Toxic Behaviors in Esports Games: Player Perceptions and Coping Strategies

Toxicity in online environments is a complex and a systemic issue. Esports communities seem to be particularly suffering from toxic behaviors. Especially in competitive esports games, negative behavior, such as harassment, can create barriers to players achieving high performance and can reduce players' enjoyment which may cause them to leave the game. The aim of this study is to review design approaches in six major esports games to deal with toxic behaviors and to investigate how players perceive and deal with toxicity in those games. Our preliminary findings from an interview study with 17 participants (3 female) from a university esports club show that players define toxicity as behaviors disrupt their morale and team dynamics, and participants are inclined to normalize negative behaviors and rationalize it as part of the competitive game culture. If they choose to take an action against toxic players, they are likely to ostracize toxic players.