[Saka]

@DracoTarot My personal experience about skill levels is showing something different. Genuinely the most experienced and best players typically are typically more lenient and friendlier towards less experienced players than those who are somewhere in the middle ranks. The most toxicity I've seen or witnessed came from those who were just barely pulling their own weight or doing just average and it would be aimed generally at people below them, even if the difference wasn't huge. Of course, there have been outliers in each group too. I've met many unskilled players, who refused to accept that the fault was with them, and would blame absolutely everyone but themselves.

[DoctorEldritch]

@GoLLuM13 I was just thinking that it may have to do something, to a degree, with the level of adrenaline. FPS is worse in that regard, but I wonder if strategy games like HoMM have this problem to that degree. Then again, they are not as massively played.

But @DracoTarot brings up an interesting point with a correlation between experience and toxic behavior. From what @GoLLuM13 said about winning I expected it to be in reverse and players who have more skill and win more may not be as toxic, but it seems not to work this way. But the suggestion that it is contagious seems to follow the broken windows theory, applied to virtual space, which is interesting. @DracoTarot, do you have references for this research by any chance?

[DoctorEldritch]

@Saka Ah, your experience is an example of what I expected to happen in the experience-toxicity correlation. Goes to show the problem is deep and needs more research indeed...

[DracoTarot]

@Saka I think the study they've done to determine who is toxic and who does depend on a specific region and this study also focused more on clans. According to the study, DOTA and League of Legends have the most toxic players in the world and most of them are skilled players. It’s a playground flooded with a lot of amped-up players, and it isn’t very often you’ll be greeted with praise and polite conversation. Japan for instance seems to be one of the countries that have the most unprofessional gamers.

I do agree with you there are many unskilled players who are just as toxic and who are bad looser. I don't blame a skilled player for losing it a bit and taking on a player who acts unprofessional.

To me, it seems to be a 50/50 scenario. Still, a game is a game and nothing else. There's no need for anyone to throw tantrums and be nasty or go as far as to break their own equipment.

The worst is to insult someone for being unskilled and taking on their character. It's usually when I delete a game and lose interest in playing.

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@DoctorEldritch I found an interesting article about the 5 most toxic gaming communities. Here's a link https://www.gaming.net/5-most-toxic-...ities-of-2022/

[Saka]

RTS is a genre that has a big toxicity problem too. In 1v1 games the only person responsible for losing a game is the player themselves... and some people don't take that well at all.

My SO keeps getting called names every other game when he's playing ranked and his block list must be really long after all the years.

On the other hand, at the very top of the ladder there are more people who can act with good sportsmanship. Losing games is after all part of the experience in Starcraft II, it's impossible to win every game. Each defeat can potentially be a learning experience too.
@DracoTarot Ah, it's League of Legends, that explains a lot. They really do have fame for toxicity. I can't tell much about that one, because that same fame makes me not even want to try that game at all.

[DracoTarot]

@Saka For the past few months I'm unable to have a decent match on Call of Duty. We do not have many active servers here in SA and I have to try and find a spot on an international server.

The longest I've waited for a spot was 4 hours and not even 2 minutes passed and I was kicked from the match. The person who kicked me said my kill ratio is pathetic and I'm going to waste his time. Yea I know I'm still a Noob at playing but isn't there some room for improvement. Apparently not! The worst part is Call of Duty allocates according to gameplay and rank so which means the fellow who kicked me sucks as much as I do.

I think some players do not like when you may outrank them in a match and may get rid of players who seem to be potential threats.

[DoctorEldritch]

@Saka I have some good news to share on this front today! Lenovo launched a new campaign in Denmark to help change gaming culture and reduce harassment of female gamers. So we're taking steps towards a better future. Though I'll need to look into whether they have a focus on some specific games, as you and @DracoTarot said, LoL is infamous. But this made me think, @Saka, when you say "top of the ladder", do you mean something like top 5%? I am just thinking if maybe there is a correlation between experience and/or recognition and behavior that could be statistically supported...
@DracoTarot I was surprised to read about Japanese gamers, I was under the impression that politeness was deep-rooted in their culture. That was unexpected, do you know any research links for that, I'd be interested to see the pool it's taken from.

And how often did you lose interest and delete a game?

[DracoTarot]

@DoctorEldritch I'll try to find the same article showing the research but in the meantime here's a link about Japanese Players and League of Legends.

https://www.reddit.com/r/leagueofleg...on_riot_needs/

[DoctorEldritch]

@DracoTarot It was illuminating, but as a case study, based on the experiences of one individual, unpleasant though it is. I do not mean to say that the problem is, therefore, of a smaller scale, of course, it is not, but it would be interesting to see a more generic statistic as well. And some comments disagree with the author, as well.

[Saka]

@DoctorEldritch It's good to know Lenovo is making effort to improve the situation. Awareness is the first step to changing things for the better.

(Also would be really cool to see a campaign regarding players with disabilities. People who play with screen readers, missing fingers or limbs altogether, people with colour blindness... or deaf like me. I know someone who has both a nonfunctional hand and severe colour blindness and he's an amazing player. One of the best players I've met)

Regarding the ladder, I meant the top 0.5%. I know, it's getting into a bubble. I once also belonged to a bubble like that in World of Warcraft and most of the toxic things I have received/witnessed came from people who barely knew what they were doing in the game when compared to players of my rank. I used to be pretty hardcore and on top of that I had extremely good logs on pretty much every fight, despite not actively chasing the numbers. Just doing my job. But I don't want to make this sound like I was bragging. Anyway, about harassment... I've been on the receiving end from people who envied my performance. I still remember 10 years later how a guy was complaining that a girl was beating him in numbers, talking the whole evening about my skill rotation etc (I was not doing anything really fancy, imho it boiled down to faster response time and better short cooldown management). Well, even after the conversation I still beat that guy and another one who played the same class despite inferior gear. 😅
@DracoTarot That really sucks, 4 hours of waiting only to be kicked for no reason?