Kids face bullying over in-game items and skins, study suggests

Children are facing social exclusion or bullying over the purchase of in-game items and cosmetics in online games, a new study suggests.

As reported by the Crossplay newsletter and translated by ScienceNorway.no, Norwegian researchers Kamilla Knutsen Steinnes and Clara Julia Reich of Oslo Metropolitan University were tasked with studying the influence of money in video games by the country’s Ministry of Children and Family Affairs.

“There is still much to learn about the social dynamics within children’s virtual worlds and governments and policymakers worldwide are interested in this topic from a regulatory perspective,” the researches told Crossplay. “Video games are also an important part of children’s everyday lives and there is little research on young people’s digital consumption in a Norwegian context.”

The report studied the impact of games on children aged between 10 and 15, and found that the gaming market integrates with everything else they do in life, with no sharp distinction between their online and offline world. “These are just different parts of the social world they navigate, and appearance, or skins, are important identity markers,” the report says.

The researchers explained: “The pressure to fit in resembles what is already taking place in other contexts but takes on new forms. Some children might end up feeling excluded if they lack the resources (e.g., Wi-Fi, gaming equipment, in-game currency) to play with their friends or might get picked on based on what ‘skin’ they are wearing.”

Steinnes and Reich said that part of the problem was the way in which game developers have become proficient at putting marketing in front of players that’s difficult to avoid.

“There are important differences when comparing video games to other leisure activities among children,” the researchers explained. “In football, for example, children may get exposed to commercial content such as banners for football shoes, typically for a limited time within a given physical