Table Of ContentUniversity of Tennessee, Knoxville
Trace: Tennessee Research and Creative
Exchange
Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School
5-2013
Cyberathletes’ Lived Experience of Video Game
Tournaments
Samuel Joseph Whalen
To the Graduate Council:
I am submiting herewith a dissertation writen by Samuel Joseph Whalen entitled "Cyberathletes’ Lived
Experience of Video Game Tournaments." I have examined the fnal electronic copy of this dissertation
for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfllment of the requirements for the
degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in Kinesiology and Sport Studies.
Craig A. Wrisberg, Major Professor
We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance:
Lars Dzikus, Jefrey T. Fairbrother, Sandra P. Tomas
Accepted for the Council:
Dixie L. Tompson
Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School
(Original signatures are on fle with ofcial student records.)
Cyberathletes’ Lived Experience of Video Game Tournaments
A Dissertation
Presented for the
Doctor of Philosophy Degree
The University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Samuel Joseph Whalen
May 2013
ii
Copyright © 2013 by Samuel Joseph Whalen
All rights reserved.
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DEDICATION
This dissertation is dedicated to my family for their constant support for this project and
throughout my graduate career. Special dedication to my brothers Zach and Andrew Whalen,
without whom there would have not been the groundwork for this project through countless
hours playing Nintendo during our younger years.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to acknowledge people who have had a significant impact on this project and
my graduate training as a whole. First, Dr. Craig Wrisberg, thank you for believing in this project
and supporting me in my efforts. You encouragement and wisdom have been invaluable in my
development as a graduate student and a person. I will cherish our many lunches at Panera
discussing everything from football to life in general. Secondly, I would like to thank Dr. Jeff
Fairbrother who taught me to be detail oriented and rigorous in research. Thank you for
challenging me to always do better. I will remember “all external, all the time” for many years to
come. Thirdly, I want to acknowledge Dr. Sandra Thomas who taught me about the world of
existential phenomenology. This project would not exist in the way that it does without your
guidance through the process. Lastly, I want to thank Dr. Lars Dzikus for showing me how to
inspire a classroom and motivate students to learn more and think critically about their
perceptions of sport. I am especially thankful for the words of encouragement to “become a
detective” when seeking out participants for this project.
I also need to thank my many friends and colleagues who have been with me through my
graduate studies. To Tanya, Phil, Duncan, Taka, Greg, and Pete, thank you for listening to my
ideas about video games and supporting me through the years. To Trevor Egli, special thanks for
quite literally being my right hand during my proposal presentation. I also want to voice special
thanks to Dr. Dan Czech who continues to serve as a role model and inspiration.
My graduate career would have not been the same without the support of my friends and
family. A special thanks goes to Dr. Zach Whalen for having someone to bounce ideas off of and
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who is leading the way with video game studies. Thank you to Josh for your insightful ideas on
the golf course. Also, thank you to my parents Paul and Rose Whalen for buying my brothers
and I all those video game consoles.
I must also thank my colleagues in the Department of University Housing. Thank you to
Jerry Adams who constantly encouraged me to “get it done.” Thank you to Matt Varga who
served as a source of friendly competition and helped me see this project through to the end.
Also, I would like to give a special thanks to Holly Rodden for her consistent encouragement and
support.
Lastly, I want to acknowledge the phenomenology research group at UT for their
assistance in the data analysis portion of this project. Your input was vital to developing the
thematic structure.
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ABSTRACT
Increased interest in video games has led to the emergence of competitive video game
leagues and organizations known as e-Sport (Hutchins, 2008; Wagner, 2006). Much of the
research on video games has focused on negative aspects of gamers’ behavior, such as
aggression (Ferguson, 2007) and addiction (Kuss & Griffiths, 2012). The majority of studies
have examined video game performance from a third-person perspective using video analysis
(Reeves, Brown, & Laurier, 2009) or behavioral observation when examining high-level video
game play (Jansz & Martens, 2005). Prior to the present study, there had been very little
attention devoted to gamers’ experience of playing video games in the competitive tournament
setting and presence of an evaluative audience. Research in sport psychology has demonstrated
the challenges associated with performance in front of spectators (Beilock & Gray, 2007;
Schmidt & Wrisberg, 2008). Thus, it might be assumed that the added presence of others at
video game tournaments would create a competitive experience that is similar to that of athletes
in traditional sports. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to investigate the lived
experience of cyberathletes (gamers) during video game tournaments. Existential
phenomenological interviews were conducted with twelve co-participants who had recently
competed in a video game tournament. Qualitative analysis revealed a thematic structure
consisting of three distinct contexts – video game world, tournament world, playing world – and
four figural or major themes – real life event, comrades and competitors, respect and maturity,
and from cutthroat to good time – that captured the essential elements of the these cyberathletes’
tournament experience. A fifth major theme – committed investment – was not immediate to the
tournament experience, but contained elements that were related to the tournament setting. It was
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concluded that for the video gamers in this study, meeting and interacting other serious gamers
was the most significant aspect of the tournament experience. In addition, the results revealed a
number of fundamental challenges for video game tournament competitors that are similar to
those confronted by athletes in most traditional sports (e.g., pre-event anxiety, distractions, and
the need for competitors to maintain focus and composure under pressure).
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. INTRODUCTION AND PURPOSE ...................................................................................1
E-Sports................................................................................................................................2
The World of Video Gaming ...............................................................................................4
The Competitive Tournament Experience ...........................................................................8
Gender and Race ................................................................................................................10
Sport Psychology and High-Level Video Gamers .............................................................12
The Negative Impact of Video Games ...............................................................................16
Existential Phenomenology and the Video Game Experience ..........................................19
Statement of the Problem ...................................................................................................22
Purpose ...............................................................................................................................23
Definitions..........................................................................................................................23
Limitations .........................................................................................................................24
Delimitations ......................................................................................................................25
Significance........................................................................................................................25
II. REVIEW OF LITERATURE ............................................................................................26
Socio-cultural Aspects of Video Game Culture .................................................................26
Performance Considerations Including the Development of Expertise .............................39
Existential Phenomenology as a Research Method ...........................................................47
III. METHODS AND PROCEDURES....................................................................................56
Exploring Researcher Bias .................................................................................................56
