Virtual Social Identity and Consumer Behavior by Wood Natalie T. Solomon Michael R

Author:Wood, Natalie T.,Solomon, Michael R.
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781317452560
Publisher: Taylor & Francis (CAM)

CHAPTER 7

The Sacred and the Profane in Online Gaming

A Netnographic Inquiry of Chinese Gamers

JEFF WANG, XIN ZHAO, AND GARY J. BAMOSSY

How material possessions influence identity construction has attracted continuous interest in consumer research (Belk 1988, 2001; Arnould and Thompson 2005; Solomon 1983). Previous studies have examined meanings of possessions from different cultures and how they contribute to and extend a sense of self, not only in home settings but also in workplaces (Mehta and Belk 1991; Belk and Watson 1998; Tian and Belk 2005). However, most existing studies have focused on self-extension through tangible material possessions (Belk 1988), or self-presentation (Goffman 1959), or through digital associations on personal web pages (Schau and Gilly 2003). Such theorization of self-extension through possessions emphasizes having and being, but ignores doing as a mode of self-extension (Sartre 1950).

It is unclear how intangible game avatars and virtual possessions in online games extend a sense of self. At the same time, although it has been found that consumers sacralize material possessions they have acquired in the real world/real life (RL) (Belk, Wallendorf, and Sherry 1989), it remains to be explored whether or not consumers construct sacred meanings from and for intangible avatars in the virtual world. We seek to contribute to theories of the sacred and profane in consumer behavior (Belk, Wallendorf, and Sherry 1989), and self-extension (Belk 1988) through a netnographic inquiry (Kozinets 2002, 2006) of the online gaming community in China.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

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