Dealing With Toxicity in Video Games

In the world of video games, toxicity will always be an issue. Whether you're playing League of Legends, DOTA 2, Rocket League, or any game that involves a skill matchup, you're going to see people get angry and say mean things. Since players flame so often, a ban system is put into place and it allows people to report offensive teammates or enemies after the game.

The hardest part about this system is determining who to ban. It might seem very straightforward, but everybody has different views on what is and is not okay to do and say. For example, I've been chat restricted for messing around with a friend before in League of Legends. I had been playing with a buddy of mine who didn't have access to voice chat at the time. This meant we had to talk using the in-game text chat and I had made some comments to him saying how bad he was when he got killed (completely joking). The other three people on my team who weren't in my party then decided they were going to report me for being toxic after I made it very clear that this was my friend and I was just messing with him. I got a chat ban for a few games and I was really upset.

I also don't agree with people getting banned for retaliating. I know people say, "if somebody is mean or says something you don't like, just report them or mute them." Well, I don't really like that. One thing that especially bothers me is when you have a teammate who is clearly struggling and you try to help them out a little bit by recommending an item build path or try to take a shot calling role so they don't get caught out. You say the slightest thing and then the teammate blows up and starts saying that they know what they're doing and that I actually suck and blah blah blah. I was just trying to help you, man.

I know the report system is going to stay in place for a long time and obviously it's going to be worked on as time passes, but it's something that I struggle with. It's only in League of Legends and I, personally, act the same in every single game that I play. The only report system that has ever gotten the best of me is Riot's and it really bothers me. I don't know what they do differently from every other game, but I guess they have just decided to be extremely strict since they have the most toxic community in history.