Online Gaming: Exploring the Digital Discourse Communities

Welcome to my blog for UWP001v this quarter, as a person who has many hobbies such playing the music, exercising and watching movies. Among all these hobbies, I find video games the most interesting one for me. That is why I am here to dive into a topic that's not only a personal passion but also a rich field of study - online gaming. Within the area of online gaming, there are vibrant and energetic communities, each with its unique culture and language. Right now, we'll journey together through the intriguing discourse communities, which all rose from online gaming.

 

The World of Online Gaming:

 

Online gaming isn't just about playing video games; it's an ever-evolving ecosystem where players come together to compete, collaborate, and connect with each other. As an online gamer myself, I've been drawn into this dynamic world, and I'm excited to share the details about this thriving online culture.

 

Understanding Discourse Communities:

 

Before we embark on our exploration, let's briefly touch on the concept of discourse communities. As we learned, a discourse community means groups of people who share the same goal or objective get together to fight for it. In the context of online gaming, these communities are shaped by the shared love for gaming, the desire to improve themselves, as well as the willingness of discussing their unique visions of the worlds behind the games. As playstyles differ, there are many different discourse communities for many different types of games. Here are a few examples of these communities and I will briefly explain why these communities are qualified as discourse communities:

 

MMORPG：

 

MMORPG means “Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games”. This type of games usually has grand story views and some senses of immersion and substitution. While playing MMORPG series, players can participate by talking to a lot of NPCs and feel the world around them as they go different roles with different identities in the game. One of the greatest examples of MMORPG should be World Of Warcraft as it is a game with 10 more years of history. There are groups of players who achieve some kind of social bonds with each other while playing the game, In MMORPG games, there are organizations served as in-game platforms for people to communicate using chat or voice chat. These organizations are called guilds. People in the same guilds often share the progress they make or help answer new members’ questions and help them get used to playing the game.

                                                                    picture of me playing world of warcraft

 In the MMORPG guilds, players can develop their unique slang. Words like "Tank," and "DPS" have specific meanings within these communities. For instance,“Tank” may refer to players that take damage from enemies as leaders while “DPS” does damage to enemies as team core. Slang for world of warcraft may sound weird for people who have never played MMORPG. However, as a type of shared language for MMORPG players, slang again serve as evidence to prove itself as defining feature of discourse communities.

                                                               picture of world of warcraft guild members

 

 eSports teams and competitions

 

The world of professional gaming is a prime example of a discourse community. As nowadays eSports are considered formal sports and are even included in the official Asia games. Different eSports teams engage and have their own strategies, and sponsors. They usually use social media platforms and online forums to communicate, advertise and strategize eSports. These teams have their own codes of conduct, often emphasizing professionalism and teamwork. For example, one of the most famous games Overwatch has its own competitive tournament Overwatch League On social media, eSports teams discuss their training schedules, tactics, and game analysis in dedicated online spaces. 

                                                                         Picture of playing overwatch

eSports teams with abundant fund will also hire psychological counselor and fitness coach to ensure high quality of the team members’ health conditions. Behind all these efforts, the common goal of every eSports team is simply, which is to win championship in tournaments. While the competitions and gaming series are going on, streamers usually tend to have more viewers. Some eSport teams decide to recruit members just to let them stream on platforms such as Twitch.tv. for advertisement. These gamers communicate with different people using slang for specific games as they live stream their gameplay.

                                    

                                                                         Overwatch league tournament

 

Online Gaming Forums:

 

Aside from streaming platforms, there are general gaming forums, such as Reddit. These hubs aim at letting gamers discuss a wide range of gaming topics freely. With unique language, jokes, and memes come from gamers, gaming forums have become vibrant discourse communities. The humor and shared understanding of many posts create a sense of belonging and identity within the gaming discourse community. As a member of the gaming community, I especially feel the warm welcome of many gamers and I always look forward to chatting with them through these online platforms.

 

What to Expect in Future Posts:

 

In the coming weeks, I'll go deeper into each of these discourse communities, sharing personal experiences, interviewing fellow gamers, and exploring the online gaming interactions. I'll also provide insights on the ever-changing landscape of online gaming and its impact on culture and society.