On justification: WoW, EQ2 and Aion forums

Forums’ interactions contribute to the structuring of the gaming experience by providing criteria and references for assessing the gaming experience. They are a way for some players to take “ownership” of their game. Some standards of gaming activity are negotiated in the players’ community. It is difficult to understand gaming practices if we do not know how these practices are discussed between players outside the game’s “magic circle” itself. So the gaming experience is partially based on value systems built or shared by players. Therefore understanding these value systems and the way they are discussed by players helps to understand how the good game and the well played are defined by players. This essay focuses on a comprehensive approach of the well played through the subjacent values players invoke.