Just kinda ruins the game, which makes people not want to play.
People get really aggressive when they built their identity around “being good at x”. So if you’re their teammate and you make a decision that they think is wrong, they see you as losing the game for them (even if you think it was right).
Same as sports, but you’re generally playing with random anonymous people online that changes every game, so there’s no incentive for long-term teamwork or relationship building.
Imagine playing casual pick-up basketball in the park on a team of 5, and you try one play that doesn’t quite work, and your teammates first reaction is to go “Wow you must really suck at basketball to try that!” Or: “Go home and quit, dumbass.” You’d probably feel a little bad, but also just never want to play with that group again. Now imagine 70% of all basketball games you try to play have people yelling at you like that. You’d probably just quit trying to play basketball.
There are also some really friendly people in these games (I always tried to be someone who shuts down the mean people), but the problem is that eventually the friendly people just don’t want to play your game at all anymore because of so many negative interactions.
They obviously want to grow the number of players, so having a reputation of a horribly toxic community makes people avoid the game, which is bad for profits (and the non-toxic players).
Not sure how much this change will help, because the bigger source of toxicity is a player’s own team. But it still could be a good step towards trying to fix their image.
>>>Imagine playing casual pick-up basketball in the park on a team of 5, and you try one play that doesn’t quite work, and your teammates first reaction is to go “Wow you must really suck at basketball to try that!” Or: “Go home and quit, dumbass.” You’d probably feel a little bad, but also just never want to play with that group again. Now imagine 70% of all basketball games you try to play have people yelling at you like that. You’d probably just quit trying to play basketball.
Have you ever played spades, dominos, or hearts? Shit-talking is absolutely part of the experience. Someone who complains about the shit-talking is unlikely to be invited to pull up a chair again. That said, shit-talking is an artform, and simplistic adolescent insults ("Fvk your mother, $ethnicSlur!") are equally frowned upon. I dunno....I'm not sure when our culture got to a point where people couldn't handle regular vitriol with a laconic smile and some verbal barbs of their own. Do they not teach "Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me." to kids anymore?
Try playing a few hours of Dota and then revising your opinion. Comparing an online game to playing hearts with friends in real life is a completely invalid comparison. Griefing on another level is possible in Dota and it can go on for 30mins to an hour, this would NEVER happen in an in real life game of cards or dominoes.
Also, when you're playing hearts with friends, your friends aren't telling you to kill yourself, it's light hearted banter.
In Dota you have to get ready to be called: "a fucking moron", "stupid bitch get back to the kitchen", every racist bit of slang you can imagine.
And it's via voice as well as text, as well as gameplay griefing. For example, repeatedly running to the enemy heroes to die on purpose and feed them more gold.
>>>Also, when you're playing hearts with friends, your friends aren't telling you to kill yourself, it's light hearted banter.
Ha! Play cards with Marines. We absolutely tell people to "suck-start their service weapon" (that means put a gun in your mouth and shoot yourself) after a particularly incompetent play.
>>>In Dota you have to get ready to be called: "a fucking moron", "stupid bitch get back to the kitchen", every racist bit of slang you can imagine.
Yeah, those are bog-standard internet noise. I expect it every time I'm at the top of the leaderboard in an FPS. Just hit them back with some superlative savagery of your own, which should be easier than breathing.
In real life there is a limit on how hard you can go or how serious you're insults can be without physical conflict or being ostracized by other players. Not so in a video game.
Maybe because a company like Riot can be held accountable for the poor content of its chats? (in the court of law I'm not sure, but in that of public opinion definitely)
Online chat has been a staple for multiplayer PC games for ages now.
Since when has a company been held accountable on a meaningful scale for what happens in chat? (No doubt in my mind that what’s said in chat is called out especially if users aren’t banned)
Sure you might get statements like X community is toxic, but that normally stems from more problems then just the game chat of said community.
I guess maybe they don't want to be dragged to a congressional hearing where they'd be shown a bunch of screenshots that'll look extra offensive out of context and have to explain to senators why they're not doing more to protect players' mental health from bullying, toxic comments, dehumanizing etc
If nothing else they may be a bit worried about the Chinese government since they're a Tencent subsidiary. There's been some significant pressure on game companies this year.
