My original inquiry question when I began this research project is how has online gaming developed into a public space where individuals can express feelings that they wouldn’t express in other public spaces?  My inquiry question has changed to what forms of interactions take place during online gameplay and how are these interactions seen in other forms of public space? There isn’t much change in my question but the main difference is that the first question touches on unacceptable interactions, whereas the second question seeks to analyze different forms of interactions. Also, I want to find potential causes of such interactions based on different contexts such as the players’ backgrounds, the interviewees’ backgrounds, and source articles’ contexts.

Based on my primary data, I have learned that not all interaction that takes place during gameplay is negative. Before I started my research I thought that everything I would hear would be considered transgressive in other modes of public space. After the research I noticed that, in a sense, there was cooperative gameplay. I explored this by playing in the games and observing the interactions within team-based gameplay. This new knowledge has shaped the understanding of my topic by making me realize that I just can’t take a stance that projects online gameplay as being negative. I have to be able to breakdown the different types of interactions, explain how they are received in other modes of public space, and analyze the context from which these interactions may arise.

I want to find out more information on inclusion/exclusion issues. When I was undertaking my analysis I noticed that a primary reason interaction were conducted was to fit in. This can be seen as a result of social pressures. For research, I plan on looking at articles based on social pressures that individuals may face that make them feel that they have to interact in certain ways.

I’m seeing that within the research people are not always acting out how they feel. I’ve been seeing that sometimes this is being done as a means to fit in. I see this because there are some sources that talk about cooperative gameplay and the lack of negativity that is surrounded in it. I’ve also witnessed it firsthand. Now, I’m trying to see if there are social norms that the players are trying to fulfill.

I came to several of these realizations after analyzing Tuesday’s lesson. In class, we were taught of a progression of ideas toward an evolving thesis. Here are the steps I made to organize my thoughts and arrive at my own evolving thesis:

1. Category

-       Racial Slurs

-       Homophobic talk

-       Accusations

-       Insults

-       Frustration

-       Cooperative talk

-       Map related talk

-       Socializing

-       Auditory-based interactions

-       Fooling around

-       Censorship

I came up with categories of issues that I had encountered while conducting my research.

2. Themes

-       Frustration with teammates

-       Frustration with foes

-       Cooperative talk in effort to win

-       Engage in gameplay to socialize

-       Parents feel some of the talk is unacceptable

-       Easier to say what you want when you can’t see the person

-       People say things so they don’t feel like they don’t belong (exclusion)

I came up with themes that related to the categories of issues I had discovered.

3. Claims

a) Online gamers express sentiments to fit in

- Expectations for boys to win (Perry’s Article, Wypijewski’s Article)

- Issues of inclusion/exclusion (talk about roles to fit in at schools)

- Fooling Around

b) Easier to express how you feel when you don’t see the other person (use surveys)

- Auditory based interaction (Scollon & Scollon)

- Frustration with foes and teammates

* Using racial slurs and homophobic talk (primary research)

* Insults and accusations (primary research)

c) Parents feel some of the interactions are unacceptable (interviews)

- Censorship

d) Gamers play to socialize

- Cooperative talk (Ducheneaut’s Article)

- Map related talk (Wright’s Article)

I came up with four claims based on my research, categories, and themes. I also included articles and primary research that supported each argument.

4. Thesis

Online gamers express themselves not just because they feel a certain way but also to express themselves as an attempt to fit in.