The Effect of Shame in Moderating the Gamer Identity: The Communication Ecology on Identity and Involvement

Abstract

The present study seeks to assess the determinants of gaming identity through the lens of the communication ecology model through a survey of U.S. video game players (n=184). Shame was found to moderate almost all variables, erasing the gender gap in the identification as a gamer, with the highest levels of shame also eroding the predictive power of rural living and financial investment on the gamer identity.