engleski

ANTECEDENTS OF GAMERS' ONLINE SOCIAL CAPITAL

The importance of social capital, its benefits for individuals, and the cruciality of forming and deepening social ties have been a flourishing research area in the last decades. The present study aims to contribute existing findings by analyzing online bridging and bonding social capital of N = 351 gamers residing in the United States. Demographic variables, gaming intensity, and components of active/passive gaming-related behaviors were analyzed as possible antecedents of gamers' online social capital, which was measured according to existing online social capital scales that were adjusted to the context of online gaming. The conducted hierarchical multiple regressions revealed that gaming intensity and communication with other gamers in public or private chats or forums are significant, positive predictors of both bridging and bonding social capital, while watching uploaded let's plays/gaming-related videos/previously recorded live streams and reading gaming-related news, posts or discussions are significant, positive predictors of bonding social capital. Furthermore, solo gaming appeared as a significant, negative predictor of bonding social capital. The present findings indicate that while gaming intensity is a crucial factor in the construction of an individual's social capital, the frequency of other gaming-related activities plays a critical role in the discussed process as well.

Bridging, Bonding. Gaming, Social capital

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