IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/arx/papers/2407.09736.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Uncovering the Effect of Toxicity on Player Engagement and its Propagation in Competitive Online Video Games

Author

Listed:
  • Jacob Morrier
  • Amine Mahmassani
  • R. Michael Alvarez

Abstract

This article seeks to provide accurate estimates of the causal effect of exposure to toxic language on player engagement and the proliferation of toxic language. To this end, we analyze proprietary data from the first-person action video game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III, published by Activision. To overcome causal identification problems, we implement an instrumental variables estimation strategy. Our findings confirm that exposure to toxic language significantly affects player engagement and the probability that players use similar language. Accordingly, video game publishers have a vested interest in addressing toxic language. Further, we demonstrate that this effect varies significantly depending on whether toxic language originates from opponents or teammates, whether it originates from teammates in the same party or a different party, and the match's outcome. This has meaningful implications regarding how resources for addressing toxicity should be allocated.

Suggested Citation

  • Jacob Morrier & Amine Mahmassani & R. Michael Alvarez, 2024. "Uncovering the Effect of Toxicity on Player Engagement and its Propagation in Competitive Online Video Games," Papers 2407.09736, arXiv.org.
    • Handle: RePEc:arx:papers:2407.09736
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://arxiv.org/pdf/2407.09736
    File Function: Latest version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sacerdote, Bruce, 2011. "Peer Effects in Education: How Might They Work, How Big Are They and How Much Do We Know Thus Far?," Handbook of the Economics of Education, in: Erik Hanushek & Stephen Machin & Ludger Woessmann (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Education, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 4, pages 249-277, Elsevier.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. David J. Cooper & Krista Saral & Marie Claire Villeval, 2021. "Why Join a Team?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(11), pages 6980-6997, November.
    2. Ali Palali & Jan C. Van ours, 2017. "Love Conquers all but Nicotine: Spousal Peer Effects on the Decision to Quit Smoking," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(12), pages 1710-1727, December.
    3. Amrei Lahno & Marta Serra-Garcia, 2015. "Peer effects in risk taking: Envy or conformity?," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 50(1), pages 73-95, February.
    4. Berthélemy Michel & Bonev Petyo & Dussaux Damien & Söderberg Magnus, 2019. "Methods for strengthening a weak instrument in the case of a persistent treatment," Studies in Nonlinear Dynamics & Econometrics, De Gruyter, vol. 23(1), pages 1-30, February.
    5. Goodman, Joshua & Hurwitz, Michael & Smith, Jonathan & Fox, Julia, 2015. "The relationship between siblings’ college choices: Evidence from one million SAT-taking families," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 75-85.
    6. Kasper Brandt, 2018. "Private beats public: A flexible value-added model with Tanzanian school switchers," WIDER Working Paper Series 81, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    7. Amadou Boly & Robert Gillanders & Topi Miettinen, 2016. "Deterrence, peer effect, and legitimacy in anti-corruption policy-making: An experimental analysis," WIDER Working Paper Series 137, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    8. Song, Yang, 2019. "Sorting, school performance and quality: Evidence from China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(1), pages 238-261.
    9. Cattaneo, Maria Alejandra & Wolter, Stefan C., 2012. "Migration Policy Can Boost PISA Results: Findings from a Natural Experiment," IZA Discussion Papers 6300, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Timothy G. Conley & Nirav Mehta & Ralph Stinebrickner & Todd Stinebrickner, 2024. "Social Interactions, Mechanisms, and Equilibrium: Evidence from a Model of Study Time and Academic Achievement," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 132(3), pages 824-866.
    11. Richardson, J.T., 2015. "Accountability incentives and academic achievement: Distributional impacts of accountability when standards are set low," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 1-16.
    12. Lahno, Amrei M. & Serra-Garcia, Marta, 2012. "Peer Effects in Risk Taking," Discussion Papers in Economics 14309, University of Munich, Department of Economics.
    13. Calsamiglia, Caterina & Loviglio, Annalisa, 2019. "Grading on a curve: When having good peers is not good," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    14. Michael J. Kottelenberg & Steven F. Lehrer, 2019. "How Skills and Parental Valuation of Education Influence Human Capital Acquisition and Early Labor Market Return to Human Capital in Canada," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 37(S2), pages 735-778.
    15. Canaan, Serena & Mouganie, Pierre & Zhang, Peng, 2022. "The Long-Run Educational Benefits of High-Achieving Classrooms," IZA Discussion Papers 15039, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    16. Baylis, Kathy & Ham, Andres, 2015. "How important is spatial correlation in randomized controlled trials?," 2015 AAEA & WAEA Joint Annual Meeting, July 26-28, San Francisco, California 205586, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    17. Fe, Hao, 2023. "Social networks and consumer behavior: Evidence from Yelp," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 209(C), pages 1-14.
    18. Beugnot, Julie & Fortin, Bernard & Lacroix, Guy & Villeval, Marie Claire, 2019. "Gender and peer effects on performance in social networks," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 207-224.
    19. Ingo E. Isphording & Ulf Zölitz, 2020. "The value of a peer," ECON - Working Papers 342, Department of Economics - University of Zurich.
    20. Laura Pagani & Giovanni Pica, 2021. "A Peer Like Me? Early Exposure to High Achievers in Math and Later Educational Outcomes," Development Working Papers 476, Centro Studi Luca d'Agliano, University of Milano.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:arx:papers:2407.09736. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: arXiv administrators (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://arxiv.org/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.