Collaborative Problem Solving and Literacy Practices: A Conversation-Analytic Case Study of Children's Pre-Roblox Gaming Interaction

Over the past 25 years, online video games have developed from a hobby to a global social and leisure platform. When COVID 19 placed much of the world's population under lockdown restrictions, online gaming offered many people a crucial avenue for social connection. Roblox, a free-to-play, online sandbox game, became part of this wave that enjoys a significant following worldwide. A substantial proportion of these followers who routinely use Roblox are under 18 years old.  This study takes as its object of study the multi-layered ways through which two preteen players, physically separated, but connected through Microsoft Teams, collaboratively participate, problem solve and share strategies. In particular, it highlights this as an approach that affords children’s opportunity for social and language learning. Using Multimodal Conversation Analysis as a methodological framework, this study offers an analysis of how the participants use various resources in the service of starting a gaming activity in the Roblox world, including interactional, material ecology, knowledge, and literacy, by using varied strategies such as collaboration, problem solving, instructing, and requesting help from each other. The analysis highlights a relationship between online gaming activities and participants’ utilization of resources for multifaceted learning relating to technology, literacy, and teamwork.