“Come on, Guys, Let's Stick Together!”: Organizational Dynamics Emerging among Players in a First-Person Shooter Video Game

Abstract

The goal of this research is to study the organizational dynamics that are enacted by amateur players, streamers, and professionals in a multiplayer First-Person Shooter video game, namely Call of Duty: Warzone. These categories of players represent different “work-play” conditions, as they have different motives for playing. I assume that these players may enact different organizational behaviors to reach their objectives. To explore this hypothesis, I have been conducting a digital ethnography within an Italian gaming community since 2021, employing observations, semi-structured interviews and analysis of the communication exchanges occurring during the gaming sessions. In the literature, a cross-comparison between these players is currently missing. This work may then clarify how different “combinations of work and play” may affect players’ behaviors and organizational dynamics, as well as how they may be differently impacted by the design of the game.