ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the offline/macroscopic aspect, which consists of large-scale social connections and involvement in the physical world, using Taiwan's 2014 'Sunflower Movement' as a representative case to demonstrate how Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs)-associated experiences and social interaction patterns have the potential to play central roles in civil action. Specifically, it shows that during the protest, the real-time tools of Facebook and Google applications were used for information-sharing and other communication purposes as they have been in social actions in other countries, but more importantly, organizational and collaborative models and mobilization strategies were clearly influenced by the MMOG-playing experiences, literacies, and cultures of the protest participants. The chapter identifies four characteristics indicating familiarity with online game culture: game-like organization and collaboration; ease of collaboration with strangers; 'game tip' creation, usage, and distribution; and using game culture concepts to comprehend situations and to plan and take action.
