Guild Wars 2

A culture of nastiness has been fostered or at least tolerated.

Many players don’t come to play a game. They come to vent there angst. It’s not playing to win, it’s playing to troll. It’s living for the 5 v 1 and the instant stomp.

Then, they say oh you’re crying, (salty.)

There’s this belief that , “I have a right to do whatever I want because the game lets me. Besides, my boss yelled at me today so I need to spend 4 hours stomping noobs to make myself feel powerful.” No wonder the “community” shows no signs of growing.

If ANET wants PvP to grow.. it needs to be a game, not a chance for people to use newcomers as punching bags.

I think it may be time to quit. I love the game… but I don’t need to be this angry all the time… working on a 15 game losing streak tonight. It makes me crazy and mean.

Lol like a true troop you hung in there far beyond what was expected. My hats off to you. Truly

The reason why PvP gets toxic is because some players are not adequately skilled to be playing in their division.

Because A-net still hasn’t come close to figuring how to create matches consistently that put people of the same skill level and experience together. Too often you get stuck with a bad apple or two and it doesn’t even matter how well you play because of that the match is already decided. It is infuriating and happnes often. Its like a pick up game of basketball where you get stuck with someone’s kittened little brother versus a team of players where everyone else is roughly as good as you. You’ll get creamed.

so youre saying that those players stomping you around are trolls because you cant win against them? and them trying to win or being better is a sign of toxic behavior? if remember correctly u praise season 4 matchmaking as better than previous season, but now that youre constantly losing youre back at the forums again typing away. dont you think its time to maybe, just maybe its not ANET fault and that just u?

The trouble I find is that whenever a group starts losing, people immediately start blaming each other. “You guys stink, no one knows how to rotate, this thief stinks, etc”

Often times matches start out badly or slowly because not everyone is on sane strategy, poor luck, etc. I’ve always found that the saltiest players usually tend to be the worst or the least capable of adjusting to the team and situation.

If you throw a temper tantrum and afk, you guarantee a loss. But I’ve had countless matches where we’ve recovered from big deficits to win. Players are often better than you think but just not playing well togethet

The skill issue is the biggest reason I’ve seen rage, as others have stated. People who are oblivious to the map/rotating, can’t last 2 seconds in a 1v1 etc all plague higher divisions when they really have no business outside of amber/emerald.

Ithilwen.1529:

A culture of nastiness has been fostered or at least tolerated.

Many players don’t come to play a game. They come to vent there angst. It’s not playing to win, it’s playing to troll. It’s living for the 5 v 1 and the instant stomp.

Then, they say oh you’re crying, (salty.)

There’s this belief that , “I have a right to do whatever I want because the game lets me. Besides, my boss yelled at me today so I need to spend 4 hours stomping noobs to make myself feel powerful.” No wonder the “community” shows no signs of growing.

If ANET wants PvP to grow.. it needs to be a game, not a chance for people to use newcomers as punching bags.

My experience has been the merging of veterans and newer players, who have no business being in ranked matches, being partnered on the same team. The game needs a proper tutorial and new players need an avenue to learn to play the game that is not within, what is supposed to be, the competitive aspect of the game.

There isn’t “a” reason for toxicity. There are many. Much of it stemming from the magical power of keyboard anonymity. Human nature. The fact the game is about direct confrontation and conflict. The fact that the performance of others impacts your results.

I’d start with those. The basic ingredients for toxicity.

Lord Hammer Hand.4815:

so youre saying that those players stomping you around are trolls because you cant win against them? and them trying to win or being better is a sign of toxic behavior? if remember correctly u praise season 4 matchmaking as better than previous season, but now that youre constantly losing youre back at the forums again typing away. dont you think its time to maybe, just maybe its not ANET fault and that just u?

This so much.

Ithilwen.1529:

I think it may be time to quit. I love the game… but I don’t need to be this angry all the time… working on a 15 game losing streak tonight. It makes me crazy and mean.

When you lose 3 in a row take a break. Forcing yourself to play will only make you play worse and make bad decisions. It’s called tilt, and you should stop when it happens. A 15 game loss streak is entirely on you.

After 4 seasons of PvP you hardly classify as a ‘new comer’ Ithilwen.

If you’re still bad after 4 seasons then that’s on you not ANet.

Yes, I reiterate that S4 matchmaking is the best so far. I was more getting at the attitude I’m seeing.

It’s not about playing the game. It’s about stomping someone hard and laughing afterwards.

http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/player-behavior-moderation/n1YPZhWi-why-is-the-community-so-toxic

https://m.reddit.com/r/pcgaming/comments/4ub3k4/why_is_csgos_community_so_toxic/

http://www.overpwn.com/forums/overwatch-general/general-discussion/7940-is-overwatch-community-the-worst-one-ever

Answer to all of them? It’s called Player vs Player AKA a competitive environment. If you can’t take the heat then don’t compete. Besides it’s not like you weren’t warned…

“Game Experiences May Change During Online Gameplay”

I might point out that none of those links refer to GW2.

During my wasted youth, I competed in “Skimmer” class at our local yacht club. These were small fast scows. In that culture of competition, we would self penalize if we felt there was even a reasonable probability that we’d made an error.

-edit- and also at our local model yacht club, in US One Meter Class, a very competitive open development class.

Nobility, sportsmanship.. the grand gesture these are the qualities of classic competition.

It was common to help another boat with parts or even money at times. That’s what competition is and should be. The community self policing and helping each other.

GW2 competition is more like “reality” tv… everyone taking pleasure in screwing the next person. That sort of “community” will never grow much and is basically self destructive.

Ithilwen.1529:

I might point out that none of those links refer to GW2.

Then you missed the relation. GW2’s competitive nature in SPvP is very similar to other, ever more popular, competitive games. There goes your “game wont last if toxicity continues” theory. It’s alright to vent; everyone does it, but that’s all this thread is.
I just wanted to politically correct what you were implying.

EDIT
You said other game’s competitive PvP has nothing to do with GW2’s PvP… now… in what way does a Yacht Club’s development class have ANYTHING to do with Online Gaming’s competitive structure? Goodness man…

shion.2084:

There isn’t “a” reason for toxicity. There are many. Much of it stemming from the magical power of keyboard anonymity. Human nature. The fact the game is about direct confrontation and conflict. The fact that the performance of others impacts your results.

I’d start with those. The basic ingredients for toxicity.

This. There’s so many things going wrong with PvP combined with the naturally toxic nature of the internet and competitive behavior.

Throw in achievements in the mix, and it’s all a wash. ANet doesn’t seem to have done much to improve problems, and seems to just throw problems in a spin cycle.

Oh, and I’ve lost 5 matches in one night at time of posting. This kind of kitten matchmaking really adds to the toxicity. I just want to finish my dailies so I can stop playing this game.

I think what Ithilwen is trying to get at is that being competitive and being a jerk/salt dispenser are mutually exclusive ideas. You can compete and be competitive without being malicious to others.

There’s always going to be that one person who’s a jerk to everyone no matter what but for the love of all that’s good just at least be honest about it. Just come out and say “Yo I’m a jerk because I can”. Don’t hide behind the “competition” justification/excuse (or any other justification/excuse) as a reason to be a jerk to others.

Humans are naturally competitive and we don’t like losing. Some people can control their anger and channel it into performing better, others lack the skill to control their anger and resort to PMing people with angry insults when they lose, mouthing off at their team etc.

If you look at any competitive activity you’ll see people getting angry. Watch a game of football, or tennis. You’ll see players get angry. The thing with an online game, like people have already pointed out, is online anonymity allows people to rage without any consequences, unless they get their account banned of course.

The latest series of South Park has actually being covering this with

SPOILER ALERT an online troll that’s been targeting girls online. Everyone just says “ignore the troll, it’s probably just some loser that has a sad life and still lives in his mum’s basement.” Turns out the troll is Kyle’s dad. A very successful, pretty rich guy with a wife, kids and his own house. Basically it’s pointing out that we all just assume people troll because they’re no life losers with nothing better to do, but the power of anonymity can turn anyone, even successful people into trolls.END SPOILER

The SMITE forums, like all other competitive game forums, has multiple posts about toxicity whilst playing too. People telling stories of how every game they play, there’s someone on their team that is being toxic, that there should be harsher punishments for people that are toxic etc.

A lot of it has to do with your perspective on what’s happening on screen. Do you just ignore the person that’s mouthing off, laugh that they’re getting so wound up over a video game and mute them, or do you take it personally and feel victimised by the words on the computer screen, dwell on it and let it affect your enjoyment?

And if nothing else, at least people don’t start raging and complaining about kill stealing in GW2 like they do in SMITE =P

Hi mate,

Just block the toxic trolls and report them. Leave them to anet to sort out.
Players are by and large OK. In SoloQ trolls always pick on people trying anything other than a 4/1 braindead game, but you can always block them once they get abusive. Also, if you doing something slightly more clever pays off, they don’t complain.

But yeah, avoid going on tilt. 3 loss streak is enough.

Ithilwen.1529:

Yes, I reiterate that S4 matchmaking is the best so far. I was more getting at the attitude I’m seeing.

It’s not about playing the game. It’s about stomping someone hard and laughing afterwards.

Yeah…welcome to pvp. If you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen.

TheOrlyFactor.8341:

I think what Ithilwen is trying to get at is that being competitive and being a jerk/salt dispenser are mutually exclusive ideas. You can compete and be competitive without being malicious to others.

There’s always going to be that one person who’s a jerk to everyone no matter what but for the love of all that’s good just at least be honest about it. Just come out and say “Yo I’m a jerk because I can”. Don’t hide behind the “competition” justification/excuse (or any other justification/excuse) as a reason to be a jerk to others.

Talking has always been a part of most competitions. Playing head games can tilt matches in your favor.

Pyriall.1683:

TheOrlyFactor.8341:

I think what Ithilwen is trying to get at is that being competitive and being a jerk/salt dispenser are mutually exclusive ideas. You can compete and be competitive without being malicious to others.

There’s always going to be that one person who’s a jerk to everyone no matter what but for the love of all that’s good just at least be honest about it. Just come out and say “Yo I’m a jerk because I can”. Don’t hide behind the “competition” justification/excuse (or any other justification/excuse) as a reason to be a jerk to others.

Talking has always been a part of most competitions. Playing head games can tilt matches in your favor.

Pyriall has a point. Playing mind games with your opponent can increase your chances of beating them. Look at games like Smash Bros. You literally have a taunt button(s), to taunt your opponent.

I’m sure many people here have played For Glory on Smash Bros at some point, where an opponent will taunt when they get your stock off. It makes you feel annoyed and you just want to end their stock ASAP to taunt them back.

This can work a lot in their favour, as you can end up playing bad and making mistakes, because all you’re focused on is getting back at them for taunting. You see it in SMITE too. Players will stand there spamming the laugh emote, to try and wind you up, to provoke you to approach them.

If you just keep your head on you and don’t walk into their trap, just ignore their taunts, then you’ll perform better.

“Why PvP gets Toxic”

Besides the fact that every competitive game mode is somehow toxic Gw2 PvP fails in two core aspects – match making and balancing. Everything else is just a follow up imho.