Digital Dialogues

The aim of this thesis is to explore the nature of non-game related conversations, that players engage in within multiplayer online games. Prior research has found that multiplayer online games do spark conversations amongst players, nevertheless researchers have not delved into the conversation topics that players engage in specifically. Thus, this thesis extends existing academic papers by addressing the following research question: “What non-game-related conversations do players engage in, within the context of online multiplayer games, and how do game features related to informal mediated communication contribute to molding these conversations?” Ten semi-structured interviews were conducted with young men who actively game and have experience with social interactions in these games, whether with strangers, online friends, and real-life friends. The findings revealed that online games would not be engaging without the ability to converse with other gamers. The conversation topics were categorized into non-game related conversations and avoided conversations. For non-game related conversations, all interviewees shared similar conversation topics, including intimate/ personal conversations, life updates, relationships, jokes/ memes, country of origin, bullying, movies/ shows, hobbies/ occupation, mental health/ pandemic, and cars. While avoided conversations still occur within intimate/ personal conversations. Furthermore, the results indicated that players interact differently, depending on whether they are gaming with people they know or with strangers. Most players do prefer to open up and engage in personal conversations with friends rather than strangers, though there are exceptions. For instance, intimate/ personal conversations can be shared amongst strangers due to the anonymity and lack of judgement, making online games a safe space to open up. However, despite the anonymity and lack of judgement, most interviewees agreed that they tend to avoid personal/ intimate topics, such as family issues and personal information, with strangers. These types of conversations mostly occur amongst friends, where there is already a sense of familiarity and comfort. Open and intimate conversations often occur amongst friends during downtime, as players have gaps in gameplay to communicate. Additionally, since there is already a base of familiarity and comfort, players also engage in less serious conversations, such as sharing jokes and memes, during these downtimes. Lastly, future research should consider the experiences of women, as well as gamers from more diverse cultural backgrounds, as they may provide further insights to this study.