Pedagogical practices in a gaming affinity space and the motivating sting of Elden Ring

This qualitative thematic analysis examines Reddit community members’ pedagogical practices in a discussion board related to Elden Ring, a notoriously difficult video game. Elden Ring is highly acclaimed by both critics and users for its excellent gameplay and tough-but-fair philosophy. A focal thread on Elden Ring was selected in which a novice player shared their difficulties in the game and community members replied to share advice, perspectives, and experiences on the game and gameplay success. Data analysis revealed two primary themes of pedagogical practices in this affinity space: instructional pedagogical practices and affective pedagogical practices. Instructional pedagogical practices included Explaining, Strategizing, and Questioning & Answering. Affective pedagogical practices included Encouraging and Empathizing. Collectively, these six pedagogical practices illustrate how dedicated fans of Elden Ring acted as a community of practice and supported one another’s learning experiences on this Reddit discussion board affinity space. Implications for education and directions for future research are discussed.