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Toxicity in Gaming
A toxic act in gaming is one by which a player ruins the gaming experience of another without regard for the other gamer’s experience.
Video games are what many people look forward to every day. They provide communities that bring people together and platforms to have fun and be competitive on. On top of that, they provide a safe haven for anyone looking to escape the harsh reality of the world for a while. At least they used to... Toxicity is ruining the only joy that some people have left in their lives. Without any regard for others, toxic gamers are tearing everyone else's experiences apart with their ignorance and hostility. Some gamers are putting their favorite games down for good because they get cyberbullied every time they log on. Others can't play competitively without raging teammates screaming at them. Something needs to change, so what can you do to help?
The power of Muting
Toxicity feeds off of other toxicity. It preys on retaliation, so, while it may be difficult and make you feel helpless, muting or not responding to toxic players is typically the best way to prevent the spread of toxicity. And now that you know, you can feel better about yourself whenever you have the strength to restrain yourself! Muting a toxic player instantly stops toxicity in its tracks. While it may feel good to fire back at a toxic player in retaliation, you're stooping down to their level and only making YOURSELF more toxic in the end. Picture the following two scenarios:
Luckily, because our site's search feature allows you to lookup your teammates before your game begins, you can prevent these toxic scenarios altogether by searching for your teammates ahead of time!
Toxic Types
***Notice that being unintentionally annoying or bad at a game is not considered toxic...
However, we recognize that in some situations, like competitive matches or ranked games with friends where communication is essential, muting isn't an option. Our advice for these scenarios is, for one, to report the player on Toxic IRL. Even if the toxic player is your teammate or friend, you'll inform others about them, show the player themself that it isn't cool, and feel better about yourself. The second—and absolutely most effective—strategy for dealing with toxicity within your team is to get new teammates if at all possible. If you can help it, eliminating negativity from your gaming life will allow you to get back to the point of playing games in the first place: fun. And last but not least, if your teammate is toxic, you can't mute them, and you can't leave them, you're left with the only option which is just putting up with it. In this situation, just remember that you are the better person for not succumbing to the toxicity. Just stay focused, keep playing your game, and keep spreading the positivity instead. Never forget that you should always be the only one allowed to control how you feel.
When is it okay to talk back?
As we mention above, in most cases, talking back usually only makes toxicity worse. But, once in a while, there are things that you can say to someone who is being toxic that might help. First of all, you have to actually want to help them. A lot of the time, toxic people are ignorant or simply don't understand how their words are affecting others. If you are retaliating by throwing toxicity back at them, you've become a part of the problem already. Even if you are joking, you are giving the toxic player more opportunities to spread their hate, and a small part of it spreads into you too. There are no winners in a toxic vs toxic battle. No, if you are going to say something back to a toxic person, you have to either be truly trying to help them with their bad habits or informing them of how damaging the thing they said is. The second you don't think you can do either of those things, muting is the only productive option. To be as effective as possible, be strong, patient, resilient, and factual. Don't be condescending —things like "I feel bad for you," or "take it easy there buddy," though they might make you feel better temporarily, lack compassion and rarely help to solve the real problem.
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