Article written by soyahs.
Why does toxicity exist within video game communities? is a question that always comes to my mind. If we go for the psychological side of coexistence, there will always be friction within any group of people, but why is it more noticeable when a player starts in a certain game for example?
I’m not saying that this is seen in all communities, since at least within Hype Horizen the good vibes and positivity fortunately make this environment something we would like to see everywhere.
Take for example when a new player starts in a game and looks for their peers, looks for those who have the same interests to share information that will also help them on his way. I have never understood why when this new player asks something they don’t know, I would venture to say that 70-80% of those who respond do so in a mocking, sarcastic manner and just point out what a newbie this person is for only asking something they don’t know.
Our behaviors can define a person, even as small as they may seem, that newbie who was teased or taken for a fool because “how come you don’t know that?” may either pay no attention to the teasing, strike back (and rightly so) or their system processes that, to avoid that sort of thing, it is better not to ask anything and seek to resolve a situation on their own. Of the three possible reactions, undoubtedly the most harmful may be the latter, since the player is inhibited from asking more questions and may even create a resentment that leads him to behave as they did with him when another asks a “silly” question… forming a chain of people who make an environment, which should be of encounter, in a hostile and unpleasant one.
Now, why do these behaviors exist? I am not a psychologist but I feel that it may be due to, as I mentioned before, experiences of the person who attacks, low self-esteem, egocentrism or perhaps a kind of feeling of superiority for the experience they have playing the game that makes them act in an unfriendly way. When rather, what they should be doing is using that experience to guide others, because we have to remember that we all start from the bottom, no one is ever born learned.
Please, whoever is reading this post, always remember that kindness attracts more than anything else, we can become someone important in the nascent life of a gamer and that if you are a content creator, always seek to contribute in any way you can to someone else’s gaming life.
