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Punishment and Its Discontents: An Analysis of Permanent Ban in an Online Game Community

Published: 18 October 2021 Publication History

Abstract

Platforms face the challenge of managing toxic behaviors such as flaming, hateful remarks, and harassment. To discipline their users, platforms usually adopt a punitive approach that issues punishments ranging from a warning message to content removal to permanent ban (PB). As the severest punishment, PB deprives the user of their privileges on the platform, such as account access and purchased content. But little is known regarding the experiential side of PB within the user community. In this study, we analyzed PB in League of Legends, one of the largest online games today. We argue that what PB does is not precisely to discipline players into well-behaved community members. Rather, PB functions to produce the stereotype of "the most toxic player" in the community and is best seen as a platform rhetoric. We further discuss the need to contextualize toxicity from the restorative lens.

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    cover image Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction
    Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction  Volume 5, Issue CSCW2
    CSCW2
    October 2021
    5376 pages
    EISSN:2573-0142
    DOI:10.1145/3493286
    Issue’s Table of Contents
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    Publication History

    Published: 18 October 2021
    Published in PACMHCI Volume 5, Issue CSCW2

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    Author Tags

    1. community moderation
    2. discourse analysis
    3. discursive field
    4. governance
    5. league of legends
    6. permanent ban
    7. player community
    8. punish
    9. toxicity

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