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Hong Kong Net-Bar Youth Gaming: A Labeling Perspective

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Transnational Contexts of Development History, Sociality, and Society of Play

Part of the book series: East Asian Popular Culture ((EAPC))

Abstract

This chapter investigates Hong Kong youth’s perceptions of their gaming experience in net-bars and their negotiation of their identities as well as images. Net-bar as a term in Chinese context connotes, on one hand, undesirability of a place. On the other hand, it resonates with the booming game culture across East Asian countries. These two conflicting socio-cultural meanings created the public perceptions of net-bars. Through focus group interviews, this study reveals that Hong Kong net-bar youth are concerned with the labeles attached to them. They actively distance themselves from and resist such designations through identity negotiation strategies such as avoiding, normalizing, neutralizing, professionalizing, and quitting. Through the youth’s interpretations and negotiation with the labels, the collective experience of net-bar gaming is articulated.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radio-Television-Film, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA

    Sara Liao

Authors
  1. Sara Liao
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Communication, Northern Kentucky University, Highland Heights, Kentucky, USA

    S. Austin Lee

  2. Department of Communication, Northern Kentucky University, Highland Heights, Kentucky, USA

    Alexis Pulos

Additional information

I highly appreciate the editor Austin Lee’s critical insights for this chapter, which helped me sharpen my analytical focus. I also thank him for generating the idea of charting out the coping strategies for the youth to react to social labels.

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Liao, S. (2016). Hong Kong Net-Bar Youth Gaming: A Labeling Perspective. In: Lee, S., Pulos, A. (eds) Transnational Contexts of Development History, Sociality, and Society of Play. East Asian Popular Culture. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-43820-7_7

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