ABSTRACT
Certain aspects of the subculture can be viewed as theatre, or as a living role game. However the difference between a role game and the activity that takes place in the subculture is that the participants in a role game can go home after the game is over and also that the power relationships in the role game are temporary and fictitious. The longing for another world is shared by many of Norrkoping’s heroin users and drifters. By participating in the subculture and using its symbols, they can create an adventure. Many use the word ‘world’ to distinguish the subculture from the ‘ordinary’ world. There is thus a feeling among the young heroin users that the subculture is enclosed and autonomous. Gaming is an autonomous world with its own rules and its own codes. Many of the rules that apply on the outside are thrown out and replaced by others.
