Half-Real: Video Games between Real Rules and Fictional Worlds

Any popular cultural object or pastime can be popular for several different reasons at the same time.

It means that one enters a complex world of symbolic interactions where attacking someone in a game can be an invitation to friendship, and helping someone in the same game can be a condescending rejection.

The answer to this is basically that games provide context for actions: moving an avatar is much more meaningful in a game environment than in an empty space;