Classmate interview essay

Abstract

In this essay, I studied another subculture, gaming, by asking an insider of the subculture questions and taking notes to base off my analysis. In this essay I wasn’t a complete outsider, but I was writing this essay mainly for outsiders.

 

All my life I have been interested in gaming and have played video games here and there growing up. I have considered myself an insider but I don’t know too much about it so I was interested in getting a new perspective and to learn new things about gaming that I hadn’t known before. My interview with my classmate Nicholas. I interviewed this person because my professor assigned my interviewee, regardless I was excited to do an interview about the topic he chose. The process of doing the interview was actually quite difficult. The first interview we had was in class, but I arrived late because of subway delays. Once I arrived at class we began the interview, and finished it quite quickly. Before the interview I had my own preconceived thoughts about the gaming subculture because to a certain extent I am part of the subculture. I was still intrigued however, by getting someone else’s perspective of the subculture compared to my own perspective. I felt that I could possibly learn something about other people’s experience with gaming. The second interview was done over zoom. The second interview was supposed to be in class but I couldn’t get there because of subway delays again. The interview on zoom was different than the one in person because you don’t get the chance to see facial expressions and body language, but it felt more relaxed and I felt that I could understand the answers more clearly because it was a quieter environment. Nicholas’ body language in class changed throughout the interview. At certain points I noticed that he was animated and other times he seemed unsure about certain questions. I assumed that he was surprised by some of  the questions and he hadn’t really actively thought about them before. 

In the first interview I first asked about what the people around him or his family think of him gaming. I asked this question because I had always heard that many parents or people who don’t play video games usually don’t approve of it or had misconceptions about it. Nicholas says that his mother approves of it, and he is usually isolated from people around him when he plays video games so it doesn’t bother them. He says that many people have misconceptions about gaming in general. The main misconception being its effect on one’s health. Gaming can have great health benefits even for younger kids. It can improve one’s creativity, focus, determination, and decision making skills. He says that they can possibly reduce stress for some people, but for others it can worsen their mood. An important thing for gaming is moderation. Moderation is important because gaming can get in the way of some people’s lives. If videogames are not moderated carefully it can cause procrastination, and ruin someone’s productivity and drive. Nicholas shares a story about one of his friends who doesn’t eat for almost an entire day because he was preoccupied with gaming and wasn’t moderating the time he was playing video games. I also asked about what effects gaming can have on people socially. I wanted to know more about that because I have always seen people play video games with their friends. Nicholas told me that he has actually met two of his friends through gaming. Gaming is a way for him to communicate with his friends, and it is a form of entertainment that they can enjoy together. The gaming subculture is a very social place where people are almost forced to communicate. Nicholas says that in certain situations people are placed in a chat where they can communicate with each other. Because gaming is an online thing people can be different or be themselves. Just like the internet people can let loose, and there isn’t any pressure because you’ll likely never see those people again. This can create a toxic environment.

Gaming although seems to be just something that is for fun can actually be something that is taken very seriously. There is highly competitive gaming that some people actually do for a living. Games offer ways that you can play highly competitive gaming and casual gaming. It is a spectrum that people fall under where they can take it as seriously as they want. This is a way that gaming has changed over the years. Nicholas tells me a memory that he remembers, where he played video games with his cousins, and he remembers it because he played strictly for fun and didn’t take it too seriously, whereas now there is more emotion invested into video games and is taken a little more seriously. Some of the answers he gave surprised me because I had my own ideas going into the interview. Getting his answers opened up my own perspective, and I learned new information along the journey.

1st set of questions

  • How do people around you get affected by you gaming and being angry while playing? Do people in your family or around you approve/care that you are gaming.
  • Do you feel that gaming has helped you be a more social person, or helped improve your social skills, and how?
  • Have you met people through gaming and has it ever transitioned to an in person friendship?
  • Do you think that gaming has affected your productivity or drive as a person?
  • Do you ever see yourself quitting gaming or are you planning on quitting gaming in the future?
  • What ways has gaming helped you or hurt you?
  • What other parts of the gaming subculture is there aside from playing video games?

2nd set of questions

  • What are some misconceptions about gaming?
  • How competitive can gaming be? How serious do people take gaming?
  • Since gaming is very social, how does meeting someone through gaming happen? How exactly did you meet the people you’ve met?
  • How do people change when they play video games? What are people like when they play video games?
  • How has gaming changed or evolved over time?
  • Do you have any specific memories or stories related to gaming you are willing to share?

Reflection: My goal while writing this essay was to educate outsiders of the gaming subculture and potentially people who want to be part of the gaming community. I think this essay’s purpose is to give a perspective of someone who is part of the gaming community to an outsider, or to give a new perspective to an insider. The process of writing the essay was a long one. In trying to do the interviews, there were issues that stemmed from subway delays so getting the information for the essay was quite difficult. I felt like I learned a lot from the questions that I asked, but coming up with impactful questions took more time than I expected. Writing the essay felt natural because I felt that I knew a good amount of information on the topic. Some decisions I faced were what information to include in the essay because there was a lot I could mention but I decided on what is the most relevant and what information I could connect together. Something I learned about myself was that as an insider I wouldn’t think about the things that I asked about and they would feel very normal and natural. I enjoyed this assignment because I got to learn more about a subculture and I was challenged to answer about my own subculture. I often don’t think about what I do as a part of my routine so it was good to understand the purpose and the benefit of what I do from day to day. Moving forward I want to improve on the way I introduce my essay. The advice that helped me write this essay was to talk about the process of the interview and what happened leading up to the interview. Writing this essay has helped me with multiple course learning outcomes. An example is the 8th one being, “strengthen your source use practices”. This essay helped me achieve that because I had to rely on the sources to write my essay. I couldn’t use any other prior knowledge, so this essay strengthened my source usage.

                         Nicholas’ gaming setup

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