Social tribe culture case study: geocaching game Online publication date: Mon, 26-Jan-2015
by Pirita Ihamäki
International Journal of Web Based Communities (IJWBC), Vol. 11, No. 1, 2015
Abstract: Technological changes have affected functioning of communities and understandings of communality. Technological changes have brought communality and its meanings, such as tribes, to researchers' focus [Heinonen, (2008), pp.13-15]. Geocachers belong to a world wide virtual gaming community, sharing a mutual interest and its cultural meaning. This research is a small case study and focuses on geocaching social tribe culture created by users and communication tools between geocachers. This study approaches the subject matter from the angle of digital culture and game research field. This study used interaction analysis to inform ethnographic exploration of the geocaching game and tries to understand their tribe culture and mediated-communication between players. As a result describe digitally supported meeting places of social tribe culture of geocaching game, like virtual villages, discussion forums and communities. Conclusions present social tribe geocachers profile classification.
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