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Combatting Toxicity: Leadership Structures and Aesthetics in Mobile Phone War Games

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Title: Combatting Toxicity: Leadership Structures and Aesthetics in Mobile Phone War Games
Language: English
Authors: Scott Storm, Abigail E. Ferris
Source: English Teaching: Practice and Critique. 2026 25(2):253-267.
Availability: Emerald Publishing Limited. Howard House, Wagon Lane, Bingley, West Yorkshire, BD16 1WA, UK. Tel: +44-1274-777700; Fax: +44-1274-785201; e-mail: emerald@emeraldinsight.com; Web site: http://www.emerald.com/insight
Peer Reviewed: Y
Page Count: 15
Publication Date: 2026
Document Type: Journal Articles
Reports - Research
Descriptors: Computer Games, Handheld Devices, Video Games, Computer Mediated Communication, Interpersonal Relationship, Power Structure, Leadership, Multiple Literacies, War, Ideology, Computer Simulation
DOI: 10.1108/ETPC-09-2025-0222
ISSN: 1175-8708
Abstract: Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe how the literacies in one mobile phone gaming community reinforced and contested oppressive discourses. This study is urgent because youth spend much time playing mobile phone games, and researchers need to understand literacy practices in these communities. Design/methodology/approach: Researchers played a mobile phone war game for one year and collected publicly available writing from the in-game chat by taking over 13,000 screenshots. Drawing on theories of literacies as a social practice, Foucault's conception of discourses, and theories of organizational development, the authors conducted a qualitative content analysis that traced discourses of leadership structures and aesthetics in this mobile writing community. Findings: Presented as two constructed narrative episodes, findings demonstrate how users both reinforced and contested oppressive discourses particularly regarding issues of gender, control and leadership. Originality/value: This study contributes to research on digital writing in communities as well as explores implications for English language arts classroom writing and leadership.
Abstractor: As Provided
Entry Date: 2026
Accession Number: EJ1508743
Database: ERIC
FullText Text:
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  Data: Emerald Publishing Limited. Howard House, Wagon Lane, Bingley, West Yorkshire, BD16 1WA, UK. Tel: +44-1274-777700; Fax: +44-1274-785201; e-mail: emerald@emeraldinsight.com; Web site: http://www.emerald.com/insight
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  Data: Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe how the literacies in one mobile phone gaming community reinforced and contested oppressive discourses. This study is urgent because youth spend much time playing mobile phone games, and researchers need to understand literacy practices in these communities. Design/methodology/approach: Researchers played a mobile phone war game for one year and collected publicly available writing from the in-game chat by taking over 13,000 screenshots. Drawing on theories of literacies as a social practice, Foucault's conception of discourses, and theories of organizational development, the authors conducted a qualitative content analysis that traced discourses of leadership structures and aesthetics in this mobile writing community. Findings: Presented as two constructed narrative episodes, findings demonstrate how users both reinforced and contested oppressive discourses particularly regarding issues of gender, control and leadership. Originality/value: This study contributes to research on digital writing in communities as well as explores implications for English language arts classroom writing and leadership.
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      – SubjectFull: Power Structure
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