Assignment
In online gaming communities, toxic behaviour such as harassment, bullying, and cheating often disrupts the sense of community and enjoyment for players. In response to these actions, punitive measures—such as bans, suspensions, and public shaming—are predominantly employed. However, these measures are often retributive in nature and fail to address the underlying issues or the needs of those harmed, thus generating more hostile gaming environments.
Restorative justice (RJ) offers an alternative approach, focusing on dialogue, accountability, and repairing harm rather than solely punishment. While restorative practices have been successfully implemented across different sectors (e.g. legal context, schools), their potential within cyberspace remains largely unexplored.
Understanding how restorative practices might be introduced in conflicts or harm occurring in online gaming communities could provide innovative strategies for fostering healthier, more inclusive online environments. In addition, and considering that current main strategies focus exclusively on punitive responses, the importance of this research lies on the impact that implementing restorative approaches might have for those harmed by toxic behaviours in the cyberspace, enhancing elements such as dialogue, reparation and accountability.
As an intern you will assist in conducting a scoping review on the opportunities and challenges of applying restorative justice principles withing the gaming community. The goal is to systematically map the existing literature, practices and theoretical perspectives on this topic, to later nuance a practical proposal of implementing such practices in a case-of-study videogaming environment. More specifically, your internship will mainly (but not exclusively) consist of the following tasks:
- Conduct a literature search and review academic -and non-academic- sources on restorative justice and online gaming communities.
- Analyse the role of punitive measures versus restorative approaches in managing conflicts or harm in these environments.
- Identify gaps in current research
- Synthesise findings into a clear and structured report that contributes to the broader research project.
KEYWORDS
Restorative justice; Online gaming; Harmful behaviour; Toxicity; Moderation
BACKGROUND INFORMATION ORGANIZATION
The section Psychology of Conflict, Risk and Safety at the University of Twente has a distinctive and unique profile in the areas of risk perception and risk communication, conflict and crisis management and the antecedents of risky, antisocial and criminal behaviour. It currently includes 15 research staff members and 6 PhD students. We work from both a psychology and an engineering perspective and cooperate with other scientific disciplines, based on the “high tech, human touch” profile of the University of Twente.
AVAILABILITY
Usually anytime. This internship is open for 1 student.
INTERESTED?
Please contact the PCRS internship coordinator Miriam Oostinga (m.s.d.oostinga@utwente.nl).
LITERATURE
- Aguerri, J. C., Santisteban, M. & Miró-Llinares, F. (2023) The Enemy Hates Best? Toxicity in League of Legends and Its Content Moderation Implications European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research 29:437–456 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10610-023-09541-1
- Kou Y. (2021) Punishment and Its Discontents: An Analysis of Permanent Ban in an Online Game Community. Proc. ACM Hum.-Comput. Interact. 5, CSCW2, Article 334 (October 2021), 21 pages. https://doi.org/10.1145/3476075
- Xiao, S., Jhaver, S., & Salehi, N. (2023). Addressing interpersonal harm in online gaming communities: The opportunities and challenges for a restorative justice approach. ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction, 30(6), 1-36
- Zsila, Á., Shabahang, R., Aruguete, M. S., & Orosz, G. (2022). Toxic behaviors in online multiplayer games: Prevalence, perception, risk factors of victimization, and psychological consequences. Aggressive Behavior, 48, 356–364. https://doi.org/10.1002/ab.22023