Week 11: Digital Citizenship and Conflict — Social Media Governance
Andddd welcome back to another week of Yapping with Gladys ✨
If you've ever played a competitive online game, you've probably experienced this before.
Someone misses a skill shot.
Someone types "GG end mid" after five minutes 😭
As someone who spends far too much time playing Dota 2, I've always joked that getting flamed is just part of the experience. Trash talk, frustration, and arguments seem almost built into competitive gaming culture. I started wondering where to draw the line between competitive banter and online harassment. One minute you’re trying to enjoy a rank game, next up someone is yelling in voice chat, telling you to “go uninstall” and typing slurs in chat. Gaming communities can be some of the funniest and welcoming spaces online… but also the most hostile.
When people talk about digital citizenship, we often focus on positive ideas like participation, community, and inclusion. Did you know? Digital communities is also a space for conflict. Online conflict is about power: who gets to speak, who gets heard, and who feels safe enough to participate.
One example can be seen in Esports communities themselves. While gaming is often presented as an inclusive hobby, research has consistently found that women, LGBTQ+ individuals, and gender-diverse players experience significantly higher levels of online harassment (Haslop et al., 2021).
The problem is that online harassment has become deeply normalised in many digital communities. Harassment is often dismissed as “just banter” or “part of gaming culture,” which makes toxic behaviour easier to tolerate. According to Haslop, O’Rourke, and Southern (2021), women and gender-diverse users are disproportionately targeted by online hostility and harassment. This reflects broader patterns found across social media, where abuse often mirrors offline inequalities and prejudices.
What makes online harassment particularly difficult to address is that it is often networked rather than individual. Marwick and Caplan (2018) argue that harassment frequently occurs through communities that share tactics, language, and targets. Instead of receiving one hateful message, individuals may face hundreds or thousands of attacks from people connected through online networks.
But… Good News! Online communities are now finding ways to push back. Advocacy organisations, moderation tools, reporting systems are being used to stop harassment and raise awareness. A well-known example is the Gamergate controversy, where women working in gaming like game developers, journalists, and critics such as Anita Sarkeesian became targets of organised harassment campaigns.
While supporters often framed the movement as a discussion about ethics in gaming journalism, it has also become a significant example of networked harassment, intimidation, and exclusion within gaming culture. 👑
What the dog doin'?? 😭🥀😂😂 #dota2 #Dota #gamingcommunity #fyp #reels
Despite how we see individuals respond to harassment through humour, advocacy, and community action. Vitis and Gilmour (2017) found that women have used social media itself as a tool to challenge and expose harassment, turning platforms that were once used against them into spaces of resistance.
This also raises questions about social media governance. Who is responsible for creating safer online spaces? Is it the responsibility of users, moderators, platforms, governments, or all of them together? Platforms like Twitch, Discord, and online games all have moderation systems, reporting tools, and community guidelines. But at the same time, smaller communities like Discord Servers also govern themselves through moderators, server rules, and community norms. Sometimes these systems work well. Other times… not so much 😭
The introduction of legislation such as Australia's Online Safety Act 2021 reflects growing recognition that platforms cannot simply remain neutral observers. At the same time, platform moderation remains challenging because communities often develop their own norms, cultures, and expectations.
This week's topic changed how I think about digital citizenship. I used to associate it with participation and engagement, now it’s about responsibility. A community is not defined only by who joins it, but by who feels comfortable staying. It comes down to understanding that online communities don’t magically become everyone's “safe spaces”. Gaming communities have given me some of my favourite friendships, funniest memories, and most chaotic Discord calls at 2am. Whether it’s moderating a Discord server, calling out harassment, or simply choosing not to join toxic pile-ons, digital citizenship is about recognising that our actions contribute to the culture of the communities we participate in.
Because at the end of the day, the strongest online communities are not the loudest ones. They're the ones where more people feel welcome to participate. ♥️
