Video gaming is no longer just a hobby of teenagers - thanks to developments in gaming technology and the accessibility of many games, the activity has become very popular among both genders and young and old alike. Despite its popularity, the anonymous nature of online gaming leaves some gamers open to harassment and negative experiences. During an August 2023 survey in the United States, 67 percent of respondents stated that they had been called offensive names while playing video games. Overall, 76 percent of responding gamers had encountered online harassment, down from 83 percent two years prior.

A survey between September and October 2023 revealed that 41 percent of U.S. teens who played video games had been called an offensive name when playing video games, making it the most common form of in-game harassment experienced among teen gamers. Boys aged 13 to 17 years were more likely to be physically threatened, while girls were most likely to receive unwanted sexually explicit things.

As of the fourth quarter of 2024, gaming company Roblox Corporation had over 85.3 million daily active users of Roblox games worldwide. This figure represents a 19 percent increase from the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Roblox DAU has grown significantly since the beginning of 2020, when the global COVID-19 pandemic started to spread. Since then, the company has managed to retain and even increase its newly won audiences. Who are the Roblox users? Due to its colorful look and popularity among young gaming audiences, Roblox is often perceived as being just for children. Up until mid-2021, this was correct, as up until that point, the majority of Roblox gamers were aged 13 years or under. However, as of the third quarter of 2024, about 53.6 million Roblox gamers are aged 13 years or above, compared to 29.7 million younger users. According to the company, Roblox’s fastest-growing demographic are users aged 17 to 24 years, highlighting the platform’s efforts in attracting a wider audience. Building a Roblox for the future... is easier said than done Roblox generates nearly all of its revenues via sales of its own digital currency, Robux. The aging up of its audience is a vital factor in Roblox’s continued monetization strategy, as children under 13 years are not an addressable ad audience. Subsequently, in order to expand its advertising business to diversify its revenue streams, Roblox needs a bigger addressable ad audience. This is particularly relevant in context with Roblox’s metaverse ambitions which aim to foster stronger relationships with brands in the digital advertising space.However, by trying to tap into older gaming audiences, Roblox puts itself into direct competition with other online gaming developers that focus on the 13+ audience. Additionally, the company has been criticized for insufficient content moderation and user safety features, which have led to users experiencing inappropriate content or in-game harassment on the Roblox gaming platform.

This survey charted the gambling, social media usage and subjective well-being of young people aged 15-30 years in Finland. The study was conducted as part of the "Problem Gambling and Social Media: Social Psychological Study on Youth Behavior in Online Gaming Communities" research project. The aim of the project was to analyse how young social media users assess, adopt and share gambling-related online content and how online group processes affect their gambling and gambling-related attitudes. This dataset contains additional data collected from popular Finnish social media sites. FSD's holdings also include two other datasets that were collected using a nearly identical questionnaire (FSD3399 and FSD3591). Data for the research project have been collected in Finland, the United States, Spain, and South Korea. First, the respondents were asked which social media services they used (e.g. Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, discussion forums, online casinos) and how often. Topics that the respondents discussed on gambling-related social media were charted more closely, and they were asked, for example, whether the discussion usually related to instructions or tips on gambling or to problem gambling and recovering from problem gambling. Some questions on the respondents' social media activity were also presented, for instance, how often they saw gambling-related advertising online, how often they changed their most important social media passwords, and how often they uploaded pictures of themselves on social media. The respondents were asked whether they had ever been harassed online or had been the victim of a crime on the Internet in the past three years (e.g. defamation, identity theft, fraud, sexual harassment). The respondents' identity bubbles on social media were surveyed by using the IBR scale (Identity Bubble Reinforcement Scale). The respondents were asked, for instance, whether they thought they could be themselves on social media and whether they only interacted with people similar to them on social media. Additionally, the CIUS scale (Compulsive Internet Use) was used to examine problems related to Internet use. Questions focused on, for example, whether the respondents found it difficult to stop using the Internet when they were online, whether people close to them said they should use the Internet less, and whether they felt restless, frustrated or irritated when they couldn't use the Internet. In the next section of the questionnaire, the respondents were randomly assigned to two groups for a vignette experiment. Respondents in the test group were told they belong to Group C because they had answered the earlier questions in a similar manner to others in the group. Those in the control group were given no information on the group. The respondents were presented with different gambling-related social media scenarios, and they were asked to evaluate the contents of the gambling-related messages by "liking" or "disliking" the message or by not reacting to it at all. Each respondent was shown four different gambling messages with different contents. Three factors were manipulated in the scenarios (2x2x2 design): expressed stance of the message on gambling (positive or negative), narrative perspective of the message (experience-driven first-person narration or fact-driven third-person narration) and majority opinion of other respondents on the message (positively or negatively biased distribution of likes or dislikes). For Group C, the majority opinion was seemingly provided by other Group C members, whereas for the control group the majority opinion was seemingly provided by other respondents. Additionally, the respondents' attitudes towards the message were surveyed with statements regarding, for instance, how likely they would find the message interesting or share it on social media. Next, the respondents' attitudes towards gambling were charted by using the ATGS scale (Attitudes Towards Gambling Scale). They were asked, for example, whether people should have the right to gamble whenever they want, whether most people who gamble do so sensibly and whether it would be better if gambling was banned altogether. The respondents' gambling habits were examined by using the SOGS scale (South Oaks Gambling Screen), and they were asked, for instance, which types of gambling they had done in the past 12 months (played slot machines, visited an online casino, bet on lotteries etc.), whether the people close to them had gambling problems, and whether they had borrowed money to gamble or to pay gambling debts. In addition, the respondents' alcohol consumption was surveyed with a few questions from the AUDITC scale (The Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test), and they were asked whether they had used various drugs for recreational purposes (e.g. cannabis, LSD, amphetamine, opioids). The respondents' subjective well-being and social relationships were examined next. The respondents were asked how happy they...

An online survey in China in 2022 revealed that discussion of social topics was the leading cause of online abuse, with more than 52 percent of those who had experienced online abuse saying so. The survey also discovered that very few respondents faced online abuse due to online gaming and shopping disputes across the country.