Example Of A Discourse Community Analysis

Discourse communities have taken a variety of forms over time and with the advent of the internet they have recently begun to expand to the virtual world. Many authors have previously talked about discourse communities with members across the globe and discussed the genres that they use, so it is clear that distance between members cannot prevent the formation of a discourse community (Swales 473-475, Bawarshi and Reiff). However there are still many questions to answer about online discourse communities, such as about the kinds of discourses that compose them (Gee). In this paper I will be presenting my findings on the specific online community of video game critique. I hope to provide insights into a specific example of a discourse community

Its primary goal is to provide fair reviews and critiques of video games and the commercial practices of video game companies; it is generally very pro-consumer and generally takes a dim view of unfair or abusive business practices towards employees in the video game industry, many members have more specific goals but critiquing games is the one thing that binds them all as a common community. Second, the group has several primarily means of intercommunication between its members; the primary methods being YouTube videos web articles and social media (often by commenting on the other two). The major members of the community tend to use the first two methods to provide one half of the discourse while ‘apprentice’ members such as myself usually communicate back through commenting on their works either directly or through social media. These methods, of course, are primarily used to provide information and feedback; articles and videos usually inform people about recent developments in the gaming industry and provide criticism or praise, other members of the community then comment back through social media about their views which are then responded to in particular or in aggregate by even more videos and articles. Part of what makes this virtual discourse community unique is that its genres and

The members of the group are quite passionate, often exaggeratedly so, about gaming; but the members themselves gain very little personally for their actions and discourse in the community. While some may gain recognition in the community and possibly make a living for themselves off their work, they rarely gain mainstream popularity or become especially wealthy through their discourse in the community. Thus the discourse community is actually primarily made up of nondominant discourses. (Gee 485). This passion can often lead to large divides and debates in the community, many of which can be very divisive. One notable example of this was the Gamergate controversy of 2013-2014, when many members of the community and other circles in the internet launched a virtual harassment campaign that targeted many women and feminists in the gaming industry under the hashtag #GamerGate. The movement soon generated a large response from other members of the community and the controversy soon become large enough for mainstream news outlets such as The New York Times to begin covering it (Wingfield). I notably chose to not join in on the controversy at all; this was notable because at the time, it was expected that everyone join one side or the other in the debate, even minor members of the community were contributing with large amounts of spam, hate mail and even death threats directed to the other side of the controversy. The sheer