Abstract
The demand framework is commonly used by game scholars to develop new and innovative ways to improve the gaming experience. However, the present article aims to expand this framework and apply it to problematic gaming, also known as trolling. Although still a relatively new field, research into trolling has exploded within the past ten years. However, the vast majority of these studies are descriptive in nature. The present article marries theory and trolling research by closely examining interdisciplinary empirical evidence from a single platform—video games—and applying the various forms of demands to propose a testable, dual-route model of trolling behaviour. Within the video game context, I argue the presence of two primary causal mechanisms that can lead to trolling: 1) Demand imbalance between players and the game; and 2) demand imbalance between players. The article discusses how these two types of imbalance can lead to trolling, which kinds of demands can be imbalanced, and how future researchers can use the demand framework to expand our understanding of trolling.
Highlights
The demand framework presented in Bowman’s (2018) overview has been a useful tool for games scholars in recent years, explaining gamers and their behaviours by relating them to four key demands: cognitive, emotional, social, and physical
Demand theory has typically been used to describe average and optimal gameplay, there is sufficient overlap with trolling literature to indicate that demand theory could be used to explain deviant play
When game demands fall out of the ideal range, the effects—boredom and frustration— have been shown in extant literature to be causally linked to trolling behaviour (Buckels et al, 2014; Cook et al, 2018, 2019; Thacker & Griffiths, 2012)
Summary
The demand framework presented in Bowman’s (2018) overview has been a useful tool for games scholars in recent years, explaining gamers and their behaviours by relating them to four key demands: cognitive, emotional, social, and physical. The majority of studies examining the impact demands have on gamers’ choices both in-game and out deal with optimization. There has been a recent explosion of literature concerning gamers who seem to seek the opposite for both themselves and other players in the game: trolls (Cook, Schaafsma, & Antheunis, 2018; Thacker & Griffiths, 2012). The present piece proposes demand imbalance as a major cause of this choice of playstyle, and aims to explain how the very same demands in the very same game can cause one player to flourish, and another to rebel
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