First Name:
Kelly
Last Name:
Welch
Major Department:
Psychology and Human Services
Thesis Director:
Mary Ballard
Date of Thesis:
May 2013
The popularity of Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs) has elicited concern that this is yet another context for the perpetration of cyber-bullying. The purpose of the present study was to examine the prevalence and correlates of cyber-bullying during MMOG play. The goal of the study was to examine the characteristics of perpetrators and victims of MMOG bullying and typical bullying behavior in the game context. Based on the aggressive nature of MMOGs, and research findings that other web-based technologies have high rates of bullying, we predicted that we would find cyber-bullying to be a common occurrence during MMOG play. The results showed that participants report being victimized (45.5%) and perpetrating cyber-bullying (35.5%) as a common occurrence on MMOGs. Additionally, we found that males perpetrate more cyber-bully during online gaming than females, rank is the most commonly reported reason for cyber-bullying, and females and LGBT participants reported experiencing significantly higher rates of specific cyber-bullying behaviors.