When 'I' becomes 'we': Exploring the impacts of social identity in digital gaming

Wednesday, 31 October 2018 , 4pm

Linda K. Kaye, Department of Psychology, Edge Hill University

Social identity theory (SIT) has been widely applied to many contexts as a way of understanding group identity and the associated impacts. However, less research has explored the relevance of SIT to digital gaming. This talk will outline recent studies which have sought to establish a number of psychosocial as well as behavioural outcomes associated with gaming identity across a number of gaming domains. This consists studies which have found how positive identity to gaming groups is associated with positive aspects of well-being. Additionally, other research is introduced which shows how gamer identity operates under stigmatised settings, specifically for female players and how this may relate to aspects of gaming self-perceptions and performance. Taken together, gamer identity appears to be a positive factor, which can go some way to support players on a psychological level as well as protect against stereotypes and discrimination in gaming domains.

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