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Flag and Flaggability in Automated Moderation: The Case of Reporting Toxic Behavior in an Online Game Community

Published: 07 May 2021 Publication History

Abstract

Online platforms rely upon users or automated tools to flag toxic behaviors, the very first step in online moderation. While much recent research has examined online moderation, the role of flag remains poorly understood. This question becomes even more urgent in automated moderation, where flagging becomes a primary source of human judgment. We conducted a qualitative study of flagging practices in League of Legends (LoL), a popular eSports game. We found stark differences between how flag is designed to identify toxicity, and flaggability, or how players use and appropriate flag. Players distrust flag, but also appropriate flag for instrumental purposes. Thus, flaggability diverges decidedly from the conception of toxicity, and must be understood within the highly competitive gaming context of LoL. These findings help shed light on the situated nature of flaggability, the role of flag in online moderation, as well as implications for designing flag and moderation.

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          cover image ACM Conferences
          CHI '21: Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
          May 2021
          10862 pages
          ISBN:9781450380966
          DOI:10.1145/3411764
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          Published: 07 May 2021

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          Author Tags

          1. League of Legends
          2. Report
          3. competitive gaming
          4. flag
          5. governance
          6. moderation
          7. online community
          8. regulation
          9. toxic behavior
          10. toxic meritocracy
          11. toxicity

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