Running head: ONLINE TROLLING, VICTIM SPEECH, AND BYSTANDER MOOD 1 Effect of Online Trolling and Victim Speech on Bystanders’ Mood Daniël van den Corput Tilburg University ONLINE TROLLING, VICTIM SPEECH, AND BYSTANDER MOOD 2 Abstract Despite the growing interest in trolling as an academic subject, research has mainly been theoretical and conducted by second hand data collection. Research in this field challenges with theoretical discrepancies and still requires empirical validation of theoretical data. Moreover, while prevention programs for cyberbullying are gradually coming into existence, it has not yet been applied to trolling, despite the similar negative consequences. Therefore, this study aims to experimentally explore the effects of in-team trolling victimization and the effect of victim speech on mood of bystanders in the competitive online game League of Legends. Congruently with prior non-experimental research, results indicated that participant mood increased by playing a regular game, whereas mood decreased after witnessing trolling victimization. No significant effect of victim speech on bystanders’ mood was found. Theoretical implications in relation to emotional contagion and the general strain theory are discussed. Victim agency is portrayed within a trolling and bystander context. The study is concluded with possible explanations and limitations of the found results and methods. Suggestions for future research regarding bystanders in trolling victimization and victim speech are proposed. Keywords. Bystanders, Online Gaming, Trolling, Victim Speech ONLINE TROLLING, VICTIM SPEECH, AND BYSTANDER MOOD 3 Effects of Online in-Team Trolling and Victim Speech on Mood of Bystanders Bullying is arguably the most extensively-researched form of harassment, with numerous studies regarding different aspects of bullying such as motivations of all concerned parties (Gasser & Keller, 2009) and intervention programs (Merrell, Gueldner, Ross & Isava, 2008). Now, since the internet has become ubiquitous as of the start of the 21st century, the emergence of the problem of bullying has repeated itself in an online manner (Patchin & Hinduja, 2006). The technology that we use enables us to substantially diminish the time-distance barrier that is traditionally faced, while significantly widening the target audience and creating a sense of anonymity (Slonje & Smith, 2008; Hardaker, 2010). This kind of bullying, called cyberbullying, involves using online messaging, websites, emails and social networks to spread a wide variety of content to purposely harm other people (Nicol, 2012). One phenomenon that is similar to cyberbullying is called trolling. People who engage in trolling, i.e. trolls, are characterized as people who communicate online with provocative, offensive or menacing intentions in order to create conflicts and provoke distress for their own enjoyment (March, Grieve, Marrington & Jonason, 2017). While trolling has been studied by means of surveys, interviews and second data collection, very few experimental studies have been conducted to investigate trolling behavior. Moreover, experimental studies in which participants experience trolling first hand have not been conducted at all, even though trolls have been identified as disruptive (Hardaker, 2010), transgressive, subversive (Bishop, 2014) and even criminals (Shin, 2008). On top of that, trolling victims, who are typically part of a minority group (Herring, Job-Sluder, Scheckler & Barab, 2002), often times experience harassment and discrimination (Herring, Job-Sluder, Scheckler & Barab, 2002), calling for support- and intervention programs similar to those of traditional- and cyberbullying. ONLINE TROLLING, VICTIM SPEECH, AND BYSTANDER MOOD 4 Bystander research with regards to cyberbullying is prevalent, with research ranging from consequences of witnessing cyberbullying (e.g. Schenk & Fremouw, 2012; Hinduja & Patchin, 2007) to the effect bystanders can have on cyberbullying behavior, such as intervening (e.g. Bastiaensens, Vandebosch, Poels, van Cleemput, Desmet & De Bourdeaudhuij, 2014) or engaging in hostile behavior (Neff, 2013). Despite this extensive framework of bystander research within a cyberbullying environment, bystander research with respect to trolling is scarce. The present study aims to contribute to the lack of experimental research, in particular with regards to bystanders, by experimentally examining the consequences of witnessing trolling behavior in an online environment. To do so, an online environment in the game that is conceivably frequented by online gaming’s most toxic community, League of Legends (LoL; Kou & Nardi, 2014), will be used to investigate how in-game team trolling behavior influences the mood of bystanders. Results of this study will contribute to facing these problems by answering the following question: How does in-game team communication affect emotional response of players in a competitive online game? Theoretical background Online gaming Presently, effects of trolling on bystanders will be explored in the scope of the game accompanied with online gaming’s most toxic community: League of Legends (Kou & Nardi, 2014). LoL is a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA): an online matching game in which players have to compete with each other in teams (Park & Kim, 2014). In LoL, players control different kinds of characters, all with unique abilities to ‘kill’ other players and non-player characters in order to gain virtual money and experience points. Castranova (2008) examined human interactions within massive multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPG) and ONLINE TROLLING, VICTIM SPEECH, AND BYSTANDER MOOD 5 argued that the boundary between these MMORPG’s and the real world has become ambiguous for many players. Some virtual currencies are worth more than some real currencies, new virtual worlds are arising at the rate of Moore’s Law and numerous lawsuits have been filed (and won) by players who were mistreated in their virtual environment (Castranova, 2008). Castranova (2008) continues by stating that twenty percent of users claim that the online environment in which they reside is perceived as their real world. While Johnson, Nacke and Wyeth (2015) state that players in MOBA’s are typically more frustrated due to the higher degree of competitiveness than players in MMORPG’s, players still exhibit teamwork-driven interactions similar to those exhibited in MMORPG’s. In these and most other online games, players can interact with each other via computer mediated communication (CMC). CMC is a text-based type of communication, which is heavily reliant of the system and interface design on which it is broadcasted (Romiszowski, & Mason, 1996). One might think that users are limited in transferring emotions via CMC since it is text based, but Vandergriff (2013) as well as Riordan and Kreuz (2010) found that individuals elicit just as many ‘nonverbal’ cues via CMC as with face to face (F2F) communication. These cues are mainly purported to indicate emotion, disambiguate an utterance, or express contextual cues and implicit meanings. In CMC, individuals achieve the same effect by applying other cues like emoticons, typographic markers and lexical surrogates (Vandergriff, 2013; Riordan & Kreuz, 2010). Derks, Fischer and Bos (2008) even argued that more emotions are conveyed via CMC than via F2F, as people tend to disambiguate their expressions more often via CMC. They also state that negative emotions are communicated more efficiently via CMC, as people sense less negative appraisals of others (Derks, Fischer & Bos, 2008). Individuals feel more anonymous when communicating via CMC and consequently tend to be more direct and explicit, leading to ONLINE TROLLING, VICTIM SPEECH, AND BYSTANDER MOOD 6 more negative and unconcealed expressions (Derks, Fischer & Bos, 2008). Consequently, participants are likely to be affected by witnessing trolling, as virtual environments such as LoL are attended with interpersonal relationships, communities and demeanors similar to those in the real world. On the other hand, research has shown that playing casual video games can be held responsible for improving mood and decreasing stress (Russoniello, O’Brien & Parks, 2009). Also of note is the finding that playing a violent videogame resulted in more arousal among children in relation to a nonviolent game (Fleming, Wood & Debra, 2001). Even though LoL is not classified as a casual game according to the conditions provided by Russoniello and colleagues (2009), its popularity implies that it is considered as enjoyable by a vast amount of players from all over the world. Consequently, Mood of participants is possibly affected by the arousal induced by playing a game of LoL. Trolling In the present study, trolls are considered to be CMC users with a fake constructed identity that appear to wish to be part of a particular group, but in reality want to cause disruption and/or trigger conflicts for their own amusement (Hardaker, 2010). This definition is by no means exhaustive in all contexts as disagreements regarding different characteristics are still the subject of present studies, but it is exhaustive enough in the scope of this study. The definition of trolling is the subject of great discussion, as many studies differ in certain characteristics that are either included or excluded. Coles and West (2016) dedicated an entire study to the ambiguity of the terms ‘troll’ and ‘trolling’ by conducting an analysis regarding the most common use of both words