{"id":292,"date":"2019-05-06T03:17:24","date_gmt":"2019-05-05T19:17:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/networkconference.netstudies.org\/2019Curtin\/?p=292"},"modified":"2019-05-06T03:17:24","modified_gmt":"2019-05-05T19:17:24","slug":"online-gaming-communities-have-created-platforms-where-cyber-bullies-can-thrive-with-seemingly-little-to-no-consequences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/networkconference.netstudies.org\/2019Curtin\/2019\/05\/06\/online-gaming-communities-have-created-platforms-where-cyber-bullies-can-thrive-with-seemingly-little-to-no-consequences\/","title":{"rendered":"Online gaming communities have created platforms where cyber bullies can thrive with seemingly little to no consequences."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Abstract<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This paper will\nrevolve around the attitude and negative behaviour that is present in the\ndigital world of gaming. Games in themselves have evolved beyond traditional\nsingle player games and adopted an interactive online form where players can\ncommunicate while playing with or against each other. However, can we actually\nclaim that these platforms have created a space where bullies can prey off the\nweak and simply walk away scot free? Is the negative and toxic attitude in games\nthe result of an innate psychological need to come off as strong by putting\ndown those who are seemingly weak or is it the result of getting dragged down\ninto a digital environment where cyber bullying is the norm? This paper will\ngive the answers to these questions and help elucidate the extent to which\ncyber bullying can have an impact on the individual player as well as the\ngaming community as a whole. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full text<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the digital era of\nthe web 2.0, there are numerous examples of platforms where users can\ncommunicate on a different plane with media rich content. Those platforms have\ngiven birth to communities where the essence of communication itself has been\nredefined. The world of online gaming has made optimum use of the capacity of\ncommunicating on the web and has allowed for new experiences when gaming.\nPreviously, games were mostly individual activities and multiplayer games required\nphysical presence of all players through split screen gaming. However, with\nonline gaming, players are able to play with other players irrespective of\ngeographical constraints. While these features have allowed the creation of\ncommunities where players can interact with each other in real time while being\nimmersed in a game, it has also given birth to a platform where the users are\nable to act inappropriately towards other players while being shielded behind\nthe unique level of anonymity that is provided by the internet. As a matter of\nfact, gaming communities have simply created a new platform where cyber bullies\ncan operate with little to no consequences (Hines, 2011). In this conference\npaper, we will be seeing how an inappropriate behaviour in a gaming community\ncan adversely impact the experience of players as well as the reason behind\nsuch behaviour. Based on the results of researches that have been conducted, we\nwill attempt to understand what drives individuals towards such kinds of\nbehaviour and most importantly what are the actual consequences of\ninappropriate behaviour in a gaming community in aspect with the individual\nplayer as well as the community as a whole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To start off, we will be defining what is actually considered as an\ninappropriate behaviour within a gaming community. Basing on general norms\nitself, there are certain behaviours that are deemed as unacceptable within\nevery community in general. Examples include, racist, homophobic or misogynist\nremarks. While these kinds of attitude are still negative attitudes within the\nworld of gaming, there are still other kinds of behaviour and actions that are\nspecifically related to gaming communities itself. When players are engaged in\ngaming communities, they may find themselves faced with other players who use\nbot scripts as a means to circumvent the rules of the game so that they avoid\nthe hard, repetitive and tedious grindings that may be required to progress in\nthe game and hence leave the competition behind through the means of an unfair\nadvantage (Mu\u00f1oz & El-Hani, 2012). Believe it or not, but this form of cheating to progress in a game is\nactually one of the most harmless forms of inappropriate behaviour that goes\nagainst the ethics of gaming. As a gamer, I would rather have someone cheating\nrather than someone who spends his time in the gaming community calling other\nplayers names or even being straight up racist. Very often, in the gaming\ncommunity, you find players who abuse other players and use a language that is\noffensive to a degree that may even drive players to stop playing a particular\ngame. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If we take into consideration the high level of interaction that is\npossible on the internet in general, it would make sense that this level of\ninteraction and communication may be misused and result in numerous cases of\ncyber bullying. In fact, \u201ccyber-racism and\nother forms of cyber-bullying have become an increasing part of the internet\nmainstream, with 35% of Australian internet users witnessing such\nbehaviour online (Gail & Natalie, 2017).\u201d While this is the case\nwith the general use of the internet, this kind of behaviour is often\nreplicated in gaming communities where players are often victims of cyber\nbullying and have to face negative remarks that may arise from unsatisfactory\nperformance in the game or simply being placed in the wake of a mean\nindividual. The gaming world is becoming increasingly competitive with\nprofessional players earning a lot of money playing and somehow, this\ncompetitive attitude is being replicated by amateur players as well. The only\nbump however is the fact that amateur players have the tendency to succumb into\nwhat I would call \u201cthe blame game\u201d. Whether it is when gaming or engaging in\nany other activity where one would emerge victorious, the losing party often feels\na high level of frustration from being in the losing team(Teng, Tseng, Chen & Wu, 2012). In gaming communities, players would rather blame their teammate for a\nloss rather than embracing their own faults and incompetency. This feeling of\nfrustration coupled with this blaming attitude is what is at the core of most\ninappropriate behaviours in a gaming community. Sometimes, however, the cyber\nbully is just a plain mean bully who thrives upon the misery of the weak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An important aspect to understand, however, is what drives cyber bullies\nto act in the way they do aside from a poor attitude born from frustration and\nwhy they appear to have free rein to behave in any way they want in gaming\ncommunities. The majority of members in a gaming community is often children\nand teenagers and \u201cmembers of this particular demographic group are often the\nones who are more prone to be on both side of the bullying coin (Lehman, 1986)\u201d. This means that those\nindividuals are more likely to be the ones bullying while also being the ones\nwho are bullying. Since teenagers are the most prominent demographic group in\ngaming communities it automatically implies that the bullying attitude would be\nreflected in the gaming communities as well. While there are certain\npsychological factors that would help to understand what motivates bullies such\nas a means of seeking attention or a reflection of a bad environment with the\nfamily household, we should also consider why the gaming communities act like a\nperfect hunting for bullies who use the platform to prey upon their victims. If\nwe consider the fact that a recent study came to the conclusion that spending\nmore time playing online games would increase the risks of being victim to\ncyber bullying (Chang et al., 2014), we can understand why the gaming communities are the platforms where\nbullying is more likely to occur. By exposing the teenagers and children who\nare most likely to be bullies and victims of bullying to an environment which\nplaces them even more at risk to be victims of bullying, the result would be\neasily predictable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The attitude of gamers, however, is often considered as insignificant\nand free from consequences. An individual playing a game may vent out his\/her\nfrustration on another player and since the victim of this abuse is very often\na stranger with absolutely no connection to the bully outside of the gaming\ncommunity, the bully and even the victim may simply shrug off this behaviour as\nnothing serious since it had little to no impact on the victim. However, this\nis not always the case. The bully may, knowingly or unknowingly, use one of the\nvictim\u2019s most exploitable insecurity against him\/her and this may cause lasting\npsychological damage to the victim and may lead to the victim committing an\nirreversible act that would put several people in the way of harm (Mishna, Khoury-Kassabri, Gadalla & Daciuk, 2006). In any case of bullying, the response from the victim is not always\npredictable but the kind of behaviour that bullying may incite has been\nsegmented into three categories;  \u201cFirstly, victims may adopt a passive approach, such as abstaining from\ntaking action or choosing to ignore it; secondly, victims may adopt an active\napproach, such as reporting such behavior to other people; thirdly, victims may\nadopt a reactive approach, such as responding to the bullying behavior (Lee & Wu, 2018).\u201d The first response is usually harmless, and the second response seems\nlike the proper course of action, but the third kind of response is often the\nmost dangerous while also being the most unpredictable one. Victims adopting\nthe third response may end up responding to the bully with an even meaner\ncomment or in worst case scenarios, causing physical harm to himself\/herself or\nto those in his\/her vicinity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the pragmatic behaviour of bullies might be difficult to\ncomprehend in terms of what drives them towards bullying, it is far simpler to\nunderstand why cyber bullies are far more efficient and more dangerous\npredators as compared to the traditional \u201cgive me your lunch money bully\u201d that\nyou may encounter in a school. The most powerful tool of any bully on the\ninternet and in gaming communities is the veil of anonymity that anyone can\nwear on the internet. It is easy to hide one\u2019s identity on the internet by\nusing a fake name and in gaming communities you would rarely find anyone who is\nusing their real name as almost every gamer would rather use a gaming name as a\nmeans to create an identity within the game (Sublette & Mullan, 2010). As a result,\nhiding behind a fake identity can be considered as a norm within gaming\ncommunities and even professional players are known through their gaming name\ninstead of their real name. When taking this fact into consideration, we can\nunderstand how gamers in an online community can hide behind a fake identity\nand through this veil of anonymity they are able to act in any way that they\nwant and say whatever they want without any real-world consequences. Call\nsomeone stupid in the real world and they might punch you in the face but do\nthe same thing while protected by the digital barrier of a computer screen and\nthe worst that can happen is that person reporting your account.  \u201cNot only are the\nidentities of cyber-bullies concealed, but so to are the impacts of their acts\non victims. With the victim being out of visual sight, the act of cyber-bulling\nis made easier by allowing the cyber-bully to hide behind technological devices (Hines, 2011).\u201d We cannot also ignore the fact that cyber-bullies are oblivious to the\nreaction from their victims and this makes cyber-bullying easier even for\nsomeone with a decent moral compass. If someone is being bullied physically and\nthey end up crying this may have an effect on the bully who might feel sorry\nfor his\/her victim but in online communities, this is not the case. The bully\nwould not even think of the consequences of his\/her action since he\/she may not\neven play with the victim or hear from them ever again. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It might seem surprising as to why victims of cyber bullying may not\nturn towards anyone for help in case, they were victimised in an online gaming\ncommunity. The main reason would be because gaming communities are platform\nwhere you interact with strangers mostly and the larger the community the more\nlikely you are to encounter a player with a toxic attitude, but this also\nimplies that you even less likely to encounter the bully again. Also, blocking\nsomeone and preventing all forms of interaction with you is relatively easy on\nany online community. There are, nonetheless, another reason why gamers,\nespecially teenagers do not report cases of cyber bullying. In a lot of cases,\nparents have already antagonised games and electronic devices and the victim of\ncyber bullying may feel like if they were to tell their parents about the case,\nthey may end up without any electronic device that they can play and socialise\non (Hines, 2011)<\/a>. The teenagers would\nrather face the cyber bullies instead of being devoid of their electronic\ndevices. Another reason is how \u201cnew technologies\nenable and expand the avenues for racial vilification, raising distinct\nproblems of dissemination, anonymity and enforcement <\/a>(Gail & Natalie, 2017).\u201d The fast rate at which technology is progressing coupled with the\nlevel of anonymity on online platforms makes it harder to regulate online\nbehaviour even for the legal authorities. Hence, most cases of cyber bullying\nare just shrugged off as insignificant and since cyber bullies do not face any\nconsequence for their behaviour they would not discontinue acting in an\ninappropriate fashion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nonetheless, we cannot claim that the gaming world is only teeming with\ncyber bullies and is full of toxic behaviours. There are also numerous\ninstances whereby gamers adopt positive attitudes and behaviours that\ncontribute towards creating a wholesome and welcome digital environment that is\nappealing even to the new, unexperienced and somewhat unskilled players. Some\ngamers do not fall into the spiral of cyber bullying but in fact they play in a\nfashion that encourages other players to keep playing and some even go as far\nas siding with gamers who are being bullied. In fact, some games even allow\nother players to commend players who have played well and adopted a good\nattitude in game and these commends are publicly displayed on the player\nprofile which would encourage other players to partake in game with those\nplayers. There are also players who simply abstain from communicating with\nother players and hence contribute neither to the digital environment\u2019s toxicity\nnor wholesomeness. In the end it all sums down to a personal choice about adopting\na positive behaviour. Each and every gamer hold the rein over their own\nbehaviour and it shows that if one is willing to do it, they can opt not to tread\nthe path that is cyber bullying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To conclude we would say that online gaming platforms have indeed\nallowed cyber bullies more power and it is far easier for them to bully their\nvictims. The anonymity that is provided online serves as a means to protect the\nbullies and allow them to act in the way they want with seemingly no consequences.\nHowever, cyber bullying might seem insignificant but it the fact remains that\nat the end of the day, it is still bullying and no cases of bullying can be\nclaimed to be absolutely without consequences. We cannot ignore the fact that \u201cvictims of cyber bullying would feel frightened, worried, distressed,\nand can suffer from social anxiety disorder, eating disorder, drug or alcohol\nabuse, criminal behaviour, and chaotic or nervous interpersonal relationships (Lee & Wu, 2018)<\/a>.\u201d This shows that no act\nof bullying is free from consequences. Stepping into a gaming community may\ncause someone with good morals to be corrupted by the toxic environment since\nhumans tend to adapt to comply with the norms of any group that they are in (Lee & Wu, 2018) but that does not\nnecessarily mean that one should blindly follow the trend and further\ncontribute towards the toxicity of the community. By bringing about a change in\nindividual attitude it may be possible to remedy to the abysmal situation that\nonline gaming communities are actually in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0References<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chang, F., Chiu, C., Miao, N., Chen, P., Lee, C., Huang, T., & Pan, Y. (2014). Online gaming and risks predict cyberbullying perpetration and victimization in adolescents. International Journal Of Public Health<\/em>,\u00a060<\/em>(2), 257-266. doi: 10.1007\/s00038-014-0643-x<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gail, M., & Natalie, C. (2017). Regulating\nCyber Racism. Melbourne University Law Review<\/em>, 41<\/em>(1),\n284-340.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hines, H. (2011). Traditional bullying and\ncyber-bullying: Are the impacts on self-concept the same?<\/em>. Western Carolina\nUniversity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lee, Y., & Wu, W. (2018). Factors in cyber\nbullying: the attitude-social influence-efficacy model. Anales De\nPsicolog\u00eda<\/em>, 34<\/em>(2), 324. doi: 10.6018\/analesps.34.2.295411<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lehman, B. (1986). Bullies. Why they pick on other kids. Boston\nGlobe<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mishna, F., Khoury-Kassabri, M., Gadalla, T., &\nDaciuk, J. (2006). Risk factors for involvement in cyber bullying: Victims,\nbullies and bully\u2013victims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mu\u00f1oz, Y., & El-Hani, C. (2012). The student\nwith a thousand faces: from the ethics in video games to becoming a\ncitizen. Cultural Studies Of Science Education<\/em>, 7<\/em>(4),\n909-943. doi: 10.1007\/s11422-012-9444-9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sublette, V., & Mullan, B. (2010). Consequences\nof Play: A Systematic Review of the Effects of Online Gaming. International\nJournal Of Mental Health And Addiction<\/em>, 10<\/em>(1), 3-23. doi:\n10.1007\/s11469-010-9304-3<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teng, C., Tseng, F., Chen, Y., & Wu, S. (2012).\nOnline gaming misbehaviours and their adverse impact on other gamers. Online\nInformation Review<\/em>, 36<\/em>(3), 342-358. doi: 10.1108\/14684521211241387<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Abstract This paper will revolve around the attitude and negative behaviour that is present in the digital world of gaming. Games in themselves have evolved beyond traditional single player games and adopted an interactive online form where players can communicate while playing with or against each other. However, can we actually claim that these platforms… Continue reading Online gaming communities have created platforms where cyber bullies can thrive with seemingly little to no consequences.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[36,25,70,104,38,37],"class_list":["post-292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gaming","tag-onlinegamingcommunities","tag-communities","tag-cyberbullying","tag-digitial-games","tag-onlinegames","tag-onlinegamingcommunities-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/networkconference.netstudies.org\/2019Curtin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/networkconference.netstudies.org\/2019Curtin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/networkconference.netstudies.org\/2019Curtin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/networkconference.netstudies.org\/2019Curtin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/41"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/networkconference.netstudies.org\/2019Curtin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=292"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/networkconference.netstudies.org\/2019Curtin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":294,"href":"https:\/\/networkconference.netstudies.org\/2019Curtin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292\/revisions\/294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/networkconference.netstudies.org\/2019Curtin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/networkconference.netstudies.org\/2019Curtin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/networkconference.netstudies.org\/2019Curtin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}