PVP Has a Bigotry Problem

[Delta Dawn.4970]

Look, I know that this is true of every PVP game and it's literally nothing compared to the CoD lobbies of yore, but it's absolutely insane that despite blocking every person I see who says this stuff, not a day goes by that I don't see at least one instance of blatant racism, sexism, homophobia, or transphobia in PVP map chats. (The transphobia is the worst, since it's the current focus of right-wingers around the world - I invite anyone who doubts me to go into HotM and type something like "I think trans people should have human rights" in map chat and see the response, because the one time I said that in a conversation I got a deranged person telling me to kill myself and calling me slurs through in-game mail afterward - but there's a fair share of unprompted hate flung around at black/arab/asian people, women, muslims, gay people, and of course anyone with a disability too.) I know PVP will always be toxic and there's no way to prevent people sharing their opinions short of extreme censorship, but it's kinda a problem that this one game mode is such a hostile environment for sizeable chunks of the community. I don't really have an answer for how to feasibly fix it, but I also know that ignoring the problem won't fix it either. It's a shame for a game as inclusive in other modes as GW2 to also somehow play host to this kind of hate, and with enough prevalence that even literally 6 years of blocking people in an already low-population game mode is still not enough to not see it.

[Daenxi.4530]

Can't say I have ever experienced this myself but the Guild Wars 2 crowd has always seemed pretty non political (Compared to the more reactionary/anti woke etc tendencies from the Blizzard/WoW area of gaming)  and really just focused on the game itself. 100% of the toxicity I see isn't people attacking certain demographics but actual *personal slights* aimed at players (almost always on their own type) for lacking in skill, experience, the correct build or just general underperforming. However I think complaining that you have a kitten team (especially in unranked) is kind of a moot point, when teams lose in one sided matches its usually the whole team getting their kitten kicked not the specifically bad or inexperienced players..

My real concern is more experienced players discouraging newer or less experienced players from learning the game because they aren't good ( you can't get good if you don't play)
But my personal pet peeve is people sitting out in the first few minutes of a difficult match once they find out they won't be getting carried by their team.

[Inssengrimm.7924]

Today i got called several things through whisper and i haven't even played PvP today.

 

[Farohna.6247]

I mostly see people being hateful and rude to get attention.  They troll in WvW or PvP to get attention, distract players, provoke arguments.  It's a sad way to get to get people to notice you, and that you feel comfortable saying things from behind a keyboard that are so hurtful.  

Report and move on.  Best you can do.  Turn off chat in PvP.  Don't let them live rent free in your head though, there are always trolls.

[Batel.9206]

Welcome to the internet.

Can honestly say I've never noticed that in chat in this game, even with playing PvP and WvW at various times. Other games, sure. But not this one. As Daenxi says, people in this game tend to be more focused on the actual game, and trolls of any kind get shouted down or ignored pretty much immediately unless someone's actively egging them on, engaging with and responding to their messages. Someone in Tarir the other night was talking trash about a certain political topic in America right now...and the response from the rest of the map was "do we have enough people at south?" Nobody responded and rose to the bait, so the troll soon quit.

Report, block, move on.

[Jedrik.3109]

You have chat on?

Interesting. 

[Zebulous.2934]

That is a shame.  I much prefer it when players are racist against sylvari, charr, asura, or humans. 

For some reason no one seems to hate Norns.

Anyway the fantasy racism is funny, the irl stuff is unpleasent and boring.

[Nate Anabe.6091]

3 minutes ago, Zebulous.2934 said:

For some reason no one seems to hate Norns.

Norns are Bookah's

Bookah — The origin of "bookah" is that of a large, loud, bellowing, and dumb imaginary creature that the asura used to frighten their children.

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Languages_of_Tyria#Asuran

[AliamRationem.5172]

I too have a bad habit of publicly sharing my views on the hot-button political topics of the day.  You wouldn't believe the audacity of these people who disagree with me.  They start saying things I don't like and far be it from me to back down and let them have the last word.  Any ideas on how I can say what I want without other people saying what they want? I'm at my wit's end here, guys.

[Arianth Moonlight.6453]

funny, never see anyone being a "bigot" in sPvP. WvW and PvE? Yeah sure, but it' usually just one guy trying to get himself banned or being edgy on a free to play account.

[Ashen.2907]

1 hour ago, AliamRationem.5172 said:

I too have a bad habit of publicly sharing my views on the hot-button political topics of the day.  You wouldn't believe the audacity of these people who disagree with me.  They start saying things I don't like and far be it from me to back down and let them have the last word.  Any ideas on how I can say what I want without other people saying what they want? I'm at my wit's end here, guys.

This.

[DanAlcedo.3281]

Having the ability to talk kitten without fear to get punched in the face changes people. 

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

Report, block, move on.

[DarkK.7368]

I have like 3 years of PVP daily. Always with chat on. I almost never saw anyone talking about that kitten there. I also stepped into HoTM a lot and also read chat. Nothing. I only play in Silver, I don't know how is the chat in other places, but... Seems weird to me. Aren't you sure you are the one starting that in some way?

Do you want to make it funnier? Since like half a year, I literally start ALL my games with a "Have fun! Enjoy competition and get your enemie's blood *bows*" copypasted in /map chat. Most of times it's silence, sometimes some "GG" or "thanks" in response. Some random time some stupid got sarcastic. But silence dominates. That line could be a perfect line to "trigger" people, to open chat to stuff, etc, but no...

6 hours ago, AliamRationem.5172 said:

I too have a bad habit of publicly sharing my views on the hot-button political topics of the day.  You wouldn't believe the audacity of these people who disagree with me.  They start saying things I don't like and far be it from me to back down and let them have the last word.  Any ideas on how I can say what I want without other people saying what they want? I'm at my wit's end here, guys.

Indeed that could explain

[mercury ranique.2170]

1 hour ago, Inculpatus cedo.9234 said:

Report, block, move on.

I can not agree more.....
...however.

Too often I hear, this is part of the format. Too often I hear it is what it is. We just have to deal with it.
There is a UA in place and rules of conduct. This behaviour is against this. So yes you are 100% correct to report, block and not let them win by getting under your skin (aka move on).
One can debate however that this kind behaviour is a plague that could be dealt with in a better way. It is Arenanet's decission how to punish, but we can agree (or not) that it should be done harsher. It is too easy to just say it is just part of the format. It doesn't need to be part of it and in my opinion more could be done.

Although I do think that modern day actions the GM's can take are not sufficient. Even a permaban is not impressive.
A solution could be:
1: introduce a system where accounts matter. If you loose your account you should really loose something.
2: to avoid having just the permaban option, built in steps in between that use the system above to make the actions taken hurt

[Luthan.5236]

PvP has a lot of problems - it not getting any attention (when even WvW is getting some) being the biggest one. There should be more game modes besides the conquest and death match (even death match mini season was only 1 weekl recently cause people probably dislike it since it seems to not really add any mechanics besides just ... killing the enemies). I want 10-20 vs 10-20 PvP (not zerg WvW). Trying to advertise PvP more in general to get more people playing it.

If you have only some die-hard PvP fans (do they even exist lol? I know for WvW we have the die-hard fans) and people playing for the rewards left ... it naturally will get more "problematic". (The kind of people that are problematic in chat will be a higher percentage of the total amount of people playing PvP.)

That said ... in low to mid skill-tier besides the usual afker or bad matchmaking (500 to 50) and a few times people whining (trying to tell others how to play) I still have good matches every now and then and no (rarely) huge flaming.

And who goes to HotM? I queue 1 daily match from a normal PvE map - not more. 😄 (When SAB is over maybe up to 3 matches until I finished the seasonal league track chest). Saying stuff like the thing in the OP ("I think trans people should have human rights") also might seem like a bait where people that don't disagree could feel like trolling  to see how the person reacts that said something like that. I would not really try to openly discuss politics in the game. (Usually I try to give a super neutral remark when something is on in LA chat while I rearrange my inventory and bank. Not trying to get involved too much. I try avoid being baited into saing something bannable in the game where I almost reach up to 10k hours played lol.)

Hardcore stuff like telling you to kill yourself - I'd always report that. (And I usually barely care.) That should be banned imo (at least temp ban at first - no prior "warning"). Nothign you just get baited into in a heated discussion and I think I have only seen that once or so ... a PvP whisper when I played too bad or something like that or the other person felt baited cause I reacted to indifferent to them trying to bait me.

[Crono.4197]

These kind of issues have always been there, but in the past people weren't that bothered about it. I remember the times when bad words on the internet didn't offend people. Good times. Now we live in times when everyone gets offended by everything.

 

[Atoclone.4810]

What side of the pond are you? Whilst I've met some truly obnoxious players I don't think I've seen any actual hate speech in PvP on the EU side

[nosleepdemon.1368]

11 hours ago, AliamRationem.5172 said:

I too have a bad habit of publicly sharing my views on the hot-button political topics of the day.  You wouldn't believe the audacity of these people who disagree with me.  They start saying things I don't like and far be it from me to back down and let them have the last word.  Any ideas on how I can say what I want without other people saying what they want? I'm at my wit's end here, guys.

Oh wow. I was going to post some smarty pants reply but nothing I could possibly post would beat this. Well done, you put a smile on my face this morning 😄

[Cuks.8241]

From my experience (mostly gold, eu) 4/5 pvp matches go completely polite, hi, hf, gg. There's 1/5 where players start blaming but it's not that bad. And there's occasional one where it goes really bad with name calling. 

I've just finished the 10 placements for this season and had quite bad streak and there was 0 bad words spoken. There was one mesmer in a close match that was feeding and was called out. He said he's bad at mesmer and only plays for his Ascensions requirements (recipe for bad mouthing) and we were all like it's fine. We also lost that one really close and there was no bad blood.

Never really saw anything racial or otherwise nasty. If it goes bad it's mostly just calling each other bad. But maybe it's more of a USA thing because you guys are just over the top with racial, religion, gender sensitivity lately.

[Farohna.6247]

4 hours ago, Crono.4197 said:

These kind of issues have always been there, but in the past people weren't that bothered about it. I remember the times when bad words on the internet didn't offend people. Good times. Now we live in times when everyone gets offended by everything.

 

It always offended.   But people are tired of just excusing it because it has once again become more prevalent and more vile.  Slurs should never be used, and should never be tolerated.   We're not just talking about curse words or some vulgarity.  Sometimes the old understanding of don't bring up politics or religion is best...play the game and just go back to insulting each other's moms.

[Farohna.6247]

5 hours ago, mercury ranique.2170 said:

I can not agree more.....
...however.

Too often I hear, this is part of the format. Too often I hear it is what it is. We just have to deal with it.
There is a UA in place and rules of conduct. This behaviour is against this. So yes you are 100% correct to report, block and not let them win by getting under your skin (aka move on).
One can debate however that this kind behaviour is a plague that could be dealt with in a better way. It is Arenanet's decission how to punish, but we can agree (or not) that it should be done harsher. It is too easy to just say it is just part of the format. It doesn't need to be part of it and in my opinion more could be done.

Although I do think that modern day actions the GM's can take are not sufficient. Even a permaban is not impressive.
A solution could be:
1: introduce a system where accounts matter. If you loose your account you should really loose something.
2: to avoid having just the permaban option, built in steps in between that use the system above to make the actions taken hurt

What's worse than a permaban??  They come to your door for reprisals?  That's a little creepy.  

[arazoth.7290]

13 hours ago, Zebulous.2934 said:

That is a shame.  I much prefer it when players are racist against sylvari, charr, asura, or humans. 

For some reason no one seems to hate Norns.

Anyway the fantasy racism is funny, the irl stuff is unpleasent and boring.

Or when they link in game race to irl how you can look 😂

[arazoth.7290]

I once had a random person in pvp whispering while just standing afk outside FFA "I hate it that you breath air". I wanted to text him back with "?!?!!??", but I was already blocked 😂

[Shagie.7612]

you're right but that's what happens when a game is unmoderated 

a thread like this is just fuel for the very people you're talking about too, heck half of the people responding are probably the same people you're talking about in-game