Playing Apart Together: Young People’s Online Gaming During the COVID-19 Lockdown

The COVID-19 pandemic caused countries around the world to initiate societal lockdowns, especially during the spring of 2020. This article focuses on online gaming’s role in young people’s lives during the lockdown in Denmark. Informed by a practice theoretical framework, the analyses of 35 intervie...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inYoung (Stockholm, Sweden) Vol. 29; no. 4_suppl; pp. S65 - S80
Main Authors Bengtsson, Tea T., Bom, Louise H., Fynbo, Lars
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published New Delhi, India SAGE Publications 01.09.2021
Sage Publications Ltd
Subjects
Boredom
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
Games
Internet
Pandemics
Shelter in place
Social space
Youth
COVID-19
sociability
lockdown
practice theory
gaming
temporality
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Summary:The COVID-19 pandemic caused countries around the world to initiate societal lockdowns, especially during the spring of 2020. This article focuses on online gaming’s role in young people’s lives during the lockdown in Denmark. Informed by a practice theoretical framework, the analyses of 35 interviews with young people (16–19 years) examine how gaming proved to be something to do in a situation of nothing to do. The analyses find that the young people’s gaming practices were beneficial (a) in allowing the young people to maintain a social life and (b) in providing a legitimate social space for maintaining friendships and/or coping with boredom. The findings demonstrate that young people who engage with online gaming are capable of adapting to fundamental changes to society to fulfil their social needs and aspirations, including during a pandemic.
ISSN:1103-3088
1741-3222
DOI:10.1177/11033088211032018