Gaming as a Representation of Urge and Passion: A Thematic Analysis of Online Gamers Fanni Putri Diantina1,2, Rizka Hadian Permana1, Andhita Nurul Khasanah1, Rifky Abdila Pratama1, Aqyla Halwa1, Dianita Rahma1, Elizabeth Kristi Poerwandari2, Dyah Triarini Indirasari2
Fakultas Psikologi, Universitas Islam Bandung, Bandung, Indonesia1
Fakultas Psikologi, Universitas Indonesia, Depok, Indonesia2
Abstract
The meaning of playing online games is important to explore to understand why playing online games is a passionate activity for enthusiastic and problematic gamers. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data from 20 gamers (Male, 19-24 years old) who intensely play online games. Through the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) technique, the meaning of the essential or basic things from the participants life experiences was sought. The results showed that the experience of craving and urge emerged as themes in the decision-making process to continue playing online games even though they realized the negative impact of being too fixated on playing games.
