Cozy gaming: investigating how gamers use TikTok for digital resistance

Abstract Cozy games are a genre marked by elements designed to evoke feelings of safety, abundance, and softness. The rising popularity of this genre is often misattributed to increased desires for escapism and avoidance of the real world. However, TikTok cozy gaming influencers reimagine gameplay as a vehicle for community care, identity expression, and digital resistance in the face of systemic oppression on digital platforms. This study examines how TikTok’s algorithmic governance affords unique avenues of self-expression and collective mobilization for women of color gamers, particularly how they negotiate the tensions between coziness as self-care and its commodification. We employed a mixed-methods approach, content analysis with a semi-structured interview of a prominent cozy gaming content creator. After a systematic search for cozy videos on TikTok, we were left with a final sample of 52 TikTok posts. Videos were coded for aesthetic and production elements, identity markers, and activity affordances related to emotional well-being and digital connection. The interview data provided qualitative contextual insights into the motivations, experiences, and community practices of creators. Our content analysis developed three primary themes: identity and representation in the cozy gaming community, cozy gaming as a therapeutic practice, and the commodification of coziness. Explicit references to race (17%, N = 9) and gender (35%, N = 19) appeared less frequently but were discussed more directly and in greater detail in the interview. Findings from this study suggest that women of color utilize cozy gaming to foster online communities, while also managing tensions between authenticity, community, and digital labor.