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STUDY ONE
result in incidental L2 learning (Chik 2014, Ryu 2011, 2013, Sundgvist 2015).
He explained this as follows:
I play most games in English, some in Hungarian, but the point is not what language
it is but what language players speak. [...] Ifyou have to [play together] then its easier
to have a common language and use that to solve problems.
In contrast, Charlie prefers single-player video games as he likes to focus
on the story and thinks that online cooperation may mar the story. In his
words:
I think most single-player games have great storylines, and multi-player games
are often ruined by other players because other players sometimes have different
approaches to enjoying the game, and it ruins the whole [experience].
As far as single-player video games are concerned, Valentina, the only female
gamer among the interviewees also prefers games where there is an interesting
story. She pointed out that in such games, it is important to understand ev¬
erything because a great deal depends on players’ choices, which influence the
flow of the story. She explained it as follows:
[BJasically, this is a role-playing game, and conversations, and interactions are in
English, and it’s useful to know what’s happening because I cannot complete a quest
if I don’t know what [to do] [...] and if I don’t understand and answer something
nonsense, then I will find myself in an uncomfortable situation that I misunderstood
everything completely.
This could ultimately increase player L2 learning motivation (Bytheway
2015, Ebrahimzadeh-Sepideh 2017) as the inner desire to comprehend the
story and to achieve the goals set in a video game may motivate players to
check previously unknown vocabulary items in order to improve their gener¬
al L2 proficiency.
Participants also listed some vocabulary items they possibly learned from
playing video games. Some of these vocabulary items are genre-specific; gamers
who play football video games, for instance, mentioned phrases such as “goal
kick,” “sending-off,” and “substitution.” Vocabulary related to weaponry and
warfare was also highlighted. Christian points out that he is entirely convinced
that he learned such vocabulary items from video games. In his words: “I don’t
suppose I would know any military vocabulary if I weren’t playing mili¬
tary-themed games. And thanks to that, I know helmets and armor and stuff.”
Nevertheless, it is possible the acquire more frequently used common vo¬
cabulary items from video games, such as “obtain” and “cloak,” too, and these
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