BUILDING SOCIAL COMMUNITIES THROUGH MOBILE LEGENDS GAMING APPLICATION

This research sought to find out how social communities were built through mobile gaming, specifically the mobile legends gaming application. Specifically, it aimed to identify their language or communication patterns, the social communities formed in terms of game participation and squad involvement, level of involvement in mobile legends gaming in terms of commitment to team and adjusting patch in games, and the impact on mobile legends gaming on their interpersonal communication. The study was quantitative in nature and wused descriptive research design. A questionnaire was constructed using the Google Forms and distributed online. The respondents for the survey questionnaire were selected through stratified random sampling. A total of 100 students from MSEUF who is considered as an ordinary player of mobile legends gaming were asked to answer the questionnaire together with the informed consent form. Furthermore, statistical tools such as weighted mean was used to analyze and interpret the data for the survey questionnaire. Based on the data gathered and analysis of the findings, the following conclusions are arrived at: The respondent was very much expose to mobile legends gaming given the time of the day, the numbers of hours and the years they spent in playing the game. When it comes to the time of day, majority prefers playing during evening to dawn. Moreover, most of the respondents’ plays spend 3 to 4 hours in playing and majority of them spent almost 1 to 2 years in playing mobile legends. Majority of the respondents plays mobile legends to past time and meet new friends. Reports have shown that many have turned to playing online games during the pandemic (Barr, 2021) and potential benefits of playing games have previously been documented. These benefits include stress relief (Reinecke, 2009), cognitive skills development (Barr, 2017), combating loneliness (Kaye et al., 2017) and more. The language or communication patterns such vocabulary and signs symbols used in mobile legends were deeply known by the respondents. In terms of vocabulary, majority of the respondents uses the word or terms of “G”, “Lobby” and “Inv” before that start the game. When it comes to sign, the use of mini map as references were preferred by the respondents. Majority of the respondents strongly agree that game participation and squad involvement have led them to participate more in the game. In terms of game participation, the use of discord and messenger in reaching out for the teams. Majority of the respondents’ view squad involvement as the idea of feeling more comfortable in playing the main hero with squad mates and participating in any squads makes them confident in showcasing their skills The involvement of the respondents to mobile legends gaming were highly noticed and majority of them strongly agrees that they establish commitment by means of considering the squad mates’ opinions on the heroes pick during the draft accumulated. However, majority only agrees on the idea of adjusting patch in games such as reading the gaming patch before the game. Majority of the respondents strongly agrees that mobile legends helped them to improve their communication skills.