When it comes to the ethics of consent there’s always an issue of what’s the researchers right to know vs the right of the subject’s privacy (Donovan, 2012, p.346).  When researching toxicity in the game League of Legends, this was a big issue as I was worried that telling players that I was researching them would cause them to act differently which it did most of the time.
In media I was told to always get consent before filming someone. The solution to people acting unnatural; is just let the camera run for longer as they would soon forget that it was even there. When trying this with League of Legends I often found I didn’t have any control when it came to how long the games would run, so I was unable to wait for players to forget I was there. I resulted to deception, by telling the players I was observing them after the game, in the end.

Another ethical problem I encountered, was my pre-existing ethical stance. Through playing the game for many years before my research I was already biased. I already believed League of Legends was a toxic game, because I had experienced abuse and players intentionally throwing the game because of rage first hand. This bias meant I had to be careful in compiling my research, so I didn’t disregard anything that proved that League of Legends wasn’t as toxic as I believed, or toxic at all.

I think it’s always tricky when we try to work around something we love, because when we are expected to give the absolute truth about the subject it’s always hard not to let bias get in the way. I way to avoid this of course is to always be ready to step out of your comfort zone, and tackle something maybe you don’t know everything about.

Donovan, K, 2012. The ethical stance and its representation in the expressive techniques of documentary filming: a case study of Tagged. New Review of Film and Television Studies, Vol. 10, No 3, 344-361.