The Association of Intensity of Game Playing: Mobile Legends Bang-Bang and the Intensity of YouTube Gaming Access Towards Toxic Behavior in Game Among Students

Abstract

Indonesia was recorded as the country with the highest average daily internet usage in 2022, reaching 5.7 hours per day. Most of this time was spent playing mobile games, especially Mobile Legends: Bang-Bang. There were 41.73% of players who spent 3–5 hours per day playing Mobile Legends, while 17.29% played more than 5 hours every day. Meanwhile, YouTube Gaming experienced significant growth, with over 100 billion hours of gaming content watched in 2020 alone, 10 billion of which were live streams. This study explores the relationship between the intensity of playing Mobile Legends: Bang-Bang and the level of engagement with YouTube Gaming on toxic behavior in games among students.

A quantitative method with a survey design was applied in a positivistic paradigm, aiming to explain the relationship between variables. The study involved 118 college student respondents over the age of 17 who regularly play Mobile Legends and consume gaming content on YouTube. Data was collected through a structured Likert scale questionnaire and analyzed using multiple linear regression via SPSS. The results indicate that both the frequency of playing Mobile Legends and the habit of accessing YouTube Gaming have a statistically significant effect on toxic behavior in digital games. The regression model showed a significance level of 0.00 (< 0.05) for both variables and an R² value of 0.666, indicating that these factors explain 66.6% of the variation in behavior, while the remaining 33.4% may be attributed to other factors such as peer influence, parenting style, or mental health. This study provides useful insights into how digital engagement patterns are related to behavioral tendencies among students.