Why is most of the gaming community so toxic?

[jackmake]

Been playing video games almost my entire life. I have always found it weird that people (mostly teammates) always "punish" your mistakes by bashing/trolling/insulting you. That's kind of a downer for many people and I have a friend that has irl self confidence issues literally because of this. The worst thing is - even though I do my best to be stable and to go apeshit on someone 90% of the time - I sometimes lose my temper too and when I realize what I did I apologize immediately and try to make that person feel better. Unless it is someone angrier than me and then the game turns into a shitfest.

[Rustykeyboard]

Been playing video games almost my entire life. I have always found it weird that people (mostly teammates) always "punish" your mistakes by bashing/trolling/insulting you. That's kind of a downer for many people and I have a friend that has irl self confidence issues literally because of this. The worst thing is - even though I do my best to be stable and to go apeshit on someone 90% of the time - I sometimes lose my temper too and when I realize what I did I apologize immediately and try to make that person feel better. Unless it is someone angrier than me and then the game turns into a shitfest.

try olds school runescape

[XDurionX]

Because some people think games are important.

[jackmake]

try olds school runescape

Will I get away from all the toxicity?

Because some people think games are important.

Yeah, that sounds about right. I've also seen a lot of people being distant, nervous and angry irl because of a game.

[Justpassing]

Because some people think games are important.

They are important! I am important!

[jackmake]

[QUOTE=Justpassing;50347311]They are important! I am important!

Dafuq did I just watch?

Ok, another thing. I am back into a game that I haven't played for a long while - and I took the time to learn a lot about the changes, nerfs/buffs and stuff. I have a great post in my mind that I want to share with the community and it might help out newbies but also old players that still can't find their "place". I have been writing it, editing it and basically spending the last 2 hours of my own free time just because of the idea that there is a chance that I might be of help to somebody. And you know what? The good thing is - I know I am not the only one. There are a lot of cool, awesome and good people out there.

[Kathandira]

Been playing video games almost my entire life. I have always found it weird that people (mostly teammates) always "punish" your mistakes by bashing/trolling/insulting you. That's kind of a downer for many people and I have a friend that has irl self confidence issues literally because of this. The worst thing is - even though I do my best to be stable and to go apeshit on someone 90% of the time - I sometimes lose my temper too and when I realize what I did I apologize immediately and try to make that person feel better. Unless it is someone angrier than me and then the game turns into a shitfest.

Most the toxicity is seen in games where people feel a need to compete with each other. This doesn't necessarily have to be with games which are designed to be competitive though. You can find toxic behavior on forums of single player games from people who take the game very seriously.

Competition is a double edged sword. It promotes innovation, but it also breeds toxicity. The need to be better than others can result in developing an ego or a misplaced sense of pride. Especially in younger folks who haven't gotten their emotions in check yet.

[barackopala]

maybe tell your friend to mute/ignore those ppl? i mean ffs dude its a game, no one is forcing you to play it either way, ptsd from videogames l u l

or maybe just find another game to play with a friendlier community?

[Puupi]

People+internet.

[Cosmic Janitor]

Why is most of this species toxic?

Other possible titles: Why is water wet?

[lokithor]

No accountability.

Shitty parenting.

People always thinking they are in the right.

[kamikaze148]

Anonymity.

That's pretty much it. Hiding being a keyboard/your character/avatar whatever in game representation of yourself, means that you are afforded the anonymity of not being a civilized human being in a sense. Team mate does something that to you annoys you, you can easily get away with screeching that they are trash, or a noob etc because there are literally zero real world consequences of doing so, and its alot easier to instinctively be a dick, than to take the time to explain something to better the experience.

There is also no incentive in most games to be polite and courteous, the success of your group might depend on an open and friendly dialogue, raiding in WoW for example hinges on this, but i mean anyone who ever played CS:GO can tell you that as soon as the group starts trash talking each other, all strategy goes out the window.

Sure you might get reported to the in game reporting system of whatever game it is for toxicity, and receive a stand down/ban if the behavior is repeated, but there are work arounds for this in getting another account for example. Just the way it is really, no realistic consequences.

But yeah on the whole i personally have found that 9 times out of 10, the experience is generally positive, but yeah its usually the negative experiences that stand out in our minds.

[Oakshana]

Been playing video games almost my entire life. I have always found it weird that people (mostly teammates) always "punish" your mistakes by bashing/trolling/insulting you. That's kind of a downer for many people and I have a friend that has irl self confidence issues literally because of this. The worst thing is - even though I do my best to be stable and to go apeshit on someone 90% of the time - I sometimes lose my temper too and when I realize what I did I apologize immediately and try to make that person feel better. Unless it is someone angrier than me and then the game turns into a shitfest.

Someone said it above me: Anonymity.

Or, better put by Gabe of Penny-Arcade:



I think it has become the nature of man.

[Puupi]

I loved internet when it wasn't mainstream, like late 90's and early 2000's. People were nice to each other, all forum discussion was polite and informative etc.

It's awesome to sometimes come up with old forum discussions on random sites when you are googling stuff... and to compare how people acted then vs now.

[Halyon]

Self-importance and by extension elitism.

[glowpipe]

Its just human nature. And when they can be anonymous, then this is just bound to happen. I think the world we are in now, how shit is going with so many stupid things going on. Anti-vaxxers, flat-earthers, Militant vegans, psycho feminists. List go. People are just tired of everything and start lash out over the videogames they play, Just like people do in other places. Message boards, social media etc.

And then ofcourse we have the streamers getting their band of goons spreading shit in games. People on a crusade to blacken the names of game developers and games. If you do not like a game today or a game developer. Its not enough to just avoid them. You need to go all out these days and go on a crusade. Even better if you can play the game and be a dick to the people who do like the game.

[dope_danny]

No accountability, lack of separating yourself from your ingame characters and as gaming got mainstream and much larger audience you got more people with issues and the psycho asshole stands out more.

[Enkrypt]

Because there's no threat of getting punched in the face. I can probably safely assume the most toxic people are the ones that would get destroyed if they said half the shit with actual accountability.

Also, lack of respect.

[Hablelol]

Been playing video games almost my entire life. I have always found it weird that people (mostly teammates) always "punish" your mistakes by bashing/trolling/insulting you. That's kind of a downer for many people and I have a friend that has irl self confidence issues literally because of this. The worst thing is - even though I do my best to be stable and to go apeshit on someone 90% of the time - I sometimes lose my temper too and when I realize what I did I apologize immediately and try to make that person feel better. Unless it is someone angrier than me and then the game turns into a shitfest.

Because most of the time the people who act that way are the ones who're shit on in real life/insecure/miserable and can never speak up for themselves in real life, so when they finally get the chance they become toxic and awful instead of helpful.

I'm incredibly toxic but only to other toxic people, I find no need to be rude to people just trying to play the game (even if they're bad), I have no issue kicking people but I don't need to tell them their father should have shot them on the sheets before I kick them.

[MrPaladinGuy]

Games became trendy and attracted shitty people, most notably people trying to be uploaders/streamers.