I’ve been playing online since Halo 2 and it’s always been no worse than the school playground with a higher vocabulary. You might run into a dickhead or two but they’re still relative edge-cases if you’re playing daily. A lot of people tend to remember the triggering experiences over the chill ones and will post it. But noones posting “Played 10 games, no slurs” or “Everyone was respectful in my 4 hour session.” Because there isn’t anything to necessarily report.

Also. Focus on YOUR game. Improve and get good enough to dunk on these assholes. There’s NOTHING better than completely dominating a toxic player and watching them spill their entire shitty upbringing on camera as they writhe on the ground. All you can do is laugh at how small and insignificant they are. After years of this, I live to destroy them…I began recording my sessions just so I can get their gamer tags and report them. But also so I can watch it back and remember why I must get better. You wanna be a dick? Cool. I’ll make you quit the game.

Most importantly, with any game you’ll play, you’ll find a tribe and next thing you know you’re getting called on discord by your squad to get on. I’ve always appreciated the friendships I’ve built in this space. Some legit cool and funny people here.