Towards a unified theory of toxic behavior in video games

Abstract

PurposeToxic behavior in multiplayer video games diminishes the potential revenue of gaming companies by spreading a bad mood, negatively affecting game play, and subsequently leading to the churn of players. However, research investigating why toxic behavior occurs is still scarce. To address this issue, this study disjunctively tests three different theoretical approaches (social cognitive theory, theory of planned behavior, and online disinhibition effect) to explain toxic behavior and propose a unified theory of toxic behavior.Design/methodology/approachIn total, 320 respondents participated in a questionnaire study. This study analyzes the data with covariance-based statistics (i.e. regression analysis and structural equation modelling), and the approach is twofold. First, the hypotheses of three theories are disjunctively tested. Second, a unified theory of toxic behavior is proposed.FindingsThe results of this study indicate that online disinhibition best explains toxic behavior, whereby toxic behavior victimization, attitude, and behavioral control also play an important role.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings of this study offer an opportunity to better understand a contemporary and especially meaningful form of negative behavior online.Practical implicationsTo maintain revenue and popularity, the computer game industry can use the findings of this study to prevent and better address toxic behavior and its negative consequences.Originality/valueToxic behavior among video game players is a relatively new and unexplored phenomenon; therefore, this study makes a valuable contribution to the research field by testing the explanatory power of three theoretical approaches and proposing a unified theory of toxic behavior.

Curing toxicity – developing design principles to buffer toxic behaviour in massive multiplayer online games

“…toxic disinhibition and benign disinhibition) showed a positive effect on the occurrence of CB. Recently, the first empirical study trying to explain TB was published, indicating the particularly important influence of the ODE as part of the occurrence of toxicity (Kordyaka et al, 2020). We build on the aforementioned findings and take them one step forward, exploring influences on a level of antecedent variables of the ODE that can be directly influenced with the design of technology.…”

“…Within the last decade, MMO games disrupted the video game market as market shares, popularity and revenue outperformed other industry segments (Martinello, 2020;Statista, 2019). Additionally, they can be considered one of the major drivers of the eSports phenomenon, which can be understood as the competitive play of different MMOs (Hamari and Sjö blom, 2017;Kordyaka et al, 2020;Scholz, 2019). MMOs allow a large number of people to simultaneously play and interact with multiple groups of people at the same time.…”

“…Furthermore, the quality of communication during a game is directly linked to performance (Neto et al, 2017), and players are inclined to normalize negative behaviours (Adinolf and Turkay, 2018). Additionally, a unified theory of TB was proposed (Kordyaka et al, 2020), and game developers made attempts to decrease the toxicity in their games providing rudimentary tools such as reporting after games, positive reinforcement, priming and avoiding, with mixed results so far. Taken together, TB remains a sincere problem for different video game communities, and it is still unclear how to holistically buffer toxicity from a theoretical standpoint on a level of game design.…”

“…Embedded in theories of aggressive behaviour on the internet, we propose the concept of the online disinhibition effect (ODE) to offer a chance to theoretically address TB. The ODE already showed its explanatory potential in neighbouring contexts of cyberbullying (CB) (Cheung et al, 2016;Lowry et al, 2017;Udris, 2014) and explained substantial shares of variance in a unified theory of TB (Kordyaka et al, 2020). Additionally, previous research identified different antecedent variables of the ODE (i.e.…”

Managing trolling in online communities: an organizational perspective

“…This technique consists of a requirement to “sign in” to the online community to be able to interact with other users. Importantly, it is suggested that this mechanism reduces anonymity, which is still prevalent in many online discussion boards, forums, and chat rooms (Kordyaka et al , 2020) and consequently renders the troll traceable.…”