Toxic players in team-based multiplayer games

[Vladimir Logos]

I play DOTA 2 often and have also played Smite before. Those games are team-based (5vs5) and you can rarely win alone (unless the enemy team feeds you, the carry, too much). If I were to pick a single major issue these two games have that would be the toxicity of players. It is sometimes utterly unbearable: your teammate can become aggressive since the very first minute if he does not like the starting items you picked - this leads to greater annoyance later if you make some mistakes (even small ones lead to unnecessary conflicts). At times, 2-3 people will molest the noob in the team and he will rage quit intentionally, punishing the ress with a usually certain loss.

Now, there would be no problem with this if it were a rare occurrence, but unfortunately toxic behavior happens more often than not (at least that was my experiece)... it can really ruin your day sometimes.

Have you guys experienced or observed unnecessary toxicity during multiplayer games? What do you think are the causes of such behavior and how would you handle such cases?

 

[petesede]

I play DOTA 2 often and have also played Smite before. Those games are team-based (5vs5) and you can rarely win alone (unless the enemy team feeds you, the carry, too much). If I were to pick a single major issue these two games have that would be the toxicity of players. It is sometimes utterly unbearable: your teammate can become aggressive since the very first minute if he does not like the starting items you picked - this leads to greater annoyance later if you make some mistakes (even small ones lead to unnecessary conflicts). At times, 2-3 people will molest the noob in the team and he will rage quit intentionally, punishing the ress with a usually certain loss.

Now, there would be no problem with this if it were a rare occurrence, but unfortunately toxic behavior happens more often than not (at least that was my experiece)... it can really ruin your day sometimes.

Have you guys experienced or observed unnecessary toxicity during multiplayer games? What do you think are the causes of such behavior and how would you handle such cases?

This is true in any anonymous team-matching pvp game. If you think those two games are bad, you should never try LOL. In LOL, it is almost like a second game for most players to be mean or trolls. But really, it is an extension of the overall internet, try going into any political forum and having a nice conversation.

 

[Nobody]

It sucks that we take toxicity as part of the game. I play League of Legends, and I feel like I spend a lot of my time in that game breaking up fights between teammates in chat. League can be a lot of fun, but being forced to babysit four random people while you lose a completely winnable game because of your team fighting with each other really feels bad.

I stopped tilting from chat a long time ago, so mostly I just try to help stop other people from it. Sure, our team might have one person flaming in chat, but if I can keep the rest of my team from flaming back we have a much better chance of making a comeback in the game, or at least having a slightly less painful loss.

 

[petesede]

It sucks that we take toxicity as part of the game. I play League of Legends, and I feel like I spend a lot of my time in that game breaking up fights between teammates in chat. League can be a lot of fun, but being forced to babysit four random people while you lose a completely winnable game because of your team fighting with each other really feels bad.

I stopped tilting from chat a long time ago, so mostly I just try to help stop other people from it. Sure, our team might have one person flaming in chat, but if I can keep the rest of my team from flaming back we have a much better chance of making a comeback in the game, or at least having a slightly less painful loss.

Heroes of the Storm did a few things to minimize it, but it is always going to be there. Blizzard basically said ´let us take away all metrics that show one of your teammates is lagging´ so there thinking was if there was no ´number´ that players could point to, it would keep people from trolling the weakest teammember... but in the end, it doesn´t matter.. There is a large portion of players for MOBAs who enjoy trolling as much as they prefer playing the actual game.

 

[WhoseKiwi]

The only games I have consistent interaction with toxic players as a predominantly console gamer are Fifa, GTA Online, and Madden but that's mainly 1v1. There's always some form of trolling but these games give all the power to the griefers, doesn't seem so bad compared to what you guys have to put up with though.

 

[Demon_Skeith]

This is why I'm glad for a mute feature.

 

[Vladimir Logos]

But really, it is an extension of the overall internet, try going into any political forum and having a nice conversation.

Haha true. It's not just politics, even when you debate about science people can act like complete douchebags. Those topics are serious and important, whereas gaming ought to be somewhat more relaxed. But, I guess people vent their frustrations in games since games are their favorite escape route from real life problems.