Purwoyoso Community merupakan salah satu komunitas game online mobile legends di Kota Semarang yang masih aktif hingga sekarang. Anggotannya banyak diisi oleh kalangan usia produktif yaitu remaja dan dewasa. Beberapa di antaranya berstatus sebagai siswa, mahasiswa, hingga pekerja. Menarik untuk diteliti bahwa terdapat suatu makna yang mendasari mereka untuk bergabung dalam komunitas game online sehingga bisa diketahui interaksi sosial dari pemain mobile legends dan bagaimana implikasinya terhadap pembentukan identitas gamer.
Penelitian ini menggunakan metode kualitatif dengan pendekatan naratif deskriptif. Jenis penelitian yaitu field research sehingga peneliti dituntut mampu mendapatkan data-data utama dari lapangan. Data utama dilakukan melalui observasi di grup whatsapp komunitas yang menjadi ruang interaksi para pemain mobile legends. Pengamatan juga dilakukan di burjo sekitar Ngaliyan saat para informan sedang beraktivitas main bareng (mabar) serta mewawancarainya. Kemudian mengamati dan mewawancarai informan yang mengikuti turnamen baik diadakan secara online maupun offline di sekitar Kota Semarang. Sedangkan data sekunder didapatkan melalui dokumen history kegiatan komunitas yang tersedia dalam drive dan sosial media.
Hasil penelitian ini menunjukan yaitu pertama, tindakan para pemain mobile legends di Purwoyoso Community sejak masuk di komunitas hingga berinteraksi bersama pemain lainnya didasarkan oleh makna. Pemaknaan tersebut muncul dari interpretasi diri masing-masing pemain yang berinteraksi dengan objeknya melalui aktivitas main bareng (mabar) dan turnamen. Dalam aktivitas tersebut terdapat hal-hal yang berkaitan dengan interaksi simbolik yang saling timbal balik antar para pemain. Kedua, makna yang direpresentasikan masing-masing pemain (players) mampu mengonstruksi sebagai identitas gamers. Kemudian identitas gamers tersebut diklasifikasikan sesuai dengan makna dan representasi pemain yang didasarkan pada konsep Bartle Taxonomy. Terdapat tiga identias gamers yang ditemukan peneliti

ABSTRACT:
Purwoyoso Community is one of the mobile legends online game communities in the city of Semarang which is still active today. Members are filled by productive age groups, namely teenagers and adults. Among them are students, students, and workers. Interestingly, there is a meaning that underlies them to join the online game community so that social interaction as mobile legends players can be known and the implications for the formation of gamer identity.
This study uses a qualitative method with a descriptive narrative approach. This type of research is field research so that researchers are required to be able to obtain key data from the field. The main data is carried out through observations in the WhatsApp community group which is the interaction space for mobile legends players. Observations were also made at the burjo around Ngaliyan when the informants were playing together (mabar) and interviewing them. Then observed and interviewed informants who took part in tournaments both held online and offline around the city of Semarang. Meanwhile, secondary data was obtained through historical documents of community activities available on drives and social media.
The results of this study show that first, the actions of mobile legends players in the Purwoyoso Community from entering the community to interacting with other players are based on meaning. This meaning arises from the self-interpretation of each player who interacts with the object through playing together (mabar) and tournaments. In these activities there are things related to reciprocal symbolic interactions between the players. Second, the meaning represented by each player (players) is able to construct the identity of gamers. Then the gamers' identities are classified according to the meaning and representation of the players based on the Bartle Taxonomy concept. There are three gamers' identities found by researchers, namely the socializer gamer, the achiever gamer, and the explorer gamer.