An analysis on how Gen Z socializes & interacts through video games
Historically, video games have been perceived to be an inherently antisocial experience to be conducted in isolation. Contrary to popular belief, video games were created to be inherently social experiences and over the years they have evolved to be both social and isolated experiences to adapt to their consumers. The evolution of technology has enabled multiple generations to interact with the medium of video games in dramatically different ways. One of the biggest contributors is the creation of the internet which paved the way for online gaming. The shift from local single player games to local multiplayer games to online multiplayer games has fundamentally altered the way that people socialize with each other. This literature review will analyze the groups that were affected by this shift in the medium the most (millennials and Gen Z) and how the two groups interact and socialize with each other through the medium of video games as technology has evolved.
Note: This was a paper that I wrote for one of my classes. I did not get a great grade on this but I enjoyed writing it and spent a lot of time on it. Hope someone gets enjoyment out of it!
The History & Evolution of Multiplayer Video Games
In order to fully understand the context of this article, it is important to understand the evolution of video game technology. Some of the first multiplayer video games ever created were multiplayer games with Tennis For Two in 1958 and Pong in 1972. These games were created with the intention of a shared social experience. From here into the 70s and 80s, many arcade games were created as shared multiplayer experiences. Video games entered the households with the creation and rising popularity of home consoles in the late 80s and early 90s such as the Atari, Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) and Playstation. Online multiplayer gaming became popularized in the late 90s and has been rapidly increasing in popularity to become one of the primary forms of playing video games ever since.
How Millennials Interacted With Video Games
The current age range of Millennials (as of 2022) is estimated to be anywhere from 26–41 years old (meaning they were born anywhere from 1981 to 1996). Depending on when they were born, millennials were able to witness a large spread of technological advancements including the creation of video game consoles, the height of arcade popularity and even the early days of online multiplayer. This time period included some of the most rapid technological advances we’ve ever had in history.
Throughout the 80s and early 90s, high-end computer technology was too expensive to be widely adopted in households so many millennials had to resort to the arcades to play video games. This is an important factor to consider in relation to this subject as the arcade and, by extension, malls and movie theaters were dedicated spaces for socializing at the time which made gaming a relatively acceptable social activity.
By the time older millennials became teenagers and young adults in the 90s, home console and PC gaming had risen in popularity and the early days of online gaming was accessible and affordable for the average consumer. These factors saw the biggest divide in how millennials interacted with the medium of video games in regards to socialization. Because consumers were able to enjoy video games in the comfort of their own homes during this period, game developers were able to create more lengthy, solo gaming experiences. This is where the perception that gaming is an antisocial experience rose in popularity. With the technology of home gaming consoles slowly catching up to the quality and experience of arcade games, arcades slowly began to lose popularity. Although this advancement heavily reduced the social aspect of gaming, the rise of PC and console gaming allowed for mobility which meant that people could invite others to their houses or a designated space to play multiplayer games with each other. Some of these spaces included LAN parties in the late 90s and early 2000s.
LAN parties consisted of attendees bringing their PCs and connecting them together to play games together. Because of the effort needed to coordinate and host these events, they were primarily attended by people who were highly competitive and dedicated to their games. Because of this, LAN parties failed to gain traction by the wide majority of people who played video games and catered to a niche audience of players. As a result of the convenience of online gaming, LAN parties became more of a hassle and a novelty which also slowly phased out another form of socialization.
As time and technology advanced, many video game companies began to produce more lengthy single player experiences such as JRPGs and platformers. This contributed to the rise in the perception of gaming primarily being an isolated experience (which was now partly true). Although there were many local multiplayer games and arcade games being made, multiplayer experiences and the social aspects that came with it were slowly becoming uncommon.
Arcades saw what could be considered to be the height of their popularity which also saw the golden age of the fighting game genre. Fighting games (and ‘shoot em ups’) are the genres that were hit the hardest by the decline in arcade popularity (but that’s another article for another day).
By the time the mid to late 2000s came about the majority of millennials were entering their young adult and adult years. As a result, many millennials felt that they either did not have time to play video games or just grew out of it.
The Generational Gap
This decline in multiplayer (social) experiences was alleviated with the 6th generation of consoles in the early 2000s. The 6th generation of consoles were the first to have online multiplayer which prompted video game developers to create more of these multiplayer experiences.
By the time the 7th generation of gaming consoles were released in 2005, online multiplayer had become the standard of the video game industry and this experience was widely adopted by consumers. This was also around the time when Gen Z became old enough to operate these games on their own.
How Gen Z Interacts With Video Games
The current age range of Gen Z as of 2022 is estimated to be anywhere from 10–25 years old (meaning they were born anywhere from 1997 to 2012). This time period also saw a rapid progression of technological advancements but, more importantly, society’s perception and utilization of technology shifted during this period. This was also the first generation to be born and raised on this new technology which has had lasting effects on children’s development.
By the early 2000s video games gained a notorious reputation for being an antisocial activity and a contributor to violent behavior by older generations. Media painted many tragedies that took place around that time (i.e. the Columbine shooting) to be caused by violent video games. By the next decade, multiple studies and research had been conducted to show that video games have a greater positive effect on the well-being of players to disprove these claims. Alongside this research, the raised concern of video game addiction became prevalent due to children becoming reliant on technology from a young age. This has had dramatic effects on how Gen Z children have been socialized both positive and negative.
Along with children being raised on technology such as video games and mobile devices, many social spaces that were prevalent with millennial youth were slowly becoming obsolete. Arcades were no longer popular, malls slowly began to lose traffic and many parents kept their children in their homes instead of allowing them to go play in parks due to the rising fear caused by events such as 9/11. This led to many parents giving their children digital entertainment such as computers, gaming consoles and mobile devices to keep them occupied while at home.
This development in social behavior along with the rapid development accessibility of the internet led much of the youth to turn to communicating and socializing through the internet. For many this was done through online gaming. As stated before, the first console generation with full online multiplayer capabilities was the 7th generation in 2005. By this time the oldest gen-z children were around 8 years old, which is an age where children are likely to start playing video games. This was also around the time that some of the most prominent landmark online multiplayer titles such as Halo 3 (2007) and Call of Duty Modern Warfare (2007) were released. These games allowed players to play and, most importantly, verbally communicate with each other over the internet. This development had numerous effects on socialization from both a positive and negative standpoint.
Because online multiplayer became preferred to local multiplayer gaming, players could now reach out to the people they want to play with in person and give them their account to play online instead of inviting them over to their house as millennials would have to do out of necessity. This was a big deal as it partially removed face to face contact that comes with socialization while still technically counting as building a relationship and socializing. The internet and, by extension, online gaming also enabled people that lived further away from each other to be able to connect with people all over the world.
The rise of online multiplayer also allowed many people without friends in real life to socialize with others through the game. Because online multiplayer games matchmake and pair you with other players there is a limitless pool of people to interact with. This allowed many people to socialize with new people from the comfort of their own homes without having to commit to going outside. This is a double edged sword because it is up to the player to maintain this at a healthy degree as this can lead to a false sense of relationship and an unhealthy attachment to the games that they are playing.
One game that fundamentally changed the concept of socializing through video games was Minecraft. Minecraft was a game that grew to mainstream appeal in 2013 and still remains popular and accessible to this day. 2013 was when many of the oldest Gen Z children were approaching their early teenage years which is some of the most social and impressionable times of a child’s life. Because Minecraft was a worldwide phenomenon, many children wanted to be a part of it which led to Minecraft becoming one the primary forms of socialization and expression for children of that time. Because Minecraft is a social and creative game by nature it was common for children to talk about ideas and concepts they wanted to build with their friends in public at school or on the playground then go home to build them with those same friends in the game over the internet. This allowed for a new form of socialization that was not necessarily possible for the millennial generation. Where millennial children would go over each other’s houses to play video games after school, Gen Z children could go to their own house to do the same thing over the internet. This development over the years led to many video game developers to gradually remove the option to even play multiplayer video games locally, forcing players to play over the internet which encouraged this behavior. With the internet, Gen Z children now were always connected and could socialize with each other at any time outside of school. This allowed many children who may have not had many friends in their life or felt socially awkward in person to connect with others through an online platform that they were more comfortable with which, once again, led to many children becoming reliant on these online platforms to socialize with others.
This time period and the development of online multiplayer gaming also saw the rise and widespread adoption of competitive gaming (or esports). Prior to the 2010s, competitive gaming had always been a thing but it was heavily limited by access to high speed internet or LAN parties. Now that online multiplayer was accessible and players did not need to travel to another location to play games with people at their competitive level, many players could coordinate and compete with players on a worldwide scale from the comfort of their own home which boosted the playerbase of competitive video games games and encouraged players to devote more time to practicing and improving on a competitive level.
As a result of this development as time progressed into the 2010s competitive gaming became the dominant genre which also drastically changed the way that many people who played video games interact with the medium. Competitive games such as League of Legends (2009), Counter Strike: Global Offensive (2012) and Overwatch (2016) became the most dominant games of the decade. Many of these games require players to be highly focused and dedicated to verbally or digitally communicating with other players in order to play at a competitive level. Matches of these games can take anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour to complete. These games were widely adopted by players as they were either free or relatively cheap and could run on lower end computers. This free-to-play model allowed for groups of friends to play the game together with very little investment. It is important to note that many of the Gen Z children who were playing Minecraft together a few years prior were now looking for the next big trend in gaming which was this wave of competitive gaming so many of the friend groups that developed through Minecraft were still playing together with these games. This shift in the dominant genre of video games from Minecraft to competitive gaming alienated many people who’s previous primary motivation for playing games was to relax and socialize.
Now that the most popular games being released in this era were developed and marketed with competition in mind, many players were encouraged to practice to improve their skill and build their own teams to play the game. This promoted players to treat video games like a sport. Players would practice skills such as their in-game aim, shot calling, leadership skills for hours on end in order to improve. For many players that were dedicated to improving more than others, this gap in skill became apparent which could have effects on the relationships between certain players or friend groups. Players of these games now had to be on a similar level of skill to remain competitive enough to play together as in certain competitive game modes as the game prevented players from playing together if their in-game ranks were too far apart. This encouraged groups of players to consistently play the game with each other to prevent the skill gap from widening. If the skill gap did ever widen to that degree, it could lead to players not being able to play and, by extension, socialize with their friend groups (While this might not be the case for every friend group, this is a common occurrence amongst highly competitive gaming groups). This reliance on teammates heavily encourages players to coordinate and dedicate a set amount of time to play and practice the game with each other which inherently places a psychological attachment and devotion to playing the video game as people naturally grow emotionally attached to most things they willingly devote their time and energy to. Because practicing games on a competitive level takes so much time, focus and dedication, there is very little time to socialize with others outside of the game and their teammates while playing outside of the game which leads to anyone not currently playing the game which puts up a sort of social barrier to between players and those that do not play the games.
The rise of esports along with the rapid increase of players live streaming video games on dedicated live streaming platforms such as Twitch led to many players turning to the internet to watch and interact and play with their favorite players. This led to a new rising concern for the users of the internet called parasocial relationships. Twitch is a platform where the viewers cannot verbally interact with the streamer so the interaction and community between the viewer and streamer on the platform is almost exclusively through text. Many people who played games accessed Twitch in order to watch and interact with players and personalities that played their favorite games. While Twitch is primarily a platform for video game streaming, it has slowly adapted and extended to become a platform for chatting. Streamers typically have a set schedule for when they stream and talk with their audience so this has become a primary form of socialization for many people on the internet especially amidst the lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
The Rise of Gaming Amidst the Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic caused a direct upsurge in the amount and types of people playing video games. Many people who did not typically play video games found themselves invested in the medium as a form of escapism and socializing. The lockdown happened around the time that a video game called Animal Crossing: New Horizons (2020) released which is a game that is accessible for all ages and types of gamers. Animal Crossing: New Horizons has the same appeal that made Minecraft a worldwide phenomenon in the fact that it promoted creativity, collaboration and socialization with others through the game over the internet or in person in order to progress in the game in a time where the entire world was craving that type of interaction. Animal Crossing: New Horizons and many other online video games during this time period allowed many people that were not previously into gaming to experience the way that gen-z was raised to socialize. Many cite escapism and connection to others through video games to be a primary contributor to their improved mental health during this time.
During this time Twitch live streaming also saw a major increase in traffic as people were craving interaction with others (even if it meant it had to be parasocial).
Conclusion
Video games and the way that people interact with and through them have changed as technology has advanced and generations have grown older. It is important to analyze the influences and effects of this medium in regards to socialization as it grows in order to properly diagnose the behaviors and habits of their players as well as the long term consequences of interacting with others through them.
