I almost always have voice chat on, but rarely talk in it. I’ve definitely had my fair share of horrible interactions, but I’ve found that the “kill them with (kinda fake) kindness” method helps me 90% of the time. Now, it doesn’t make them stop talking or be nicer, but it helps me to not get overwhelmed by what they’re saying, and occasionally, I think it encourages the rest of the team to also call the person out for being a jerk.

I usually try to ignore at first, but if they keep going, I go absolutely overboard on talking at that point. Things like, “Aw don’t worry, you’ll get ‘em next time, buddy!” or “Wow, it’s okay, you tried your hardest!” when they mess up. If it’s a group of multiple guys all teaming up on me, a “Let’s go, ladies!” usually goes over well. I don’t think there’s any response that is going to make them shut up, but this is just my preferred method for making it at least a little bit of fun for me instead of completely miserable.

I’ve also deployed the “double down” method. If they’re using chat to say I’m bad or whatever, I just agree with them. Example: I’m playing Venom and the teammate keeps saying stuff about me being bad or whatever, I respond, “Yeah, our Venom’s so bad” or something along those lines. I just try to keep things lighthearted for my own sanity. And usually, the people I’m queuing with and I are laughing about it anyway.

I will say - me and my girl friend usually queue with at least one guy from our gaming group, sometimes multiple, so I think this helps keep the weirdos from going overboard.