AOC (Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) Is Among Us: Learning to Be a Gamer, or an Impostor, in a Gaming Community of Practice

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Saturday 3:20 pm Four Seasons Ballroom 2-3
  In Roundtable Session: Gaming as Community, Public Pedagogy, and Skill Building (Table 4)

Abstract

This project focuses on United States Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s playing and learning a video game with more experienced players while streaming on Twitch. Using sociocultural learning theory as a lens, this paper reports an interaction analysis of Ocasio-Cortez’s gameplay videos. Attention was given to her interactions with other players, her audience, and the game environment. The analysis suggests that Ocasio-Cortez’s language use and game play actions positioned her as a novice within the gaming community of practice. The language strategies she used to communicate a lack of knowledge about the game were coded as “noob positioning,” and her gameplay actions that showed a lack of skill or knowledge in the game were coded as “noob moves.”

Author

• Raul Figueroa-Rivera, University of Illinois at Chicago