Engl. transl.: Problem gaming as broken life strategies

In this chapter, I will suggest Margaret Archers concept of agential reflexivity as a framework of explanation when analysing problem gaming in everyday contexts. While a structurational framework, as represented by Gregersen (Chapter 4), directs attention towards the general structural conditions that tend to place teenage gamers in patterns of opposition vis-à-vis their surroundings, Archers concept of agential reflexivity directs attention to the way different individuals handle and challenge those conditions with various degrees of success. I will argue that problem gaming can be seen as an aspect of ‘impeded reflexivity’ – that is, situations where the individual struggles to translate his or her concerns into relevant ‘life projects’ and practices. Moreover, I will argue that this insufficiency can be partly explained with reference to the particular life phase of that individual: When problem gaming tends to appear as a ‘conflict of youth’ it may be because young people are still in the state of learning to perform agential reflexivity as a key aspect of modern life.

"the quantitative data presented in this study indicate a set of distinctive gameplay patterns that relate differently to patterns of communication and socializa- tion and to domestic conflict. The qualitative data confirm that gameplay indeed serve very different functions in everyday life; that is, gameplay activities are integrated in different manners into the general life projects or ‘modi vivendi’ of the young people in question"(p. 78) "Archer’s theoretical framework offer a meaningful explanation of those cases where excessive gaming indeed seems to stand in the way of young people’s happiness by foregrounding individual strategies and concerns. However, key issues regarding the more direct relationship between gaming and impeded reflexivity, as well as the relationship between the young person, the parents and the more general complexity of the situation, still have to be carved out." (p. 80)