Online game playing as a political mobilizer: Gamers’ communication environment

To illuminate gamers’ political participation in democratic citizenship, I examined the prosocial role of online gaming and gamers’ political action through the concept of gamers’ communicative ecology, using an online survey of Korean adult gamers (N = 1,362) and a path analysis model. I found that gamers participated not only because of their personal interest in the gaming world, but also to engage in real politics. The results showed that (a) augmented reality game playing had a unique mobilization role; (b) exposure to game news via in-game news sources played an important role in political participation; (c) community involvement and, regardless of the subject matter, game discussion, were critical indicators of participatory behavior; and (d) culturally constructed shared understandings (affective ties), and sense of community belonging fostered participation. Political and theoretical implications are discussed.