Willingness to Communicate in the Digital Wilds: A Case Study of a Gamer Writing Fanfiction

This study explores the willingness to communicate (WTC) of an autonomous learner of English in the digital wilds who is both a gamer and fanfiction writer. It applies MacIntyre et al.’s (1998) framework to a case study of a French fan, Juliette, of the digital game The Sims 4 who joined an English language Facebook community for the purpose of sharing her video-based fanfiction based on The Sims 4 to receive feedback and interact in English. Qualitative content analysis was carried out using a participant informational survey, an initial interview, a task assignment, and a retrospective interview. Findings uncovered several aspects of the WTC framework that were particularly relevant for Juliette's WTC (second language [L2] confidence and WTC) and others that, due to the specific nature of Juliette's fan practices and characteristics of the digital wilds, were not (intergroup climate, intergroup attitudes, intergroup motivation, and desire to communicate with a specific person).