GAMERS AT

SEATTLE UNIVERSITY
NIK BOWEN
SDAD 5990

BACKGROUND

Identity

Challenges

Labels (Williams et al., 2008) (Shaw, 2011)

Academics (Burgess, Stermer, Burgess, 2012)

Motivations (Neys et al., 2014)

Advocacy of Marginalized Identities (Shaw, 2010)

Meaning Making and Story-Telling (Berger and

McDougal, 2013)

Aggression/Violence/Sexual
Harassment/Sexualization/Objectification
(Hollingdale, 2014) (Gitter et al., 2013) (Yao et al.
2010)
Prosocial Violence (Greitemeyer et al, 2012)
(Saleem, Anderson, and Gentile, 2012)

Stigma (Nauroth, 2014).

Societal Violence (Ferguson, 2015)

Stereotyping Identities (Yang et al., 2014)

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RESEARCH QUESTION
Purpose:
What are the experiences of gamer students at Seattle University and how can
they be supported?
Identity of Gamers
Experience at Seattle University
How to Support

http://www.northwestern.edu/norris/arts-and-recreation/game-room/

SITE DESCRIPTION

Student Activities - Seattle University

Bernie Liang Director of
Student Activities
Student Clubs and Organizations

Event Reservations
https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/444601614729347072/-LUtPp7J_400x400.png
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METHODOLOGY
Qualitative

Analysis

5 Individual Interviews

Transcribe

Demographic/Gamer Identity Survey

Open Reading/Listening (Cooper & Shelby, 2009)

40-55 Minute Interviews

Open Coding Twice

9 Questions

Thematic Coding

Thematic Organization

Research Reflection

Quotes

Themes

METHODOLOGY SAMPLE
Warm Up Question

Gamer Identity

Gaming at Seattle University

4. How do you define yourself as a

gamer?

5. What does leadership look like in the

video games that you play?

1. What makes your time at Seattle

University memorable?

General

2. How do you engage in the

community of Seattle University?

3. What do you enjoy about your

college experience so far?

6. How have you experienced gaming at

Seattle University?
7. How would you like to see gaming
integrated into Seattle University?

8. How do you see being a gamer fit in

with the Seattle University Mission:
Meaning Making/Self-Authorship

9. How does being a gamer shape your

identity?

SAMPLE DESCRIPTION
Demographics
4 20yo, 1 25yo
1 Female, 4 Males
4 Undergraduates, 1 Graduate
1 Filipino, 2 Asian/Taiwanese, 2 Caucasian
LGBTQ+

Variety of Majors: Humanities, Math, Physics, Education, Finance

FINDINGS
Value Community (Neys et al., 2014)
I remember my first day here, I heard some guy talking about League of Legends in his dorm room so
I knocked on the door... I instantly met more people to play with and I remember the second weekend
of school I had five people in my room and we were playing together. - Lucian

To be able to bring them together in an environment where it isnt a bunch of casuals having their
asses handed to them by the people who belong to [VIDEO GAME X] Club
No one really pays attention to the [VIDEO GAME Y] Club here... They dont know how to invite
people in. I dont know if they subconsciously dont want people to join or are just bad at it - Janna
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FINDINGS
Stigma (Neys et al., 2014)
They would say oh theyre just people on the internet, they could say anything they want, be
whoever they want, why would you care to cultivate friendships with these people? I think
because we value those face to face things, which is really ironic in this age of hyper-technology,
but we look down on those activities where it seems people are removing themselves. - Cas

Seattle University Mission Statement

Gaming gets this bad rap for instilling violence in our kids or being too misogynistic, of the
community is super toxic. [In my career] I want to be able to be the face and voice of that change
and say gaming isnt just this one thing and social justice isnt just this one thing and we can marry
the two and create really masterful experiences like Gone Home or Persona 4 - Janna
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IMPLICATIONS
Identity

Labels (Williams et al., 2008) (Shaw, 2011)

Advocacy of Marginalized Identities (Shaw,
2010)
Motivations (Neys et al., 2014)
Meaning Making and Story-Telling (Berger
and McDougal, 2013)

Challenges

Academics (Burgess, Stermer, Burgess,

2012)
Aggression/Violence/Sexual
Harassment/Sexualization/Objectificati
on (Hollingdale, 2014) (Gitter et al.,
2013) (Yao et al. 2010)
Stigma (Nauroth, 2014).
Stereotyping Identities (Yang et al.,
2014)

ACTION PLAN
Destigmatize Gaming / Acknowledge Value
Redhawk Experience

Personal Connection
Subsidize Activities

Support Gamers in Creating Community

http://us.battle.net/heroes/en/blog/15487819/heroes-at-pax-prime-2014-concludes-9-1-2014

The first tournament we hosted was co-sponsored by SEAC they let us run the operation and
they took care of all the advertising it was the busiest tournament because it had advertising I
think it would be cool if they encouraged people to start the clubs.
Encourage/Support Clubs
Equipment
Networking

REFERENCES
Berger, R. & McDougal, J. (2013) Reading videogames as (authorless) literature. Literacy, 4(3)
Burgess, S. R., Stermer, S. P., & Burgess, M. C.R. (2012) Video game playing and academic performance
in college students. College Student Jorunal, 46(2), 376-387.
Cooper, R. M., & Shelby, M. C. (2009). Organizing and preparing qualitative data. In J.
H.Schuh, Assessment methods for student affairs. (pp. 160-170). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Ferguson, C. J. (2015) Does movie or video game violence predict societal violence? It depends on what
you look at and when. Journal of Communication, 65(1), 193-212.
Gitter, S. A., Ewell, P. J., Guadagno, R. E., Stillman, T. F., & Baumeister, R. F. (2013) Virtually justifiable
homicide: The effects of prosocial contexts on the link between violent video games, aggression, and
prosocial and hostile cognition. Aggressive Behavior, 39, 346-354.
Greitemeyer, T. (2013). Effects of playing video games on perceptions of ones humanity. The Journal of
Social Psychology, 153(4), 499-514.
Greitemeyer, T., Agthe, M., Turner, R., & Gschwendtner, C. (2012) Acting prosocially reduces retaliation:
Effects of prosocial video games on aggressive behavior. European Journal of Social Psychology, 42, 23512
242.

REFERENCES
Hollingdale, J. & Greiemeyer, T. (2014) The effect of violent video games on levels of aggression. PLOS
ONE, 9(11), 1-5.
Nauroth, P., Gollwitzer, M., Bender, J., & Rothmund, T. (2014) Gamers against science: The case of the
violent video games debate. European Journal of Social Psychology, 44, 104-116.
Neys, J. L.D., Jansz, J., & Tan, Ed. S.H. (2014) Exploring persistence in gaming: The role of self
determination and social identity. Computers in Human Behavior, 37, 196-209.
Saleem, M., Anderson, C. A., & Gentile, D. A. (2012) Effects of prosocial, neutral, and violent video
games on college students affect. Aggressive Behavior, 38, 263-271.
Shaw, A. (2010) Identity, identification, and media representation in video game play: An audience
reception study (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from Penn Dissertations. (286).
Shaw, A. (2011) Do you identify as a gamer? Gender, race, sexuality, and gamer identity. New Media &
Society, 14(1), 28-44.
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REFERENCES

Yang, G. S., Huesmann, L. R., & Bushman, B. J. (2014) Effects of playing a violent video game as male
versus female avatar on subsequent aggression in male and female players.
Williams D., Yee, N., & Caplan, S. (2008) Who plays, how much, and why? Debunking the stereotypical
gamer profile. Journal of Computer-mediated Communication, 13(4), 9931018.

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QUESTIONS

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