Esports Business and Cyberbullying: Risks and Precautions

Introduction

Today, the most of the world's population has access to the Internet. As people have the right to access the internet, they also have many rights and freedoms in the digital internet environment. People who use these rights and freedoms responsibly are called digital citizens. Digital citizenship can also be stated as the general behavior patterns of people regarding the use of technology. Digital citizens are the ones who shape the use of technology in an appropriate and ethical framework (Aydın, 2015; Vlaanderen et al., 2020).

Digital citizenship is evaluated within a broad framework covering many different areas such as law, ethics, security, trade, access, communication, health, rights, and responsibilities. Considering the prevalence of the internet today, digital games constitute an important part of this use and also, an important reason for the popularity of digital games is esports. Therefore, esports has become an element that cannot be ignored in the creation, dissemination, and evaluation of the desired digital citizenship awareness (McCarthy, 2021).

In the US, 100% of the 18-29 age group and 97% of the 30-49 age group use the internet every day, and 58.3% of the total internet users are digital gamers (Statista, 2020). Given these realities, it seems that cyberbullying has become a widespread and social concern (Mishna et al., 2016). Esports (also known as electronic sports, e-sports, or eSports) refers to the competition of players in video games, online or offline, through different digital gaming devices and platforms (Hamari, & Sjöblom, 2017; Lenhart et al., 2015). These devices and platforms commonly consist of consoles (e.g., Playstation, Xbox), handheld devices (e.g., Nintendo DS), mobile devices (e.g., smartphones, tablets), and computers. Esports often takes the form of organized, multiplayer video game competitions, particularly between professional players, individually or as teams, while other players may be present in-person and/or online (Hedlund et al., 2020; Mishna et al., 2016).

Although organized competitions have long been a part of video game culture, these were largely between amateurs until the late 2000s, when participation by professional gamers and spectatorship in these events through live streaming saw a large surge in popularity. By the 2010s, esports were a significant factor in the video game industry, with many game developers actively designing and providing funding for tournaments and other events. However, the point to be noted here is that esports players are not only professional players (Karhulahti, 2020). Today, esports, which has a large amateur or professional player or fan base, is faced with the danger of cyberbullying, like many platforms especially used via the internet. Therefore, all esports players may be exposed to cyberbullying directly or indirectly.

Cyberbullying can be defined as a user deliberately and repeatedly acts of threat, humiliation, and fooling another user (Slonje & Smith, 2008; Slonje et al., 2013). In other words, cyberbullying is a whole of repetitive or offensive actions that harm a person or a group of people through the digital computing environment (Langos, 2012; Lam et al., 2013). These behaviors can be done via computer/console, website platforms, mobile phones or social media.

Cyberbullying may be in different forms. Some signs of cyberbullying are harassment, humiliating, blackmailing, and slandering. While definitions vary, bullying can involve direct and/or indirect aggression to the other party, and this can take many different forms, including physical, verbal, psychological and behavioral (Hanish & Guerra, 2000; Mishna et al., 2016). Although the physical effects of cyberbullying are less visible, the verbal, psychological and behavioral effects are more prominent (McInroy & Mishna, 2017).