This article investigates the meaning and function of the game café as a ‘Third place’ for boys and young men who play games in a game café. As there has been relatively little focus on game cafés in Western Europe as compared to studies of game cafés in Asia this paper examines the meaning and function of a game café in Sweden. This is achieved through an ethnographic study of a game café in central Stockholm. The author argues that the game café functions as a public place of their own. This means that for this group the game café is an escape from the moral judgments and parental restrictions and control at home. It also provides young men with a local hang out to maintain, negotiate and establish relationships with friends, peers and like minded through gaming. This place is a rather restricted third place which fosters interaction within a homogenous community of people of the same gender and age group. Therefore the game café shares more similarities with a sport club than a traditional café.

In this article we discuss the sensory experiences of playing computer games by exploring the sight, the sound, the taste, smell, and touch of games. We reflect on how senses and the social atmosphere gives meaning to players’ experiences of playing computer games in two co-located public settings, a game café and a mass LAN party. This discussion is related to a more general discussion concerning what it means to participate and play online and network games in a game café and a mass LAN party. The discussion is based on a field study in Sweden. We conclude by highlighting the different experiences of playing computer games and participating in those colocated game settings. In the game café playing computer games is a rather ordinary and mundane activity while playing games in the mass LAN party is to a large extent a sensational and extra ordinary event.

In this article we will discuss players’ experience of computer games in terms of sight, sound, taste, smell, and touch. We discuss how senses shape and give meaning to players’ game play experiences in the game café and a mass LAN party. We also discuss how the social environments in which games are played impact on the experience of playing games. The data is drawn on a field study of public gameplay in a game café and a mass LAN party in Sweden. We conclude by highlighting that the social atmosphere is key to understanding public game play experiences.

This study explores how co-located computer game play in public is valued and constructed by mass media, parents, and staff in a Swedish context. The article argues that by viewing co-located game playing in public as a youth leisure activity, we can reach a fuller understanding of the norms and values surrounding computer game playing as a social phenomenon. Data was collected through interviews with parents and staff and by analyzing articles in Swedish newspapers. Findings show that newspaper reports on game cafés and LAN parties construct game playing as a sport or fun. These constructions reproduce gender stereotypes. Parents’ attitudes towards public game play are both positive and negative and constructed around themes such as problematic or non problematic game playing. Staff and parent discourses on game playing reflect a wider concern reading leisure and youth, such as activities young people should be engaged in at their leisure.