Gamer rage—Children’s perspective on issues impacting losing one’s temper while playing digital games

Abstract

Previous research on children’s digital games-related aggressive behavior has been conducted from an adult perspective, but children’s voices are missing. This study contributes to filling this gap by exploring how children explain the reasons for their gamer rage, what background factors they recognize as influencing gamer rage, and how they explain the manifestation of their gamer rage. The data were assembled from semi-structured interviews (N = 20) and essays (N = 31) and analyzed using qualitative content analysis. The results reveal that children consider in-game failures, other players’ actions, technical problems, and out-of-game interruptions as the main reasons for their gamer rage. The choice of game, the gaming environment, and daily life troubles were recognized as background factors for gamer rage. Gamer rage was manifested by verbal and physical expressions and by quitting. The results contribute to our understanding of children’s perspectives on gamer rage.