Video games are common hobbies today, and as such they have been studied within the field of LIS. However, video gaming is a wide subject, and therefore there still exist areas that have not yet been properly researched. This bachelor thesis investigates the ways video game players experience the use of external and internal information and the effect it has on their gameplay experiences. The aim of this study is to determine players’ motivations behind searching for information in relation to gaming and the factors they consider when doing so. Metagaming, which is a commonly used term when it comes to describing what is popular and considered optimal within gaming communities, is explored within the thesis. The theoretical framework that is being adopted for this study and which is being used to interpret the empirical data is Information Practices, Cognitive Authority and McKenzie’s Information Practices model, with related terms. This study is qualitative in nature, and the method that is being used is semi-structured interviews. The results indicate that the kinds of information sources and media types that are used by the players are varied. Furthermore the type of game that is being played has a significant impact on the ways in which the players view external and internal information seeking. Metagaming is shown to be a strong influence on how information is searched for in relation to online games. The impact of communally negotiated norms is clear and is clarified within the thesis.

An exploratory discourse analysis was performed on a community of practice based on Discord, an instant messaging platform. The community of practice is a group of gamers (people who play video games), dedicated to the cross-platform free-to-play game Genshin Impact. A corpus of messages was gathered from the community’s public message logs, which spanned a period of three days during the release of Genshin Impact’s most financially lucrative character banner. From the corpus, numerous themes in players’ discussions have been observed; such as reactions to the gacha’s probability system, displays of problem gaming, sexualization of female characters, and opinions regarding monetization & the game’s developers. This study would be beneficial for future studies that pertain to player behavior and gamer culture that can also use communities of practice on platforms such as Discord, in order to gain insight into niche communities of engaged users. / En utforskande diskursanalys utfördes på praxisgemenskapen baserad på Discord, en plattform för snabbmeddelanden. Praxisgemenskapen var en grupp spelare dedikerade till det plattformsoberoende gratisspelet Genshin Impact. En korpus av meddelanden samlades in från gemenskapens offentliga meddelandeloggar, som sträckte sig över en period av tre dagar under lanseringen av Genshin Impacts mest ekonomiskt lukrativa karaktärsbanner. Från korpusen har många teman i spelarnas diskussioner observerats; såsom reaktioner på gachas sannolikhetssystem, visningar av problemspelande, sexualisering av kvinnliga karaktärer och åsikter om intäktsgenerering samt spelets utvecklare. Framtida studier som avser spelarbeteende och gamerkultur kan också använda praxisgemenskaper på plattformar som Discord, för att få insikt i nischa gemenskaper av engagerade användare.