Geração PlayStation: Jogos de futebol em ambientes virtuais e jovens brasileiros que torcem por clubes estrangeiros

Abstract

The present work investigates the influence of soccer games in virtual environments on the growing trend of the number of young Brazilians who cheer for foreign clubs, unveiled from the analysis of mass communication documents such as blogs, websites, newspapers, magazines , television programs and electronic games. This research is based on the hypothesis that the transnational growth of the number of European team fans in national territory is due, at least partially, to the intense diffusion of electronic games in Brazil. But, after all, why football played abroad is so appreciated by some young Brazilian fans? Why the squabbles and clashes that run thousands of miles away involving foreign clubs on fields and lawns in other countries are able to provide these fans with much more enjoyable experiences to make them identify with overseas clubs, and even feel as part of an extensive "membership community" that goes far beyond local or national boundaries? For me, this is a question that refers to the intricacies of the constitution of the taste for sports spectacles. In this sense, my hypothesis is that, in some cases, football games in virtual environments provide the concepts and parameters that underpin the judgments about what is a beautiful or ugly game, good or bad, are an important part in the collective construction of taste for show football. Therefore, the central question that will guide the investigation can be summarized as follows: what is the role played by electronic games in the process that has transformed the football clubs of Europe to the point of becoming symbols with which some Brazilian fans can they identify themselves? To answer this question, within the limits of a qualitative exploratory research, developed exclusively from the analysis and interpretation of mass communication documents and in dialogue with the bibliography on the subject, this work is divided into three chapters, where I try to point out some possible ways to better understand the influence of soccer games in virtual environments on a growing trend in the number of Brazilians who cheer for teams from abroad, particularly in Europe