'Click on the Big Red Car': The social accomplishment of playing a Wiggles computer game

The playing of computer games in the home is ubiquitous in contemporary life. Research that examines young children’s computer use confirms that playing computer games is a dominant form of activity. While computer game playing has important social effects for children, how children accomplish their social activity during computer use is very much taken for granted in the game-playing literature. This article addresses young children’s computer game playing through a detailed analysis of two children’s interaction while playing a Wiggles game in their home. Conversation analysis is employed to describe and explicate the social accomplishment of playing the game through a sequential analysis of data. Discussion considers the local organization of the game, its occasioned complexity, and the management of identity-related activities during game playing. The study provides a description of the ways that social interaction accomplishes the children’s game playing.