Discourse analysis is not about what is said, but about how it is said. The relationship between interviewer and interviewee tries to reach some form of a level of trust where the person asking the questions is more concerned about body language, emotions and verbal specifics, and the person giving answers does not have to worry about not providing every little detail of his or her illness. In my opinion, we practice this kind of communication every day – subconsciously, at least. The difficult task is to actually carry this ability to a conscious level, and thus practice it actively.
A study by Wan and Chiou tried to identify reasons for online gaming addiction among Taiwanese adolescents. Ten participants were interviewed individually following four general points: surface motivations, source motivations, self-conception, and interpersonal relationships in real life. The important part was not the information they gave about how many hours they spent playing online games, but how they expressed their intentions and reasons for playing.
For instance, without online games life would become boring and lack excitement. Virtual realms seemed to give the players a social life, a place to interact with others, to exchange ideas. Feeling out of place in real life, online games provided an environment where the participants felt to be in control. While facing different challenges, players also felt relaxed and unstressed – something I never experienced in my short gaming life when facing an army of enemies.
Our perception of online gaming – or gaming in general, for that matter – seems to differ from what players witness, experience and feel. It is therefore important to actually concern ourselves with the motivations behind extensive gaming, to work on behavioural issues and social insecurity, stress and the lack of coping mechanisms in order to actively help people overcome their addiction.
(2006) Why are adolescents addicted to online gaming? An interview study in Taiwan. Cyberpsychol Behav 9: 762–766.
