The toxicity of online gaming.

[RyaNtheSlayA]

I don't think I can play CS:GO anymore.

I have gotten very good at the game and my friends and I have a good time playing it. Unfortunately, other people don't seem to and I end up getting a wonderfully large number of PMs throughout the week accusing me of hacking and threatening me with all sorts of bullshit. I even got my first death-threat this evening (which I immediately reported). I normally don't let it bug me but when I get several things like that a week it just takes the joy out of applying myself to it.

Online gaming communities are horribly toxic, especially ones as competitive as CS and I don't know that I can really stand that sort of thing anymore. Being bitter at your loss is one thing but it feels like a lot of these people are actually sociopaths. Perhaps it's the barriers of the internet that let this sort of thing flow more freely; in my experience this sort of thing didn't happen very much if ever in live sports.

So I think it would be fun to have a discussion on this phenomena. It persists throughout the internet of course but, I think games are particularly notable for the amount of shit-flinging on keyboards and verbal-barfing over microphones within them. It has been talked to death elsewhere. Lets talk about it more here. What are your experiences? Why do you think this sort of community sprouts around certain games and not others? Any amusing stories?

[Sload Soap]

A shame to hear, dude. Is there no way to just turn off messages and chat? That's what I do if I can.

I've found that trolling and aggression changes from game to game. For example I got more offensive messages from losing a few online Marvel vs Capcom 2/3 matches than I did winning on Virtua Fighter 5.

Bad Company 2 on 360 had a much, much better player base than Battlefield 3. I never once got a shitty message on BC2 but B3 was awful for it. This is probably because I jumped onto BC2 a year after launch and it was mostly the dedicated few left playing, whereas I had B3 from day one and it attracted a much broader audience.

And GTA5 is just an ocean of trolls and anger, although at least that is consistent with the themes of the game.

I guess people get pissy because games are something that is supposed to be relaxing and fun, and when they start losing they stop having fun and get nasty. The internet provides the physical distance so there are no real repercussions for their hateful behavior. I'm also going to blame sexual frustration.

[winds]

I used to be an avid cs1.6 player and in my prime would classify myself as one of the better players. I would constantly get accussed of hacking and cheating, and more than a few times was actually banned for it by some inexperienced admins. The flip side is I actually took it as a compliment of my skill. If so many people were equating my skill to hacking and cheating, it means i'm pretty damned good. Of course I never received any death threats though... that's a bit much.

I did own 2 pretty huge and successful communities in cs1.6 as well. Those days were fun as when I got accussed of hacking, I would tell them to write a detailed report and submit it to the owner. When they found out I was the owner, their attitude changed from accusing to begging me for admin privileges, haha.

[TSTR]

Somebody messaged me on PSN once after I continued to beat their Cammy handily in HDR with my Ryu and a solid zoning/fireball game. His message was something to the effect of:

"Why you running away? Can't handle Cammy's pressure?"

My response: "It's not pressure if you can't get in, now is it?"

He then sent me a message like "fuk u scrub" or something and promptly left the lobby. I lol'd.

Competition x Internet Anonymity = Assholery^12.
Brush the haters off and just tell 'em: U MAD BRO?

[BoringSupreez]

I don't think I can play CS:GO anymore.

I have gotten very good at the game and my friends and I have a good time playing it. Unfortunately, other people don't seem to and I end up getting a wonderfully large number of PMs throughout the week accusing me of hacking and threatening me with all sorts of bullshit. I even got my first death-threat this evening (which I immediately reported). I normally don't let it bug me but when I get several things like that a week it just takes the joy out of applying myself to it.

Online gaming communities are horribly toxic, especially ones as competitive as CS and I don't know that I can really stand that sort of thing anymore. Being bitter at your loss is one thing but it feels like a lot of these people are actually sociopaths. Perhaps it's the barriers of the internet that let this sort of thing flow more freely; in my experience this sort of thing didn't happen very much if ever in live sports.

So I think it would be fun to have a discussion on this phenomena. It persists throughout the internet of course but, I think games are particularly notable for the amount of shit-flinging on keyboards and verbal-barfing over microphones within them. It has been talked to death elsewhere. Lets talk about it more here. What are your experiences? Why do you think this sort of community sprouts around certain games and not others? Any amusing stories?

Huh. Maybe it's because you're playing with Americans and I play with Russians and Germans, but I've never had any bad experiences with CS: GO. All that's happened to me online over here is that I get invited to groups with names I can't read.

[Ben]

This is one thing I miss about the old Seganet servers, it was such a great community. Sure you had jerks playing PSO with Gamesharks, but everyone was just so excited about online console gaming that there was very little trolling in my experience. I'm sure it wouldn't have staid that way forever, but I'm curious to know if other PSO/other online DC game fans had the same experience?

[pierrot]

Yeah, I don't remember too many bad experiences with PSO or Alien Front Online back in the day. I think that kind of online gaming was a much newer venue for console gamers at the time, and figuring out how to conduct one's self was more present in the average user's mind. I did have a couple of trades go really wrong for me when I dropped and the other person just zoned, but that's about it. I don't really remember GSers particularly obnoxious, either.

[Hazerd]

I totally agree with this topic, i played WoW since 2005 and i just cant take it anymore, people are so rude and belittle everyone.

I remember playing Starcraft and Diablo 2 back in early 2000 alot when i was 14-15, and people were never as rude or "toxic" as they are now a days.

I prefer couch multiplayer or just playing by myself opposed to the internet, you wont ever catch me playing games like CoD, LoL, or even Starcraft 2.

Sometimes i play the occasional CS:S random, but i have voice chat off and i generally dont see much typing chatter.

[Ack]

I used to play games like Battlefield 2142 with a bunch of friends under the clan tag [OP4], and we would often hang out in the food court at our university campus. One day, one of my friends came by and showed us a website that was complaining about all of the hacking in BF2142. As evidence of hacking, they put down names of a few players, starting with everyone who used the [OP4] tag, with the line "nobody can be this good". We took it as a compliment.

Several of those guys still play together and are in one of the highest-ranked Battlefield 3 teams in the USA.

[Gunstar Green]

One of the main reasons I only play online games with friends is because I can't stand the communities. I know I shouldn't let trolls or people's temper tantrums get to me but it still stresses me out. I'm not a very competitive person so when I do play online it's usually cooperative games though even then some people's competitive natures can get overbearing for me.