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THESIS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY University of Southampton Faculty of Social, Human, & Mathematical Sciences ELZABI RIMINGTON BY ELZABI M. RIMINGTON T Abstract ABSTRACT DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY THE SOCIAL FUNCTION OF TOXIC BEHAVIOUR IN AN ONLINE VIDEO GAME by Elzabi M. Rimington, BA (Hons), MSc This thesis argues that toxic behaviour practices in the game League of Legends are structural and constructive. Using practice theory I demonstrate that social and play rules within the game are expressed, challenged, and re-created through actions and utterances which have been deemed problematic or otherwise ‘toxic’. In order to achieve this I have conducted an ethnographic study into League of Legends followed by a series of semi-structured interviews. The ethnography demonstrates a novel insight into the game and its community but also serves the purpose of explicating the relationship between League of Legends and Bourdieu’s conceptual model of practice. Informed by this context I discuss the rationale for and perception of disruptive, transgressive, or otherwise ‘toxic’ behaviours, challenging assumptions that they are fundamentally anti-social or destructive and proposing ways in which they contribute to a self-recognising online community. Finally I demonstrate that the formative conditions of play along with toxic play practices combine in League of Legends to create an environment which is problematically gendered. iii T Acknowledgements Thank you first to my supervisors: Pauline for teaching me to believe in my research, and Mark for the years of perspicacious feedback and critique. Thank you to my family: Peter, Marian, Samantha, Mollie, and auntie Jane, who gave their support in so many ways. Especially to Samantha. Thank you to Chris for his patience and belief. Thank you to my mentors, who taught me to be brave: Sina, Jenny, Pat, Charlie, and Rikki. Thank you to my endlessly patient friends, who stood ready with a bottle of wine and a listening ear when I needed it: Leia, Lizzy, Briony, Emma Eley, Emma Field, Adam, and Gord Thank you to the Web Science CDT for starting me on this journey, and to my cohort who have travelled with me. Thank you also to my proof-readers, who volunteered their sanity in the name of spelling and grammar. Finally thank you to all my research participants, without whom this project would not have been possible. v T Declaration of Authorship I, Elzabi Meiring Rimington, declare that this thesis and the work presented in it are my own and has been generated by me as the result of my own original research. THE SOCIAL FUNCTION OF TOXIC BEHAVIOUR IN AN ONLINE VIDEO GAME I confirm that: 1. This work was done wholly or mainly while in candidature for a research degree at this University; 2. Where any part of this thesis has previously been submitted for a degree or any other qualification at this University or any other institution, this has been clearly stated; 3. Where I have consulted the published work of others, this is always clearly attributed; 4. Where I have quoted from the work of others, the source is always given. With the exception of such quotations, this thesis is entirely my own work; 5. I have acknowledged all main sources of help; 6. Where the thesis is based on work done by myself jointly with others, I have made clear exactly what was done by others and what I have contributed myself; 7. Either none of this work has been published before submission, or parts of this work have been published as: Lore v. Representation: Narrative Communication of Power and Gender in League of Legends Rimington, E. Blount, T. In Extended Proceedings from Hypertext and Social Media. Halifax, Canada (2016) A Theoretical Framework for Online Game Society: The Case of League of Legends Rimington, E. Weal, M. Leonard, P. In Proceedings of the 8th ACM Web Science Conference. Hannover, Germany (2016). Elzabi M Rimington, BA (Hons), MSc 17.10.2017 vii T Contents Abstract ................................................................................................. .iii Acknowledgements ........................................................................................... v Declaration of Authorship .............................................................................. vii Contents .................................................................................................. ix List of Figures ........................................................................................................... xiii Chapter 1: Introduction .............................................................................. 1 Chapter 2: Literature Review ....................................................................... 7 2.1 Context ...............................................................................................................7 2.2 Virtual Communities and Reconstructed Hegemonies ................................... 8 2.3 Online Self-Presentation and the Virtual Body .............................................. 12 2.4 Digital Gender Politics ..................................................................................... 15 2.5 Online Toxic Behaviour ................................................................................... 18 2.6 Tits or GTFO .................................................................................................... 20 2.7 Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 22 Chapter 3: Methodology ............................................................................ 24 3.1 Introduction .................................................................................................... 24 3.2 The Research site: League of Legends ............................................................ 26 3.3 Designing an Appropriate Research Method ..................................................30 3.3.1 Virtual Ethnography: Challenges and Affordances ........................... 32 3.4 Ethnographic Method ...................................................................................... 35 3.5 Theoretical Framework ....................................................................................39 3.5.1 Habitus and Field ................................................................................39 3.5.2 Capital ................................................................................................. 41 3.5.3 Class, Distinction, and Symbolic Violence ....................................... 44 3.5.4 Gender, Class, and Game Worlds ..................................................... 45 ix 3.6 Preliminary Analysis Methods ........................................................................ 46 3.7 Semi Structured Interviews ............................................................................. 47 3.7.1 Interview Questions ........................................................................... 49 3.7.2 The Interview Process ........................................................................ 50 3.8 Concluding Comments ..................................................................................... 51 Chapter 4: Understanding League of Legends through a Theory of Practice 53 4.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................... 53 4.2 Field ............................................................................................................. 54 4.2.1 Entering the Field ............................................................................... 54 4.2.2 A Field Approach to League of Legends ............................................ 55 4.3 Habitus ............................................................................................................ 58 4.3.1 Metagame ........................................................................................... 60 4.3.2 Terminology and Parlance .................................................................. 61 4.4 Capital ............................................................................................................. 64 4.4.1 Economic capital ................................................................................ 64 4.4.2 Social Capital ...................................................................................... 67 4.4.3 Cultural Capital .................................................................................. 69 4.5 Class and Symbolic Violence ........................................................................... 73 4.6 Conclusion ....................................................................................................... 75 Chapter 5: Toxic Behaviour: Context and Analysis ................................... 78 5.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................... 78 5.2 Types of Toxicity .............................................................................................. 78 5.3 Flaming ............................................................................................................ 82 5.3.1 Flaming as Symbolic Violence ........................................................... 85 5.4 Trolling ............................................................................................................ 87 5.4.1 Trolling the Doxa ............................................................................... 87 x 5.4.2 Identifying the Troll in League of Legends