While sexual harm has been studied across a range of contexts, it has not yet been considered within the video game, streaming, and esports community. This study aimed to explore the landscape of sexual harm in this community, specifically, where it has been committed by esports professionals and video game live streamers. Fifty-five victim statements were extracted from online sources (such as Twitter/X and Reddit) and coded into variables relating to offender and victim demographics, offense characteristics, the offense process, and platform(s) used. Descriptive statistics were generated for each variable and Fisher’s exact tests were conducted to examine the differences between adult-on-adult and adult-on-child cases. The findings reveal diverse offense outcomes across the sample, ranging from rape to sexual communication with a child. Some offense patterns can be seen in wider sexual offending literature, such as pre-offense alcohol consumption, offending against incapacitated victims (e.g., sleeping), and offending within an established romantic relationship. However, several offense process characteristics unique to the video gaming community were identified. These included offenders using their position of fame within the community to access victims and bypass the need for other coercive behaviors. Online offenses were more common with children and offenders demonstrated a preference for “live” methods, such as voice chat and video calling, rather than instant messaging or sharing images of themselves. This limits the digital evidence left behind and indicates the offenders’ greater technological literacy. The study’s findings shed light on the sexual harm that exists within this previously unexplored context and highlight areas where esports organizations, live-streaming platforms, and educational providers can do more to safeguard players, fans, and viewers in this community.

中文翻译：

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电子游戏、流媒体和电子竞技社区中的性伤害现状


虽然性伤害已经在多种背景下进行了研究，但尚未在视频游戏、流媒体和电子竞技社区中得到考虑。这项研究旨在探索该社区中性伤害的情况，特别是电子竞技专业人士和视频游戏直播主播所实施的性伤害。从在线资源（例如 Twitter/X 和 Reddit）中提取了 55 份受害者陈述，并将其编码为与犯罪者和受害者人口统计、犯罪特征、犯罪过程和使用的平台相关的变量。对每个变量生成描述性统计数据，并进行费舍尔精确检验，以检查成人对成人和成人对儿童案例之间的差异。研究结果揭示了样本中不同的犯罪结果，从强奸到与儿童的性交流。一些犯罪模式可以在更广泛的性犯罪文献中看到，例如犯罪前饮酒、对无行为能力的受害者的犯罪（例如睡觉）以及在已建立的浪漫关系中的犯罪。然而，我们发现了视频游戏社区独有的几个攻击过程特征。其中包括犯罪者利用其在社区中的声誉来接触受害者并绕过其他胁迫行为的需要。在线犯罪在儿童中更为常见，犯罪者表现出对“实时”方法的偏好，例如语音聊天和视频通话，而不是即时消息或分享自己的图像。这限制了留下的数字证据，并表明犯罪者具有更高的技术素养。 该研究的结果揭示了这种以前未曾探索过的环境中存在的性伤害，并强调了电子竞技组织、直播平台和教育提供商可以采取更多措施来保护该社区的玩家、粉丝和观众的领域。