Why Are Some Online Gamers So Mean?
I stay away from most online multiplayer games. My aversion is a symptom of my introversion. Introverts require less stimuli to be mentally satisfied, and because of this they prefer to control as much of an experience as possible. This explains why crowds are scary and why public speaking can be especially frightening for an introvert. The dynamic nature of people in an online multiplayer game diminishes some of the player agency that I want in a game, so I stay away from most online multiplayer games.
But why are online multiplayer game players so dynamic? More specifically, why do some players turn into angry trolls the moment other players are introduced? Are those people sniveling beasts in real life?
The word to focus on is deindividuation. Deindividuation is the process where a person’s identity fades as group dynamics take over and begin to influence the person’s behavior.
Deindividuation is what causes a generally rational and non-confrontational person to become a terrible, rude, reference point for when parents and lawmakers tell us online multiplayer video games like League of Legends and Call of Duty are turning our good kids bad.
This happens in two ways:
- Reduced social accountability, or the “you can’t see me” effect
- Reduced self-monitoring, or the “I can’t see me” effect
Reduced social accountability in terms of online multiplayer games boils down to anonymity. As Jamie Madigan says in his book “Getting Gamers: The Psychology of Video Games and Their Impact on the People Who Play Them,”:
“We feel reduced accountability from those around us because we’re in a group, because we’re anonymous, and because there are unlikely to be repercussions for our misdeeds.”
Additionally contributing to reduced social accountability is the transience of our connections with other players. Meaning, we’re only interacting with our team members and our enemies temporarily.
In 2010 Blizzard, the company behind World of Warcraft–a huge MMO; massive, if you will–tried curbing this effect by requiring users use their real names rather than made up screen names. The idea being that if users no longer had the ability to hide behind fake names, they would feel more accountable to their actions. Players were very unhappy and Blizzard changed course just three days later. In 2013 Google tried the same thing with YouTube commenters. That policy lasted a much longer, but still ultimately temporary, eight months.
Reduced self-monitoring, the “I can’t see me” effect is, in my opinion, much more interesting than the “you can’t see me” effect. This is when a person adopts the motivations of a group as justification for her own actions. The “everyone else is doing it, so it must make sense,” mentality.
Competitive games are perhaps the most obvious example here. When playing on a team against other teams, it becomes very easy to foster hatred for all teams that aren’t yours.
Probably the most well-known study involving reduced self-monitoring is Philip Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment where college students played as guards and inmates in a mock prison set. The idea, in short, was to see how the each student would adapt to their roles. Very quickly the guards began to abuse the inmates and the inmates accepted the abuse. The experiment was abandoned within six days.
So, how has knowledge of reduced social accountability and reduced self-monitoring affected how video games are designed? The Player Behavior Team at Riot Games, creators of the incredibly popular League of Legends game, implemented a series of changes to positively curb the effects of reduced social accountability and reduced self-monitoring.
Some examples are:
- Players were granted the option to mute obnoxious players on the other team.
- Riot Games introduced “priming” messages on loading screens designed to prime positive behavior. For example, one message read “Teammates perform worse if you harass them after a mistake.”
- Riot games also looked at team composition. They found that if at least one pair of friends were members of the same team, it had a positive impact on reports of toxic behavior.
So it’s our own human psychological makeup that allows us to become monsters when we play online multiplayer games.
But, humans are also capable of learning and reacting with intent. So next time you’re playing games online, be nice. And don’t take it personally when some rude player tells you to eat a weiner.
Mentioned and Further Reading:
- Getting Gamers: The Psychology of Video Games and Their Impact on the People Who Play Them by Jamie Madigan
- Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain
- The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil by Philip Zimbardo
- More from Jeffrey Lin and the Player Behavior Team at Riot Games
