University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 5-2013 Cyberathletes’ Lived Experience of Video Game Tournaments Samuel Joseph Whalen [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss Part of the Sports Sciences Commons, and the Sports Studies Commons Recommended Citation Whalen, Samuel Joseph, "Cyberathletes’ Lived Experience of Video Game Tournaments. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 2013. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/1794 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Samuel Joseph Whalen entitled "Cyberathletes’ Lived Experience of Video Game Tournaments." I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in Kinesiology and Sport Studies. Craig A. Wrisberg, Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: Lars Dzikus, Jeffrey T. Fairbrother, Sandra P. Thomas Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official studentecor r ds.) Cyberathletes’ Lived Experience of Video Game Tournaments A Dissertation Presented for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree The University of Tennessee, Knoxville Samuel Joseph Whalen May 2013 ii Copyright © 2013 by Samuel Joseph Whalen All rights reserved. iii DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to my family for their constant support for this project and throughout my graduate career. Special dedication to my brothers Zach and Andrew Whalen, without whom there would have not been the groundwork for this project through countless hours playing Nintendo during our younger years. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to acknowledge people who have had a significant impact on this project and my graduate training as a whole. First, Dr. Craig Wrisberg, thank you for believing in this project and supporting me in my efforts. You encouragement and wisdom have been invaluable in my development as a graduate student and a person. I will cherish our many lunches at Panera discussing everything from football to life in general. Secondly, I would like to thank Dr. Jeff Fairbrother who taught me to be detail oriented and rigorous in research. Thank you for challenging me to always do better. I will remember “all external, all the time” for many years to come. Thirdly, I want to acknowledge Dr. Sandra Thomas who taught me about the world of existential phenomenology. This project would not exist in the way that it does without your guidance through the process. Lastly, I want to thank Dr. Lars Dzikus for showing me how to inspire a classroom and motivate students to learn more and think critically about their perceptions of sport. I am especially thankful for the words of encouragement to “become a detective” when seeking out participants for this project. I also need to thank my many friends and colleagues who have been with me through my graduate studies. To Tanya, Phil, Duncan, Taka, Greg, and Pete, thank you for listening to my ideas about video games and supporting me through the years. To Trevor Egli, special thanks for quite literally being my right hand during my proposal presentation. I also want to voice special thanks to Dr. Dan Czech who continues to serve as a role model and inspiration. My graduate career would have not been the same without the support of my friends and family. A special thanks goes to Dr. Zach Whalen for having someone to bounce ideas off of and v who is leading the way with video game studies. Thank you to Josh for your insightful ideas on the golf course. Also, thank you to my parents Paul and Rose Whalen for buying my brothers and I all those video game consoles. I must also thank my colleagues in the Department of University Housing. Thank you to Jerry Adams who constantly encouraged me to “get it done.” Thank you to Matt Varga who served as a source of friendly competition and helped me see this project through to the end. Also, I would like to give a special thanks to Holly Rodden for her consistent encouragement and support. Lastly, I want to acknowledge the phenomenology research group at UT for their assistance in the data analysis portion of this project. Your input was vital to developing the thematic structure. vi ABSTRACT Increased interest in video games has led to the emergence of competitive video game leagues and organizations known as e-Sport (Hutchins, 2008; Wagner, 2006). Much of the research on video games has focused on negative aspects of gamers’ behavior, such as aggression (Ferguson, 2007) and addiction (Kuss & Griffiths, 2012). The majority of studies have examined video game performance from a third-person perspective using video analysis (Reeves, Brown, & Laurier, 2009) or behavioral observation when examining high-level video game play (Jansz & Martens, 2005). Prior to the present study, there had been very little attention devoted to gamers’ experience of playing video games in the competitive tournament setting and presence of an evaluative audience. Research in sport psychology has demonstrated the challenges associated with performance in front of spectators (Beilock & Gray, 2007; Schmidt & Wrisberg, 2008). Thus, it might be assumed that the added presence of others at video game tournaments would create a competitive experience that is similar to that of athletes in traditional sports. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to investigate the lived experience of cyberathletes (gamers) during video game tournaments. Existential phenomenological interviews were conducted with twelve co-participants who had recently competed in a video game tournament. Qualitative analysis revealed a thematic structure consisting of three distinct contexts – video game world, tournament world, playing world – and four figural or major themes – real life event, comrades and competitors, respect and maturity, and from cutthroat to good time – that captured the essential elements of the these cyberathletes’ tournament experience. A fifth major theme – committed investment – was not immediate to the tournament experience, but contained elements that were related to the tournament setting. It was vii concluded that for the video gamers in this study, meeting and interacting other serious gamers was the most significant aspect of the tournament experience. In addition, the results revealed a number of fundamental challenges for video game tournament competitors that are similar to those confronted by athletes in most traditional sports (e.g., pre-event anxiety, distractions, and the need for competitors to maintain focus and composure under pressure). viii TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. INTRODUCTION AND PURPOSE ...................................................................................1 E-Sports................................................................................................................................2 The World of Video Gaming ...............................................................................................4 The Competitive Tournament Experience ...........................................................................8 Gender and Race ................................................................................................................10 Sport Psychology and High-Level Video Gamers .............................................................12 The Negative Impact of Video Games ...............................................................................16 Existential Phenomenology and the Video Game Experience ..........................................19 Statement of the Problem ...................................................................................................22 Purpose ...............................................................................................................................23 Definitions..........................................................................................................................23 Limitations .........................................................................................................................24 Delimitations ......................................................................................................................25 Significance........................................................................................................................25 II. REVIEW OF LITERATURE ............................................................................................26 Socio-cultural Aspects of Video Game Culture .................................................................26 Performance Considerations Including the Development of Expertise .............................39 Existential Phenomenology as a Research Method ...........................................................47 III. METHODS AND PROCEDURES....................................................................................56 Exploring Researcher Bias .................................................................................................56