Ludic Activity of Writing Using Wattpad as Digital Fiction Engagement and Meaning Experiences

The capability of Wattpad to provide a space for writers to publish their works, either original or fan-based stories and multiplatform entertainment for all users and its popularity demonstrate the evolution of authorship. This study attempts to explore university students’ engagement with Wattpad as a digital fiction platform to understand their writing and reading experiences and their ludic activity as a strategy to develop their meaningful existence in their virtual and social world. Data are collected through distributing Google form survey on social media. Questions asked to respondents willing to participate on this survey are both multiple choices and open questions that are designed to identify the participants’ digital activity across platforms and their ludic experiences in using Wattpad as both consumer and prosumer. Finding shows that Wattpad has revolutionized the notion of writing fiction through participatory culture offered to users to engage with this platform as a medium to express their creative imagination. Most respondents are not dedicated writers and they publish their story when they have mood to write. Writing is considered as just a ludic activity, so do narratives they develop. However, support and comments accepted on the margin encourage them to continue writing. Thus, Wattpad for writers is a part of their identity expression to be recognized socially although it is mediated through digital platform.