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Beyond deviance: toxic gaming culture and the potential for positive change

ABSTRACT Game studies addresses a wide range of topics, concepts, questions, and perspectives. From reading games as technical and cultural artifacts to exploring players, player communities, and the industry itself. Toxic culture within gaming communities and the gaming industry has negatively affected and even harmed individuals, community growth, the creative potential of video games, and even the study of some topics in game studies. This is not up for debate. However, toxic culture plays a role in shaping alternative visions and methods of inclusivity, as those affected by it push against the toxic boundaries and existing conditions through a wide range of strategies to create positive change. From supportive threads on social media to coordinated, collective efforts in the form of the creation of organizations, events, and emotional support networks, this article looks at resistance to toxic gaming culture and how it reshapes and reconstructs the boundaries and social norms towards creating a more inclusive gaming community and culture. The future of game studies is necessarily critical, but its future is also constructive.