5 Games With Toxic Communities

Games that we play often require us to work in teams to find solutions to challenges they face. In some games, this is a joy ride, filled with fun and unicorn dreams. On the other side of the coin, the dark side comes to light. Making you pull your hair in frustration and leave you hugging your pillow when it’s time for bed.

Journey with me as I take a look at some of the more toxic player bases that I have encountered during my time online.

#5 – World of Warcraft

The grand daddy of the MMO’s has been around for quite some time already, as has its player base. The problem with having so many knowledgeable players is that it is extremely unforgiving to anyone that dares make a mistake. When you start to move away from the casual play and start chasing that max iLvl gear for your character, you step into a lion’s den.

With literally thousands of tools to track the other people’s actions and stats during raids, it’s not uncommon to see a full blown verbal fighting match between the players you are playing with. Without warning you will be personally assaulted with words after getting a swift kick to the ass right out of the group and/or guild. Leaving you shell-shocked and stranded without the gear you wanted so badly.

#4 – Call of Duty

The call of duty franchise is one of those blatant obvious game titles that has had the internet filled to the brim with videos of people losing their rocker completely. Flipping out, throwing controllers, smashing screen and screaming to the top of their lungs. These events, funny as they may be to a third party, is a constant event in any of the online interactions.

It doesn’t matter how hard you try, in the end, it doesn’t even matter (look a funny). If you run the wrong way, if the guns you choose are not part of the meta or you use anything that isn’t considered to be pro game equivalent then these people will let you have it.

 

#3 – FIFA

SOCCER, kidding, relax, geez, Football. One of the world’s biggest sports embodied into a video game. That for the most part is really fun to play. Unless you know, you play with friends or anyone else online. This game may have an impact on your real world friendships, I’m just warning you. I digress. The people that play Fifa on a more competitive level has a tendency to be a little more, well, aggressive.

When their character doesn’t pass when the button is seemingly pressed, or doesn’t respond as you wanted to, or a goalkeeper that always blocks your shots. This game has events that will get under your skin sometimes and the things people do and yell and say are the stuff of nightmares.

#2 – Counter Strike

CS, one of the legendary shooter games out there, suffers from the same player experience syndrome that the players in World of Warcraft has. Just try to play ranked without having your skills honed to an almost machine like level and you are bound to run into people stating their opinions, loudly.

What also doesn’t help is the fact that the game is riddled with hackers, which just crushes the experience. With a steep learning curve for newer or lesser experienced player and the pit-bull mentality you are sure to have more than a fair share of toxic games.

#1 – League of Legends + DOTA 2

MOBA games in my experience have shown the worst side of humanity. With Dota 2 and League of Legends sitting at the top of the Moba-sphere. From the very onset of the lobby you are already barraged with people fighting over map positions and usually boils down to insults. When you boot into the match it just goes downhill from there.

When it happens that a team mate dies more than twice in 5 minutes there is bound to be someone that starts to spew insults. If you try and stop the behavior, then you become the new target of the foul mouthed trolls. The problem is you are pretty much stuck in this toxic environment for a good 35-30 minutes with punishments on your account should you leave early. With my countless of hours in MOBA games I can confidently say that this genre brings out the very worst in people.

Luckily we are all so used to these environments that it doesn’t usually penetrate through the skin and it is easy to shrug off the insults and slurs. What would you put on the list for your most toxic game environments? Let me know!