What are we talking about when we speak about toxicity? Preliminary findings of a systematic review on harms around videogames.

• In Event: Cybercrime Working Group - Victimization & Resilience 2

Abstract

Multiplayer video games constitute different places in a broad cyberspace
enabling distinct forms of interaction and experiences. Criminological research
on video games is scare, mostly limited to the pro social or anti-social
consequences of exposure to this media. Nonetheless, the dynamics of
interaction in video games have been extensively studied across various
academic disciplines, between them, Sociology, Psychology and Law.
In this sense, academia refers to the term 'toxicity', to describe a wide range of
harms affecting these interactions. Apparently, toxicity covers disruptive
behaviours of a very different nature; from actions that hinder the normal
progression of the game (such as cheating or leaving the game) to more
harmful behaviours (such as insults or hate speech). Linked to that, despite
increasing concern about this issue, we hypothesize that there is not consensus
in the literature on the definition of toxicity.
This contribution presents the findings of a systematic review on toxicity in
digital communities associated with video games. The systematic review,
following the PRISMA-P model, will analyse contributions on Web of Science,
Scopus and the AMC Digital Library: the AMC Guide to Computing Literature in
the last 10 years. Its focuses on empirical research that has measured different
aspects of toxicity (ranging from users’ strategies to prevent toxicity, effects of
toxicity, causes and prevalence), understanding the characterization of the
dependant variable (toxic behaviour).

Authors

• Aiala Tejada García de Garayo, CRÍMINA Center, University Miguel Hernández of Elche

• Mario Santisteban Galarza, UPV/EHU Euskal Herriko Unibertzitatea