Defining Toxicity

Being “toxic” is generally defined as an adjective for those who are always negative, frequently complain, and spread unnecessary hate by talking trash towards others. If you are part of the online community, you have definitely run into at least one person of this nature, especially if you commonly play competitive, multiplayer games.

When someone is being toxic, they will typically stop playing how they normally do out of anger or frustration, sometimes even going to the extent of “throwing” or not playing at all. They will also make their frustration clear to the other players with them, whether through in-game voice chat or text chat.

Being paired up with someone who is toxic can be very detrimental to your performance. These players distract you from the game and instead make you focus on trying not to get the player more angry in order for them to play normally. Overall, these kinds of players only function correctly when everything is going their way, and the second something goes badly, they give up and begin their descent into frustration and anger.

The initial toxicity given out by the player dampens the entire mood of the match, turning it into more of a grudge match than a standard competitive game. The frustration can also rub off onto other players which could turn the game into a cycle of anger traded back and forth between players.

Rocket League is no exception to toxicity. In fact, many players see Rocket League as one of the more toxic multiplayer games. This is odd, considering the fact that the in-game voice chat system is never used. Despite the absence of direct voice chat, the indirect ways that people display their anger can be even worse than speech. There are a few common ways that players show toxicity:

- Sarcastic Quick Chat
- Voting to forfeit after conceding one or two goals
- Abandoning the match
- Refusing to play but staying in the match to spite others
- Direct text chat

How Toxicity Can Affect You

These are the various mediums through which players show us their toxicity. While most of the methods only affect you mentally, a couple of them can actually affect your rank.

Abandoning the match leaves you in a 1v2 or 2v3 situation, depending on what gamemode you are playing. While the 2v3 is still possible to win, the 1v2 is nearly impossible to win. Even though abandoning a match will temporarily ban the person who left from matchmaking, it still does not make much of a difference.

What is worse, however, is when a player refuses to play. This guarantees a loss for that team, and will make you lose skill points like a normal match. Even though those methods affect your rank, the most negative toxicity is conveyed through the direct text chat. Some toxic players will abuse their anonymity on the internet and type out extremely vulgar and offensive things to the lobby.

The Community's Response

Psyonix has done a much better job in recent history at banning players like this by updating the reporting system. The new system takes the most recent visible lines of text chat and reports it along with one of the preset descriptions of what the player is being reported for.

There is also an in-game censoring system for text chat that censors explicit and offensive words. The censorship system is great except for the fact that players can put a space in the middle of the word to bypass the censoring filter.

This epidemic of toxicity in Rocket League has started to give the game a negative reputation, to the extent of causing some players to quit the game entirely. Look no further than the negative reviews for the game on Steam. The primary issue found in the negative reviews is that the players are “too toxic”.

Rocket League Youtuber "SunlessKhan" recently did an experiment in which he interviewed the players who wrote negative reviews and asked them to describe their experiences in further detail:

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In the video, it is seen that the primary reason those players left negative reviews on the game is because of the toxic community, and even though they may still enjoy playing the game itself, the toxicity is hindering them from enjoying the full experience of Rocket League.

How to Avoid Being Toxic Yourself

Even though you cannot change the way others are, you can be the bigger person and ignore the toxicity. Toxic players want to get a reaction out of you in order to start an argument or prove their “point”, whatever it may be. They are trying to get under your skin, so just like in real life, ignore their comment and continue to play, as it is the best thing you can do in a situation like this. Firing back a comment is the least beneficial action, and almost guarantees a quick reply from your teammate that will only make things worse.

Additionally, remember that there is a fine line between banter and toxicity. When sending a message in the chat, think about how you might react if it was sent to you, and make sure the message is received correctly. Although you may just be joking around, other players can easily perceive the message differently from what you intended, which can set a sour mood for the remainder of the game.

Another way to avoid becoming toxic is to pay attention to yourself. Recognize when you are starting to become more toxic in a playing session. Acknowledge the fact that you are being toxic, and think about how it is affecting you. Realize the goals that you are trying to accomplish, and push aside the toxicity in order to help yourself achieve those goals.

Conclusion

Toxicity is something that affects almost all communities, especially in gaming. Although toxicity can “ruin” the game for some people, the majority of us push past it and continue to enjoy the game. Toxicity can be avoided, but not completely averted, so it is important to understand that you cannot change the way people are. What you can do, though, is prevent yourself from being toxic.

Also, toxicity is not always a bad thing. Banter between players makes the game more entertaining and adds slightly higher stakes. As long as there are no hard feelings established between players, light toxicity is fun and enjoyable. This idea is known as “Positive Toxicity”, a term coined by Emiliano “Sizz” Benny, current substitute for Rogue.

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In the end, toxicity is a part Rocket League but that fact should not stop players from enjoying the game to its fullest. Do not let the small percentage of rude players hinder you from playing Rocket League happily.