspaper2 asserted that ‘Addiction to
online games is becoming more widespread among vulnerable young people, according to a
treatment centre that has begun running abstinence courses in Britain’ (Bowcott, 2009). An
article entitled ‘‘Kids are 'addicts'’ states that ‘PARENTS have been warned about the danger
of video game addiction by scientists who say it can cause depression’ citing evidence from a
study carried out in Singapore by Douglas Gentile (Daily Star3, 2011). And ‘LOGGED ON
AND SWITCHED OFF’ (Frangoul, 2010) published in The Times4 detailed the problems
faced by one teenager and his parents, and how he was eventually treated for his compulsive
video game playing in a specialist centre for addiction treatment in the UK citing Griffiths5 to
support its content (Frangoul, 2010).

Unsatisfied by the empirical scrutiny underlying these media stories I investigated the
academic works that journalists have consistently used to support their claims. Although it
was not possible to entirely dismiss these articles and approaches there was definitely more to
investigate and uncover here. Newspaper articles often referred to the work of Griffiths
(above) to support their claims. And whilst Griffiths is a firm believer in the existence of
video game addiction, and in the pathological behaviours it can induce, newspaper articles
failed to balance out their stories, and their use of Griffiths’ work, with reference to his
position that emphasises the significance, but also the rarity of video game addiction
(Griffiths, 2005(a): 360). And the work of Douglas Gentile, used in the article ‘Kids are
'addicts' (Daily Star, 2011) failed to mention that ‘The Entertainment Software Association
criticized the study and Gentile, an Iowa State University researcher, arguing that Gentile
used an unproven definition of pathological gaming and made negative interpretations of

1 The Sun is a tabloid daily newspaper published in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
2 The Guardian is a daily British national newspaper.
3 The Daily Star is a tabloid daily newspaper published in the United Kingdom.
4 The Times is a daily British national newspaper
5 Professor Mark Griffiths is (2012) Professor of Gambling Studies at Nottingham Trent University. He is an expert and
prolific writer on the subject of behavioural addictions, including video game addiction and someone to whom this thesis
will regularly refer.