This document summarizes Cameron Dufour's chapter on gaming, which breaks gaming down into 5 genres: Killing Time (messing around), Hanging Out, Recreational Gaming, Organizing and Mobilizing, and Augmented Gaming. Killing Time involves casual mobile games played to pass time. Hanging Out is social and bridges differences, like families gaming together. Recreational Gaming is interest-driven and competitive. Organizing and Mobilizing focuses on teamwork through clans and competitions. Augmented Gaming includes game guides, modifications, and fan communities that expand gaming experiences. Overall, the chapter argues against common views of gaming as antisocial, showing how it facilitates social connections across

1. Chapter 5: Gaming
Cameron Dufour
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-57570456-1/finer-details-about-playstation-4s-dualshock-4-controller-eye-
camera/

2. In chapter 5, Gaming is broken into 5
sections that are categorized into either the
genres of Hanging Out, Messing Around, or
Geeking Out.
http://www.plognark.com/?q=node/10541
Killing Time
Hanging Out
Recreational Gaming
Organizing and Mobilizing
Augmented Gaming

3. Killing Time - Messing Around
Killing Time is center around mobile gaming, or gaming to kill time
between relevant events.
Mobile devices like the Sony PSP, Nintendo DS, Gameboys, cell
phones, and laptops.
http://www.questionpro.com/sony-psp.html
http://jaxconsoledoctor.com/nintendo-ds-3ds-repairs.html

4. Killing Time caters to a younger, less experienced gamer
who is trying to fight off boredom.
This is easily identifiable in schools and computer labs where
kids frequent sites like MiniClip and Addicting Games, which
consist of either flash or shockwave filed games.
http://hothardware.com/News/Swedish-Youth-Group-Says-WOW-is-Like-Cocaine/
They are accessible to anyone with a computer and Internet
connection and do not require any prior knowledge of gaming.
They are supposed to be quick, simple, and fun. The perfect
choice for anyone trying to kill some time.

5. Surprisingly, hard-core gamers also use these little games to
kill time while they are already playing another game.
If the gamer is in a party online and is waiting for an event
within the game to happen, it isn't uncommon for them to
open a new window and play a flash game.
This mostly occurs when a gamer is playing a game like
http://my.mmosite.com/3084588/blog/item/world_of_warcraft_usurping_your_guild_leader.html
World of Warcraft or Final Fantasy and the action has come to
a halt.
Time killing games are generally seen as harmless and
casual to the public.

6. Hanging Out -
Hanging Out to Geeking Out
http://www.gizmag.com/google-engineer-builds-ultimate-lan-party-house/20833/
The hanging out genre of gaming is a friend-ship driven interest.
The gamer is engaged in the game as well as spending time with
others, even though the time is centered around game play.
Hanging Out is a social event that is done online as much as in
real life.

7. Families are one of the biggest contexts for Hanging Out
http://www.123rf.com/photo_12137507_happy-family-father-mother-and-children-playing-a-video-
game.html
35% of parents consider themselves Gamers
Among them 80% play with their children
66% say gaming brought their family closer together

8. Hanging Out bridges different forms of gaming expertise
and experience.
http://www.blackgolem.com/component/content/article/29-marketing/204-why-adult-gamers-should-be-
your-target-audience.html
As well as crossing generational and gender divides.
I personally play in a competitive clan for the game
Battlefield 3 (BF3) in which we have both male and female
members ages 15 to 45.
Everyone gets along, has a good time, and work well
together; even when giving and receiving orders during a
highly emotional, competitive match.

9. The Hanging Out genre of gaming has a vast
demographic due to the type of gaming content that is
used.
Hanging Out often
include fantasy sports
games, which has a
large audience around
the world.
http://ipad.sportsgrid.com/sportsgrid/#!/entry/50464ad2444f6789474a45e7
http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2007/09/14/oldsters-help-propel.html
http://www.starlight.org/gala2009press/
Interactive games like Dance Dance Revolution, Guitar Hero, and
most Wii games, which are meant to be fun for everyone and not
just a specific type of gamer.
These games are built around interests and social bondings that
already take place outside of the virtual world.

10. The Hanging Out aspect of gaming that takes place online
are often in gaming communities that can either be
centered around all games, on all systems (Playstation,
Xbox, and PC), or for a specific game, or types of games
like Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games
(MMORPG) or First Person Shooters (FPS).
These communities are usually called guilds, clans, or
teams.
As said earlier I play with a clan for BF3, the clan's name
is Soldiers Never Sleep.
Most games offer the option of
putting in a clan tag next to a
player's name so that other
players in game can easily
identify that you are part of a
clan and also who the other
people in the clan are.
To the left is one of my clan's graphics.
sNsclan.com
These clan tags are typically 3 to 4 letters long.
The clan tag for Soldiers Never Sleep is (sNs).
Because my clan doesn't only specialize in FPS's or only
one system, we consider ourselves a "gaming community."

11. Hanging Out games often include forms of competition
and violence, but like sports these forms of playful
violence and competition become a source of social
bonding, much like me and the friends that I have made in
sNs experience.
In later years it has become common that kids who do not play
video games at all are more likely to be socially marginalized than
those who do play games.
http://www.bruceongames.com/2008/02/09/child-psychologists-talk-video-game-sense/
This is largely due to the fact that hanging out forms of gaming
have become part of the everyday and commonplace practices of
social play for youth.

12. Recreational Gaming - Geeking Out
Recreational Gaming is much more interest-driven
then any other genre discussed before.
Recreational Gaming
is for the committed
gamer where
competitive gaming is
central.
http://picblow.com/en/img/1833
Although Recreation Gaming isn't a solitary activity, the
game itself is the focus and the reason for the social
activity experienced.
Represents the gaming practice of people gaming to
game and getting together specifically to play games that
require persistent engagement to master, and is mostly an
everyday in-home activity.

13. Recreational Gaming is pretty much a predominantly male
activity.
Again, games often include sports games, mmorpg's, and
fps's. These are games that, if committed to being skillful,
can suck up large amounts of time.
https://www.facebook.com/battlefield?ref=ts&fref=ts
Recreational Gaming develops a clear understanding of
function and structure of the game.
Committed gamers will often have an assumed
importance of expertise when discussing the game. If you
don't know what is going on, it's better not to speak up.
Recreational Gaming involve an intense emotional
investment in game practices.

14. Recreational Gaming practices provide a focus for the
development of identities of expertise, performance, and
virtuosity—an arena of practice that differs from the
demands placed on youth for academic performance.
In games you are in control of the life, what happens, and
how the character develops.
A picture of the screen when you "die" in BF3.
http://kotaku.com/5844437/battlefield-3s-oddly-browser+based-pc-beta
A large appeal of gaming is the fact that failure is not
consequential - if your character dies, there is no physical
damage done to you, nor does it have any impact on the
real world. If you die just spawn in again.
(Spawning is the reappearing of a dead player.)

15. Gaming allows the initial focus of an interest-driven social
group to develop into a friendship-driven social group.
This is important because it shows that as humans we
crave the acceptance and proximity of others, even in a
virtual world.
http://headxcutters.gamerdna.com/images/IDh1vRid/halo_mod_1-jpg
The social media aspect of gaming has allowed
relationships to be formed and maintained through the
medium of playing video games.

16. Organizing and Mobilizing
- Geeking Out while Hanging Out
This genres focus is more on playing as a team, club,
guild, or clan.
Organizing and Mobilizing is much more part of the
Geeking Out genre than any other.
These groups are
much more likely to
track of scores,
trophies, reputation
and experience
points; fairly geeky.
http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/722575/the-challenge-of-popularizing-esports-state-of-the-game/
Services like Xbox Live and Playstation Network are
designed to be competitive areas for gamers to acquire
and keep track of scores and trophies.
Gamers that take part in Organizing and Mobilizing might
have gotten involved as an evolution of recreational
gaming, or partake in both.

17. Guilds are centered around organized leadership,
responsibilities, and specialized roles when it comes to the
game play itself. You wouldn't apply to be in a guild or clan
by offering that you are a good player; you would want to
highlight the areas that you are great in and how they can
be an asset to the whole team.
Being in a clan, guild, or team often requires a
commitment in terms of time, competency, resources, and
economic capital: gear is expensive.
Skillful enough
teams can lead to a
profession in e-sports
(electronic sports
centered around
games where
different teams
compete against
each other for gear
and cash prizes).
http://www.tweaktown.com/pressrelease/7519/
zero_in_with_navy_big_game_us_pro_gamers_walshy_and_strongside_ready_to_challenge_aussie_ga
mers_at_the_2012_eb_games_expo/index.html
Social identity in these tight gaming groups often leads
to being identified as a "gamer," which in itself is positive
reinforcement; you're not going to be called a gamer if
you're not skilled in the game.

18. Organizing and Mobilizing often requires more specialized
technical resources and social networks.
This is due to the fact that gatherings are either put on by gamers
themselves or they are invited to the events put on by big-name
companies in the gaming industry.
These gatherings are called Local Area Network parties, or just
LAN parties.
Small LAN parties can form spontaneously, but larger ones often
require larger and sometimes rented spaces like conference
rooms in hotels or convention centers.
Professional LAN parties and competitive events are bigger than
a non-gamer would realize.
http://aibob.blogspot.com/2011/08/lan-party.html

19. In gaming communities the game extends to websites,
forums, guides, instant messenger programs, emails, and
even phone calls or text messages.
These groups become an organized collective action,
where the individual sacrifices their players stats for the
good of the team.
A lot of teams are based upon military ranking and often
have conduct codes carried out by the chain of command.
In my clan, sNs, we have a military ranking system, but
there is little to no commands to follow unless in a
competition.
Our clan consists of around 70 to 80 active members, with
about 15 of us belonging to "Alpha Squad," those of us in
Alpha are considered to be the most skilled and are likely
to be picked for a competitive event before others.
On my profile I have these tags so that others who look at
my profile will know where I stand in the clan.

20. Studies show that players dispositions are being created
in the virtual and real-world simultaneously, as opposed to
just in the virtual world.
Team play helps to develop effective communication,
problem solving, and social interaction.
These forms of gaming represent opportunities to
experience collective action and to exercise agency and
political will.
These forms of collective action in gaming worlds can
function as training grounds for collaborative forms of work
and social action.
http://www.sennheisercommunications.com/comm/home_en.nsf/root/about_sponsorships_teams

21. Augmented Gaming
- Geeking Out
Things that are considered augments of gaming are things
like cheats, fan sites, modifications, hacks, walk-throughs,
game guides, and various websites, blogs, and wikis.
Popular websites are:
Enjin.com - to establish your gaming community
FraggedNation.com - To set up competitive FPS matches
GameFaqs.com - for those seeking help or cheats
MP1st.com - Fan site for latest FPS news and rumors
GamePeople.co.uk - a regular gaming blog
A cheat to give pedestrians weapons in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
http://www.automation-drive.com/gta-cheat-code

22. Gaming media is everywhere, from magazines like
GameInformer to television shows like X-Play and Attack
of the Show.
Gaming media is not
limited to big budgets
however and there is a
lot of gamer generated
media.
Most game
walkthroughs, guides,
cheat lists, and
machinimas (animated
videos using
gameplay) are created
by gamers themselves
and distributed on
sites like YouTube and
GameFaqs.
http://hoganmedia.wikispaces.com/Magazine+7+-+Logo+Contrast
The rise and accessibility of the Internet has expanded
these secondary productions and information as well as
social communities.

23. The more relatable and social aspects of augmented
gaming are cheat codes and guides which tend to
circulate through peer to peer action.
Cheating and seeking guides is more under the genre of
messing around than Geeking out because they do not
require an expertise, in fact they require quite the
opposite.
Customizing and modding games have also become
very popular as the power of technology and the
knowledge gathered from others (a very social aspect of
augmented gaming) increases what users are able create.
Modding a game
is changing the
games coding to
be different and
play differently
then what it used
to.
http://www.xda-developers.com/developments/beginners-guide-to-hex-editing-game-save-modding-and-
programming/

24. A good way to think about it is like play-dough, the user
didn't create the game, but they are molding the game to
be something completely new!
Gamers who specialize in modding have created
extremely popular games that command a cult-like
following.
These are games like:
Counter-Strike - created from the main game Half Life
And
DayZ - created from the main game Arma II
<- http://massively.joystiq.com/2013/02/05/initial-
dayz-video-blog-shows-new-stand-alone-
footage/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counter-Strike ->

25. The customization of characters and levels allows the
gamer to be creative and produce things to share with
friends and fellow gamers.
This is vastly important to the gaming community because
we enjoy sharing new and exciting things with each other,
it's for the love of the games.
Customizing your character in a game is important because it
gives the player a sense of identity, your gaming name and
characters appearance is often the only thing that you are known
by so it is important to gamers to keep them as unique and fitting
to their own personality as possible. In some ways it could be
considered an extension of their lives.
http://boingboing.net/2009/12/01/your-world-of-warcra.html

26. My Conclusion to Gaming
While gaming is considered to be a waste of time and a lonely
existence by some, this chapter has proven to be quite the
opposite.
As a "recreational gamer," I can argue this. I am, and so many
others like me are, very sociable, friendly, hard-working people
whose hobby just happens to be video games.
We're not lazy, seclusive, or trying to hide from real-life like much
of society believes, we just enjoy the challenges and rewards that
games offer to their users.
Gamers take part in social events with one another, with their
friends and families, and have other interests in life that are
completely unrelated to gaming.
Gaming has become part of everyday life with the expansion of
apps and Facebook games. Almost anyone who has a
smartphone, tablet, or social networking site can be considered a
gamer.
With the rise of social networking, gaming will only grow with
popularity because the gaming industry and culture intends to find
their place in the middle of it all.
Gaming is way for people to connect and compete with one
another, much like any real-life situation.

27. All pictures have been cited from the source where I found them
online and any statistics or information gathered was done so
from Hanging Out, Messing Around, and Geeking Out
- Cameron Dufour
4/22/13