Gaming Preferences and Social Networks. The Case of Steam Community

Reviews can influence the fate of a cultural product, shaping social preferences. For the consumer, reviews can reduce the uncertainty associated with experienced goods, the quality of which cannot be fully evaluated before buying. Today, there is a gap between theoretical works in the field of economic sociology on the study experience goods value and empirical works that consider experimental goods mainly in a marketing sense. In my research I try to embed between these poles and build the analysis in the theoretical concept of L. Karpik, considering games as singularities, in the evaluation of which the players use judgment devices. To complete this aim, I examine reviews on games compiled from Steam digital distribution platform. Using the STM topic modelling method, I explore what kind of evaluative logics do players operate when they make judgments about games. In my work, I pursue three research aims: 1) to examine the dimensions of value and relationships between them, 2) to study the mechanisms of comparisons between exemplar games, 3) to analyze the role of critics in the formation of value judgments. The results of my work contribute to the development of theories about experience goods and ways to determine their values.