Where everybody knows your game: the appeal and function of game cafes in Western Europe

Game cafés are popping up in cities across Western Europe and are rapidly becoming popular places in the tangible world of the gamer. Compared to studies focused on Asia, motivations and activities of Western European visitors of game cafés are relatively unclear and not discussed in academic literature. Since understanding these motivations would contribute to explanations of why and how people play games, focus groups and contextual inquiries were organized with visitors of Dutch game cafés. The findings indicate that- similar to Asia - Western European game cafés can be seen as third places, a home base separate from home and work or school. Moreover, this research identifies why a game café and a virtual game world can both be regarded as a third place.