Stardust and Statistics: Situated Language and Literacies in Pokémon GO Guides

• In Event: Gaming and Literacies: Implications for Equitable Futures

Abstract

Objectives
The purpose of this paper is to investigate guides written by players of the mobile augmented reality game Pokémon GO, and how players, especially families who play together, may acquire specialist language and Discourses (Gee, 2014) through them. I examine how some players enact scientific Discourses to explain gameplay elements and discuss implications for families, games, and literacy instruction in educational settings.

Perspective(s)
This paper is informed by a social and situated understanding of literacy and language learning (Gee, 2004; Kress, 2003; Lankshear & Knobel, 2003; New London Group, 1996). In this framework, player-written texts about games are rich sites for language practices and the acquisition of specialist terms and ways of knowing. This work also is informed by research on intergenerational gameplay and the learning potential of social game play (Siyahhan & Gee, 2018).

Methods and Data Sources
Methods included an initial survey of 149 players of in the Southwestern United States who played Pokémon GO. From this survey, I identified three focal families to interview based on participants’ discussion of playing games with their families in open-ended answers. I also analyzed player-written guides to the game using tools for Discourse analysis outlined by Gee (2014) to look for instances of specialized language use and domain-specific Discourses. The posters of these guides are self-described researchers of the game who enact scientific and mathematical Discourses to report their findings, while also drawing on the specialized language of videogames. I considered these guides alongside self-reported learning and family play practices that the focal families discussed in their interviews.

Findings
Findings suggest that players who read player-written guides to the game encounter specialist language around various domains, including science, mathematics, and the game itself. The authors of these guides use sophisticated, specialized language to convey information. Parents sought information about the game online and used the specialized language of the game in discussions with their children as they played together. A common theme from the parent interviews was the discussion of "theories" around the game, in which parents would encourage children to form hypotheses or guess what would happen. For example, parents would help children to make predictions about how using certain resources would affect the power of their characters. These findings point to children and their parents engaging with specialist and academic language through their shared experience of the game and their discussions of game mechanics and game play theories based on player-written guides and other paratexts.

Scholarly Significance
Literacy educators might use game guides as ways to bring domain-specific specialized learning into the classroom, giving context to academic language and giving students opportunities to practice understanding situated meanings. Educators might use game-informed activities, such as reading and writing guides to a game, rather than in-school game time. This work also highlights the ways that parents and mentors interacting around games can enhance children's literacy practices by discussing the game and modeling behaviors such as reading, asking questions, and connecting games to real-world situations and experiences.

Author

• Kelly M. Tran, Evolved Play
  Presenting Author