Liminality in Conspicuous Consumption: The Curious Case of 'PC Master Race'
(A2023-114506)

AUTHORS

Denis Utochkin, Norwegian School of Economics

ABSTRACT

This paper explores the development of collective identity of an online forum of PC gaming enthusiasts ‘PCMR’ on Reddit. Emerging in 2011 as a fringe group within the larger gaming subculture, PCMR grew to be the largest gaming platform-specific consumer collective on the Internet. Through a netnographic study and automated analysis of 27.5 mil. postings and 226k images, I demonstrate how this process was associated with a transition from mechanical solidarity to a state of communitas. I find that the liminal nature of the PC gaming hobby, which is associated with ambiguities and anxieties absent from experiences of consumers whose platform of choice is a major game console, was integral to this transition and corresponding decrease in oppositional brand loyalty. Findings provide evidence that liminality, which has often been seen in a negative light in prior consumption-oriented studies, may enhance consumer experiences, produce intense collective joy, reduce intergroup conflict.