Investing in Game‐Based Informal Digital Learning of English (IDLE): A Chinese‐Speaking Gaming Community

As a rapidly evolving sub‐field of computer‐assisted language learning, informal digital learning of English (IDLE) has become a significant catalyst for linguistic, affective, and pedagogical development among English as a second language (L2) learners. Conceptualizing L2 learning as a continuous process of identity negotiation, this contextual digital ethnography adopts a poststructuralist perspective and the investment model to examine (1) the extent to which participation in a gaming community fosters investment in extramural game‐based IDLE and (2) the ways individual players navigate and negotiate their identities to establish legitimacy as English speakers. Data was triangulated from three months of community observation across two online settings, 25 video‐recorded game sessions, and in‐depth interviews with four focal participants. Thematic analysis demonstrates that community members strategically leverage participation in Werewolf, a social deduction game, to resist externally imposed deficit identities such as non‐native English speakers and immigrants and enact agentive, preferred identities as legitimate users of Chinese English. Through these practices, they assert their legitimacy within both the gaming affinity space and their imagined English‐speaking communities. The study concludes by offering pedagogical and practical implications, and by identifying promising directions for future research in digital language learning and identity negotiation.