Exploring the Intersection of Microtransactions, Loot Boxes, and Gender-Based Cyberbullying in Female Adolescents

The growing concerns in the online gaming world has led to many risks that are faced by a certain section of the gamers. This includes the female adolescents who undergo a number of challenges in their gaming journey. It includes being bullied or facing gender based discrimination. In order to investigate the same, the study includes the provision of microtransactions and how it can impact on these challenges among gamers. The 600 primary datasets considered for the statistical analysis are collected using purposive sampling. It is divided equally among the female adolescent gamers in the age group of 13 to 19 years and studying either in private or government schools and  colleges. The results from the mean score analysis among these different groups of gamers categorised based on their educational institutes showed interesting results. It is seen that while the overall mean scores are comparatively at a similar level for the variables of —gender biased behaviour and cyberbullying, level of engagement in microtransactions and perception about microtransactions. The private school students exhibit a higher level of engagement in the microtransaction as compared to the other. While all categories of gamers agree to know about the risks and consequences of getting involved in such transactions. It can be estimated from the analysis that these adolescent female online gamers hold a sensible level of understanding on the monetising options of the gaming platforms and can be estimated to use them effectively despite the difference in their types of educational institutes. These differences upon being measured using the t-test tools shows a significant difference in the mean scores highlighting the validity of the responses statistically. The analysis also revealed that all these responses agree to have a disturbance in their gaming experience due to their gender.