The virtual world I conducted my participant observation on was Roblox. Roblox can be described as an immersive user-generated online gaming platform and game creating system. On this platform users are able to create, share, and play/experience the virtual worlds generated by other users. My interest in this platform lies in the question: How does one form a community on online platforms? This question is quite broad and is intended to form the foundation for a more specific research project with the purpose of answering the question: how do communities form on gaming platforms and arcades that showcases a wide array of single user (in that they do not require teamwork) games?

Roblox facilitates the forming of communities in three ways: chat boxes, team focused games, and the ability make friends via friend requests. I believe the answer to the question lies in the immensity of the platform. While an argument can be made that the numerous games can facilitate isolation because users will always have something new to play, I propose that there are so many games to play that it can get lonely spending hours isolated online. This isolation provides the incentive for community building. I believe this can be seen in the willingness to help other users. During my participant observation, I embraced the role of newbie and reached out to the other players for help. While there were varying amounts of engagement between the games, in every game I was able to ask for help and get a response. Some users went as far as guiding me through aspects of the game that I had not even known to ask about. In one game, I was invited to a party where I played connect four with a group of people. I can see how interactions such as these, if sustained, can lead to the formation of communities.

This is an example of me asking for help in one of the games that lacks a tutorial.

However, there are limitations to this theory. Often times the more experienced users only interact with users of equal or similar expertise. As a result, I believe a higher degree of expertise and investment into Roblox is needed for future participant observation as experienced users can provide better insight into the culture of Roblox. Also, I noticed that while users were willing to help, that was the extent of our interactions. In games where there were a lot of activity in the chat, it was only between more experienced players and the content of their interactions did not make sense to me due to my lack of experience. In one instance, I saw that players who were high on leadership boards were getting messages directed at them asking them to accept friend requests and asking them to join different game servers. The conclusion I drew from this was that it takes a certain level of expertise to be invited and included in the communication aspect of Roblox. In the future, perhaps it may be better if someone continuing this research would invest in Roblox to see how the interactions would be different.

This is from a party created for newbies by an experience player. The owner is a very experienced player and makes it clear that he does not want friend requests from the users in attendance.

Additionally, I believe the limited forms of communication built on the Roblox’s platform distorts the picture of the level and nature of communication. Apropos to my participant observation, I was expressing my frustration with the lack of engagement and interaction I was receiving when my younger brother, who is an active online gamer, informed me it was because I was looking in the wrong places. He said there was a program called Discord where many online gaming communities, including Roblox communities, communicated. While I cannot speak to the nature of the communication or the ways communities are formed on this platform, I think it can be looked at as an extension of Roblox in terms of communication and should therefore be included in the research.

 

** Sorry for the quality of the photos. I struggle with technology.