Concept

This commentary unpacks the conceptual role of “gamer” in the practice of digital ethnography. The gamer as a point of ethnographic inquiry is important to note in the processual aspects of conducting research on game communities. As signifiers of a broader, deeper culture of play, the gamer acts as a nucleus for study, particularly as it is this specific role that is subject to an inordinate degree of representations, stereotyping, and marginalization. The example of online game culture in Korea is a particularly vivid example of how examining the gamer as an ethnographic subject lends itself to nuance, interpretation, delight, and surprise in dynamic environments.