While online video games create new spaces for interaction between teenagers, they can also be a source of social pressure when the obsession with victory becomes too strong.

52% of 12-17 year-olds spend more than three hours a day in front of screens . While social media plays a prominent role in their digital habits, video games are also widely popular: 93% of 10-17 year-olds play them, including 62% daily.

While consoles and PCs remain important platforms, the widespread adoption of smartphones from the start of secondary school has allowed for greater accessibility, offering teenagers the opportunity to immerse themselves in their favorite gaming worlds anywhere and at any time.

From Fortnite to Roblox , from Minecraft to Brawl Stars … online games have become veritable gathering places and interaction for young people. While they can cause worries and conflicts within families, it must also be noted that they are privileged socialization tools for the younger generations.

Find friends online

Adolescence is a period of intense questioning and exploration, during which young people build their social identity . Peer groups take center stage, becoming an essential reference for these individuals seeking interaction, approval, and recognition.

In this context, video games are part of adolescent culture . They open up a space in which they can create, maintain or strengthen ties with their peers, but also develop their self-confidence. Thus, in their video game practices, young people largely favor game modes that allow them to live a collective experience: 81% of 10-17 year-olds prefer to play with others (online or locally), and 48% feel, thanks to games, that they are part of a community.

During the sessions, teenagers enjoy meeting up with their friends to share a fun, interactive moment. The chat systems (voice or text) offered by the games reinforce the hedonism of the experience: “I play with friends, who are funny, who during the game will make little jokes, well that’s it, it’s always looking for the little joke that will make the team laugh,” notes the participant of an ongoing survey.

Depending on the game, they are required to collaborate to solve puzzles, co-build structures, or even beat opposing teams. They must then communicate, develop strategies, and coordinate, which strengthens bonds and provides a learning environment for many psychosocial skills (solidarity, conflict management, leadership, empathy, etc.). Cooperation in video games would promote prosocial behavior in children, even in the case of violent content like Fortnite , compared to solo mode.

Team, clan, club, or guild systems offer opportunities to create new friendships based on a shared passion. Teens may also choose to compete against their friends; the game allows them to gain peer recognition for winning and build self-esteem.

Beyond the experience, playing games favored by the peer group allows the teenager to take part in conversations, give their opinion, share anecdotes and a common language (for example, Fortnite players will use terms like ”  spawn  “, ”  crack  “, or ”  bambi  “). Those who do not play will find themselves in the position of spectator and may feel excluded from the group.

Social pressure from gaming communities

While online video games are spaces for meeting, having fun and sharing, they can also generate social pressure on young players.

The competitive mechanics used in some games can indeed lead adolescents, who compare themselves to others, to be ever more demanding of themselves: individual performances must constantly be improved, because the stakes are high. It is both about being recognized and valued by peers, but also about not being responsible for their team’s defeat, at the risk of being excluded.

If at the beginning the teams are made by affinities (it’s about having a good time with friends), they can very quickly restructure themselves according to the players’ skill growth (the idea is then to build the most efficient team possible): “we recruit people, we must be the most powerful faction to govern all the others”, says a player.

This social pressure generates strong emotional involvement and can lead to the adoption of ”  tryhard  ” practices. These are manifested by an obsession with victory and performance, which pushes a player to devote considerable time and effort to the game and which can ultimately lead to addiction and social isolation.

Learning to manage risks and excesses

As the obsession with rankings becomes more important than the pleasure of playing, the social dynamics within communities can quickly become anxiety-provoking and oppressive towards less skilled players, exposing them to the risk of cyberbullying or even harassment.

Indeed, although the various platforms offer interaction restrictions to protect young players (for example, chat limited to friends or club members, filtering of bad words, etc.), teenagers can easily circumvent them, in particular by using other online communication tools (such as Discord), or by entering a higher age when creating their account.

Finally, the desire to be recognized and valued by the group pushes adolescents to want to make more and more “in-app” purchases: this involves, for example, obtaining strategic advantages to win more trophies, or even ”  skins  ” or rare and precious objects, signs of status and prestige in certain gaming communities.

Faced with these abuses, parents are tempted to drastically limit gaming time, or even block access altogether. However, online video gaming, when used moderately, meets adolescents’ needs for sociability and belonging. It’s therefore more about fostering dialogue and empowering young people.

Rules can be devised together, particularly concerning playing time (a reasonable and flexible time limit, allowing the game not to be interrupted in the middle of a session), interactions (a chat limited to close friends), or even playing times (conditioned on the performance of other screen-free activities). The important thing is to open a space for discussion allowing the teenager to enjoy the benefits of video games, while protecting them from their dangers.

Author Bio: Marina Ferreira Da Silva is a Lecturer-Researcher in Management Sciences at the University of Rouen Normandy