Online Community Bonds as a Method of Mitigating Toxicity in an Interactive Livestream

Toxicity—aggressive, discriminatory, or hostile behavior that impacts a group or community—is a significant issue on the livestreaming platform Twitch, where a single toxic utterance can disrupt the dynamic between a streamer and their fans. This chapter examines the ways in which a female Twitch streamer combats issues of toxicity by creating and supporting a fan community that is heavily invested in her and therefore endeavors to conform to the norms and regulations of her community. Through the analysis of a single two-hour stream, this chapter considers the ways in which a streamer can balance the appearance of a close relationship with her community with a high level of moderation and regulation to resist toxic behavior and thus ensure her and her fan community's well-being and happiness.

The Futurians, Gamergate, and Fandom

From the science fiction fan clubs of the 1930s to the modern gamers, devoted fans have found one another and formed groups bonded over their shared interest. As groups formed, social identities began to emerge, distinguishing ingroups and outgroups. Social identity theory helps to explain the formation of groups as well as inevitable competition over resources and power. As technology became more sophisticated, fans were able to communicate with greater ease facilitating ingroup social identification. The inherent properties of video games reinforce both the cooperation among ingroup members as well as the rivalry with outgroups. Understanding the mechanisms within video games as well as the affordances of CMC and social media help to explain the group dynamics that support the Gamergate social identity.

Is the News Cycle “Real”?

This chapter features a game from the Shin Megami Tensei series called Persona 5. This chapter examines how the case of role playing video game Persona 5 depicts agenda setting through the use of an in-game audience-oriented polling systems and comment system in order to understand to a greater degree the ways in which games contribute to our understanding of media processes and explores the idea of fandom as integral to the agenda setting process. The case chapter addressed in this manuscript represents a unique narrative featuring a daily life simulator, a turn-based Japanese role-playing game (JRPG), and complex in-game media vehicles to drive the story.

Mobile Gaming Strategic Communication and Fear of Missing Out (FoMO) in Fan Culture

This study examines a case study of the messages and strategies used in mobile game marketing and communication specifically of fans at the Final Fantasy Brave Exvius Fan Festa in December 2018. Through a lens of fear of missing out (FoMO) theory and understanding of fan communities, user-generated content, and public relations pseudo-events, this chapter seeks to understand the impressions of the fan community associated with the game. Through interviews and observations at the event as well as analysis of the online messages shared with individuals who played the games, the study seeks to explain the way players interact with the organization and its promotional materials. A discourse-analysis of the statements creates a window into the gameplay practices of these fans as well as an explanation of their relationship with in-game marketing and communication practices.

Social Identity Theory in Sports Fandom Research

Sports fans are known to engage in BIRGing, or basking in reflected glory after their team wins, and CORFing, cutting off reflected failure following a team loss. These phenomena are related to social identity theory, which examines how group memberships shape a person's self-image. This chapter explores how media-attentive sports fans internalize victory and externalize defeat by charting the simultaneous developments in the 1970s of social identity theory, advanced by European social psychologists, and BIRGing and CORFing, which are rooted in a landmark study on college students wearing school-identifying apparel after the university football team won. The chapter also examines how social identity has served and can continue to be utilized as the theoretical backbone for research on mass-mediated sports fandom.

Music Behind the Masks

Batman villains are a staple fascination within the franchise's fandom, and music is a powerful tool utilized in allowing fans to experience these characters in an emotionally connected way when viewing live adaptations of them. This chapter examines the appeal of Batman villain narratives, explores how composers scored music for ten selected Gotham City antagonists spanning seven live-action Batman films, and discusses fans' reaction to those scores during a survey conducted by the author involving 55 voluntary participants. These explorations contribute to furthering dialogues on the cultural relevance of comic books in contemporary society, fans' fascination with villain narratives, film scores' function as a representation of on-screen personalities, and music's role in establishing relationships between fan audiences and on-screen characters.

Comic Con Communion

The present research explores gender, cosplay, and media fandom in a media fan convention context. Researchers for the present study surveyed 227 attendees at two media fan conventions. As expected, convention attendees found the words “nerd” and “geek” to be badges of honor. Contrary to research expectations, women rated themselves higher as fans than men. Women did, as expected, see fandom as an escapism opportunity more so than men. Male cosplayers thought they looked more like their costume character, but female cosplayers thought they shared their character's personality and were more likely to refer to themselves as “we.” Cosplayers were more likely to tie their fandoms to their friends' enjoyment of it and to tie their fandom to sharing it with large groups of people more so than non-cosplayers. Cosplayers also rated their fandom as being a good time more than non-cosplayers and their fandom as improving their self-esteem more than non-cosplayers. Implications are discussed.

Brand Fandom Insights

The goal of this chapter is to discuss themes and trends, from a marketing practitioner's perspective, regarding the importance of brand fandom and how it is managed in a media-rich environment. With the rise of digital media and the evolving changes in our media ecosystem, fans have the ability to be more engaged with their favorite brands and their respective brand fan communities than ever before. This chapter produces original research with viewpoints from expert practitioners representing multiple “cult” brands, cause brands, and media organizations built to enable and serve fans and their favorite brands.

Growth in Sport Media and the Rise of New Sport Fandom

Most aspects of life in contemporary societies permeate and are reciprocally influenced by the media. Sports are no exception. Each has influenced and depended on the other for its popularity and commercial success. Sports fans are individuals interested in and following sports through their psychological connections with teams or athletes. Nowadays, sports fans can watch different kinds of sport games or follow their favorite teams and athletes via various media platforms. Modern technology has substantially transformed the ways sports are consumed and has even created new platforms, such as esports. This chapter highlights modern sport fandom by starting from an overview of its growth with mainstream media and disentangling the currently intertwined dynamics of emerging trends. In particular, the authors discuss modern sport fandom by shedding light on the similarities and differences, underlining what causes, channels, and sustains individuals to consume sports, examining the consequences and results of fandom and highlighting contemporary research and developmental trends.

The People's Audience

This chapter analyzes the previous ethoiscal projections of Programa Silvio Santos' (PSS) studios audience about its presenter, trying to understand—in parallel—who are the women considered as co-workers and the reasons that make them participate in the PSS and in its fandom. The data collection methodology is based on field research based on individual interviews conducted in March 2014. The ethos is understood as the image of oneself and the other, which may have a prior and discursive dimension. This image is supported by partially stable crystallized knowledge (sociodiscursive imaginary). The basic theoretical framework is composed by Morin, Sousa, and Lunardi; the notion of ethos is read in Charaudeau and Amossy. It is observed that the presenter has reached the Olympian myth curve and his ethé is based on credibility and identification.