Development of the hostility and inclusion in gaming scale (HIGS): A gender-based analysis

Electronic gaming is one of the fastest growing segments of the sports, entertainment, and technology industries. While the electronic nature of the industry offers many advantages, electronic platforms create psychological distance between players and perceived anonymity conducive to cyberbullying and cyber incivility, especially for those who do not identify as cis-gender men/boys. Therefore, there is an increasing need to establish credible and reliable tools to measure cultures of hostility, toxicity, and inclusion in electronic gaming. Consequently, the current study resulted in the development of the first known rigorous quantitative examination of hostility and inclusion in gaming, the HIGS. A five-stage process involving three samples (Sample 1 N = 150, Sample 2 N = 157, Sample 3 N = 246) was utilized. The results of this study led to the development of the HIGS with five distinct factors (gender/genre zoning and access discrimination, hegemonic masculinity, harassment/treatment discrimination, stereotypes and stigmas, and imposter syndrome). Several implications are outlined with a specific focus on how organizations, leagues, and teams can seek to implement the scale to better gauge their culture of inclusion for a variety of groups. The HIGS was designed to be applied across all gaming types and the subsequent results can inform all aspects of gaming policy and decision-making. The full scale is provided within the appendix.