Competenza comunicativa 2.0. Le funzioni sociali dell'alterazione grafica nelle comunità videoludiche

The article focuses on the social function of spelling alteration in online gaming communities, considering both technical terms and common words. In Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games, word shortening is not simply a consequence of fast typing, it is an instrument members of the community unwittingly use to create a jargon that defines the group identity: therefore employing modified words determines their membership in the community and the hierarchical position within it. The investigation of modified common words distribution reveals that abbreviations are more commonly used by people inexperienced in traditional and digital writing: there is a strong correlation between grammatical errors, typing mistakes, and abbreviations. In addition, abbreviations are largely used by people who rarely write in chat, therefore by people less skilled in computer-mediated communication. The analysis of technical terms shows that the ability to modify them is a trait of experienced members of the gaming community and a sign of social prestige. In the final section we look at the complex relationship between the need to write quickly and the need to send clearly intelligible messages.