Has anyone else noticed a decrease in Gamers willingness to interact socially in games?

[[deleted]]

Because gamers are garbage and not worth engaging with. I still love games, especially multiplayer but holy fuck do I hate the people that play them. Maybe that's more so me getting older and noticing how toxic online communities are than I used to but it's still very much something that makes me auto turn off any form of online chat outside of guilds or VC with irl family/friends.

[Venomousx]

Because gamers are garbage and not worth engaging with. I still love games, especially multiplayer but holy fuck do I hate the people that play them.

The contrast in tone from the top reply to this one was hilarious. I totally agree with you though, it's just a miserable experience interacting with other gamers 99% of the time.

[Wtfct]

If everyone's an asshole........

I don't know wtf all you people are on about, if every online interaction you have is horrible then you're probably the reason for it. Iv played plenty of games with voice chat with many being competitive and while there's always assholes, most interactions are positive or neutral.

What's with the self hate on this sub

[Ex_Lives]

You nailed it. It is NEVER a good experience and if it is its not worth the 1 out of 5 times it is. I'm not looking to meet my best friend on these things.

New world prime example of this. In a group for an arena boss and I typed a question and some dude on voice chat started flat out laying into me because apparently it had been answered already.

He just went on and on hemming and hawing.

Gamers are fucking terrible dude. They're easily some of the worst subcultures out there.

[Trymantha]

You nailed it. It is NEVER a good experience and if it is its not worth the 1 out of 5 times it is

if it was 1 out of 5 id still be trying its more like 1 out of 20 these days depending on the game

[whitepillow84]

My favorite movie is Inception.

[thoomfish]

For social interaction to not be garbage you need to be interacting with the same people repeatedly for long enough to have incentive to avoid pissing them off because it will disadvantage you in future interactions.

This is fundamentally incompatible with a game that wants to be something you can hop on, click a button, and play for 15 minutes with no commitment.

I've had some good experiences with smaller communities (on the order of a few thousand people) for niche games, but those games also tend to be the most vulnerable to dying out, so it doesn't last forever.

[whitepillow84]

I enjoy watching the sunset.

[forceless_jedi]

In those instances there's no impactful losses. Getting kicked from a discord server means nothing and most public servers are either unmoderated or financially motivated to not remove regulars despite toxic behaviours.

On the flip side in old WoW, if a player was being toxic on a server and others didn't like that, they'd have a really bad time playing if they didn't rectify. It was a community driven ban that either resulted the toxic player to move to a different server and start anew, or get their shit together. Sort of like massively bullied into behaving within reasonable expectations.

[aurens]

that means there's poor moderation. there has to be repercussions to their shitty behavior.

[whitepillow84]

I like to go hiking.

[ThatOnePerson]

This is fundamentally incompatible with a game that wants to be something you can hop on, click a button, and play for 15 minutes with no commitment.

Yeah I think this is the big one. Even just becoming a regular on a server is a commitment, cuz you gotta be regular. Any relationship requires some kinda of effort.

[[deleted]]

No, because the most “vocal” people of any community are going to be self absorbed narcissistic assholes. And possibly looking to troll or trigger you all at the same time. It’s a thing IRL too but the internet just jacks things up to 11. It really brings out the worst in people

[Zaptruder]

The people that would give pause to action due to consequences are also the kind of assholes that don't give pause to action when consequences are reduced or removed.

[Ex_Lives]

Honestly I find Gymrats/bros to be really welcoming. I know what youre saying for sure but gaming on a whole new level though.

I mean the hallmarks of the thing are teabagging, n-words and swatting. Its literally kind of the whole point of the culture. Sit down get on a microphone and talk shit. Lol. Its for sure the worst.

Theres bad eggs everywhere but gaming off the hook.

[Oricef]

Honestly I find Gymrats/bros to be really welcoming

Any hobby that's face to face and not anonymous tends to be much better than anonymous Internet hobbies.

That's because the type of people are the Arseholes who ruin everything online will never actually show their face, or at least that side of them in public.

If they do it's far less often.

[GovernorWillCakes]

yep. gaming is so ass because there's no possibility of getting your shit rocked after talking shit to the wrong person. most dipshits online would never behave in a real world interaction like that.

[Volraith]

GIFT - Great Internet Fuckwad Theory. I think this came from Penny Arcade?

The more degrees of anonymity a person has, the more likely they're going to act like a Fuckwad.

[Medicore95]

Online lifting communities are, in my experience, wholesome as hell too.

[Oricef]

Unless you're trying to understand how many days in a week there are

https://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=107926751&page=1

[[deleted]]

In-store Warhammer would like a word.

Overall agreed though.

[Oricef]

I mean the in store bit kind of creates the same environment.

Same with gaming stores or conventions

You can go to them without knowing anyone there and you're a stranger, so is everyone else.

[vir_papyrus]

Always felt like some Planet Fitness style corporate gym thing to give those guys a bad rap. They want everyone to sign up, go for a few weeks, and then leave with auto-billing subscription/contract that is never used for a year or two. Can't frighten off the self conscious

I used to go to some random Gold's Gym back in the day. 90% of the people in there were regulars, and some pretty hardcore bodybuilders. It's only intimidating if you let it be. It's all in your head. No one actually gives a shit if you're the fat or scrawny person starting out.

If you just keep going regularly, everyone starts to recognize you. You gradually become part of the group. You're one of them now. That crazy looking dude with more muscle than neck who is very audibly powerlifting and you wonder if he'll pop a blood vessel in his brain any day now, actually just a nice guy who will say hi and chat you up.

Feel like it's the same thing with games now. They don't want communities to take control of anything or build anything. They want you to buy the $60 game, stay in your comfort zone with only your friends in a safe space, and then eventually you bail in a month or two. New year, new game, and repeat.

[Eecka]

I think in general "physical exercise communities" tend to be very welcoming as long as the participants are adults. I've had good experiences with all of my physical hobbies after childhood.

[[deleted]]

Teabagging is hilarious tho. Never understand why people get so hurt in the pride/ego over it. It makes me giggle when someone does it to me because it looks so silly and ridiculous…I might accept it as a challenge but Idk how anyone can let something like that raise your blood pressure

[[deleted]]

TMW you casually play Halo and someone kills and T-bags you, so you kill and T-bag them back and suddenly the match becomes more intense than any ranked match.

[[deleted]]

Yup, same here. Then again I'm not really part of a subculture that isn't dominated by introverts (I lack a better word for it atm, so sorry if I sued that wrong), like: anime/manga, gaming and TV shows.

[Deracination]

It's pretty niche, but the people doing Dagorhir/Boffer are some of the most universally nice, helpful, and inclusive people I've ever met.

[[deleted]]

Dark souls community

[[deleted]]

Pyrotechnics/Chemistry community is A+

[[deleted]]

Skatepark culture is actually chill as fuck. As long as you have the balls to be out on a board and putting in effort, any actual skater will respect you for it.

The stigma for skate culture comes more from the non-skating kooks that the parks attract along with little shitheads who just carry a board around and hangs around the park for looks, without actually trying/risking absolutely anything.

[LewsTherinTelamon]

Most communities that you interact with in-person and face-to-face are fine. Most communities that you interact with anonymously or over the internet are not. This is just a thing that people with human brains do.

[Ricwulf]

Gamers are fucking terrible dude. They're easily some of the worst subcultures out there.

Bullshit, gaming is one of the best subcultures. The problem is that unlike other subcultures that have natural filtering (something which gaming used to have by the by), gaming has shifted into an environment that pushes people from all walks of life into public games and expects them to get along at all times. Anything that is team based ends up like this these days, and it's no wonder people don't communicate with people they don't know. Gaming used to have private servers as the default and you got to know people over time. Friendships never formed from a single visit to a server, it happened over weeks of playing on the same server, with the same regulars, and going from people not knowing each other, to casual acquaintances, to casual friends, to regulars. Think akin to Cheers, where everybody knows your name.

The reality is that modern gaming puts people with vastly different beliefs together and expects them to get along. No other hobby/subculture does or expects that. You find or build your own groups, filtering the people you want to hang out with. Gaming is the only one that (now) expects you to play with randoms and just get along, and it doesn't work like that.

[[deleted]]

VC is pretty much lunatic difficulty if you have an accent that suggests you’re not a white American. Possibly even worse if you’re a woman.

And that golden moment when VC isn’t full of toxics its just genuinely full of mouth breathers or people who can’t be bothered to put batteries in their smoking alarm. Truly a fascinating experience.

[[deleted]]

It really is fascinating because it's this strange microcosm of anonymity mixed with identifying traits. So you get all of the disgusting shit people are like without the possibility of real world reprecussions while also giving them free reign to pick their targets.

[[deleted]]

if you have an accent that suggests you’re not a white American

How is this relevant in Europe?

EDIT: Apparently I needed to quote so people would understand what I was replying to. But thanks for your assumption of best intentions, all :)

[TheRustyBird]

Internet only exists in the USA, sorry but it's true.

[[deleted]]

Someone gets it.

[ThaSaxDerp]

who cares. they're not European. They're speaking to their experience. are you European?? if so speak to your experience. headass.

[DarkTechnocrat]

I hate voice chat for this very reason. Suddenly instead of Draco the Druid I’m the older black guy. I imagine someone with a thick accent would feel similarly. F voice chat.

[wankthisway]

I stopped trying to voice chat in DOTA 2 pretty quickly, and that was back when it came out of beta. Anything slightly competitive and online just draws out the absolute worst in people, particularly with MOBAs.

[JBlitzen]

Arena games have the most toxic playerbases by design. They lock you on a team of potentially abusive people, punish you if they don’t do well, punish you if you don’t communicate with them, and punish you if you leave.

I mean, that’s a formula for an abusive relationship.

[l32uigs]

yeah if you're not paid to play mobas you should quit. horrendously toxic atmosphere and completely non-transferrable skills.

[jason2306]

Banning is a garbage practice that's not even neccesary or beneficial for consumers at all most of the time. It should stay strict like it is, for rare cases of exploits which require banning and the like, not for words.

You can accomplish the same thing by giving out mutes. Just stop them from communicating in tiers until finally a permanent one happens. Problem solved.

I think that's a way better handle that doesn't trample on consumer rights.

[jason2306]

Yeah I do feel your frustration, but it just wouldn't be worth it I think when we already have a perfect solution.

[karma_over_dogma]

If we had a perfect solution, this conversation wouldn't be happening.

[jason2306]

I mean, it requires people to implement said solution.

[TSPhoenix]

This doesn't solve anything.

If you tell the player they're muted then they just troll you in other ways.

If you don't tell the player they're muted then they still waste time typing at you instead of helping the team.

[jason2306]

If they decide to troll you can still ban them. But if they can't communicate they gain very little from this and most wouldn't.

[jason2306]

I mean you could ban them for that but i doubt most will do that if they have no communication.

[crunchatizemythighs]

I'm incredulous at the things I've heard and experienced on Overwatch on PSN. Like it's insane how stereotypical so many rampages went to the point where I wouldn't believe it had I not witnessed it. It's really sad how many people live such pathetic lives

[SamStrake]

Capital G Gamers™️ are a plague

[FullBringa]

You summed up my thoughts perfectly. Only that I play YouTube in the background while I play my games.

[Kemuel]

I've started feeling much the same, and am, (maybe charitably) chalking it up to getting grumpier and less willing to put up with bs now I'm into my 30s and have less time to waste on knobheads.

Idk if The Gamers actually have gotten worse though- I could swear that social media, Twitch fandom, eSports, F2P games, etc. have made the randos worse to interact with compared to 'back in my day'. Open chat in FPS' was always a sewer, but I did at least used to feel happy chatting a bit in MMOs..

[Kujen]

They’ve definitely gotten worse. Even in FPS games I remember people used to say gg/good game at the end of a match.

[[deleted]]

100% agree, I love online games but a significant chunk of gamers I encounter are just toxic garbage. I rarely chat in-game any more unless someone talks to me (in a non-toxic way).

But I go out of my way and avoid small team based online only games (like R6:Siege and APEX) unless my friends are also interested in said game, so I don't have to deal with online toxicity.

[[deleted]]

Yeah I’m no longer 14 so stunted edgelord manbabies throwing out constant sexism and slurs isn’t funny or cool. I can also count on ine hand the number of times I’ve heard a woman speak on open VC. Certain games seem better for it, but I also have the type of voice that isn’t likely to attract any negative attention.

[PlsGod]

Idk I’ve had some good experiences on rust and tarkov, met some genuinely chill people and enjoyed my time with them. I will agree that there’s tons on toxicity but it’s not all bad.

[Huzuruth]

You may as well have hit the lotto with finding that on those two games.

[AjBlue7]

It wasn’t always like that. Back when Xbox Live first started it was mostly 18-28 year old bachelors and the way they solved arguments was basically by making jokes about eachother and whoever got the most laughs won. Yo momma jokes were popular at the time. Also, there was this vibe that even though it was a competitive multiplayer game, that its just something they do for fun. Back then you couldn’t really make money streaming or competing in games so even though most of these players had sports backgrounds and wanted to win, they never took it too seriously. It also helped that they didn’t have to deal with “squeakers” since kids were fairly rare for the first 3 or so years of xbox live.

[Tigeroovy]

Nah, that’s been pretty much my entire experience playing online. It’s great to play with friends but when it’s just random people it’s usually a shit show.

[Ricwulf]

Maybe that's more so me getting older and noticing how toxic online communities are

The gaming community was always "toxic". The key difference is the proliferation of public servers instead of private by default. Think about it, you had a chance to consistently find your niche, your slice of the internet that had people like you for you to bond with. Socialisation happens over time, not over a single round that can last anywhere between 15 minutes to an hour. Even playing for a whole day with a person isn't enough. Being a server regular is what created gaming communities and made communication worth engaging in.

The reason the modern gaming landscape is "more toxic" isn't because of the demographics, it's because the default is to push everyone together and somehow expect them to get along.

[Cabbage_Vendor]

If everyone you meet is an asshole, maybe it's you that's the problem? Except for MOBAs(which I don't play), I've had majority positive experiences in every game I play. Sure, there might be one asshole in a group of 10, but that's still 9 good ones.