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I
remember the day I was first introduced to an online collaborative, but toxic community.
My dad had finally decided that I was old enough to play videogames. I was
thirteen and having played Halo at friends’ houses, I could not wait to have an
Xbox for myself. Halo 3 was the first online game that I could play with my
friends and communicate with strangers whom I would never meet in real life. It
was a time where gaming in an online social space was relatively new still;
toxicity amongst gamers was not a well-known issue in the gaming community. I
have fond memories of having my teammates swearing and vulgarity being
overheard on the speakers by my dad walking into the room. I can only imagine
him second-guessing his decision to buy me an Xbox. I have no doubt that online
gaming was where I first learned my extensive vocabulary of curse words. Only
in the recent years have I really noticed game developers trying to crack down
on the toxic side of their gaming communities. In our “Collaborating in Online
Communities” class, we read an article about what kinds of toxicity exist in
the gaming community of “League of Legends”, and how the developer is going
about to try and reduce it. Having read this article, I realized how much more
toxicity females have to put up with when they are playing online video games.
“Racist, sexist and homophobic language isrampant; aggressors often threaten violence or urge a player to commit suicide;and from time to time, the vitriol spills beyond the confines of the game. Inthe notorious 'gamerngate' controversy that erupted in late 2014, several womeninvolved in the gaming industry were subjected to a campaign of harassment,including invasions of privacy and threats of death and rape.” (Brendan Maher).
Not only did this article open up my eyes up to the toxicity that I probably
never had to deal with because I am a male, but it also made me wonder if an
online toxicity free environment was really feasible, and what mainly causes it.
Toxicity in gaming
is more prevalent then it ever has been. I believe that a lot of this has to do
with the fact that many of the people still playing online games today, grew up
playing online games since their inception and got used to the toxic
environment. Younger generations, who are just getting started in online
gaming, are thrown into the mix and learn very quickly how to behave online
from the excellent displays of maturity from others, for example, “I f**ked
your mom”, and so on. Another reason I believe that toxicity is so prevalent
today, mainly has to do with the type of game that you are playing. Toxicity
has existed in “Call of Duty” forever and will continue to do so, however the
nature of “Call of Duty” is a lone wolf play style. Rarely are players ever
collaborating together to achieve a main objective. Therefore, since players
are not forced to communicate with each other, toxicity levels relatively stay
at a minimum in that franchise in my opinion. Toxicity really takes a turn for
the worse when you are playing a game that requires communication and teamwork
to achieve a certain goal. Similar to the aspects of group work that we have
learn in our “Collaborating in Online Communities” class. Overwatch is a
relatively new game that has had major success, as it is thrilling to play, requires
strategy and first person game tracking (aiming). The game is built around how
your team of six works together to beat the enemy team of six in various game
types. If a single member of your team is slacking in decision-making, skill, etc.,
then your team will most likely lose. Essentially, I believe that toxicity
really prevails in games that require teamwork and communication.
In our “Collaborating in Online
Communities” class, we learned about Tuckman’s five stages of group
development. These five stages in order are forming, storming, norming,
performing, and adjourning. In all the examples of this and practice we had in
class whether it be us discussing different scenarios or us being assigned
group projects, none of these stages were ever forced to occur in say a time
span of 20 minutes. A game of Overwatch can last from 15 minutes to even an
hour. These five stages of group development all take place in a single game of
Overwatch, but at a much quicker pace I am sure then of anything Tuckman ever
thought of. A game of Overwatch begins at the hero selection screen, 6 players
have a selection of 20+ heroes but when choosing, they must all keep in mind
what the team needs and how the team synergizes with each other. Many times
games are lost at the hero selection screen because no one wants to play a
support role for the team. This very first part of the game is where the
forming stage takes place. Not only do teammates have about 40 seconds to
choose a hero, but they quickly discuss with each other who wants to play what.
Following this stage, the team will begin storming by setting up their
positions and strategies awaiting the enemy, just about a minute later, the
game has begun, 2 stages down in 2 minutes. As the game gets going,
communication is key, the team begins the norming stage. Players now know what
they must do and what their roles are. Quickly after the game begins, the team
is now at the performing stage, hopefully easily pushing through the enemies’
defense, or stopping enemy offensive plays. After a couple jaw dropping plays
and fist clenching moments, the game is over and hopefully your team won. The
team laughs, or argues, about some crazy moments that occurred, and go their
separate ways into yet another game. Even some team members will group up with
others because they synergized so well. Now for the most part, I just described
a perfect game in Overwatch, a team that collaboratively works through ever
step of group development. However, in a game that randomly places you with
other random people, this is bound to not happen every time. This I do believe
is the root of toxicity at least in video games. Being expected to collaborate
and synergize online, while on a time crunch gets players emotions all mixed up
and can bring out the worst in them. The developer of Overwatch, Blizzard has
been very active in working towards a toxic free environment by introducing
reports and banning of players, and other similar tactics that the article
discusses with “League of Legends”, but I am not sure that it is possible to
fully eradicate it from the game. Overall, I believe that toxicity has just
become part of online games. If you do not want to deal with toxicity, then you
are better off playing some single player game, or not playing videogames at
all in my opinion.
Sources
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