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Esports isn't helping the case any that's for sure but this problem has been around since it became a thing like DX said. I remember the days before Xbox Party Chat, good god I hated every minute of being in the normal game chat mode since I used to play COD4 with a group of classmates all the time. When Party Chat was implemented I thought it was one of the best things ever since I no longer had to listen to the 12 year old boys saying I was a 40 year old virgin living in my parents basement raping little boys (yes I actually did have a kid say this to me because I wiped the floor with him in a COD match. Not my problem he sucks at checking his corners in a match that it's quite obvious that I'm wiping his team out with a shotgun by camping corners (yea I was a camper, even had the pro-perk that gave me a fire and tent (inside joke)). I quit going to GameSpot to read gaming news because of all the political crap they go into now and I'm getting quite sick of seeing it on VG247. All I want is news on games, coverage of game shows, and the occasional humor article that reminisces about the good old days of gaming. I don't want political crap saying our "culture" is hateful. Yes there are a lot of bad eggs in our community but sadly it's the same way with any hobby you get into now-a-days. There will always be elitists pricks who think they're better then you, their favorite sports team is the best, and so on and so forth but we're not all like that. A good 60% of gamers these days are in their 20's and 30's, we're all pretty mature people who want to play games as an escape from reality. Don't lump us in with the rest that use it as a status symbol (a very bad one at that). Sadly it's just another way for the media to portray us as mean spirited people. The whole violent video games makes people kill others thing was enough, we really don't need this on top of it (even if we all know it's a load of bullshit).

The Gaming Culture... or any hobby with the word Culture placed after it is an automatic negative connotation for the media... Like "The Gun Culture" I own 5 guns, so I guess I'm going to go commit mass murder one day according to the drive by media. I'm just an all out horrible person because I am apart of the Gun and Gaming Culture. Its bad enough sites like Kotaku.. and now VG247 insert political garbage into their articles. Gaming is my escape from the real world. I don't want to think about real life issues when I am doing my hobby. Esports has nothing to do with it IMO. I played COD well before esports became a thing and the issue has always been around. I remember the days on 360 before there was a party chat... You could only private chat with one other person, so if you had more than 1 friend playing you had to delve into the gaming public chat which was a nightmare. The people that act like animals during esports were like that before esports arrived on the scene. Its a toxic atmosphere that makes you hate people in general... I've told plenty of overly angry 14 year olds that I hope the die of AIDs after their temper tantrums. Not the most mature thing, but it was the only way I could convey my thoughts on their behavior in a language only they could understand. I love this guy. XD

Didn't you know Sledge all gamers are asshats. I thought this was general knowledge. All kidding aside they need to realize that the majority of the problem comes from the games being played as well as the general age of the community. Most of the hate crap comes from the younger generation of gamers who think it's hip and cool (god I can't believe I said that) to be a complete dick to everyone. Games like COD perpetuate this because kids seem to think that high kill counts in matches equal skill and bragging rights. Sadly this mentality also carries into other games as these kids can't get it through there head that other games are not like COD where you can brag about stuff like that. Honestly if the industry would do away with games like COD you'd probably see a massive switch over to more pleasant gaming with our peers. Sadly our generation suffers mildly from this problem as well but the majority of us have grown up and moved on (I know I used to be quite the asshat back in my Halo and COD4 days). FFXIV's community has been one of the most awesome communities I've been apart of in my years of gaming. Don't get me wrong there are asshats in this game as there are with any MMO but the majority of the players are pretty awesome people as they're always willing to help out in any way they can. It also helps that the game is centered around group activities as there is a lot of stuff in this game that requires you to group up. Honestly its been a long time since I've played a game with this friendly atmosphere (I never ran into this in SWTOR, mostly because I stick to myself and generally ignore others).

Stop making Call of Duty and 50% of the problem is solved. SWTOR and GW2 are some of the most pleasant gaming communities I've ever been apart of. Perhaps a part of that is the complexity of these games... they can be too overwhelming for those of lesser intellect and children. Battlefield is a deeper game than COD. Its more challenging to master, therefore you have a a bit more mature user base. Do a Diablo 2 HD remake keeping every mechanic the same including the skill tree, and I bet you won't see many bad apples. Gaming that requires strategy, patience, and most of all: effort, tend to have better communities. The real answer is, stop making shitty watered down games that are rated M. Otherwise you'll keep getting the same 12-17 year olds spewing out hate speech, blaming everyone else for their horrible skills where there are no skills required.