Football video games as deep play: An ethnographic evaluation on football video game cultures in Trabzon

In this study, football video games, which constitute the most widely consumed form of sports video games, were "read" based on the Cockfight study of Clifford Geertz. In the study, the Ethnographic method was used to describe the football video game culture, which consisted of FIFA 19 play performance and experiences of players in video game lounges (PlayStation-Cafes) in particular, and the accompanying meanings. In the study, which was conducted by using semi-structured in-depth interview techniques and participatory observation method, and in which the ethnography of the players, who created the sampling, was carried out, the Thick Description approach of Geertz was taken as the model for the ethnographic examination. On the other hand, although background information was given on the production and distribution of these games, the analysis of these data was excluded from the scope of the present study. According to the results of the study, it was determined that the performances and experiences related with playing football video games, which is one of the main areas of the collective video game play experience, in video-game lounges, and the accompanying meanings, briefly, the culture of football video games, may be considered as a dramatic expression of the local ethos in certain measures. However, it was also determined that the performance, experience, and meanings related to the game were closely related not only in the context of local ethos, but these were also related to a number of characteristics of players that stem from the social, cultural, class and demographic characteristics. Other points that were determined in the study were that these video game lounges had a liminal character, and co-positional social game practices had the full power to produce collectivism, which is defined as communitas. Keywords: Football Video Games, Video Game Cultures, Anthropology of Play, Ethnography, Performance, Experience, Meaning