Consumer perspectives of trash talk in esports

The growth of competitive video gaming has formed an innovative media culture called esports. As a professional environment, governed rules have been implemented across esport tournaments to prevent unfair advantages among professional players. However, esports are also guided by their shared social norms: unwritten guidelines that shape behaviour across esport communities. Esport consumers use social norms to assess and determine the acceptability or unacceptability of conduct. However, certain practices lack consensus regarding their alignment with established social norms. One practice, for instance, is trash talk. Though evident in conventional sports and casual video gaming, understanding the practice of trash talk has been problematic due to differing definitions of what trash talk is and debates surrounding its moral implications. Current literature has also debated that the social norms of individual sporting and video gaming communities govern the acceptance of trash talk. However, research examining trash talk in esports is currently limited. Understanding consumer perceptions of trash talk in esports holds contemporary significance as an environment increases economic growth and professionalism.

Guided by diverse theoretical frameworks, this thesis investigated the forms of trash talk in esports and explored the social norms and consumer perspectives behind its use. The study in chapter three used Practice Theory (Myers, 2019; Ortner, 2006) to identify dialectical perceptions of trash talk in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive esports. Through a methodology of fifty hours of structured observations of professional tournaments followed by semi-structured interviews with fifteen spectators/casual gamers, the data identified that varying perspectives on trash talk depend on underlying contexts. However, spectators had a predominantly positive ethos for trash talk and emphasised how it was a distinct part of the esports scene. Chapters four and five extend the scope of this study to explore consumer perspectives of trash talk across three esports within the First-Person Shooter genre: Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Overwatch, and Rainbow Six: Siege. These studies used data harvested through the popular social media forum Reddit and gathered 1,724 comments for analysis. The study in chapter four aimed to uncover and encapsulate the various forms of trash talk into a single framework, utilising Presseau et al.’s (2019) Action, Actor, Context, Target, and Time (AACTT) framework for specifying behaviour. This approach analysed 61 cases of trash talk and identified that verbal and written exchanges were primary forms of Actions of trash talk yet can occur with in-game mechanics—a practice unique to esports. While professional players conventionally serve as both Actors and Targets, this study also observed that coaches, stage talent, and esport organisations also engage in trash talk. The Context of trash talk can be further identified through physical, environmental, and social settings, and the Time trash talk occurs is centred around a match or tournament. The study in chapter five adopted Chung and Rimal’s (2016) framework to examine how consumer’s perspectives of trash talk are guided by social norms and underlying moderating attributes that influence behaviour. Subjective and descriptive social norms were centred around the context of trash talk and the moments it occurred during a match. Consumers also identified a spectrum of behavioural, individual, and contextual moderating attributes to debate why esport players engage or avoid using trash talk.

Chapters six and seven adopted a qualitative design through three surveys distributed across esports social media. These studies focused on gathering spectators, professional players, and industry workers perspectives of trash talk across various genres and games within the esports domain. A total of 591 responses were collected, compassing 521 from spectators, 15 from industry workers, and 55 from professional players. The study in chapter six aimed to understand the motivations of using trash talk in esports through an Organismic Integration Theory (OIT) (Ryan & Deci, 2017) perspective. The results identified five core motivations for trash talk: gaining a mental advantage, aid one’s teammates, promoting hype, self-support, and amusement. Consumers identified other forms of trash talk throughout these chapters, notably banter and toxic play. However, there were variations in the perceived acceptability of these forms of trash talk within esports. Thus, the study in chapter seven aimed to classify the diverse consumer perspectives on these forms of trash talk through the lens of Social Identity Theory (Taifel & Turner, 1985). The results identify four core themes affiliated with consumers perspectives on trash talk, banter and toxic play and use these to highlight the similarities and distinctions across each behaviour: (1) Context, (2) Motive, (3) Consent and (4) Rapport.

This thesis presents innovative frameworks to explore consumer perceptions of trash talk behaviour. The results provide a nuanced understanding of the multifaceted ways in which trash talk unfolds within competitive environments through underlying motivations, contextual influences, and consumer engagement. Thus, this research contributes to a holistic comprehension of the complex interplay between communication, competition, and social norms in diverse settings.