Agony

Fictional Videogames as Framing Devices: Suicide Communication in MMOs

In "Fictional Videogames as Framing Devices: Suicide Communication in MMOs," Gutiérrez Carrera argues that fictional massively multiplayer online games can function as framing devices that reveal online games as social spaces with their own communication norms, norms that can make direct talk about suicide easier to voice.

• The report argues that fictional MMOs can act as framing devices that expose online games as social spaces with their own communication norms, norms that can make direct talk about suicide easier to voice.
• Using three scenes from the fictional MMO Agony of a Dying MMO, whose premise is the final hours of a game's service, the study finds the dying-server framing simultaneously provides an alibi for jokes, an implicit channel for serious statements, and authenticity for players who speak openly.
• Chat logs, logging out, and guild, faction, and friend-list structures make serious remarks ambiguous or emotionally weighty, while the impending dissolution of a social network reduces the face-threatening nature of suicide statements.