Towards a Framework for Assessing the Mechanisms that Contribute to Prosocial and Antisocial Behaviour in Esports

Assuncao, Carina, Scott, Michael ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6803-1490 and Summerley, Rory ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6496-9679 (2023) Towards a Framework for Assessing the Mechanisms that Contribute to Prosocial and Antisocial Behaviour in Esports. In: Proceedings of the Workshop on Combating Toxicity, Hate, and Harassment in Online Games at the 2023 Foundations for Digital Games Conference, April 11, 2023, Lisbon, Portugal. (Submitted)

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Abstract / Summary

Toxic culture undermines the potential of esports. In striving towards a more inclusive and welcoming sector, however, it can be tempting to focus on dampening rather than reinforcing mechanisms, or on adding new mechanisms rather than removing or transforming existing ones. Building a conceptual framework that is holistic in nature could guard against such pitfalls. Thus, helping stakeholders~in~esports to parsimoniously address the challenges that confront them. Using prosocial and antisocial behaviour as lenses, this position paper sets out the foundation for such a framework and some of the vocabulary which may contribute towards an operational taxonomy. Then, using Blizzard's Overwatch as a case study, strategies that evoke, extinguish, worsen, or dampen toxicity are investigated. This illustrates that antisocial behaviour takes multiple forms, which are often ambivalent and require multifaceted interventions. Systematic analysis is necessary to unpack the complex network of actors which give rise to toxicity. Though the conceptual framework is still undergoing development, in the future, it could have several applications. These include evaluating systems for competitive play, analysing policies that shape esports events, and informing educational provision.

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
Subjects:	Technology > Digital Works > Digital Games Social Sciences Technology
Courses by Department:	The Games Academy > Computing for Games
Depositing User:	Michael Scott
Date Deposited:	08 Mar 2023 11:27
Last Modified:	23 Nov 2023 19:14
URI:	https://repository.falmouth.ac.uk/id/eprint/4880

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