We Need Toxic Players, According to Orcs Must Die Developer

[Alfador_VII]

You know what, developers, if you want toxic players in your game that's probably what you'll get.

They can keep it, no way in hell am I buying Unchained, or anything else multiplayer from Robot Entertainment in future

 

[Proto Taco]

I think a lot of the peeps here are missing a very important point;

Everyone's been a jerk at some point.

I don't care how stalwart and sublime you think your online presence has been, at some point, just by nature of the fact that you're human, you've been a jerk to someone, knowingly or not. I really think that is the point the Developer is trying to get at here. Just because you're a jerk once or twice on the internet, doesn't mean you're the bile of the earth and should be exiled into the wilderness.

Does that mean people who lob insidious threats and regularly spew slurs/sexism/racism/bigotry/etc into chat should be encouraged? No, of course not. But there are lots of people I've seen and/or have known who've been VERY toxic, just on a casual level. I mean if you spend any amount of time on WoW you'll learn about how the shield player icon has come to represent a condom in the online community of WoW, and if a raid leader is dick enough he'll slap it over a player avatar he doesn't like to insinuate their parents 'should have used a condom' or they 'should have been aborted'. That's an entire online community, you can't ban that, and appalling rituals like that exist in every online community I've passed through.

So glass houses, sins, stones, be the change and all that. I for one respect the developers courage to stand up for compassionate practices, even if their PR rep did word it poorly.

 

[meria]

Yes; threats, slurs, and harrassment are all a valuable part of being a female player in a multiplayer game and serve to show the amount of healthy passion these players have. My multiplayer experience just wouldn't be the same without little boys telling me how they're going to rape me when I beat them in PVP (or, indeed, when I lose to them in PVP; isn't it great to have a goal in life?!). Similarly, being constantly hassled to send them pictures of my breasts really drives a game along, you know? Those are exactly the kinds of players who are going to give your game longevity.

Good game, little spitstains, good game. You are truly the beating heart of the 21st century multiplayer world.

 

[Zeckt]

I have over 130 hours on orcs 2, I wish they would of made a true sequel instead of a pvp focused thingie. It was such a fun co op game!

 

[Grape_Nuts]

No, I don't want annoying little brats in any of my games. Friendly players are what a game needs, not racist/xenophobic asshats that feed off hate.

 

[PirateRose]

I've always thought that the toxic players are attracted to popular multiplayer games so they can seek attention by trying to best everyone and harass people. Toxic players don't play because the game is good, they play for the thrill of aggression towards people. Especially since there is no severe consequences. They don't touch single player and if they get banned, they will drop the game to find the next popular game and will probably return for more once they are unbanned in the other one.

When they hang out with their friends after playing, they brag about how they screwed people over and made someone cry because they themselves are so great, as opposed to how great the game is to play.

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

He doesn't say we need abusive players, just that they're a sign your game is good and you have a passionate playerbase. Which is variously true. I have little doubt that were they just as passionate and not assholes behaviourally he would have no problem with that. So I actually agree. Besides which, there are always nice, altruistic players and dickheads in a fanbase, and honestly, from the comments in this thread you'd think you guys were made of paper. If it's a good enough game you should want to play it anyway, I wouldn't avoid a game I might be interested in on this alone.

 

[gamegod25]

Guys...I am disappoint. How has Montoya not maken an appearance yet?

Spoiler: Take it Montoya!

I'm sorry developer guy but I believe you are mixing up "Passionate players" and "Asshats".

I know that they CAN be the same thing at time but one does not equal the other.

Passionate players are a good thing. Passion means you have done something right for people care. Asshats (or "Toxic Players") are not a good thing. Asshats poison the game community and keep new players away.

Was going to make the same joke XD

There are going to be all kinds of players and, being the internet, there are going to more than a few asshats in the mix. The issue is finding a way to keep them in check so that they don't hurt the game for others who are passionate and care about the game.

 

[Lieju]

Being passionate is good, but the moment you're described as 'toxic' it sort of implies you're bad for the environment and other people.

There's since been a clarification that was brought to my attention on their twitter. Take a peek:

https://orcsmustdie.com/news/toxic-players-will-be-incinerated-and-gibletized

That link just gives me a '404 not found'.

 

[ShadowGandalf01]

I couldn't disagree more. When I play online with people I want to be able to talk to them, strategise and maybe a bit of friendly banter. I DON'T wanna hear an endless string of curses because of mistakes I might make, or hear how I should never have bought the game if I'm not gonna play it right etc... these people are scum (at least, in an online environment) and I don't EVER wanna play with people like that. Toxic is a bad thing... not a good thing. What if these Toxic players only succeed in driving away newer players because of their intolerable attitudes? You think of that?

 

[LazyAza]

Well this guys an idiot.

A big part of why SO MANY people choose to not play games online (my interest being very low with certain genres) is because of toxic gamers. A large portion of those people being female gamers who often have to deal with even more bullshit than usual.

Saying this kind of player is ok and acceptable is basically like saying you want less money, you want your game to perform more poorly because no they aren't just a simple reality and a thing to be accepted, they are a plague on society and need to be as discouraged as much as possible from playing games online. Their should be automatic systems in place that detect sexist and racist terms and ban such people should those phrases be detected constantly from them.

 

[Karthek]

Easy for you to say, developer man. You've already made money off these toxic players; we're the ones who have to put up with them!
I don't care how "passionate" they are about the game, nothing excuses some of the behavior I've seen in online matches. Between children too young to play M-rated games screaming obscenities into their headsets and 20-somethings ganging up to harass players because they feel like it, online multi-player has itself become toxic to be in.
Assholes don't improve a game, they make it worse.

 

[Dragonbums]

We aren't talking about alienating "aggressive players". We are talking about people who say shit that's so vile it sucks the fun out of the entire game for everyone. Regardless of who the target of their crap is.

I'm not gonna have a good time if 7/10 I'm playing a game someone or a group of asshats is going to call me a ****** or make yet another "Women in the kitchen" joke because I dared to use the feature of voice chat.

LGBTQ people aren't going to have a good time when they can't do fucking anything without getting barraged with ****** noise and all other sorts of shit.

People of other religions aren't going to have a good time when toxic players play the superiority card and shit all over the very culture they grew up in.

Toxic players in and of themselves alienate more people with their nasty behavior than they do bring people in.

TF2 at the start of their F2P model was depressing as fuck. It wasn't fun when pro players would constantly heckle, make fun of, and harass young players to the point of them no returning because they "didn't invest".

These people are called 'toxic' for a reason dude. Nobody wants the luck to be playing with or against them.

 

[Glaice]

Did they leave their PR guys on vacation when Robot Entertainment made such stupid, asinine statements then backpedaled?

 

[Foolery]

Hmm. Yeah. Nope. Thanks for reminding me why I don't play public games in Team Fortress 2 or Left4Dead1&2 anymore. It's difficult to find servers where you won't run into mic-abusing shitheads.

 

[the_deku_nutt]

When I'm playing DotA and some idiot feeds a bunch of kills, then yeah, I'm going to be toxic towards that person. I don't WANT that idiot to return to my game. If he quits playing because I call him stupid, then it's a success. Weeding out people who are "only playing for fun" is refreshing. I play to win, and winning is fun.


If someone makes a small mistake, I don't blow up about it. I tell them they made a mistake and how. If they choose to say "f u" or just ignore me and keep doing the same stupid thing, then I'm going to be toxic. If they acknowledge the mistake then I move on.


Don't play games that require teamwork and act like it's a huge personal insult because your team wants to not be terrible.

 

[Genocidicles]

While I don't really agree with him, I do find it stupid how all the big developers are cracking down on toxic players like they're a plague scouring the bountiful field of online gaming.

Seriously, is a mute button not enough for some players?

 

[geldonyetich]

I think the Orcs Must Die developers probably haven't had enough toxic players to know just how high maintenance they are yet.

 

[DoubleU12]

I dunno. I don't want people to be labeled as "Toxic" Yeah some players are asses all the time but there are some that are just don't take losing well and throw tantrums.

Then there are people who are victims of circumstance. Not to brag but I'm REALLY good at SoulCalibur 4 online. 1 game I fought a Cassandra who would use her really fast shield move and follow it up with a large combo. Now the combo was always different and unique each time but it always started with the shield attack. So I would attack, she could block and use the shield attack before I recovered from my attack and hit me with a long combo.

So I changed my strategy to exclusively moves that made it difficult to use that shield move on me after my attack and punish her for trying to hit me with it.

By the end of the match I won but after that this guy got extremely upset and called me a F-ing spammer and the likes. That seems EXTREMELY uncalled for. I was a good player fighting another good player, however I turned what made his strategy powerful into a liability but as a result I reduced the moves I used. Does this make me a toxic player because he couldn't figure out that I wasn't lucky and not blindly mashing buttons? I don't think so, he likely would have complained if I won by some other means anyway so who cares. I didn't have a mic available and I wasn't about to try and explain myself to some guy who can't accept defeat gracefully.

 

[RaikuFA]

While I don't really agree with him, I do find it stupid how all the big developers are cracking down on toxic players like they're a plague scouring the bountiful field of online gaming.

Seriously, is a mute button not enough for some players?

Sometimes the mute button just isn't enough. Look at Ultratwinkie's post. You think you can just mute that?