The Most Toxic Gaming Communities: A Look at the Dark Side of Online Gaming
The Most Toxic Gaming Communities: A Look at the Dark Side of Online Gaming
Blog Article
Online gaming is a universe that provides unlimited joy, competition, and social interaction. It unites countless people from different corners of the world to create a common bond among these people based on their common interest in games. Still, like any other big community, someone in this gaming community can pyruvate it, giving negative experiences to the players. This time, we will look at a few of the most toxic gaming communities, what makes them go this route, and how we can work together to change the story.
What Makes a Gaming Community Toxic?
Before we move on to the exact communities, the main thing we have to know is what makes a gaming community toxic. Toxicity in gaming communities comes from proper and unsolicited behavior, such as:
Harassment: Verbal abuse, slurs, and offensive comments directed at others.
Griefing: Purposeful causing of frustration by other players to one another.
Exclusion: Picking on players who are not at the same level of skill, are of the wrong gender, or may not have the same cultural background.
Cheating: Gaining an unfair advantage by using exploits, hacks, and cheats.
Their actions are able to build a negative vibe that is materialized by players who are feeling unappreciated, unmotivated, and, in certain cases, unsafe.
1. League of Legends
With no doubt, League of Legends, which is one of the representatives of a toxic gaming community, has been a very good common experience for this type of games. The result of high passion for the game, the fast pace of the matches, and the capability of anonymous people are main reasons why the bad atmosphere prevails in one gaming session. By introducing penalties for toxic behavior and the Honor system to reward positive conduct, Riot Games has made great advances to enhance the game's community. Nevertheless, it still is a battleground for lots of players who stumble upon verbal abuse and negative behavior.
2. Call of Duty: Warzone
One of the other games that are highly competitive and has a culture that is hateful is Call of Duty: Warzone. A game about battle royales and free to play, players are drawn from a plethora of backgrounds and some of them become toxic in order to be the best. The community can sometimes briefly reflect griefing even if Activision have tried to make the gamelike to the gym by banning players who were toxic. However at this time, the community can still see a sad look in the lobbies.
3. Fortnite
It may be the most played game in the world, but Fortnite is not without its rotten apples, nor its toxic players. Gaming is no longer the pastime for old people only, as it has become a form of entertainment for kids, this has led to an increase in snitching, and teasing from one to another. Epic Games has embraced and takes the features necessary to create spaces for all, by adding a system of reporting for toxic behavior cases. All the same, its player pool is simply too big, and it's extremely difficult for them to not be sometimes unkind to others. Combining the competitive nature of the game and its addictive tendencies results in the creation of an environment that is very conducive to toxicity.
4. Dota 2
Dota 2 and LoL are two of the most toxic gaming communities in the world. Great popularity and the number of players allow a relatively small population of harassers to affect others. Newbies can be the victim of sudden aggression from random teams, which sometimes get quite rude and personal especially in case the game doesn’t go as planned. The game's learning curve is steep and even newbies will need some time to get to understand the dynamics of the game. Valve's report has sought to make things better but the community is still vulnerable to being poisoned with hate.
5. Overwatch
Overwatch, at first, attracted players due to the diverse game landscape and a positive atmosphere. However, it has lately become the source of its own problems with bad behavior (toxicity). Clearly, the game's competitive mode serves as the ground or the scenery that makes others feel suppressed, especially to those that the players pinpoint, who make mistakes or do not perform well. One of the measures Blizzard has taken to address this is to implement the system of endorsements that rewards positive behavior, and treat misbehavior with a penalty. The competitive nature and high-stakes atmosphere, have been the bearers of this trend, which is making it hard to live through a positive community.
6. Minecraft
Despite the fact that millions of people are fond of Minecraft, some players are still toxic. Despite the fact that gamers can participate in online gaming servers, they often face harassment, griefing, and overuse of the servers. This is especially true in the public servers, which players accessed through multiplayer modes. On the one hand, the anonymity of the internet, together with the game's seemingly endless world-building and creative options, offers a window to some players to sabotage their counterparts. Although Bitsky is one of those platforms that is not yet perfect, it still does a good job of ensuring safer and more enjoyable playing environments. Bitsky provides players with good opportunities to join safe gaming communities, where they have fun, learn, and communicate, away from the damaging influences found in the majority of the other platforms.
7. World of Warcraft
World of Warcraft (WoW) has been a well-known game in the field of online gaming for a long period. This online game attracts a large and loyal community of players. On the other hand, the game unfortunately also homes some moody players. The countless hours gamers spent trying to level up along with the tough competition for the available raid slots and loot are the perfect ingredients for negative behavior. It is not difficult to discern elitism over limited content, namely rare mounts, as well as bullying in the forum of the game. Toxicity of players is more likely to occur in high-end raiding or dungeon content.
8. Star Gems: A Cautionary Tale
Despite the fact that certain gaming communities can be quite toxic, not all of them are so negative. For example, Star Gems has been able to build a reputation as a calm and friendly place for gamers. The community works together for the promotion of the setting of positive interactions notwithstanding intentional or unintentional spamming and trolling. However, Star Gems demonstrates to us that even the most genuine games should not relax in the vigilance against toxicity. For such video games, the communities are the mechanisms through which the players are able to remain fully entertained and the latter in turn are expected to keep everything in a clean and safe state.
How Can We Combat Toxicity?
The collective duty of developers and players is to fight off toxicity in gaming. Developing teams should continue to enforce better reporting systems, moderation tools, and penalties to prevent toxic behavior. Furthermore, players should work together in order to create a happy gaming environment through being respectful, supportive, and at the same time aware of their actions.
Here are some tips for dealing with toxicity:
Report Toxic Players: Use in-game reporting tools to notify developers of any unlawful behavior.
Mute and Block: Do not be afraid to mute or block out toxic players if you want to preserve your own good experience.
Encourage Positivity: Show an example of what you expect the others to do, like working together and being friendly, by being the first one to be nice and kind in your community.
Find Safe Communities: Sites like Bitsky have specific areas where players can meet others who share their ideas and interests.