Situating productive play: Online gaming practices and Guanxi in China

Silvia Lindtner, Scott Mainwaring, Paul Dourish, Yang Wang

Research output: Chapter in Book/Entry/PoemConference contribution

17 Scopus citations

Abstract

Economic activities in and around online gaming in China are often correlated in the West with practices of gold farming, or selling in-game currency to players for real money in online games. What can we learn about online gaming in China and about online gaming and online sociality more broadly when we look at economic and other "pragmatic" practices through which online gaming becomes meaningful to players? In this paper, we present findings from an ethnographic study of online gaming in China's urban Internet cafes to discuss implications for game design, and HCI design more broadly. Considering the ties between socio-economic practices, development of trust and culturally situated imaginings of self-hood and otherness, brings to the fore how online gaming in and of itself constitutes the means for practical achievements in day-to-day management of guanxi (social connection).

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationHuman-Computer Interaction - INTERACT 2009 - 12th IFIP TC 13 International Conference, Proceedings
Pages328-341
Number of pages14
EditionPART 1
DOIs
StatePublished - 2009
Externally publishedYes
Event12th IFIP TC 13 International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction, INTERACT 2009 - Uppsala, Sweden
Duration: Aug 24 2009Aug 28 2009

Publication series

NameLecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)
NumberPART 1
Volume5726 LNCS
ISSN (Print)0302-9743
ISSN (Electronic)1611-3349

Other

Other12th IFIP TC 13 International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction, INTERACT 2009
Country/TerritorySweden
CityUppsala
Period8/24/098/28/09

Keywords

  • China
  • Guanxi
  • Online game
  • Productive play
  • Serious gaming

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Theoretical Computer Science
  • General Computer Science

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Situating productive play: Online gaming practices and Guanxi in China'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this