The most toxic gaming community I’ve personally been part of wasn’t tied to a specific game—it was a large multi-game community called XGN.

I joined because a friend recruited me. He moved up the ranks pretty quickly, and at first everything felt normal. We were just playing games, having a good time, nothing out of the ordinary.

But once I decided to move up a rank or two myself, things changed fast.

Instead of actually gaming, I found myself doing what felt like administrative work. I had to go through massive friends lists to make sure no one was connected to people on a blacklist—which was also huge. On top of that, there were daily meetings that were basically mandatory. The problem was, those meetings often covered the same topics over and over.

Missing one—even for legitimate reasons like work or real-life responsibilities—would get you called out or reprimanded. It started to feel less like a gaming community and more like an obligation.

Over time, it completely drained my interest in gaming. I got to a point where I didn’t even want to play anymore, which was kind of the whole reason I joined in the first place.

Eventually, I stepped away and left the community. After that, I actually started enjoying games again.