Research Question: How does trash-talking function as a form of communication within the

online gaming community?

Thesis Statement: I will be studying the effects of trash-talking in the online gaming community

and investigating the content of the community’s thoughts.

The online gaming community has existed for quite awhile now, but has become even

more popular in recent years. The majority of online gamers are between the ages of 18 and 30,

with the gender split being fairly even. Online gaming allows players to connect and compete

with others internationally, with no limits on geographical location. Mobile devices, consoles, and

PCs are the most notable platforms of online gaming. Although online gaming communities can

be a source of friendship and social support, it also can be plagued by toxic behavior, such as

trash-talking and cyberbullying.

Given that the online gaming community has been popular since around the 1990s, this

community has become very diverse. It’s based on the game they play. For instance, you can

have sub-communities for specific games like CSGO, or Call of Duty. The online gaming

community exemplifies the involvement that author Henry Jenkins describes in participatory

culture. Participatory culture, as defined by Henry Jenkins, is:

“1. With relatively low barriers to artistic expression and civic engagement

2. With strong support for creating and sharing one's creations with others

3. With some type of informal mentorship whereby what is known by the most experienced is

passed along to novices

4. Where members believe that their contributions matter

5. Where members feel some degree of social connection with one another (at the least they

care what other people think about what they have created).” (Jenkins, 2006).
 Toxicity within online gaming communities is widely accepted as gamers identify it as

“playful banter that is a part of the nature of the game” (Kaye et al., 2018). Personally, whenever

I play video games I do intend to get a bit toxic, but I don’t mean any of the things I say. A user

on Reddit under the username stikbot-arrow25 asks about why people in Call of Duty Cold War

are toxic. Reddit is a form of social media in which communities can talk about certain things

about their interests. Reflecting back to Jenkins’ definition, this can be seen as a participatory

culture. The Reddit post talks about why people are toxic as they are just trying to grind camos

of the guns for the game. Another user, under the name Pyro_Beast, responded to this post

saying “Part of the culture unfortunately, kinda here for it though.” This depicts that the toxic

behavior can be seen as playful banter, and is just part of the community’s nature.
References

Jenkins, H. (2006). Confronting the challenges of participatory culture: media education for the
21st century (part one). Retrieved from
http://henryjenkins.org/blog/2006/10/confronting_the_challenges_of.html

u/stikbot-arrow25. (2021). Can someone explain to me why people are so toxic in this game?
Retrieved from
https://www.reddit.com/r/blackopscoldwar/comments/nqx3se/can_someone_explain_to_
me_why_people_are_so_toxic/

Kaye, L. S., Hellsten, L.-A. M., McIntyre, L. K., & Hendry, B. P. (2022, October 26). 'there's
a fine line between trash-talking and cyberbullying': A qualitative exploration of youth
perspectives of online gaming culture. Taylor & Francis. Retrieved February 20, 2023,
from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03906701.2022.2133407