Brave new World of Warcraft: a conceptual framework for active escapism

Abstract

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the phenomenon of active escapism – a unique form of experiential consumption that engages fantasy and role-play as a means of coping. In contrast with passive forms of escapism, whereby consumers act as observers (e.g. watching a movie), active escapism provides consumers with the opportunity to directly interact with mediated realities, whether constructed in a virtual space (e.g. a video game) or the real world. Design/methodology/approach Within the context of video game consumption, a conceptual framework for active escapism comprised antecedents, processes and consequences is established through literature review, depth interviews and naturalistic inquiry. Findings The findings suggest that active escapism functions as a coping mechanism when consumers are confronted with external stressors that threaten either their sense of identity or control. While other forms of emotion-focused coping relieve stress through psychological avoidance (i.e. refocusing of attention away from stressors), active escapism provides the benefits of affirmation and empowerment through projective fantasy (i.e. role-play) and presence (i.e. immersion into a mediated reality). Originality/value The conceptual framework established by this analysis gives insight into the structure of active escapism as a theoretical construct, providing a foundation for future research. Managerial implications for consumer escapism (e.g. branded in-game content) are discussed.

Videogames for Emotion Regulation: A Systematic Review

“…42 Exploring gaming motivations, several studies agree on the fact that people usually play videogames to recover from stress and negative emotions. 49,51,52 This can be regarded as the simplest way videogames can interact with players' emotions and mood, and it is the specific phenomenon investigated by mood repair. 58,59 According to the mood management perspective, 73 people select entertainment for pleasure-seeking (or stress avoidance) purposes.…”

“…: feeling inside another reality). 52 In a different context, Wood et al 53 studied the phenomenon of time loss among videogame players. Indeed, the strong engagement in videogaming often leads to not acknowledging time passing.…”

Feasibility, acceptability and clinical implementation of an Immersive Virtual Reality intervention to address psychological wellbeing in children and adolescents with cancer

“…As evident in this study, an exciting VR application that is particularly suited to inpatient oncology settings are virtual excursions or adventures that provide an antidote to hospital isolation, through "the feeling of having gone somewhere". The notion of intentional escape into an Immersive medium for fun or imaginative play has previously been explored among VR gamers in nonill populations, showing VR provides a means for coping with external stressors (Kuo, 2016).…”

Mapping the extended frontiers of escapism: binge-watching and hyperdiegetic exploration

“…This phenomenon closely relates to the concept of narrative transportation, conceptualised as a process by which 'the consumer actively seeks to be taken away from one's everyday life into different narrative worlds, where one could experience a different self' (Batat & Wohlfeil, 2009, p. 372). Previously, Kuo et al (2016) have suggested that narrative transportation, while achieving captivation, ultimately lacks opportunity for true interactivity, thereby positioning this phenomenon as a passive form of escapism. We agree that while bingewatching certainly does lack potential for genuine presence and influence over onscreen activities, classifying the narrative transportation involved in prolonged binge activities as unconditionally passive becomes problematic.…”

“…Through a micro-ethnographic engagement with consumers' binge-watching experiences of the Netflix series House of Cards, our videography problematises invoking clear distinctions between 'active' and 'passive' categorisations of escapism (see Kokho Sit & Birch, 2014;Kuo, Lutz, & Hiler, 2016). We theorise an ambivalence characterised by consumers' sustained exposure to these imaginary playgrounds, which are based on a stable and coherent possibility of spaces and events, and are free to be subjectively interacted with and consumed both within and around the actual practice of bingewatching.…”