Toxicity and Harassment in Online Gaming Communities

This chapter explores how online game communities face significant issues regarding their toxicity and harassment, as well as their impact on player wellbeing, inclusion, participation, and digital safety. Online games and esports spaces, livestreaming platforms, forums, and voice and text chat systems are key social environments but also face challenges with abusive language, trolling, griefing, hate speech, threats, exclusion based on ID, and identity-based harassment. The chapter examines how anonymity, low accountability, competition, poor moderation, toxic group norms, and game design elements result in harmful behavior. It also provides consideration of psychological, social, and inclusion-related effects on vulnerable players. In addition, it links problematic gaming with the risk of radicalization, radical ideologies, and exclusionary identities. Lastly, it recommends prevention measures through ethical moderation, AI-enabled detection, inclusive design, governance, education, and engagement with the community.

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