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208 Mizuko Ito and Matteo Bittanti(MMORPGs), where players enjoy the social affordances constructed by thegames. MMORPG players spend many hours logged in to the shared spaceof the game, and much of that time is occupied with casual hanging out,conversation, and activities such as bartering or exploring. The time spentactively pursuing game goals is only one part of what they do online. Thetime and space around the more goal-directed activities of gaming becomesa site for social conversation and sharing. In Dan Perkel and Sarita Yardi’sstudy “Digital Photo-Elicitation with Kids,” they spoke to a young RuneScapeplayer, Iris, who was ten years old and of mixed race (white and black). Sheenjoyed hanging out on the site because of the social environment.I like that you can play with a lot of people at the same time. It’s like you have anormal life, and you get to talk to people. And it’s not only one player; it’s morethan one player. And it’s not that you’re talking to an actual robot, but you’re talkingto actual people playing.She said she will play with a friend of hers in the late afternoon when theyboth get home, but she will also talk to others she comes across in thegame. The space of the online game becomes a hangout to meet her friendsboth offline and online.In Rachel Cody’s study of Final Fantasy XI, the core players of the“linkshell” (player guild) she was participating in would use a voice-chatprogram, Ventrilo (Vent), to stay in touch with their team constantly whilethey were at the computer. She talks with Ryukossei, 6 a nineteen-year-oldAsian-American player.Rachel: How did you like it?Ryukossei: I loved it. That was a great linkshell, I thought. And, like, yeah,it was pretty fun. It was good times.Rachel: Did you make any friends?Ryukossei: Oh, yeah. Especially the people on Vent. If I didn’t have Vent,I wouldn’t be playing this game, like, seriously. . . .Rachel: Yeah, Vent made it a lot less lonely, I thought.As noted in Cody’s box 5.3, Ryukossei describes how the “24/7” connectionon Vent made his teammates feel like a family. While playersin an MMOG may be attracted to the game play initially, they often endup staying because of the social dimensions of the game. As described inbox 5.3, players will often cite the social hanging out dimensions as oneof the primary reasons to stay with the game.