What actions make a community toxic?

[Bairuto]

1 hour ago, WatertownsFinest said:

 

God, you sound like such a boomer. Maybe the internet just isnt for you.

 

Plenty of people still do raids in games, what are you even saying?

 

This man wouldnt have an original thought if it knocked him upside the head.

 

I think there's a better way to argue the point and disagree without being condescending and insulting the guy, you wouldn't want people to think you're TOXIC!  ?

 

But I think everyone has pretty much covered all the bases, I definitely agree with the guy on about R6 Siege haha, don't play it very much for all the reasons, also one game I still play with a friend all the time is Rocket League, my god there are some shockers playing ranked in that game too.

Obviously there would be a lot worse around, but from my tonne of experience with that game, it's some of the worst behaviour I've encountered.

[Datboy1991]

A lack of basic respect for the community you are in is the starting point. Toxicity can manifest itself in many different ways though. Context and tone matter too. Also if the behavior is repeated vs a one time thing. Just about all of my other thoughts have already been covered by the replies so I won’t repeat it. 

[AJ_Radio]

On 7/16/2019 at 6:19 PM, Matto_lsi said:

If you want to know what true online toxicity is, play this game.  Even on casual (as opposed to ranked), people are insane.  Randoms yelling at you?  That's normal, doesn't even phase me, happens literally every match (though usually they yell at others, but nonetheless, I have to hear it).  And you could say 'just mute them'.  HA!  You know what happens when a team finds out you don't have a mic or muted them?  TK every round by a different player and then voted out of the match right before the end so you waste your time and get 0 points.  Sure, you could mute one or two people if they're not doing anything other than practicing their animal mating calls, but if you mute all, don't have a mic, or don't contribute verbally, especially in ranked, you will have a really hard time.  So I'm always mic'd, and I almost never talk, but I suffer the insufferable sounds of 12 year olds who think they're hilarious (when often it's just blatant racism being spouted the entire match).  And that's just the beginning.  Team killing is rampant, even with the most recent changes to reverse damage.  People will TK for a million and one reasons, and not a single one of them is ever valid.  Holding an angle waiting to see an enemy head, and the second you do your stupid teammate runs right in front of you?  Yep, happens all the time.  And what happens the next round?  They TK you.  And the next round?  Their friend who's also in the match TKs you.  Vote kicking in causal is beyond infuriating.  When I play solo, I often stick to casual cause ranked isn't really any fun without people you know communicating properly.  But casual is absolute nonsense most of the time.  I can't count high enough to tell you how many times my team has rushed in and all died within 20 seconds of the round starting, leaving me with a 1v5 situation, only to initiate vote kicks repeatedly the rest of the round because I'm either A) Not rushing, B.) Not single-handedly killing an entire team, C) Not doing it the way they do (which is usually 'poorly'), or D) I'm still alive and they're jealous.  Then, of course, if I can't manage the 1v5 miracle ace (which I surprisingly have a few times), they vote kick me from the match.  Is that the end of it?  Nope, of course not!  Let's talk about smurfs...  If you aren't familiar with a smurf, it's a player who is really good who creates a second, low ranked, low level account to play against bad/new players to dominate them and feel they have a large e-peen.  If you play ranked and have ever been ranked at Copper or Bronze, you're very familiar with them.  They are the worst.  What's even worse, is they often meme bomb you from alt-accounts (again, usually offensive stuff, including blatant racism) while you're trying to play, which is a constant distraction.  Sure, you can report them and Sony will almost assuredly do nothing about it, but that's an even bigger waste of your time.  Luckily I haven't run into too many of these accounts/matches recently as I tend to play with mic'd friends in ranked (which is where they live and feed off the souls of other gamers) and have upped my rank enough to mainly avoid them.  For instance, I haven't been copper since the first season I played a couple years ago.  But they are still out there.

 

If you've played R6: Siege, but haven't run into much or any of this, then you're either very low level or incredibly fortunate (and probably play with a squad of friends).  I envy you, truly.

 

I used to run into a lot of very pissed off players playing Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 on the 360. People would get mad every time you scored a headshot from them even if they spent the entire match camping and picking off players as they went.

 

Also had this on Red Dead Redemption but I actually had fun killing some of the idiots that roamed multiplayer.

 

But to be frank... the true online toxicity is on League of Legends and DOTA 2. People on there are on a whole nother level. I left after two months. Didn't take long to figure out why.

[Crispy_Oglop]

5 hours ago, Spaz said:

But to be frank... the true online toxicity is on League of Legends and DOTA 2. People on there are on a whole nother level. I left after two months. Didn't take long to figure out why.

 

I second what @Spaz said here about LoL. I was at the final stages of an interview to work for Riot in my country and part of my long running application process (the application process to Riot is notoriously long winded and convoluted) I immersed myself in LoL. It is honestly the most rancid community i've ever experienced, bar a few pockets of stable well meaning people.

 

A tonne of people don't regulate their behaviour in a faceless online environment - where they have no accountability in how they act. It's just a big void of voices and they choose to behave badly because of the lack of consequences. Game companies don't really moderate voice chat on any level like they would text chat. If you called someone a horrible word in voice chat, you'd get virtually no consequence bar getting kicked from party or blocked by the person on the receiving end. If you type that same word and get reported, you get banned or warned etc. E.g - World of Warcraft - there is nothing in place to regulate voice chat, but they have teams of Game Masters pouring over chat logs and an entire penalty system built up around it.

 

If we took all this back to a pre-internet / pre-social media age - the assholes would be sporadic and kept in check by their self contained communities. They would be the people who stand in the street shouting at passers by, easy to ignore and less likely to be violent or aggressive, the extent of their ability would be to send an easy to ignore angrily worded hand written letter. But now we have the internet and social media, they are somehow able to co-ordinate over vast distances and contribute negatively to communities.

Edited August 6, 2019 by Crispy_Oglop

[SelectiveGamer]

When people bitch about something that doesn't matter in any way whatsoever.

[Lorajet]

IDK, this site is actually quite pleasant compared to the communities for some of the games out there.  You talk about a lot of people with anger issues.....

[Vadrael]

"toxic" is a SJW term, so i will not use it since it doesnt exist in gaming communities, what exists are A******s and snowflakes. There will always be people who just want to runi fun for others, but the issue are people who get offended for nothing and scream wolf for every disagreement the encounter. If you play a game you know that a certain type of people creating the community, just know the audience and deal with if if you want to be part of that community or walk away. People nowdays take everything personal and it should be clear that the Internet is no personal space.

 

1 douche-bag creates 100 snowflakes, and we are called all Toxic for 101 stupid people who just want to play silently and have fun and meet new peopel who share our views and interest.

[SolidJD]

Rocket League PS4 community is 99% toxic - Every game you get some racist or homophobic attack either from opposite team or your own teammates.

 

It is disgusting. 

[Seraphim_Rez]

The word "toxic" is not an "SJW" term. That word's been used to describe unfriendly gaming communities long before "SJW" became the insult of choice for snowflakes on Twitter who can't be reasoned with and want to shut down discussion.

It's become so bad because no one really put the foot down on a large scale. When someone said something inappropriate most people just remain silent and do nothing. Sure you can report them, but that doesn't stop people from making another account and doing the same stuff.

And when people did complain about such disgusting behavior, you'd hear stuff like, "that's just the way it is", or "grow a thick skin", or "why do you talk to them."

As a female player, I heard all the stories. I never played online until I got into trophy hunting and here is where I've made great friends. People I love to play with who's first instinct isn't to tell me to go back to the kitchen or asking for nude pics. As one fellow booster described it (I'm sorry I can't remember who you are): "When women go online, one of two things are going to happen. Guys will either tell her she shouldn't play games then lose their shit when she's better than them or they'll try to fuck her through the TV, if not both."

I try to treat people online how I would treat them in person. I don't throw insults or slurs.

 

People can be influenced by their peers. If you have friends that are toxic, tell them so. Call them out and say it's not okay. If they keep doing it, then cut them off. When they want to play with you, say no or immediately kick them. Hopefully they'll realize why their best friends don't want to play with them no more.

 

As for what makes a community toxic? People thinking toxic behavior is normal and not stomping it out before it festers through everything. I think too is kids growing up around this behavior and continuing it into adulthood which then influences the next generation of gamers.

 

I'm currently a mod for a Discord server for a Youtuber and while some things new people post can be funny, if it does not contribute to a pleasant environment such as perpetuating a negative stereotype or involving politics because that never goes well, it get deleted. We immediately warn people if they are being elitist or putting others down. And some people that started out being abrasive when they first joined, after a warning or two, they changed their behavior and became more pleasant to be around.

 

You're always going to have people that don't give a shit, but I think over time that can be changed.

[I need more BIOSHOCK]

Dead by daylight is ridiculous for toxic idiots. 

 

It doesn't matter if you play as killer or survivor, you will get hate mail in some form.  Alot more will be sent your way if you are the killer, I'm really enjoying the ghostface killer and have had around 10/15 games in a row that I killed/hooked all 4 with the set up I have.  Apparently I'm a camper, tunneler, shit killer even though I run all over the entire map and anticipate the route they are going to take 9 times out of 10.

 

Playing as survivor yesterday the hate mail I got from another survivor giving me down the banks, OMG YOU ARE TERRIBLE!  LIKE REALLY!!  If you say so lol.

 

Lets face it, when it comes to online gaming, they are always going to be there and I have now reached a point that I've actually come to enjoy the hate mail as much as the game itself if not even more in some ways ?

[Elvick_]

On 12/10/2018 at 3:57 PM, Wavergray said:

Is being loud and/or salty and/or childish on the mic "toxic"?
Is sending salty/childish messages after the fact "toxic"?

Is saying racist/sexist/xxxxphobic things on mic to trigger/intentionally upset people "toxic"?

Is playing the game the wrong way/a different way "toxic"?

Is "gatekeeping"/withholding info about the game "toxic"?

First two, eh... depends what they say while they do it I suppose. But generally no.

Yes. Trolling in general is toxic, at least as far as strangers go. I think some natural trolling-banter is normal between online friends, and that is often miscontstrued as "toxic". Especially when social media blew up and more 'normies' [for lack of a better word] flooded the internet and failed to understand the idgaf culture of the online world.

 

Only if it somehow ruins the game for everyone else, like hacking an online game so you can't be killed or using a lag switch or something. Otherwise, who cares? If it doesn't affect you, keep it moving.

Not sure what that means by "withholding info", but I find there's tons of false flags of what "gatekeeping" even is. People don't like liars, so if you get called on bullshitting I don't see that as gatekeeping. It's calling out someone who is full of shit. Don't pretend to be something you aren't, NOBODY likes that. In any type of fandom. "I'm the biggest fan of Legend of Zelda. Zelda is the best, HE is my favorite character!" That shit always gets called out, I don't feel that's "gatekeeping". Maybe it is, but it's keeping out fake ass people and I don't see that as "toxic". Fake people suck. Just be honest. I never pretend to be a huge comic book reader when I talk about Marvel or DC characters and nobody cares, because I don't pretend to know what I'm talking about.

For the first three, I think whining about it is pointless. Since we already have tools to control our online experience. Mute/block the dumb assery and move on with life. They just want the attention more often than not, so don't give it to them. They'll 90% of the time leave it at that and try to find someone who will be bothered enough to get a reaction. I bet that troll who got Oprah to go on her show and talk about "over 9000 penises" is still laughing to this day.

On 12/13/2018 at 6:38 AM, thepeaguy said:

I would just either block, ignore or delete comments towards you that are toxic. 

I don't care if it's "cowardly". Unless I'm getting paid for dealing with shitheads, I'm not obligated to be targeted for free.

We're never going to meet each other, so what's the point in getting worked up over it? Also, don't expect me to take your comments as banter when I don't know you well. We're not friends, so don't expect to get any leeway.

I always say that the internet is like a party that's open to everybody. You let people come in, but as soon as somebody starts pissing in the corner you're allowed to kick them out. You aren't obligated to continue to deal with that person after they showed they don't deserve it. Block/mute away. As long as you do it manually and not through some lame blockbot. You should have a reason you actually mute someone, not just... "well, they follow someone who followed a person who followed a person I don't like!" That's just dumb. lol

Edited August 12, 2019 by Elvick_