Our survey, which we have been continuing for ten days to determine the level of “Bullying in Video Games” in our country, has concluded. Quite interesting details emerged from the votes cast.
Bullying in video games Is there? To find the answer to this, we conducted a survey. Before sharing the results, I will present some data that should be known about the gaming industry. However, we would like to thank all our friends who participated in the survey and shared their valuable thoughts with us.
Is There Bullying in Video Games?
Games are our number one source of entertainment where we all have a good time. More than 3 billion people around the world spend their time playing games on many different platforms. Some of these are AAA productions, while others are ordinary games that we call more casual games. Especially with the development of mobile platforms, ordinary games are becoming more common.
All these developments brought with them different socialization. When people entered this fun world, they started to make new friends. Although these environments are mostly enjoyable, they can sometimes cause quite unpleasant problems. These include a wide scale from racism to harassment.
With the increase in acting, people of all kinds, from different cultures and age levels began to come together on platforms. As such, it also created confusion.
To understand the cause of these problems and people’s experiences, we conducted a survey. About 200 gamers participated in this nine-question survey and shared their experiences with us. If you are ready, I am starting to share the questions of our survey, the answers and the conclusions we can draw from it.
Do you believe that hate speech is spread in games?
In our survey, the “Strongly Agree” and “Agree” options were selected by far. 75% of the players surveyed believe that hate speech is spreading through games.
As can be clearly seen in the graph, in this study based on the experiences of the participants, people experienced bullying in video games as a result of socializing on platforms.
Racism is the biggest problem players face
The area where hate speech is most common is racism data. However, the main point that draws attention here is that the votes used in the “mental disability” option are quite high. Of course, it is not possible to evaluate everyone’s intelligence level at the same level. However, we can think that the ability of the players to empathize is not very high.
Here, the votes of other articles are not to be underestimated.
What problems do players experience more?
We already guessed that the biggest discourse encountered during the game was swearing by far. However, we also finalized with the data. In the face of a situation they do not like or do not want, the players can immediately hurl insults at the other person or use hateful words. Or the person he is not as good as himself can progress to the degree of humiliation. Although racist approaches are not seen very often, it does not mean that they do not exist.
Also, in the survey, we didn’t just ask the players about the bullying they faced. At the same time, we wanted to find out if they also made such statements. We also learned that 29% of the audience have experienced similar situations against other players even though they have been bullied. From here, we can also see the blood-to-blood approach of the players.
Effects of bullying
We also asked respondents how they were affected by the problems they encountered. While most of them think that they do not have any problems, we can see that those who have emotional problems are too high to be underestimated. I think that those who made the choice because I did not have any problems personally, were also affected at some point. In addition, we can see that it causes sleep problems in people we believe to be more sensitive and affects their social life. Although its value is 3%, it also caused physical problems in some players. We can think of them as those who harm themselves or those around them in the face of the discourses they encounter.
Action and MOBA players are the most toxic audience
With the spread of eSports and competitive games, action and MOBA productions began to come to the fore. We also see that those who are too busy with online productions such as Call of Duty, Counter Strike and League of Legends have higher stress levels. This is one of the factors affecting these genres directly in the virtual environment. Even though these hate speeches sometimes make the actors offended, we have seen a lot of times that he eventually returned to the production he believed he enjoyed.
However, although the audience is not as large as the others, we also notice that these values are low in sports and strategy games.
Are platforms a factor?
We can clearly see from the graphic below that PC gamers are extremely toxic. However, we can say that the biggest reason for this is that the keyboard used on the PC makes it easier for the players to vomit their hatred. Although there is a chat screen on consoles, it is obvious that players do not prefer it. However, we see that the most bullying among consoles occurs on the PlayStation 5 console.
Due to the fact that Nintendo is not very active and its productions are not preferred in our country, there was no vote for Nintendo among those who participated in the survey.
What consequences does bullying have?
Actually, this is the most important issue. The hate speech we may encounter in video games we play for fun can affect our entire gaming experience, depending on how much the problem we encounter affects us. Sometimes we get cold from the game, and sometimes we can even carry it into our private lives. Failure to treat this in a timely manner or to take precautions may cause serious problems in the future. For example, someone who only uses games to socialize is completely anti-social, or a young child who believes that this is the truth prefers his lifestyle to bullying in the future.
In order for our little friends not to encounter these situations, families should be conscious and observe their experiences well. Professional help should be sought when necessary.
What do we do against bullying in video games?
It was one of the issues that affected us the most. While many players cut off their relationship with the other person, a substantial number (29%) say they did nothing. While 22% of the population responded in the same way, only 1% of the population applied for legal remedies. It is obvious that we are not very conscious about this.
There are also many law enforcement officers eager to protect our children and youth against cyberbullying. What is Cyberbullying to learn about the actions you can take in these situations? You can also check out our content.
Conclusion
There is no room for such behavior in totals. However, the fact that our personalities in the games are different from ours paves the way for such behaviors. It doesn’t mean that games are harmful. Games have also been proven to be beneficial in many areas such as personal development, hand-eye coordination, creating differences in perspective and so on. However, it is in our hands to continue our lives without missing the dose of entertainment and without being together with those who have missed their dose. Instead of preventing the other person in this matter, it would be best to take steps to distance him from this behavior, and sharing the problems we always experience with our family will protect us all more.
Stay well with WASD…
Main headline image source: Image by pikisuperstar on Freepik