Participant Observation Study

What does being a Borderlands player mean to you?

It means I love the looter-shooter genre.

What identity or roles do you take in Borderlands?

I don't pick characters because I relate to them, I pick what seems fun to me. As for appearances, I select what I think looks cool. With Wonderlands I can at least say I was more creative in creating insane looking characters, or ones that seemed interesting. I didn't specifically model my characters after myself as the options are way too varied to limit myself to my bland real life appearance.

What elements of culture influence your gameplay? (co-op, trading/gifting, language)

I usually play alone, but when I do play with friends, I have my online friend group which I play with in English, and my real life friend group, which I played with in my native language.

How has Borderlands effected your daily life?

Not much. Prior to reveal trailers for BL3 and Wonderlands I did check regularly to see if any news info was released, but once the games were released I just played them and sometimes participated in discussions regarding plot, gameplay, and "is it worth the price if I'm looking for X" discussions.

/r/Borderlands Thread