As the difference between the scores of those who played League and those who did not play league was very close and was found to not have statistical significance (p=0.9), it means that results must have happened by chance. As such, it is clear that playing League of Legends does not effect impulsivity levels among players aged 12-19.
From this survey, it was found that there was not a statistically significant difference from the results. There were some limitations to this study such as the survey size, and such variables vastly limit the effectiveness of this particular survey, however if future research were to go and replicate this study but tweak the methodology, then a new breath of understanding would be achieved.
Implications
As the results of the t-test showcase that playing LoL does not lead to an statistically significant increase in impulsivity levels, it can be concluded that playing this video game does not increase impulsivity by a very large margin. Therefor, playing the game LoL is not what causes players to exhibit toxic behaviors. This begs the question, what does then? From my hypothesis, I theorized that it was the game that caused players to be impulsive - but I was wrong. After conducting this process, I now believe that everyone has the inherent ability to be impulsive and that the game itself is not at fault.
The results point to the fact that impulsivity must be something that everyone has, since although the differences in mean scores of both groups were not statistically significant, both scored relatively highly and similarly (around 62%). As such, it can be concluded that everyone has a high capacity for impulsivity. The game itself, LoL, is not the one that is directly responsible for causing impulsive actions; however it does serve as the environment that enables and facilitates players to rage and harass their teammates. Gentile’s findings established that playing any video game, violent or not, leads to increases in impulsivity over time. As such it can be concluded that playing any and every game, including LoL, increases impulsivity substantially.
However while impulsivity is something that increases with playing video games, it does not mean it can not be controlled. If we were able to limit impulsive behavior, then the negative effects that result from toxicity can also be limited. While there are a few checks to impulsivity currently in place, for example Riot, the company that owns LoL, has the power to ban and restrict speech in players that abuse their right to speech in game to verbally harass others. However, as this check has been in place for several years and LoL still suffers from an issue of toxicity, it can be concluded that this is simply not sufficient. I propose that we look into changing the system by raising the punishment to cyberbullying and harassment in video games. Many people know that hate speech is not protected and that defaming and slandering someone else on social media is punishable by the law. Legal action can be taken against this form of bullying as it is a form of speech not protected by the freedom of speech. However, this consensus is not shared when playing video games. While there are no studies documenting whether people are more likely to exhibit toxic behaviors in game than on social media platforms, the effect of perceived anonymity helps foster the continuation of toxicity. Due to the fact that identities are shrouded when in game, many people do not fully understand the implications of their actions and believe that since everyone is anonymous, they are free to verbally harass others (Kowert, 2021). An effective way to fix this issue would be to emphasize the point that anonymity is not a sanction that will cover up any toxicity. All actions on the internet can be traced, and it must be made clear that this is the case. The only way for this point to be clear is to start putting meaning behind words, and actually follow through with rules and regulations that explicitly state that all bullying- whether online or in person, will be punished.
As it was found that League of legends does not increase impulsivity levels, the gap identified has been closed, as there is now a preliminary database answering the question of how does playing League effect impulsivity levels: it does not. However, several gaps and questions arise from this, as the question transforms into: what causes players exactly to exhibit toxic behaviors? Assuming toxicity is caused by impulsivity, then it can be concluded from this study that playing League does not directly lead to toxic behaviors. So what does? Is it the players themselves who are all innately toxic? Does the game facilitate players to act toxic? Is there a reason why players feel toxic when playing competitive gamemodes? What about non competitive gamemodes? A lot of questions arise from this study, and further research will need to be administered to help fill in on the gaps.