Is Gamer Culture Too Toxic?

[burningdoom]

http://theknow.roosterteeth.com/episode/game-news-2017-gamers-don-t-deserve-transparency

Is gamer culture too toxic?

I think the answer is twofold here:

First of all, yes, we are. Those of us that are active in the online gaming community have seen this time and time again. Gamers getting pissed at each because one likes PlayStation and the other is a Nintendo fan. Or because they feel entitled to a game that has changes made to it they don't like. And they just go off.

HOWEVER: I feel this is more due to the internet and social networks in general. All hobbies (also a BIG movie collector and comic collector) have had an influx of this kind of attitude as social media has proliferated. So I don't think it's just gaming that has this problem. But I do feel it's something we as fans could work on, nonetheless.

At the same time. If gaming wants to be considered equal in media and considered the same as movies and music (which they have expressed over and over again), then they need to accept that this kind of criticism, and even fanboyism, that comes with the territory. Movies and music are ridiculed and criticized on a regular basis.

What do you think about a toxic gaming culture?

[bikingjahuty]

I feel like the toxicity of the gaming community is more of a granular thing rather than being super general and all encompassing. I feel like some of the worst communities within gaming are for online focused games. Personally some of the worst I have dealt with are the Souls games fanbase, Smash Bros competitive scene, and Halo 2. Some that I've heard are even worse are LoL, COD, DOTA, and CS GO, mostly because many of the people that play those games are younger and immature.


I've experienced some toxicity in the collecting community as well, but this seems to be exclusive to certain online collecting forums or facebook pages. Really slimy shit like posting fake ads on CL, convincing people a bunch of NES games are only worth like a buck each when they were way more valuable, and people getting into pissing matches over their pickups to the point of personally attacking each other are just a few examples of this that I've seen.


As you said, every hobby has those people that ruin the hobby for everyone, but some communities are festering wounds that should have been managed better long ago.

[jce3000gt]

.

[desocietas]

I think it certainly can be. The worst parts of gaming culture I've seen (IMO) have been:

• immature/abusive behavior with certain gaming communities (as bikingjahuty mentioned)
• entitled attitudes from consumers to developers
• all sorts of random conspiracy theories that just foster more negativity

In general, I just get tired of all the negativity when, in the end, games are ultimately about having fun and enjoying oneself. "If you don't like something, move on" is something I like to remind myself of if I feel myself getting heated over something, but I know that's not applicable all the time.

Death threats over a dad-dating simulator is not a good way to expend ones energy, in my opinion.

[chrismb]

I think it's not just with gaming, i'm a doll/toy collector too and i've seen a lot of things similar to what I experience in the gaming community (people hating each other for liking a rival brand, having something rare...)

[Warmsignal]

My position is a bit more nihilistic I suppose. In my view, social media in general is the all encompassing gateway to toxicity of every form. Because people are generally that way, ideas and attitudes begin to spread and multiply across the platforms and become a force of their own. Have you noticed that all of society has seemingly turned into a never-ending witch hunt? Yeah, I blame that largely on social media like Facebook and Twitter. Ever noticed that most gamers/collectors/reviewers seem to have the same exact opinions about every game, whether it's good or bad? I blame that on YouTube.

There's something about social media that's too hyper-social, I guess. It's not having an all-positive effect on people, and quite frankly I think there's a certain danger to it.

[burningdoom]

Wanted to add to my original post:

While I do agree gamer culture can be toxic, and fans should work on it; a specific example I don't agree with.

In the video I posted they point out that when Microsoft originally planned for the XBox One to have to be online all they time, that they go unnecessary negative feedback...no, that feedback was necessary. That particular time was a valid complaint from consumers. Plenty of people's internet go out, or they just have crappy internet to begin with due to their location.

Gamers needs to identify when it's okay to get angry about something, and how to channel that anger constructively. (However there will always be the shit-stirrers.)

[gibgirl]

Given that you could draw a line from a a bad breakup of a female game dev - one whom people were already harassing because she was making a game about depression - through to a new rise of white supremacy, I think I have to give this an unqualified "most definitely.

Developers being harassed off of social media and out of the industry by "gamers". Swatting. The normalization of racist and sexist language. And so on.

It's not like it was ever really that great, looking back. But it's become so much worse. And so few people stand up to it in the gaming community.

[ignition365]

Death threats over a dad-dating simulator is not a good way to expend ones energy, in my opinion.

I had to go read up on this, the only thing I could find was that a fan artist was receiving death threats because he rule 63'd the dads.  Not even specifically the fact that he rule 63'd the characters, but that he rule 63'd a trans character.  That somehow a character is off limits to fan art/fiction because it's a trans character.  I even read some comments of folks suggesting that the rule 63'd character could still be trans and the responses were basically that nobody should be doing fan art on trans characters at all, that these characters are somehow completely off limits entirely.

I was honestly expecting the issue to be the usual "cis white males" threatening people because the game is pro-homosexuality and such.  But I'm only reading about folks being offended by fan art.

[badATchaos]

https://kotaku.com/game-designer-says-developers-would-be-more-candid-if-g-1818729507

Its all so true. People just want to bitch about everything, in part to not knowing anything about development. Fans are devs worst enemies.

[ignition365]

https://kotaku.com/game-designer-says-developers-would-be-more-candid-if-g-1818729507

I know for sure that a lot of devs cut features and ideas because they know that it'll cause a commotion on the internets.

I'm sure it's a good part of why we get censored games and games like DoA don't come stateside anymore.

Such a shame that so many consumers are getting their information from clickbait generating gaming news websites and idiotic youtube personalities.

[desocietas]

Death threats over a dad-dating simulator is not a good way to expend ones energy, in my opinion.

I had to go read up on this, the only thing I could find was that a fan artist was receiving death threats because he rule 63'd the dads.  Not even specifically the fact that he rule 63'd the characters, but that he rule 63'd a trans character.  That somehow a character is off limits to fan art/fiction because it's a trans character.  I even read some comments of folks suggesting that the rule 63'd character could still be trans and the responses were basically that nobody should be doing fan art on trans characters at all, that these characters are somehow completely off limits entirely.

I was honestly expecting the issue to be the usual "cis white males" threatening people because the game is pro-homosexuality and such.  But I'm only reading about folks being offended by fan art.

Ah, yes, that was another issue that had come out of that game. Initially there were death threats after the dev had to delay the launch of the game due to the discovery of some game-breaking issues. People were upset, suggested boycotts, death threats, etc... unfortunately par for the course when an announcement has to be made about a game delay or whatnot. Even game journalists aren't spared the death threats just for *reporting* on delays... 

[kamikazekeeg]

Yeah there's a lot of problems right now in the gaming community, particularly due to social media, but of course it's in the games as brought up with the online community in multiplayer.  There are things to be properly outraged about, like bad business practices, and sleezy developers, and other legit things, but too often we see people getting mad over the most petty and unnecessary bullshit.  So yes, it's very toxic.  I've turned on voice chat ONCE in Playerunknown's Battlegrounds, because I know I'm gonna hear some nasty garbage from people who are just miserable asshats.  I never turn voice on in any game, but text chat can still be a thing in some games.

It's unfortunate and while there is pushback to try and fix it, there's simply a whole lot of jerks out there.  It's not purely just gaming that has this issue, but gaming is a little more unique due to it's interactive aspect.

[hexen]

Given that you could draw a line from a a bad breakup of a female game dev - one whom people were already harassing because she was making a game about depression - through to a new rise of white supremacy, I think I have to give this an unqualified "most definitely.

Developers being harassed off of social media and out of the industry by "gamers". Swatting. The normalization of racist and sexist language. And so on.

Ok, I can't let this slide. You can't seriously buy into this moral panic 'gamers are white supremacist sexist!' crap. It's a big issue how buzzwords like these are used by political extremes to scare moderates into more extreme positions on both sides, but what's relevant is the trickle down to gaming here. You are obviously - obviously - on one of those extremes by your Poe's Law post, the one that currently is very censorship-happy. This recent attack on gaming is business as usual - scapegoat problems to encourage censorship. In the past it was the other side, but now it's yours.

While swatting is terrible, it's a handful of sociopaths, not 'gamers'. Yes, developers are harassed - remember when the creator of The Last Night was for having the wrong ideas? Yes, normalization of racist/sexist language - #KallAllWhiteMen, Manveer Heir, etc.? The point I am trying to make here is you seem to be assigning a giant group diverse in all color, creed, walks of like into a strawman it's easy to push all blame onto. The incidents I mentioned where by individuals who I strongly disagree with, but I am not going to push off as some dismiss-able label that writes off everyone under it's banner.

What I care about is gaming, and without freedom from this kind of collectivism it can only stagnate. Is gamer culture too toxic? I think I have to give this an unqualified "no". Are individuals within it Toxic? Absolutely, but to think the make up some majority is ludicrous. This is not even mentioning the proclivity of this generation to think looking at someone funny is an unforgivable offense. Doxxing, harassing, swatting... stuff like this should be condemned and punished as it's awful, but if someone calls you a swear word get over it and ignore them.

I'd also really recommend you actually read more than a Kotaku article about your first sentence...

[badATchaos]

The thing that irks me is "lazy dev." Bitch, you don't know what goes on in the office day to day.  Some of use are working 70 hour weeks.
But really, unless you've been in a studio what gives someone the right to declare if a developer is "lazy."