This study explores the evolving contours of digital intimacy within gaming communities, positioning these platforms as pivotal sites where young people negotiate emotional bonds amidst the algorithmic and commodified nature of contemporary media. Drawing on player motivation typologies and affect theory, we argue that gaming environments—ranging from MMORPGs to social VR spaces—serve as affective infrastructures where emotional labor and identity formation are simultaneously nurtured and exploited. Building on Ozturkcan’s (2024) concept of game prosumption, we frame gaming as a locus of affective surplus extraction, where avatar customization, guild memberships, and streaming practices entangle intimacy with datification, algorithmic profiling, and economic gain. Extending Simondon’s (1958/2020) theory of individuation, we conceptualize intimacy in gaming as a transindividual network, where digital rituals, computational visibility, and emotional investments converge to modulate self-concept, producing a paradoxical terrain in which genuine connection is commodified under platform capitalism.