Situating Productive Play: Online Gaming Practices and Guanxi in China

Abstract

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).

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“…Our use of the neoliberal framework in this context is applicable because both guilds studied were comprised of North American players. However, it is possible that differences in offline culture could contribute to differences in online behaviors [20,27]. Though the present study is not comparative, it offers important insights regarding the effects of offline culture on online practices.…”

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“…Areas of investigation include observing how pervasive and ubiquitous technologies gain new forms and uses when transported to new places (e.g. [15]). Significant theoretical questions have been raised about how transnationals appropriate technology, and the interplay of new technologies with mobility, hybridity, identity, culture, and local-global interconnectedness [24].…”