Why Me? An Exploratory Qualitative Study of Drinking Gamers’ Reasons for Selecting Other Players to Drink

A drinking game (DG) is a high-risk drinking activity because it consists of rules that facilitate heavy drinking. The opportunity to select another player to drink is a feature of certain games, which makes DGs unique among other high-risk drinking activities. Thus, the present study’s aims were to examine the primary reasons why DG participants select another player to drink and why someone believes she or he was selected. We collected qualitative, online responses to open-ended questions about the personal qualities that increase players’ chances of being selected to drink while playing a DG (N = 409; emerging adults ages 18–25 years; 54.3% women; 41.6% noncurrent college students). Overall, most participants reported perceived personality qualities, followed by a desire for interaction or alcohol consumption, as the primary reason that players are selected, why they are selected, and why they select other players to drink. Implications for practice and future research directions are briefly discussed.