Cybercrime and which video games? a critical systematic review

Multiplayer video games are part of everyday activities posing the question of which of these digital settings cluster crime or other deviant behaviour. A superficial analysis of the literature suggests that the evidence on cybercrime inside video games is scarce and a considerable number of digital settings have not been explored. This systematic review critically addresses the body of work that has studied the connection between video games and crime from the perspective of Environmental criminology and the Criminology of Place. The review is guided by two hypothesis on crime clustering on cyberspace: (1) the literature on video games and crime has focus in a small number of titles (2) the literature on video games and crime is more prone to understand video games as factor that can trigger victimization or perpetration in offline spaces rather than a setting in which cybercrime can manifest. Through the analysis of 41 studies published between 2014 and 2024 following the PRISMA model, our results show that there is indeed and overrepresentation of some cyber places within research around video games and crime. Likewise, the literature most frequently studies the effects of video games on perpetration or victimisation. The implications of the study are discussed within the context of the debate on the risks associated with playing video games and the limitations of our understanding of which video games are criminogenic virtual environments.