More Than Just a Game: Lived Experiences of Six-Grader Mobile Legend Players

This study aimed to explore the lived experience of Mobile Legend users. It made use of the phenomenological research design to gain deep insights on their individual experiences on the phenomenon of interest. It included as participants eight sixth-grader pupils of a public school. The data were gathered through one-one-one interviews. Most of the participants were males; were 11-13 years old; were using android cell phones; and were ranked either as legend, mythic or elite. Findings revealed that they learned to play the online game by their exposure to their environment in which they live and social media. Playing the game enable them to socialize with their physical and virtual world through building relationships, teamwork, and exploring new horizons. They derived from it both intrinsic and extrinsic rewards. Through playing, they nurtured the values of sportsmanship, optimism, recognizing the factors that contributed to their defeat and victory, and resilience to challenging situations. Nevertheless, playing too much had posed in them negative implications on their health. It is recommended that parents should monitor their children on the usage of gadgets at the early age and let their children personally interact and socialize with others.