Migrant gaming girls in Beijing: Urban solitude, play, and attempts to integrate

Abstract

Individuals are said to be free to desire and free to choose their ‘urban dreams’ in China. This is not true. Drawing on participant observation and in-depth interviews with members of a WoW guild, we examine the lived stories and daily practices of these well-educated migrant gaming girls. The girls have usually been ‘taken’ to the metropolis, and their vulnerability lies in the fact they may not get adequate emotional or social support. It’s all because of their ‘outsider’ identities rather than lack of requisite suzhi (‘human quality’). A back-and-forth shuttling between popular massively multi-player online role-playing games (MMORPGs) like WoW and the ‘real world’ can help them regain or alter themselves. These enterprising-selves are ultimately thus accomplished. The desiring-selves part, to the contrary, is unable to be empowered by the digital real.