News - Toxicity in Games

I don't play a lot of games! In the grand scale of the gaming industry, I'm what you may call a "casual". But not a casual cause I play occasionally, more cause my subject in games are more likely to be the so called "life style games". Games that encourage you in a daily or weekly activity, in order for you to either progress or earn specific rewards (or loot) in a game.

Having stated this, these types of games also rely heavenly on a strong, engaged community in order for the game to have strong foundations either for new content (DLC's or Events), either to keep the momentum of the game and in return, keep revenues coming in!

All of these games have what's known for "end game" content loot. Considered the most powerful, difficult or unattainable gear or weapons in the game. And here's were things start to get "salty"...

Most of these end game activities relying on community engagement to finish them and while most of the communities are more than willing to help a fellow player, I see a trend of players who just engage these communities with negative, toxic and often than not insulting comments or replies. My problem (and this article is only in my own personal opinion) is with some of these players! 

Now, you could say that talking about toxicity in games is the same as talking about toxicity on social media or online even but here's where I tend to differ. I feel some games provide "toxic friendly environments" more than others.

In the case of The Division (Ubisoft - 2016) the Dark Zone, an open area where NPC's and other players can roam making it a PvPvE area, you can basically kill other players and steal their loot! That's nothing special in itself but the problem is there's almost no way a solo player can counter that on his own! Much less find the player/group who stole his loot after he's been killed. He has to rely on luck to counter the PvP aspect of a group vs solo mechanic. Not to mention he has to "steal" his loot back for it. This activity was so toxic that Ubisoft started to lose players and had to change the game almost entirely for players to come back. While some of them did, some of them still didn't stay and others left the game cause they felt those happy "stealing" days were over. 

The end game "Rogue" mechanic in the DZ was supposed to introduce a PvP activity in a PvE area. However the off balance between new and veteran players mixed with group vs solo gamers, made it a much more of a troll, brag mechanic that had players leaving the game.

Destiny (Bungie - 2014) was another example were toxicity started to reveal itself too much, especially during raids! Raids, for those who don't know, are co-op activities that excel on team coordination and communication in order to complete them. But, not all player have the same level of engagement, and the game started to suffer from toxicity in this activity. Either during the raid itself, either from negative posts on social media to banter other players who were trying to get into the activity.

But why am I talking about toxicity if I play these games myself and enjoy them? It's because I'm concerned about the future!

Consequences of toxicity in games are palpable even to the companies who make them. The Division 2 is due to release in March 2019. The signing up for the Beta of this game has broken Ubisoft records however, the pre-orders did not. Why? In my view because gamers are expecting to see the Dark Zone first. While some are anxious to troll as a group and steal everyone's loot, others are fearful it will just be the same toxic environment they've know (and avoided) in The Division 1. To me, Ubisoft is already having some "backlash" for it and, if the game remains the same, it may even influence sales.

The Wrath of the Machine Raid was one of the most difficult co-op activities in Destiny. Most players couldn't get in and not all who did finished it. This lead to groups of random players trying to finish it off leading some times to some of the most toxic chats in the game.

Although I feel there's not a complete happy solution for everyone, there are some steps we could take in games to make them less toxic.

First one. Make activities accessible to every player. Seems only fair if you pay for the entire game you should have access to it's entire content righ?! Switch team coordination and engagement, not with voice chat (since not everyone speaks the same language), but with signs or visual commands. This is already used in Spacelords (Mercury Steam - 2018) and in Ghost Recon Wildlands - Ghost War (Ubisoft - 2017). A player can communicate with their team without having to shout out and order or insult them afterwards. A command is given players are free to follow. I've personally use them in both games and they both work fine.

Second. Do not make toxic mechanics in the game the main activities of the "end game". Stealing loot is a toxic mechanic. Basically, any mechanic that allows for one player to prevent another from completing an activity should not be encouraged, unless it's the whole purpose of the activity but in that case a balance between noob/veteran and solo/group must be provided. You played good/better than the opposition you get a better reward and not because you grouped/blocked/stole/ban/quit/cheated your way to victory. All this could prevent toxicity in games and on communities.

Finishing off, for those thinking I'm just being a "white knight" here and trying to become some sort of "savior or judge" in this matter, let me remind you this... Toxic behavior is games/sport is not new and has always been around! In football it was only after hooliganism, racism and other negative consequences started to affect the game, that FIFA itself started the "Fair Play" and "No to racism" campaigns in every competition, followed now by almost every major sport federation.

I'm just hoping the life-style gaming community won't need some "negative consequences" before we start addressing this issue, cause by then, it may be too late!