English annotation # 1 about video gamed and teenagers' mental health

Men’s Harassment Behavior in Online Video Games: Personality Traits and Game Factors Wai Yen Tang and Jesse Fox*

The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio

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Keywords: online harassment; sexual harassment; video games; hostile sexism; cyberaggression

INTRODUCTION

Recent years have seen video games emerge as one of the most popular forms of media entertainment, in part because online gaming has made it into an increasingly social activity. Over 60% of gamers play with others, either in person or online (Entertainment Software Association, 2014). Moreover, gaming is drawing an increasingly diverse audience in terms of age and gender. Recent surveys indicate that women comprise approximately half of video game players (Chalk, 2014; ESA, 2014). Despite women’s growing participation in games, perceptions about gaming as a men’s activity and a masculine space persist (Shaw, 2012). These stereotypes and expectations have implications

for how people interact within gaming spaces as they determine who “belongs” in games and who does not. Further, the perceived affordances or features of many online gaming spaces, such as anonymity and limited nonverbal cues, may exacerbate these boundaries. According to the social identity model of deindividua- tion effects (Lea & Spears, 1991), these salient social identities, compounded by anonymity, facilitate conflict, harassment, and other forms of negative social interac- tion online. Considerable research has established that online games

can be a hostile environment for players (Ballard & Welch,

in press; Gray, 2012a,b; Kuznekoff & Rose, 2013; Pew Research Center, 2014; Taylor, 2006; Yee, 2014). Some of this hostility is an artifact of competitive game play, in which trash talking one’s opponents is a common practice (Wright, Boria, & Breidenbach, 2002). Even in collabora- tive play, players may be hassled for making mistakes or not contributing to the team’s efforts. Commonly, though, playersaretargetedforharassmentsimplybecausetheyare perceived as “not belonging” (Yee, 2014). Women in particular are perceived as outsiders and become targeted for harassment in online video games and other gaming realms (Behm-Morawitz & Schipper, in press; Chess & Shaw, 2015; Cote, in press; Fox & Tang, 2014; Gray, 2012b; Salter & Blodgett, 2012; Taylor, 2006; Yee, 2014). Given the limited quantitative research in this area,

this study seeks to address this gap by investigating the

Conflicts of interest: None. �Correspondence to: Jesse Fox, School of Communication, The Ohio State University, 3016 Derby Hall, 154 North Oval Mall, Columbus, OH 43210-1339. E-mail: [email protected]

Received 15 October 2015; Revised 3 January 2016; Accepted 7 January 2016

DOI: 10.1002/ab.21646 Published online 16 February 2016 in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com).

AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR Volume 42, pages 513–521 (2016)

© 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

prevalence and predictors of sexual harassment as well as other forms of harassment in online video games. Because online harassment causes significant distress in targets (Fenaughty & Harr�e, 2013; Pew Research Center, 2014) and can lead to offline rumination and even quitting a game entirely (Fox & Tang, in press), it is important to investigate the predictors and incidence of harassment behavior in games. At this time, however, research on harassment in gaming has been studied as a distinctly online phenomenon and has largely over- looked the considerable body of existing research on sexual harassment in organizational contexts. These studies have identified key traits, such as sexism and social dominance orientation (Diehl, Rees, & Bohner, 2012; Pryor, Giedd, & Williams, 1995; Russell & Trigg, 2004), that predict the likelihood of harassing others. This study seeks to address this rift by synthesizing existing work on sexual harassment in nonmediated environments (Pina & Gannon, 2012; Pryor et al., 1995; Russell & Trigg, 2004) with previous findings on sexist gaming beliefs (Fox & Tang, 2014). Specifically, we examined the roles of ambivalent sexism and social dominance orientation alongside gameplay and game involvement to identify predictors of men’s harassment behavior in online games.

Online Video Games

Social gaming is important to consider given that the presence of other people—or even the perceived presence of others—can affect performance, physiolog- ical reactions, and enjoyment (Bowman, Weber, Tamborini, & Sherry, 2013; Weibel, Wissmath, Habeg- ger, Steiner, & Groner, 2008). Most popular online video games focus on competition wherein individual gamers face other, opposing players, or they collaborate with other players to face a common opponent. These online multiplayer games are often dominated by men (Quandt, Chen, M€ayr€a, & Van Looy, 2014; Ratan, Taylor, Hogan, Kennedy, & Williams, 2015). The violent content and competitive nature of online

video games may also facilitate hostility between gamers. Several meta-analyses framed from the general aggression model have found that violent video game content can lead to increased aggression in some players (Anderson & Bushman, 2001; Anderson et al., 2010; Greitemeyer & M€ugge, 2014). Furthermore, longitudi- nal studies on the exposure to violent video games have revealed long-term effects, such as higher physical aggression and less prosocial behavior among children (Gentile, Coyne, & Walsh, 2011) and an increase in normative beliefs about aggression and subsequent physical aggression among adolescents (M€oller & Krah�e, 2009). Beyond violent content, players’ experi- ences in games have also been shown to influence

aggression. Adachi and Willoughby (2011) found that competitiveness of a video game contributes to greater levels of aggression, and recent research by Przybylski, Deci, Rigby, and Ryan (2014) suggests that frustration and diminished competence within the game leads to aggression. Given that popular networked video games often focus

on competition, feature violent content, and are designed to keep players engaged through challenging (and often frustrating) play, these environments may be prone to fostering hostility which may translate into negative social interaction. Other features of the gaming environment, such as the lack of co-location and player anonymity, may also promote harassment in online games.

Social Identity Model of Deindividuation Effects

In some online spaces, users perceive few, if any, social cues. Feeling that they are effectively anonymous, users experience deindividuation, or a loss of a sense of self. The social identity model of deindividuation effects (SIDE) posits that under these conditions, users defer to salient group memberships (Lea & Spears, 1991). For example, when gender cues are made salient, anony- mous users interact in more gender-stereotypical ways than nonanonymous users (Postmes & Spears, 2002). Further, perceptions of other anonymous users’ identi- ties are reduced to salient group memberships that are depersonalized and stereotyped (Postmes, Spears, & Lea, 1998). This confluence of factors leads to disinhibition in online environment, which facilitates antisocial behavior such as flaming, trolling, cyberbully- ing, and other forms of online harassment (Fox & Tang, 2014; Suler, 2004; Wright, 2014). Video games have traditionally been perceived as a

masculine space: developers and industry members are overwhelmingly men, representations in games are predominantly men, and games often feature tradition- ally masculine tasks rooted in competition and aggres- sion (Gray, 2012a; Salter & Blodgett, 2012). This perception carries over to players as well; the prevalent stereotype for a “gamer” is a defensive heterosexual White male (Gray, 2012a; Salter & Blodgett, 2012; Shaw, 2012). SIDE would predict that in largely anonymous online gaming spaces, players would neglect their individual identities in deference to this prevalent social identity for gamers. This defensive, masculine social identity encourages hostile and aggressive behavior toward others, particularly outsiders. Indeed, networked video games can be hostile spaces

characterized by trash talking, objectionable language, and offensive comments. Women and other minorities are often specifically targeted for this harassment

Aggr. Behav.

514 Tang and Fox

(Behm-Morawitz & Schipper, in press; Cote, in press; Salter & Blodgett, 2012; Yee, 2014). Recent research has parsed apart the scope and nature of this harassment. Kuznekoff and Rose (2013) played a networked violent video game with other anonymous players and inter- acted with them using prerecorded voices. The woman’s voice received three times the amount of negative comments than the man’s voice had received. Holz Ivory, Fox, Waddell, and Ivory (2014) followed a similar protocol with prerecorded voices and also manipulated whether the comments were supportive or insulting. After the match, they friend-requested other players. They found that when the voice demonstrated gender- stereotypical behavior (i.e., women were supportive and men were hostile), significantly more players accepted friend requests than when the voices were counter- stereotypical. Gray’s research (2012a,b) shows that players who allow gender, race, or ethnicity-related cues to leak in networked game play are subsequently targeted for harassment. Similarly, Ballard and Welch (in press) noted that women and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) players were disproportion- ately targeted. Two surveys have also found that men are more likely to be perpetrators of harassment in video games than women (Ballard & Welch, in press; Fox & Tang, 2013). Thus, the body of existing research demonstrates that

harassment is common in online gaming spaces. Men are most likely to be perpetrators, and those perceived to be minorities are often targeted as they do not fit within the dominant social identity. Given that gender can often be determinedevenwiththelimitedpersonalcuesavailablein networked games, women in particular seem to be targeted (Ballard & Welch, in press; Fox & Tang, 2013; Kuznekoff & Rose, 2013); as such, research on sexism and gendered harassment may provide further insight.

Sex Roles, Sexism, and Sexual Harassment

Research on sexual harassment originated from studies on victimization of women in the workplace (Farley, 1978). Sexual harassment is defined as unwel- come sexual advances or other conduct that targets someone based on their sex or gender, which may range from making suggestive or discriminatory comments to coercing someone to perform sexual acts (Pina & Gannon, 2012). Most often, sexual harassment is perpetrated by men and targeting women (Pina, Gannon, & Saunders, 2009; Pryor, 1987). Online sexual harass- ment is similar to its offline equivalent (Barak, 2005), but the perpetrator’s and victim’s identities are often anonymous. This circumstance enables individuals with sexual harassment proclivities to identify such oppor- tunities and act upon them with little or no consequences (Ritter, 2014). In an aggressive, largely anonymous

online social environment such as networked video games where men as perceived as the majority, these findings suggest that women are likely to be targeted for sexual harassment. One predictor of sexual harassment is sexism (Glick &

Fiske, 1996; Pryor et al., 1995). The theory of ambivalent sexism posits that individuals may hold hostile, benevo- lent, or both types of attitudes towards women; both hostile and benevolent sexism have derogatory implica- tions for women’s nature and abilities (Glick & Fiske, 1996). Hostile sexism is defined by antipathy towards women and a sense of superiority over women. This type of sexism characterizes women as manipulative and trying to dominate men because of women’s inherent inferiority. Benevolent sexism entails a paternalistic attitude towards women and rigid views of gender roles (Glick & Fiske, 1996). In this case, women are seen as weak, precious, and incapable of accomplishing the same things as men, and as such should be disempowered and protected by men. Although research examining sexism and gaming is rare, one study identified a positive relationship between video game use and hostile sexism (Fox & Potocki, in press). Both forms of sexism have deleterious outcomes.

Prior studies found that men high in hostile sexism were more accepting of sexual harassment, more likely to blame the victim rather than the perpetrator, more likely to see harassment as harmless, and more inclined to sexually harass women than men low in hostile sexism (Begany & Milburn, 2002; Diehl et al., 2012). Russell and Trigg (2004) found that hostile sexism predicted tolerance of sexual harassment, whereas benevolent sexism was negatively associated with it. Based on these findings, we expect that:

H1: Higher levels of benevolent sexism will be associated with less harassment behavior in online video games.

H2: Higher levels of hostile sexism will be associated with more harassment behavior in online video games.

Other Predictors of Harassment Social dominance orientation. Social domi-

nance orientation (SDO) reflects individuals’ endorse- ment of inequality among social groups, resulting in prejudice and the belief in one group’s superiority over other groups (Sidanius & Pratto, 1999). SDO is a predictor of intergroup prejudice against ethnic minori- ties and other denigrated groups, including women. Individuals high in SDO feel threatened if they perceive that members of a disadvantaged group are competing

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with them, and thus may take action to assert and maintain their dominance (Cozzolino & Snyder, 2008; Duckitt, 2006). For example, men high in SDO are more likely to harass women when the legitimacy of their dominance is questioned (Maass, Cadinu, Guarnieri, & Grasselli, 2003). For men, SDO may be exacerbated in a competitive social environment such as gaming given the potential for one’s masculine social identity to be threatened. Similarly, anyone perceived as an outsider (based on demographic characteristics, skill level, or other behavior) may threaten the legitimacy of their gaming space as an exclusive group. Theoretically, social dominance orientation is of

particular interest within the SIDE model. SIDE suggests that the salience of social identity, made possible via anonymity, drives the process of dein- dividuation. Higher levels of SDO suggest not only an adherence toward one’s social identity, but also a greater social distance from other groups. Thus, it seems that higher levels of SDO may increase the likelihood of negative social behavior fostered by the process of deindividuation in online environments.

H3: Higher levels of social dominance orientation will be associated with more harassment behavior in online video games.

Video game involvement and time spent playing video games. Video game involvement is another factor in how players are informed in their interactions with other players. Social identity theory, the framework for the SIDE model, suggests that higher levels of involvement with one’s group leads to a greater desire to identify oneself as a group member and distinguish one’s group from other groups (Tajfel & Turner, 1979). Further, highly involved individuals are more likely to engage in conflict to protect or defend their group from outgroup threats (Tajfel & Turner, 1979). In gaming, many players are highly involved and

engaged with specific games as well as groups within the gaming community. Involvement with games has been shown to be a distinct predictor of player characteristics and behavior (e.g., Billieux et al., 2015; Peters & Malesky, 2008). Further, those who are highly involved with games have been shown to attack or discredit those who they perceive as a threat, such as scientists reporting harmful effects of games (Nauroth, Gollwitzer, Bender, & Rothmund, 2015). Thus, we anticipate that men who are highly involved in games may be more likely to harass others, perhaps out of a desire to protect or defend what they perceive as their space. Involvement also entails socializing oneself into the

game’s social norms, and spending time in the game

would lead to more exposure to harassment, so if players are frequently playing online games, they may normalize or begin perpetuating harassing behavior. Indeed, Ross and Weaver (2012) found that participants who encountered antisocial interactions in a game were more likely to interact antisocially and to anticipate more antisocial interaction in the future. Thus, we anticipate that:

H4: Higher levels of game involvement will be associated with harassment behavior in online video games.

H5: More time spent playing video games will be associated with harassment behavior in online video games.

METHOD

Sample

IRB approval was obtained for the study from the authors’ institution. Adult participants were recruited through posts on video game-related online forums, blogs, and social media. Both authors also promoted the survey from their personal social media accounts and asked others to share the link. No compensation was offered for participation. When participants followed the link, they were taken to an online consent form. If participants consented to participate, they were redir- ected to the online survey. All participants identified as men (N ¼ 425) and

represented 47countries. The most common was the U.S. (representing 46.4% of the sample) followed by the United Kingdom (9.6%), Canada (5.4%), Germany (4%), and Sweden (3.8%). Participants ranged in age from 18 to 55 (M ¼ 23.40, SD ¼ 5.64) and reported their race/ethnicity as Caucasian/European/White (83.8%), Asian/Asian–American (5.2%), Latino/a (1.6%), Afri- can/African–American/Black (0.5%), other (1%), and multiple races/ethnicities (8%). Participantsplayedanaverage of24.88hr(SD ¼ 15.99)

of video games a week. For this study, they were asked to complete the survey based on their experiences in one game. The most frequently cited games were Defense of the Ancients (DOTA) 2 (n ¼ 157), Team Fortress 2 (n ¼ 43), League of Legends (n ¼ 25), World of Warcraft (n ¼ 13), and various iterations of Counter- Strike (n ¼ 55), Call of Duty (n ¼ 33), and Halo (n ¼ 14). Measures Social dominance orientation (SDO). Sida-

nius and Pratto’s (1999) 16-item measure assessed the belief that some groups of people are superior and

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516 Tang and Fox

entitled to more power in society. Participants indicated agreement on a 7-point Likert scale (1 ¼ Strongly disagree; 7 ¼ Strongly agree) with statements such as “Some groups of people are simply inferior to other groups” and “Sometimes other groups must be kept in their place” (M ¼ 2.63, SD ¼ 1.08; a ¼ .91). Ambivalent sexism. The Ambivalent Sexism

Inventory (ASI; Glick & Fiske, 1996) consists of two 11-item subscales that measure two aspects of sexism against women. Hostile sexism (M ¼ 3.02, SD ¼ 1.09) scale items include “Women seek to gain power by getting control over men” and “Women are too easily offended.” Benevolent sexism (M ¼ 2.74, SD ¼ .91) items include “Women should be cherished and protected by men” and “Many women have a quality of purity that men do not possess.” Participants indicated their agreement with these items on a 6-point scale (1 ¼ Strongly disagree; 6 ¼ Strongly agree). Cronbach’s reliability for HS was a ¼ .91 and for BS a ¼ .84. Game involvement. Participants responded to

three items regarding how involved, committed, and invested they were in this particular game (1 ¼ Not very; 5 ¼ Very; M ¼ 3.87, SD ¼ .83). Reliability was a ¼ .84. Video game harassment behavior. Derived

from previous research on harassment in video game settings (Fox & Tang, 2013, in press), participants were asked to indicate which of two types of harassment behavior they had performed within the selected game. Participants responded to five items (1 ¼ Never; 5 ¼ Always) regarding their general harassment behavior (i.e., said curse or swear words toward another player; made comments about intelligence; said general insults; made comments about others’ abilities to play; asked others to leave the game; M ¼ 2.27, SD ¼ .91; a ¼ .87) and five items regarding their sexual harassment (i.e., made sexist comments or insults; made comments about appearance or weight; doubted their motivations for playing video games because of their gender; expressed unsolicited liking of affection toward someone; made a rape joke or threatened to rape; M ¼ 1.23, SD ¼ .56; a ¼ .83).

RESULTS

Correlations for all composite variables can be seen in Table I. Ordinary least squares regressions were conducted to examine the hypotheses. All variance inflation factor values were below 2, indicating the absence of multicollinearity. The proposed model predicted sexual harassment,

R ¼ .43, adjusted R2 ¼ .17, F(5, 417) ¼ 18.60, p < .001. Higher levels of hostile sexism, b ¼ .17, t ¼ 2.79, p ¼ .005, sr2 ¼ .12, and social dominance orientation, b ¼ .28, t ¼ 5.00, p < .001, sr2 ¼ .22, predicted sexual harassment in online games. Weekly game play, b ¼ .06, t ¼ 1.33, p ¼ .19, sr2 ¼ .06, game involve- ment, b ¼ .02, t ¼ .39, p ¼ .70, sr2 ¼ .02, and benevolent sexism, b ¼ .01, t ¼ .28, p ¼ .78, sr2 ¼ .01, were not significant predictors. The proposed model also predicted general harass-

ment, R ¼ .43, adjusted R2 ¼ .19, F(5, 417) ¼ 12.95, p < .001. Higher levels of hostile sexism, b ¼ .21, t ¼ 3.57, p < .001, sr2 ¼ .16, social dominance orienta- tion, b ¼ .16, t ¼ 2.75, p ¼ .006, sr2 ¼ .12, game involvement, b ¼ .09, t ¼ 2.01, p ¼ .045, sr2 ¼ .09, and weekly game play, b ¼ .14, t ¼ 2.97, p ¼ .003, sr2 ¼ .13, predicted general harassment. Benevolent sexism was not significant, b ¼ .08, t ¼ 1.77, p ¼ .08, sr2 ¼ .08.

DISCUSSION

This study found that certain personality factors and contextual factors predict men’s harassment behavior in online video games. Sexual harassment, including making sexist comments and joking about rape, was predicted by social dominance orientation and hostile sexism. General harassment, such as swearing at a player or insulting their intelligence or skill, was predicted by social dominance orientation, hostile sexism, game involvement, and weekly game play. Supporting our hypothesis and previous work (Maass

et al., 2003; Russell & Trigg, 2004), social dominance orientation was related to both sexual and general harassment in online games. Given that SDO reflects the endorsement of distinctions among social groups,

TABLE I. Zero-Order Correlations

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

VG play — .25��� .14�� .19��� .03 .23��� .14��

Involvement — �.01 .03 �.01 .13�� .04 SDO — .62��� .16��� .32��� .40���

Hostile sexism — .33��� .36��� .36���

Benevolent sexism — .18��� .11�

General harassment — .58���

Sexual harassment —

�p < .05, ��p < .01, ���p � .001.

Aggr. Behav.

Harassment in Video Games 517

assessing SDO may further enrich studies using the SIDE model. Theoretically, it may be that higher levels of SDO increase the likelihood that hostile communica- tion will occur because these individuals feel a need to establish boundaries and distinguish themselves from outgroup members who are perceived as inferior. To examine this link, future research may measure participants’ SDO and employ an experimental harass- ment paradigm such as that used by Maass et al. (2003) or a quasi-experimental approach such as that used by Kuznekoff and Rose (2013) to examine hostile communication toward outgroup members. Our study also found that hostile sexism was related to

both sexual harassment and general harassment. One explanation for this finding is that we did not specifically ask whom participants targeted for harassment. It may be that sexist men target women for both types of harassment. In contrast to hostile sexism, benevolent sexism was not related to either form of harassment. Future research may investigate other forms of unde- sired behavior in online games. Benevolent sexism, for example, may lead players to attempt to “white knight” and protect other women players. These attempts at paternalistic chivalry may anger or annoy women, interfere with their gameplay, or reinforce stereotypes among other players that women are not capable of playing the game (Yee, 2014). Conversely, men may genuinely confront sexist or harassing behavior, but they may be perceived as having ulterior motives (Shelton & Stewart, 2004). These social costs may dissuade men from intervening when they observe harassment as they themselves could become targets of harassment or others could misconstrue the intent of their actions. Game involvement and time spent gaming predicted

general harassment, which may be due to socialization processes in many online games. This finding reflects Ross and Weaver’s (2012) study in which participants who encountered antisocial behavior within a video game later replicated those types of behavior. It is possible that the more time players spend in these hostile online games, the more likely they are socialized into a culture of harassment and begin to normalize (and perhaps perpetrate) harassment. A recent longitudinal survey offers some support for this possibility, as adolescents’ beliefs in the acceptability of cyberaggres- sion predicts later cyberaggressive behavior (Wright & Li, 2013). Our findings for sexual harassment, however, indicated that personality traits were the only predictors. Individuals high in SDO and hostile sexism may be prone to sexually harass women across contexts, regardless of their relationship with an existing game. Another possibility is that traditional media or video

game content may normalize harassment behavior, effectively desensitizing players to its destructive nature.

Exposure to media violence desensitizes individuals towards actual violent acts and also diminishes sympathy for victims (Fanti, Vanman, Henrich, & Avraamides, 2009; Funk, Bechtoldt Baldacci, Pasold, & Baumgardner, 2004; Krah�e, M€oller, Huesmann, Kirwil, Felber,&Berger,2011).Mediatedaggressionandviolence directed toward women also leads to more callous attitudes towards women and desensitization towards women’s experiences with domestic violence and rape (Linz, Donnerstein, & Penrod, 1988; Linz, Donnerstein, & Adams, 1989; Mullin & Linz, 1995). Investigating the role of video game content, as well as a broader scope of media exposure, may lend more insight into the onset and prevalence of harassment, both offline and online. Although our findings focused broadly on networked

video games, it is important to note that our findings will not necessarily generalize to all types of networked games. One limitation of this study was that we confined the assessment of harassment to a single game of the player’s choice. The game that participants chose may not be representative of the normal level of harassment they engage in, observe, or experience across the games they play. Different online games foster different cultures, which may be due to game features or the type of players involved in the specific game. Indeed, several games included in this study are known for being competitive and heavily populated by men (e.g., Call of Duty). Other research has shown gendered preferences for game genres (Quandt et al., 2014), which may make sexual harassment of women more common due to a hostile climate or less common simply because women are less likely to be observed in the environment. Other contextual features may also mitigate or exacerbate harassment, such as cooperative gameplay (Velez, Mahood, Ewoldsen, & Moyer-Gus�e, 2012), aggressive content (Gitter, Ewell, Guadagno, Stillman, & Bau- meister, 2013; Saleem, Anderson, & Gentile, 2012), or a player’s performance (Kasumovic & Kuznekoff, 2015). Other variables, such as rank or status within a game, should also be considered given power has been shown to be an important variable in harassment and bullying (Barlett, 2015; Pryor et al., 1995). Future research should investigate more structural, cultural, and contex- tual features of games and their relationship to harassment. Additionally, as our findings suggest, individual

differences play a large part in whether or not players harass others. Research investigating online hostility should take into account trait and other individual predictors that contribute to aggression. Gender role orientation and identification as a gamer may provide further insight into applying the SIDE model to this context. Other predictors of cyberaggression, such as moral disengagement (Page & Pina, 2015; Page, Pina, &

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518 Tang and Fox

Giner-Sorolla, in press; Pornari & Wood, 2010), hostile attribution bias (Pornari & Wood, 2010), and perceptions of anonymity (Barlett, 2015; Ritter, 2014; Wright & Li, 2013) may also explain harassment in online games. Because this survey used a volunteer sample recruited

from online sites, samples drawn from other sources may produce different results. Further, survey research is limited in the conclusions that can be drawn due to the use of self-report data. Given its social undesirability, men may have been unwilling to report their harassing behavior (Dekker & Barling, 1998), which may explain the small to moderate correlations observed in this study. Our low means may indicate a type of floor effect for self- reporting this behavior. It is possible that players who frequently harass chose not to disclose this on the survey or opted not to take the survey in the first place. Men who defend the hostility, trash talking, and harassment as “just part of the game,” or who recognize the socially undesirable nature of their behavior may have deliber- ately underreported or avoided the survey entirely, perhaps to protect their gamer identity (Nauroth et al., 2015). Thus, it is likely that our findings underreport the frequency of harassment. Alternative methods, including content analytical techniques and field experiments (Holz Ivory et al., 2014; Kuznekoff & Rose, 2013), would provide further insight on harassment in games. Inthis study,wechose to focus on men, the predominant

social identity associated with gaming, given the predictions of the SIDE model and previous work indicating that men perpetuate more harassment both in video games (Ballard & Welch, 2016; Fox & Tang, 2013) and in the physical world (Pina et al., 2009). Future studies shouldinvestigate women’sharassmentbehaviorinonline video games, as well as how outgroup members perceive andrespondto harassmentbehavior.Anothershortcoming of this study is that we did not gather data on the targets of harassment. Future research should probe who is targeted and what factors predict the targeting of specific groups. A major concern for alleviating the issue of harassment

in games is that both perpetrators and bystanders may have little desire or incentive to stop the behavior. The same factors that enable harassment to perpetuate offline may exist online. For example, players may not perceive any harm, especially in an anonymous environment for a leisure activity in which players have the ability to quit at any time. Alternatively, they may fear retribution from other players for speaking out. Resources to educate players about the nature of harassment and system affordances that encourage reporting incidents may diminish the behavior or encourage more intervention from bystanders (Dillon & Bushman, 2015). Additionally, those who identify as gamers have been

shown to resist evidence that games have a dark side as well (Nauroth et al., 2015). Indeed, one limitation of this

study is that gamers may have recognized the purpose of this study and underreported their harassment behavior. Despite scientific evidence to the contrary (e.g., Fox & Tang, in press; Pew Research Center, 2014), men who play may continue to endorse the idea that harassment is a harmless and acceptable behavior (Page et al., in press). Other channels of communication about gaming, such as game-related forums, Reddit threads, YouTube videos and comments, and chat during Twitch live streams, may also contribute to players’ attitudes and the dismissal of harassment as a pernicious behavior. Future research should investigate players’ beliefs about the prevalence, severity, and consequences of harassment for others as well as their exposure to myths about harassment in games. A recent study indicates that drawing attention to victims’ experiences may mitigate harassment (Diehl, Glaser, & Bohner, 2014); interventions may be similarly effective in counteracting myths or incredulity about the impact of harassment in games. In summary, this study has established that men’s

harassment behavior in online games is predicted by the same psychological factors that predict harassment in other social contexts. Furthermore, the degree of involvement in a game may further promote harassment, perhaps indicating the influence that peers, game content, and game creators have on individual players’ social experiences. Going forward, it is important to identify how harassment can be managed in online environments. Although there are decades of research on sexual harassment, the rise of computer-mediated communica- tion raises the question of whetherfindingsin face-to-face environments apply, as well as how well proposed solutions derived from that research would work in an online environment. From an applied standpoint, it is necessary to continue to probe the nature of harassment in online video games to ensure that these environments are not perpetually hostile to women and minorities.

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