Uncovering the Viral Nature of Toxicity in Competitive Online Video Games

TL;DR

This paper investigates how toxicity spreads among players in competitive online video games, revealing that toxic speech by one player significantly increases the likelihood of teammates also engaging in toxicity.

Contribution

The study introduces an instrumental variable approach to quantify the viral spread of toxicity in online gaming, providing empirical evidence of its amplification among teammates.

Findings

Toxic speech by one player increases teammates' toxicity likelihood by over 26 times.

Toxicity spreads through player interactions, confirming its viral nature.

Analysis based on proprietary Call of Duty: Warzone data supports the spread of toxicity.

Abstract

Toxicity is a widespread phenomenon in competitive online video games. In addition to its direct undesirable effects, there is a concern that toxicity can spread to others, amplifying the harm caused by a single player's misbehavior. In this study, we estimate whether and to what extent a player's toxic speech spreads, causing their teammates to behave similarly. To this end, we analyze proprietary data from the free-to-play first-person action game Call of Duty: Warzone. We formulate and implement an instrumental variable identification strategy that leverages the network of interactions among players across matches. Our analysis reveals that all else equal, all of a player's teammates engaging in toxic speech increases their probability of engaging in similar behavior by 26.1 to 30.3 times the average player's likelihood of engaging in toxic speech. These findings confirm the viral nature of toxicity, especially toxic speech, in competitive online video games.