Dota 2 Competition
Research Results
This research involved 20 gamers, each grouped into teams of 5.
Participants were given a form to fill before the games began and after it ended.
This research was made to observe if implemented rules and penalties in the game would affect how players behave, how they communicate with others and how they react to certain situations. The rule was made to prevent players from being toxic to a certain degree with penalties being enforced if this rule was broken which may put that player's team at a disadvantage of winning the game.
Each team was assigned a judge who oversaw the team throughout the games and record their voice comms in Discord.
Post-competition Q&A
The answers compiled are based on what the majority have to say about the controlled game environment and their experiences playing the game in general.
Q: How do you feel playing in this kind of game setting
A: They feel positive because they can play in a more peaceful environment (The controlled environment helps shape their mentality differently).
Q: How do you control your toxic emotions?
A: They try to be positive by thinking what caused them to be upset or by muting the in-game chat/voice comms. Some also stated that they just let it out by throwing a tantrum locally.
Q: Do you feel better playing in a free-to-do-whatever-you-want environment or this environment in your pubs?
A: They prefer this competition's game environment because it allows them to focus better with the absence of toxicity.
Q: What is your typical behavior during your gaming sessions?
A: They mentioned that they are calm, but tilts when they meet toxic players in their games.
Q: What experience do you have in your public games compared to this kind of game setting?
A: There is lesser toxicity in this competition with the controlled gaming environment in place and that it was a nice change compared to their usual pubs.
A: They mentioned to reduce communications between teams or remove them entirely, limiting in-game taunts or chat wheel features and creating heavier penalties for toxic players.
Q: What others ideas can be implemented to curb toxic behaviors in esports games?
Was anyone toxic during the competition?
Yes
1 player was issued a penalty for cussing at his opponents continuously. The player was tilted because he was dominating individually but lost the game in the end which made his opponents tipped him out of personal satisfaction.
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Below is a clip of how it happened and how I enforced a penalty.
*Warning: Explicit language
Out of 20 gamers, 6 admitted to being toxic and only 1 was toxic during the competition.
This proves that the rules implemented eliminated others from being toxic and successfully reduced toxicity in the game while also allowing players to play in the game environment I had envisioned.
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