I would have to say that the balance of political correctness has these days swung too far to one side in many cases. It seems society has reached a peak of a perpetual state of being offended without the required clarity to understand things such as facts and truth in order to discern the reality of the situation. However, we must never let true toxic behavior go unchecked or established levels of acceptability for it.
True toxic behavior is a common concern in real life just as it is in video games. In multiplayer video games it corrodes players efforts, their morale, and harms a game’s ambiance. In the worse cases it demeans and corrodes self worth. The root of the problem is the lack of good sportsmanship in any situation where there is a competitive nature of player versus player. I see the lack of good sportsmanship almost every time I sail in Sea of Thieves.
Everyone wants to win. There is nothing wrong with that. The problem is we will not always win. People in real life are not prepared to face the fact that sometimes, if not many times, over the course of our lives we will lose at something. Playing real life sports with a good coach can go a long way to learning what it means to play together and respect yourself and your opponents rather you win or lose. In online games that opportunity is mostly absent and sadly often ignored.
Intentional toxic behavior happens when a player truly seeks to harass or harm other players. It is like trolling in the forums. The aim is to have fun or gain advantage over others at the expense of the target or victim. Typically for their own person enjoyment, self satisfaction, and often reinforcement of low self esteem or various other psycho-social issues.
Toxicity in video games is a wide open issue covering rude behavior such as trash talk to include slurs and expressions of racism, homophobia, and sexism. In most online multiplayer video games with elements of PvP this most often makes up a significant portion, if not the only form, of communication between players. In Sea of Thieves all the above can be very common when you encounter someone else on the sea, especially when you sink someone no matter how the situation was entered into and played out.
Slurs and other forms of racism, homophobia, and sexism are more common in online video games than many want to realize or accept to be true. The online world is amphitheater for such real life behavior. This level of toxicity rises to the level of harassment and hate. Trash talk should not just be considered a lesser evil. It is still wrong, unnecessary, and unacceptable. It should never trump good sportsmanship and mutual respect.
While a toxic community might not be the only cannonballs shot to sink a game, even a very popular one, it can still go a long way to ruin the online experience in that game and sway public perception to only see the worse possible. Shunning other players, belittling them, and other such abusive language that some want to condone as simple trash talk can cause a lot of other players to sail on to more friendly, safer horizons in other games.
One of the main reasons and often the sole reason I see in personal reviews about why someone does not play Sea of Thieves is all the toxicity out there on the sea. Reason others personally tell me they will not play it. Online anonymity allows many to be the worse they can be to others. Sea of Thieves can allow such players to double down with the excuses “I am only playing a pirate”, this is not “Sea of Friends”, or this is a “pirate game”.
Personally I rather sail in a “Sea of Friends” where we all can be “pirates” while at the same time we remember there is another player on the other end of that other pirate we just sent to the ferry or their ship we just sunk. We are not “real pirates” and why does that mean we have to be bad to one another? For the most part the behavior that many players show others on the sea is nothing about being a pirate.
We all benefit when we create a open, inviting, friendly, and respectful environment to sail on. It is not just everyone else’s responsibility to have a good time playing an online multiplayer game. It is all our responsibility because we are not playing a single player game. Our actions, behavior, and most importantly our words matter because we are not alone out there on the sea. We need each other for any multiplayer game to remain popular and survive. Most importantly we need each other to get the most out of the online world we all love and time we each spend in it. Be more pirate by being a better pirate to each other.