Meanings of Retrogaming Consumption for “Millennial” and “Generation X” Men

Retro marketing is a recurring topic of academic research and a business strategy used by many businesses. The concept of retro revolves around consumption of products from a bygone era or reintroducing them often adapted to modern standards. Despite its academic popularity and market applications there are certain gaps in knowledge as to its origin in modern-day consumption and a need for developing conceptualisations, typologies and frameworks embracing the multifaced nature of the phenomenon. The purpose of this research is therefore to fill the theoretical gap concerning the conceptualisation of retro and implications for its practice in the future. A fascinating and popular form of retro consumption which can answer this call and further the understanding of retro is retro video gaming (more often called retrogaming). Exploring this form of the retro phenomenon will focus on the “why?” of retrogaming consumption exploring its meanings amongst two generations of male retrogamers. Two in-depth interviews with each of the 16 UK-based male retrogamers were conducted following a hermeneutic phenomenology methodology. A key finding identified was the realisation of retro gaming consumption being an expression of resistance towards change with four contributing dimensions: temporal changes, social changes, technological changes and market changes. This led to a contribution in the form of a new conceptual framework of four change lenses (dimensions) of retro consumption providing a new and more organised way to perceive retro consumption and its sources. It can be also used as a foundation for gaining a more detailed understanding of other forms of retro consumption. Additionally, unexpected contributions towards collecting consumer behaviour knowledge were identified involving: the dichotomy of the collecting process; a new in-vivo collector typology; the importance of physical transaction-scapes in collecting behaviour; the role of self-created online-transaction-scapes; and sharing different forms of nostalgia within the community. Overall, contributions presented in this work will help to further the discourse on retro consumption and aspects of collecting behaviour.

Grantor dc:publisher

Oxford Brookes University

Year dc:date

2022

Author dc:creator

• Wyczynski, Kamil

Contributors dc:contributor

• Dermody, Janine
• Clarke, Jackie

Statement dc:rights

• All rights reserved

Language dc:language

en

DOI dc:identifier

https://doi.org/10.24384/67yd-c795

OAI identifier oai:identifier

tle:918faf24-01b0-460e-9762-99250b90f629:d6bd9758-527a-46cd-bfe2-c433766e8fca:1