How can you identify and address toxic behavior in online gaming communities?

One experience I had with toxic behaviour in the Esports community was when I was a newbie to gaming and live-streamed my gameplay. Some people online (guys) kept saying how girls can never 'play pro' or weren't invited to an 'all-boys' gaming community. Thankfully, there were other guys who were encouraging, even happy at the fact that I attempted to play the game and gave pointers and tips. Truthfully, the gaming community is filled with all types of people and it's up to you to be the good person and also 'feed the good wolf' especially when you have some people trying to bring you down. If I had listened to those negative remarks, I might have never touched another game in my life.

Why? Usually due to stress, frustration, maybe a way to let out anger from the real world. Its easier for someone to be toxic to someone they don't know when there anonymity online. They don't have to be held accountable. That's the main reason why toxic behavior exists in the first place.

When experiencing toxicity in online games where you can’t pause, try this: take a 10 second deep breath break and remind yourself that your gameplay does not define you as a person. Remember that the only person who ever has control over your emotions is you: you always have the choice to ignore the rude comments, difficult as it may be in the moment. When you remove yourself from the situation and view it from an eagle eye perspective, you’ll see how comical and absurd it all is in retrospect. As Megumi Hayashibara, the voice of Ranma from Ranma 1/2 says, “laughter is the best medicine when it comes to fortifying your heart.” Laugh it off, go on with your day, and be a positive light for others who need it.

Toxic behavior is learned. Knowing this it makes it easier to understand when someone is being toxic and how to handle it. When someone acts out, I consider it an internal cry for help and try to address why they feel the way they do. There's no defined way to cope with this behavior as each person is different, but there are a variety of options developers make accessible to users such as blocking, hiding, and reporting unfavorable comments. It's one step to AVOID the problem but it ultimately doesn't solve it.

I like to be obnoxiously positive and redirect. Playing LoL, I start the game with “Good luck, have fun and be nice!”. When things go wrong in a match I do my best to redirect to the goal of “we all want to raise our rank, working together is our path to do so! Lets do XYZ as a play to come back in the game”. It’s amazing how many people are still toxic just from a few kind words at the start of the game. Toxicity is definitely at such crazy levels. No one plays perfectly every game yet will pounce on someone’s bad performance. At this point I try to have a Vulcan-like approach, care less about win/losses and focus on how I am playing or how I can improve / carry better. Call out, report and don’t play with toxic players 1000%.

From an internal perspective if you find yourself acting toxic as a player, take a break and reevaluate your position. Games are meant to be fun, if you’re not having fun step away. If you see teammates and friends acting toxic speak up and don’t tolerate that kind of behavior. Toxic behavior is a skill issue.

Toxicity in games directly affects the bottom line. It’s a well researched topic at this point - studies show that ~30% of players who experience severe targeted toxicity will churn from the game, and that games with less toxicity see 54% greater spend from their players. Reducing the exposure of players to toxicity (the worst of which comes from anywhere between 2-5% of players) pays off, literally. Trust & Safety should no longer be thought of as a cost center!