Keep Playing: Tinder, Its Affordances and Playful Identity

Abstract

The media we use do not only influence the way we are able to express ourselves, they are a key element in how we reflexively understand ourselves. Although in the past narrative was an essential element in the construction of our identity, current media are not merely structured by narrative anymore. According to Valerie Frissen et al. digital media should be understood through play, rather than narrative. It is therefor that they propose a theory of playful identity as a way of understanding the relation between digital media and identity construction. This thesis builds upon and exemplifies this concept of playful identity as proposed by Valerie Frissen et al. It will do so through a case study of the mobile dating application Tinder. With the use of an affordance analysis in combination with a textual analysis the thesis shows how playful identity construction is afforded by Tinder. The four categories of games as defined by Roger Caillois, namely agôn, alea, mimicry and ilinx, function as a framework for an affordance analysis. The findings of this affordance analysis are validated through a textual analysis of user profiles. This mixed method shows that Tinder affords agôn and mimicry as dominant forms of play, supported by underlying alea and ilinx forms of play. In the final part of the thesis these findings are connected to playful identity. Playful Identity as a theory is adapted to an affordance approach. Connecting the analysis to playful identity shows that using playful identity as a concept in a specific case study, is a fruitful approach for understanding media objects and afforded identity construction.