“Goose clear. Planting for cat.”: A register analysis on the in-game communication of professional players of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
Moilanen, Kalle (2019-09-30)
“Goose clear. Planting for cat.”: A register analysis on the in-game communication of professional players of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
Moilanen, Kalle
(30.09.2019)
Julkaisu on tekijänoikeussäännösten alainen. Teosta voi lukea ja tulostaa henkilökohtaista käyttöä varten. Käyttö kaupallisiin tarkoituksiin on kielletty.
suljettu
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on:
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2019110837246
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2019110837246
Tiivistelmä
In recent years, videogames being played professionally as esports have grown in popularity, rivaling the viewership of more traditional sports. Academic research in the field of sports science has recognized communication as a highly important factor in traditional sports. Thus, it can be assumed that communication is also important in esports, where the lack of major physicality emphasizes the impact of other skills. This thesis focuses on the communication used by professional players of the popular esport Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO). Using the analytic framework of register analysis by Biber & Conrad (2009), the thesis attempts to find out how and why professional players of CS:GO communicate in the way that they do. The data of the study consists of transcribed text, made from the audio track from a video of one match of professional CS:GO, available online on the public YouTube channel of ESL.
The analysis consists of three parts: the situational contexts, the linguistic features, and the functional aspect of the register. The linguistic analysis is also done in three parts, firstly looking at vocabulary as a whole, then focusing on verb usage and ending on an analysis of variation within the register by comparing the language used during rounds with language used during pauses. The discussion of the functional aspects also analyzes an utterance type dubbed a “callout”, which serve as examples of the language of the register as a whole.
The analysis shows that the language used by professional players of CS:GO is characterized by easy to produce, shortened, and grammatically simplified utterances mostly produced in present tense, where the function of the utterance outweighs the form. The players employ high amounts of pronouns and extremely context-specific vocabulary in their communication. Inter-register variation is present, as the pauses include more complex and longer utterances than the rounds, and slightly more uses of the past tense. Talk regarding the economic element of the game is also constrained to the pauses. The analysis of the “callout” also reveals repetition and ellipsis as two additional pervasive linguistic aspects of the register. These linguistic features are brought on by the specific contextual factors of a match of CS:GO, including but not limited to time pressure, shared knowledge and the specific virtual space the match is played in.
The thesis is the first foray into an academic, linguistic study of the language used by esports athletes. As such, it suggests preliminary features of a register which can be developed further with studies of a larger scope. Studies could also be conducted to see whether similar linguistic quirks exist in other language versions of the register. Focusing on the quality of communication, future studies could also compare the communication of winning and losing teams, to find out what linguistic aspects seem to facilitate success.
The analysis consists of three parts: the situational contexts, the linguistic features, and the functional aspect of the register. The linguistic analysis is also done in three parts, firstly looking at vocabulary as a whole, then focusing on verb usage and ending on an analysis of variation within the register by comparing the language used during rounds with language used during pauses. The discussion of the functional aspects also analyzes an utterance type dubbed a “callout”, which serve as examples of the language of the register as a whole.
The analysis shows that the language used by professional players of CS:GO is characterized by easy to produce, shortened, and grammatically simplified utterances mostly produced in present tense, where the function of the utterance outweighs the form. The players employ high amounts of pronouns and extremely context-specific vocabulary in their communication. Inter-register variation is present, as the pauses include more complex and longer utterances than the rounds, and slightly more uses of the past tense. Talk regarding the economic element of the game is also constrained to the pauses. The analysis of the “callout” also reveals repetition and ellipsis as two additional pervasive linguistic aspects of the register. These linguistic features are brought on by the specific contextual factors of a match of CS:GO, including but not limited to time pressure, shared knowledge and the specific virtual space the match is played in.
The thesis is the first foray into an academic, linguistic study of the language used by esports athletes. As such, it suggests preliminary features of a register which can be developed further with studies of a larger scope. Studies could also be conducted to see whether similar linguistic quirks exist in other language versions of the register. Focusing on the quality of communication, future studies could also compare the communication of winning and losing teams, to find out what linguistic aspects seem to facilitate success.