User-generated content as cues for performance in LittleBigPlanet

More and more games incorporate mechanics for creating content these days. Even though there is substantial research regarding the modification communities for PC games, gaming ecosystems that are based solely on User-Generated Content are underexplored. The aim of this study is the investigation of how the gaming experience is formed inside the community of LittleBigPlanet through the use of discourse analysis. Discourse analysis provided us with the identities and practices that arise inside the community and the interactions between them, with the language in use and with what is deemed important by its members. The members of the community care about its growth, having pleasant experiences and developing relationships. What stands out though is the action of performance, which comes as an intuitive and not premeditated response to the creations of other players. It is an emerging experience that is achieved by bringing together the gaming world of the levels and the actual game play of the game. It gives a special meaning to the levels of the community, since they become a place for performance. The intertextual references and the tropes the creators incorporate are also crucial, since they act as cues for the players to perform. 1.