Courtesy Under Fire: A Structural and Contextual Analysis of Toxic Language in Online Gaming

Abstract

The paper delves into the phenomenon of toxic language in online gaming, a significant issue that reflects the broader challenges of online interaction between users. Despite online gaming being fairly new, considering other forms of games, its impact and popularity are constantly growing. As such a powerful activity, it naturally bears consequences – one of them being other players. This issue is widespread and does not pertain to a single region. The author establishes that patterns of such toxic language exist, basing the thesis on conducted research, whose main goal was to determine the grammatical structures and context in which toxicity manifests. By analyzing those patterns, the author establishes a foundation for understanding how toxic language manifests, providing a detailed examination of its linguistic structure. The observation also offers insight into the possible causes of increased toxicity.