Recently I have been playing a console game online, which is quite unusual for me. I am from a different generation, a generation of LAN parties, groups of gaming mates who have all carted their computers to one location to enjoy the kind of multiplayer experience that consoles have been trying to recapture since. Shouting friendly insults, advice, and commands to each over the gaming noise, and occasionally throwing objects too. It wasn’t always so friendly, it could get very competitive at times, but it always worked out and everyone would be back next time for more.
Ah I miss the days of deathmatch before it was dominated by a minority of players. I also miss turning my enemies into chickens, that was always good for a laugh 
Then Internet gaming took off and you no longer had to be in the same room to play with each other. In one swoop the social element of gaming disappeared, now only developing over longer games like Work of Warcraft and its ilk. You turn on, play against strangers sat in your room alone, and then turn off at the end. Many online gamers interact with other players only minimally.
The introduction of chat messaging within games early on helped that a little, as did the introduction of voice chat functionality, but it wasn’t until consoles made this more standard and also introduced fixed profiles that real progress was made. There is still a long way to go before gaming becomes truly social again, and I have no idea how it is going to get there. There are some major obstacles to overcome first…
My recent experience reminded me of something. That people often are not comfortable playing with other players clearly outside their age range. For example when I plugged in my headset (with my microphone carefully on mute as usual) I realised that the two other players in my game were young. Very young. At a guess I would have said they were about twelve. They were also American, so there was a lot of “ohmygosh” and similar expressions of amazement at almost anything that happened (even at a loading screen once!). I also realised that not only had they assumed that I was about their age, but they had also made the mistake of assuming that because I had chosen a female character, I was female myself. I’m sure they would have been surprised to find out I was an almost thirty British male!
The psychology of the digital age is something that originally drew me to study psychology. The rules of social interaction are being rewritten, completely new ways of interacting and communicating are shaping our society. When I have more time I would love to dedicate more effort to learning about some of the theories in this area. Its a shame that my course doesn’t cover it!
