Document Type
Article
Abstract
Based on research conducted in four locations, this article describes the social organization of the neighborhood arcade. While cognitive and neuropsychological strains of game studies describe selection of and engagement with games in terms of innate dispositions, the playing styles and social behaviors of arcade patrons suggest strongly culturally-informed motives in selecting games, potentially understood through Bourdieu's notion of habitus. Though the arcade potentially represents an open, social environment, arcade patrons erect social boundaries between hobbyist gamers and "casual" visitors who game less frequently. The games that arcade visitors select may be informed less by spatial reasoning skill or attraction/aversion to violence, for example, and more by how well games allow for social formation/insulation, or how welcoming games seem to those who do not consider themselves "gamers." The article also discusses certain design considerations that may help narrow the gap between different groups of players.
Repository Citation
Tocci, Jason. "Arcadian Rhythms: Gaming and Interaction in Social Space." Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture vol. 10, no. 2, 2010, pp. 1–16. https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/reconstruction/vol10/iss2/9