Playing House. An exploratory study of how long-distanced families navigate family practices through the use of online casual games

This thesis was set to explore and reconceptualize the meaning of online casual games as a tool for long-distanced social maintenance. This thesis, therefore, explored the role online casual games played in the family life of those belonging to long-distanced families- that is, families who are described as those affected by mobility. Long-distanced families have long relied on ICT tools, typically telecommunications, in order to maintain social connections across borders. There has been a lack of coverage in the family-migration field studying alternative tools for social maintenance practices. Accordingly, the argument throughout this thesis is that telecommunications alone do not do justice in capturing the sense of familyhood. Here, familyhood can be achieved through other means than talking about each other’s lives, such as playing together. Although the academic field of family gaming is still new and growing, attention has gone to the ways playing (video)games together can facilitate family education and family bonding. However, it is important for the holistic understanding of long-distanced familyhood to explore how long-distanced families navigate family practices through playing online casual games together while apart. On the basis of this research gap, the question guiding this thesis is ‘How are online casual games used and experienced as a form of doing family for long-distanced families?’. The theoretical framework of this thesis combines scholarship from the academic fields of family-migration studies and game studies. In answering the research question, this thesis followed the ways of qualitative experiments and the raw data analysed through a thematic analysis. The approach consisted of an intervention, in which respondents were asked to play one or multiple online casual games with their families, and follow-up in-depth interviews of their account and reflection. On the basis of the thematic analysis, it became clear that the elements of play, casualness, and collaborative participation that was afforded by online casual games, played a pivotal part in heightening a sense of familyhood among long-distanced families. These findings highlighted an important aspect of long-distanced familyhood which is that not everyone in the family wants or can communicate through basic telecommunication channels due to certain social pressures or degrees of repetitiveness. However, the novel aspect of games in incorporating social cues for mutual and equal participation highlights the importance of creative media and game technologies in facilitating a space for non-verbal, casual and yet meaningful interactions. This thesis, therefore, extends the discourse on family gaming by offering a reconceptualization of online/long-distance family practices and the role casual games play in this family practice.