"I never gave up" : engagement with playable characters and esports players of Overwatch
Välisalo, T., & Ruotsalainen, M. (2019). "I never gave up" : engagement with playable characters and esports players of Overwatch. In FDG '19 : Proceedings of the International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games (Article 40). ACM. https://doi.org/10.1145/3337722.3337769
Date
2019Discipline
Nykykulttuurin tutkimusHyvinvoinnin tutkimuksen yhteisöContemporary CultureSchool of WellbeingCopyright
© 2019 ACM
Esports phenomena have grown rapidly in recent years, and so has research on the topic. Some of the research has also addressed esports fandom (see e.g. Taylor 2012). Nevertheless, studies comparing and contrasting how players and fans engage with the game and the esports based on that game are scarce. This study compares and contrasts how players and fans engage with playable game characters and esports players. The paper draws on previous research in fan studies, sports fandom and esports to examine the relationships of players and fans of the videogame Overwatch (Blizzard Entertainment 2016) with the fictional heroes of the game as well as with their favorite professional players in the newly started Overwatch League. We analyse how these relationships are articulated by fans and players, and pay attention to emerging similarities and differences.
The findings show that personality is deemed important for engagement with both, game characters and esports players. In addition, ge
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ACMParent publication ISBN
978-1-4503-7217-6Conference
International Conference on the Foundations of Digital GamesIs part of publication
FDG '19 : Proceedings of the International Conference on the Foundations of Digital GamesKeywords
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https://converis.jyu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/32724793
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Research Council of FinlandFunding program(s)
Centre of Excellence, AoFAdditional information about funding
This research was supported by the Academy of Finland project Centre of Excellence in Game Culture Studies (CoE-GameCult, 312397).License
Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as In Copyright