Browsing by Author "Hyppönen, Arttu"

Objectives Shared action, interaction, spare time, technology and video games have been the subject of many researches and studies. Combination of these subjects in studies, especially regarding video games, in the field of home economics are sparse. In this study the focus of interest was technology distributed communality and interaction within families. The object of this study was to research the communality and interaction in families that play Pokémon Go-video game together and the significance of this to the family members. Methods The nature of this study was ethnographical. Two different families were studied through observation and interviewing. Both of these families consisted of two parents and two children. In the observation phase a Pokémon Go-video game session of each family was recorded and the material was later analysed and points of interest were brought up. The interviews were implemented as a group interview one family at a time. After this, the interviews were transcribed and analysed and the significances of playing Pokémon Go were brought up. Results and discussion When playing Pokémon Go, the parents and the children were able to share equally a specialist domain, which interested all members of the family. The communality of gaming appeared strong, but scattered. Pokémon Go was played with different, personal gaming accounts, but the members of the family rejoiced achievements within the game together. Other players were encountered when playing, but the interaction appeared to be incidental. The joint gaming was inserted dynamically within everyday events. It was possible, for example, to make a routine trip to a grocery store more compelling. The parents of this study had a positive relation in gaming, which differs from studies that were conducted in earlier decades.