Workshop on Understanding and Combating the Problematic Side of Play

Abstract

Digital gaming and playful environments are often viewed as entertainment computing technologies that aim to create fun, engaging, and positive experiences for children and adults alike. Yet, there is an increasing interest in research that protects players from the problematic side of gaming and playful environments, such as toxicity and harassment, dark patterns and deceptive design, problematic gaming and addiction, discrimination, incubation of extremism, and ethical considerations. However, behaviors that some consider negative or harmful may not be intended or even perceived as such by others. Therefore, this workshop aims to encourage researchers, industry practitioners, and game designers to bring in a wide variety of perspectives on how to articulate problematic play, what factors lead to the subjective nature of the problematic side of play, and approaches to combat harm across gaming and playful contexts while reinforcing potentially beneficial aspects of what can be ambiguously defined as problematic by others.