Renegade Gaming: Practices Surrounding Social Use of the Nintendo DS Handheld Gaming System

Author: Christine Szentgyorgyi, Michael Terry & Edward Lank

Summary:
This paper is a qualitative study investigating the collocated multiplayer gaming practices of Nintendo DS owners. It tries to answer question like who people play with, under what circumstances, and for what reasons in the context multiplayer gaming with DS.

Renegade gaming- 3 rules to play - appropriateness with respect to the location, degree to which the non player would get affected and personal image.

Gaming Goals:
In this study, subjects reported gaming for the following purposes:To pass time,To learn or keep one’s mind “sharp”,To be social and To engage in competitive play.

Social gaming: Engaging in multi-player games seen better than trash talking
Coordinated game plays : this happens less , more likely among group of friends with gud logistics .
Adhoc gaming: Involves including strangers in the game . Awkwardness in approaching. Location plays an influential part in this. Places meant for gaming makes it easy to interact with strangers.

DS multiplayer is considered to be less social, with three main factors contributing to the difference: the lack of a shared display, the reduced potential for spectators, and the closed nature of the gameplay experience
The ability to attach a large screen to DS can help could enhance the social experience surrounding group gameplay.

Discussion:
I dont have much to comment about this paper. Its altogether a good survey. It throws light on how gamers socialize , locations where games are played, intentions behind playing games, effect of screen size on socializing, ....