Beyond the Ban: restorative approaches to addressing harmful behaviours in Online Gaming Communities

• In Event: RJ beyond the mainstream

Abstract

In the past two decades, the surge in online gaming, particularly among minors and young adults, has led to a corresponding increase in harmful behaviours within online communities. Instances of harassment, sexual misconduct, hate speech, and gender-based discrimination have become distressingly common in various online gaming environments. Unfortunately, responses from moderators, whether they be individual users or platforms themselves, have often been limited to mere bans, account suspensions, or permanent deletions, failing to address the need for victim reparation or prevention of future incidents.
In response to these challenges, the GamerVictim project aims to explore, firstly, what are the main responses provided by platforms and/or moderators to the emergence of abusive or problematic behaviors in online gaming communities, and then conceptualize how a restorative justice framework could offer a more comprehensive approach to tackling these harmful behaviours in the online gaming realm. Therefore, and through an extensive review of existing literature, we juxtapose prevailing moderation strategies, which usually rely on purely retributive outcomes, with a restorative justice model proposal. Additionally, we identify and confront the primary challenges to the real-world application of this model. Furthermore, we provide targeted recommendations for integrating restorative principles into content moderation policies and community guidelines within online gaming platforms. Our goal is to effectively meet the needs of victims while affording offenders the opportunity to make amends for their actions.

Authors

• Pablo Romero-Seseña, CRÍMINA Center, University Miguel Hernández of Elche

• Mario Santisteban Galarza, UPV/EHU Euskal Herriko Unibertzitatea

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

• Fernando Miró-Llinares, CRÍMINA Center, University Miguel Hernández of Elche