There are plenty of multiplayer games I adore. However, it seems like every community has these "brain dead", patronizing, or out right toxic elements that are just nasty. I'd rather debate politics than make suggestions in some gaming communities because the responses are just so ... annoying.
As an example, I once dared to suggest that a game developer implement a mode to prevent crouched status from rendering on death cams so that players that are bothered by t-bagging could avoid it (after a match where a friend rage quit because someone just kept head shotting him -- possibly with cheats -- and then t-bagging). This post got tons of hate, and like -50 upvotes on reddit because of course someone should be forced to watch someone t-bag them.
Another example on a official game forum... I made a forum post suggesting Bungie use Mastodon (or really just something else being my intent)... The response I got was some positivity but mostly just "lol nobody uses that sweetie" and other patronizing comments.
Meanwhile studios themselves often seem to be filled with developers that understand this stuff is a problem, and the lack of sportsmanship (or generally civilized attitudes) does push away players. It just doesn't make sense to me that no studio is saying "get lost" to these elements or implementing anti-toxicity features. I just want to play games with nice normal people, is that really so much to ask?
I hate to say it but many people play multiplayer games because it gives them the ability to be complete cunts to others with zero possibility of any real repercussions.
That is the draw.
Behaviours that would get you thrown out of a public space or banned from a group d&d session or punched in the face can be repeated again and again in online gaming.
The same people that like to troll spaces like this are the same people who only play multiplayer games to grief others.
It is an often repeated quote, to the point it has become trite but it is true:
Some people just want to watch the world burn
That's... depressing but I could easily see it...
Still, I find it hard to believe that's the majority. I remember days when it wasn't as bad as it's gotten. Like is it so many people that it would truly hurt profits that much vs what it could bring (there was a point where my friends and I almost entirely stopped playing online games because these people were just making it an annoying experience instead of a fun one; I can't imagine I'm in the only group of friends that experienced that/had folks that had to take a break).
I'd really love it if someone who works for one of these bigger studios (even anonymously) said why seemingly no time is spent on really trying to just expel toxic players like would be done in real life (in the various examples you gave).
Edit: My true pipedream would be that there's some next level person (senior dev, staff software engineer, product owner) at one of these studios lurking that goes "you know what you have a point" and actually does something about this ๐
Bro, gaming communities are a reflection of internet communities at large.
The only common thing gaming strangers have is the game. The rest? They could be just about anybody you see on the streets. And the streets ia filled with assholes.
Yes, but the type of game and the interactions in it highly influence the way players act with each other. Look at the way Stardew Valley players and communities are, for example, and then look at the League of Legends one. Incredibly different, simply because the games focus on different things. Competition brings out the worst in people, especially online, and with young (and sometimes old) players who don't have the tools to cope with frustration, toxicity snowballs and turns everybody sour.