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Who here has quit gaming because of the rise in toxicity?

I hate the word "toxicity" but it's the best word I can think of currently.

I think I've reached that point. Tomorrow I'm packing everything up gaming related and taking my cash bounty of 1300 dollars from GameStop and more than likey never touching this hobby again.

Since that nonsense happened a couple of years ago it's been really, really hard to look at gaming in a positive light and wanting to be associated with it.

I read an article, it's politically charged. The comments are a shit show on both sides filled with adults who are way too old to be displaying behavior fit for 3rd graders.

I try to watch streams and people are sexually harassed and being threatened with violence constantly.

I read about museum and video game archival projects that have interested me being shut down because of gamergate.

There's no fun anymore. Everything in gaming has such a large amount of politics and shit people associated with it that I can't by association support it anymore. The dregs of society have won yet again and I guess they got what they wanted by running people like me away from gaming to save "gamers"

I just can't deal with it anymore.
 

Astarte

Member
I like videogames because I can play fun minigames with Winnie the Pooh and fight a very handsome brown man with lightsabers in the same game. Other people being dicks can't stop Winnie the Pooh being adorable so I'm fine playing games
 

FinalAres

Member
Maybe just give up the wider gaming culture. Websites, forums, articles etc.

Make it a personal thing you enjoy rather than an ecosystem.
 

nicanica

Member
I completely understand this decision.

The moniker of "gamer" is synonymous with immature garbage, regardless if you think they are in the vocal minority.

I'm just someone who plays video games now.

God speed on your choices.
 
The front people put out online, especially due to meme level humor etc. is crappy. But I continue to meet amazing and friendly people online, many after you get through that first layer of stupid crap/goading. I would never give up gaming, I can handle the toxicity. Usually, it's no worse than just exacerbation and I will ignore them. Could also just be the games I play tend to have more mature players.
 
Unless all you play is online multiplayer in scenes heavily afflicted by this, why would this affect the games? Just quit the communities. The discourse and the zeitgeist don't matter.
 

bluethree

Member
I just enjoy games and try not to bother with anything else. Literally GAF is the only gaming related site I regularly browse. I don't even keep up that closely with other gaming news, let alone things in the wider community that are going on.
 

DJIzana

Member
Honestly, that's why I play casually with RL friends or VERY few competitive online games. Mainly coop or single player games for me.
 
The front people put out online, especially due to meme level humor etc. is crappy. But I continue to meet amazing and friendly people online, many after you get through that first layer of stupid crap/goading. I would never give up gaming, I can handle the toxicity. Usually, it's no worse than just exacerbation and I will ignore them. Could also just be the games I play tend to have more mature players.

Maybe. All I want to do is play overwatch but lately someone I played with was so cool till the moment he started talking about how inferior women and minorities are.

I completely understand this decision.

Tee moniker of "gamer" is synonymous with immature garbage, regardless if you think they are in the vocal minority.

I'm just someone who plays video games now.

God speed on your choices.

Vinyl is pretty cool I guess.
 
Single player games and party chat. Yup. I'm one of those team members who uses party chat and not team chat. Blame the loser assholes in the online communities for that.
 

Indelible

Member
I haven't experienced anything you are talking about, I mostly play single player games and enjoy gaming more than ever.
 

Flarin

Member
That stuff (sadly) will always be around games, but I'll never quit because of that. If the toxicity is your issue then delete you twitter, get off GAF and just play some games. I started unfollowing people who had that kind of attitude on Twitter and just tried to keep it positive. If you love games then don't let a few bad apples ruin it for it.
 

Maloney

Member
Eh, I'm 47 and been playing since I was 12. Was there for the birth of online on pc, Xbox live etc etc... Sometimes you find great people, which makes it an amazing experience.

Nowadays I play single player almost exclusively as I can't be bothered with all the trash.

I stick to Neogaf for news as it's pretty well managed. Even then I mainly just lurk.

Hey ho, just the way it is I guess. I don't really feel bad about it.

I feel bad for my kids who play crappy games on their tablets and think its perfectly fine to spend half there time watching ads every few minutes. Glad I was around before that phenomenon.
 

Van Bur3n

Member
I mean, you don't have to delve into all of the bullshit within the community and industry itself. Can always just play video games.
 

Toki767

Member
If it weren't for GAF, I wouldn't even know about most of the toxicity that exists in gaming.

Granted, I still kind of ignore most, if not all of it.
 

Zojirushi

Member
If you do that they won.

Stay away from the (gaming related) internet for a while and then come back and find some places with intelligent discourse. There are plenty.

The community is a real shitshow right now but right wing fuckery and general stupidity of the internet has been creeping into every media, it's not a gaming exclusive issue.

Of course it's super prominent in gaming unfortunately because of its predominantly straight white male audience but at least we've seen some change on the journalism side regarding diversity and inclusiveness which I think is pretty cool.

Also don't deep dive into every bullshit twitter controversy, that shit is rarely worth your time and only frustrates you.

So basically tighten up you internet bullshit filter and maybe remember why gaming is actually cool.
 
Nah man, some of the shit surrounding the industry is gross but that is mostly from the consumers and not the people I'm giving money too.. and I mean I still like playing video games so
 

CloudWolf

Member
This is why I hate the term "gamer". I enjoy games, but don't consider myself a "gamer" because the "gamers" have serious attitude problems.
 
Maybe. All I want to do is play overwatch but lately someone I played with was so cool till the moment he started talking about how inferior women and minorities are.
Reason number 1-101 why I only group up regularly with people from GAF or others I've known for years and years.
 

EdmondD

Member
Just play some games for the sake of the game itself and leave that other shit where it belongs in the trash. Games are supposed to be fun and they are if you let them be.
 
who reads zero effort troll attempts in comment sections/ chats and gets seriously affected by it in any way?.........

Because I use to read them for people's viewpoints on articles and the like but lately all everything is the worst of everyone circle jerking over how edgy they are.

Does any of that toxicity honestly affect you when you play most games?

Because I'm paying money to keep the system going. I feel like any dollar I put into it means these people are sharing the same eco system with me. I feel like my money indirectly supports their platform and I don't want to anymore.
 
Can't say I'll ever be pushed away from gaming because of "toxicity"

GamerGate is an unfortunate thing, I don't think you'll find anyone here who disagrees but the fact that shitty people also like gaming isn't going to make me want to play games any less.

The thing with association for me is that gaming is too large of a field. I kind of scoff at the "lol gamers" responses you typically see because you can't generalize a group this large. I'm never going to be embarrassed to be a gamer just because shitty people act shitty. I use games to have fun and I'm perfectly capable of tuning out of the negativity and the shit-slinging.

If you want to play games and have jolly time with it then do it. Ignore the toxic articles, streams and drama surrounding it. Games are a fun escape from a lot of the negatives that exist in reality just like with movies and books. Use it for that. Don't quit gaming just because other people are lame.

Because I'm paying money to keep the system going. I feel like any dollar I put into it means these people are sharing the same eco system with me. I feel like my money indirectly supports their platform and I don't want to anymore.

Won't this happen with a lot of things? Shitty people like Neo-Nazis, White Supremacists aren't limited to video games. You can find disgusting people in all entertainment.
 

DeaDPo0L84

Member
Gaming is special cause its a personal hobby. There are experiences you can have with out ever having to speak or interact with another human being. Allowing a bunch of worthless assholes with a pea sized brain rob you of a hobby that gives you joy and entertainment essentially hands them the big W and you the L.
 

vocab

Member
It more has to do with internet meme culture spreading like wildfire. I just stay the fuck away from that shit. It's kinda like the news, an all encompassing ball of negative and depressing things that start affecting your mood. Tune that shit out, and just play the shit you want, and not what other people want you to play.
 

JusDoIt

Member
There used to be a lot of racist and sexist books, movies and music, but I still enjoy books, movies, and music.

The culture around gaming is plenty hostile and gross, but it doesn't stop me from enjoying games.

Besides, if I stop playing games because some dudes on the internet are assholes, those assholes on the internet get their way and fuck all that.
 

Syf

Banned
It sounds like you should ignore the communities and play the games without venturing into social spaces to discuss them if it bothers you this much. Or if people are being toxic in game you've got options to ignore 'em usually. While online games give those people anonymous avenues to spread their garbage it also makes it easy for you to block or ignore them. Sift through the garbage and find the people you do enjoy playing and talking with; don't let the bad ones ruin it for you.
 
D

Deleted member 1235

Unconfirmed Member
What the hell op stop reading and participating in a shit community and just enjoy good games
 

TreIII

Member
Nope.

I pretty much have accepted that's there's trashy/undesirable aspects among every "fanbase" for media I like. Comic books, movies, gaming, cartoons/anime, and the list just goes on.

I can certainly try to be a good example and welcome people to my hobbies in my own way. But far be it for those idiots to force me out of things I've enjoyed since I was a kid.
 

DeaDPo0L84

Member
Because I use to read them for people's viewpoints on articles and the like but lately all everything is the worst of everyone circle jerking over how edgy they are.



Because I'm paying money to keep the system going. I feel like any dollar I put into it means these people are sharing the same eco system with me. I feel like my money indirectly supports their platform and I don't want to anymore.

Not being a dick but if thats how you truly feel you basically have to ignore any form of entertainment in todays climate cause every one feels they need to throw their opinion on top of anything and everything now a days.
 

daninthemix

Member
Toxicity is a human thing, not a videogames thing.

I will concede that games seem to have a knack for eliciting more of the stuff from people, though.
 

FRS1987

Member
I only played Rocket League for about 2 days because I ran into an extremely toxic player. I was having fun and was using the preset chat commands such as "What a save!" and "Great shot!" and didn't think much of it.

So someone says "You sure you want to stay? you're going to get destroyed" out of the blue and uses my name. "You were talking shit so I decided to go all out". I asked him what he meant by "talking shit" and he said it was because I said "What a save!" when my team mate blocked a goal. He then continued to harass me nonstop and say I'm garbage at the game and should leave and all sorts of things. I didn't respond until eventually it got to the point where It was distracting.

I checked his steam profile and he has 2000+ hours on the game and linked his youtube channel that just shows a Rocket League montage he created. I then just told him "Congrats, you have 2000 hours in Rocket League and you decided to play seriously against a player who only has about 10 hours of game time and literally started playing yesterday." and left. Haven't played since. I still play games like Overwatch but I NEVER had someone harass me for 20 minutes straight over a preset chat command that the game provides to you.
 
If I saw everything I liked only in its worst aspects, I'd be one unhappy man with no likes at all.

There's more to gaming than what you see in forums and a couple of news sites. It's as political as you want it to be. You see more of it because the internet is easier and quicker to access for more people than ever before.
 

//ARCANUM

Member
Gaming does not have to equal gaming community. If you don’t like the community out there, just play games on your own? Not sure how there being scumbags (and just a warning, there’s scumbags involved with everything you can get involved with on planet earth) out there in the gaming community should stop you from being able to play a game?

Maybe take a little longer and think about it before selling everything off? You might regret it.
 

Shaanyboi

Banned
I'm less and less interested in events and "engaging with the community." Similarly, my girlfriend has lost more and more interest in cosplaying after years of dealing with creepy assholes at events like PAX etc.

My interest in games remains, but even the outlets which I follow has shifted more towards those who atleast have something to say.
 
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