Discussion on Toxic Behavior

[The7thCpt]

Spoiler: Quick Note

This was going to be a response to @ChlngeAccepted 's thread but it turned into its own thing so I made a new post.

For the past few weeks, toxicity and toxic behavior has become the norm on HavocMC and obviously there needs to be a crackdown by staff on what is and isn't acceptable in the community. However overall I feel both staff and players need to be more considerate in how they approach toxicity from other players or they will risk spreading it.

Let's say a veteran player (Michael) is having a bug issue on HavocMC. He decides to get on TeamSpeak and message a staff member (Jim) for help. He doesn't get a response after waiting for an hour. This upsets Michael, so when Jim gets on TeamSpeak, Michael decides to personally attack Jim and call him an *******, ineffective dip****, etc.

Maybe Mike's being unreasonable but it is Jim's JOB to handle the player's problem professionally and respectfully. The moment Jim decides to start flinging **** back at Michael ("you're an OG so why do you care", "toxic much?" "oo I roasted you", whatever), Jim's making himself look immature and out of control, he's making the staff team look bad, and he's just shown he's no better than Michael at the core because he doesn't have thick skin and doesn't know how to handle the problem maturely without just flaming on the player in response. Now Jim's lost other players' respect and as a result more people are disrespectful towards the staff team because they want to see Jim get mad so he can say something stupid and give them more fuel for their flamewars.

There will always be players who hate on the staff for petty reasons, who think they never listen, that staff are the worst people in the world, etc. The solution is recognizing these players and knowing how to deal with them both as a player and as staff, without firing back and creating unnecessary drama.

Now here's the million dollar question everyone should be asking themselves:
WHAT CAN I DO TO HELP SHUT DOWN TOXIC BEHAVIOR AND NOT SPREAD IT?

For staff --> One of the solutions I see that happens in-game: warning them once, if they don't stop it's a mute for harassment. Quick, efficient, no flaming. I know staff already have established policy about how to punish players in-game so I'll leave it at that. However this approach should also be applied equally on the forums : get a rule up about toxic behavior and what classifies as toxicity, and enforce it. If a player starts derailing a thread and personally attacking other users, send a PM with a warning not to spread toxicity, then a temporary forum ban if it continues. Issues like the one with @AlphaDemonQueen could be dealt with much easier if the staff choose not to engage in the arguments and instead let the harasser dig their own grave.
For players ---> Ignore it. I don't care if it makes it look like they won whatever roast session is going on. When you choose to try and "get the last word in", you're continuing a cycle of drama on the forums that annoys everyone else and transforms arguments into personal attacks when they should be discussions free of bias with both sides' points being considered equally.

It'd be great if all players were nice to each other but that's not how the world works and it will never work like that. Toxicity needs to be ignored or shut down swiftly, not exchanged like Christmas gifts between players and staff. While the server has other problems, the spread of toxic behavior is accelerating the server's downward spiral because a good community is the foundation of a strong server and right now the foundation of HavocMC is rotting. Staff, former staff, veteran players, and newcomers need to take time to think and reflect before responding to toxic behavior on the server or on the forums.

I want to use this thread to keep an open discussion going for a few days so please take a few minutes and leave a response saying what you think.

- 7th

 

[UterZorker]

I have a bad feeling that this will lead to more toxicity but yes something needs to be done by the player base and if people still ignore well thats when mutes and forum bans get handed out.

 

[DDENGAR]

You can't change other people that easily, they should either change themselves or just be ignored by the community. I'm also tired of people being *******, foking grow up and start taking people's ****. Wake up into reality, we don't need this server to become a safe space either.

 

[JT900]

Lol I made a thread for anti-toxicity and it got locked because people wanted to be toxic.
I hope this one turns out better than mine.

 

[Snek87]

A rule for toxicity should be implemented. Players that are toxic know they cannot be touched (at the moment hopefully) and will continue so until something can be done about it. I understand that staff can only do so much, but we the players can do furthermore to prevent this.

 

[Yove]

Spoiler: Quick Note

This was going to be a response to @ChlngeAccepted 's thread but it turned into its own thing so I made a new post.

For the past few weeks, toxicity and toxic behavior has become the norm on HavocMC and obviously there needs to be a crackdown by staff on what is and isn't acceptable in the community. However overall I feel both staff and players need to be more considerate in how they approach toxicity from other players or they will risk spreading it.


There will always be players who hate on the staff for petty reasons, who think they never listen, that staff are the worst people in the world, etc. The solution is recognizing these players and knowing how to deal with them both as a player and as staff, without firing back and creating unnecessary drama.

Now here's the million dollar question everyone should be asking themselves:
WHAT CAN I DO TO HELP SHUT DOWN TOXIC BEHAVIOR AND NOT SPREAD IT?


It'd be great if all players were nice to each other but that's not how the world works and it will never work like that. Toxicity needs to be ignored or shut down swiftly, not exchanged like Christmas gifts between players and staff. While the server has other problems, the spread of toxic behavior is accelerating the server's downward spiral because a good community is the foundation of a strong server and right now the foundation of HavocMC is rotting. Staff, former staff, veteran players, and newcomers need to take time to think and reflect before responding to toxic behavior on the server or on the forums.

I want to use this thread to keep an open discussion going for a few days so please take a few minutes and leave a response saying what you think.

- 7th

The sad thing is how this is only being addressed now, this would of been far easier to settle if it was when toxicity began to uproot itself, when the first split in the community happened back late 2016.

The staff should have shut it down throughout the years to begin with, but it was neglected for quite awhile and it has become a daily given for some users, because staff decided to ignore it, and players believe they will not be punished *and still are not being punished*.

 

[The7thCpt]

I have a bad feeling that this will lead to more toxicity but yes something needs to be done by the player base and if people still ignore well thats when mutes and forum bans get handed out.

The problem now is that mutes and forum bans aren't being handed out at all to those who deserve them. Many are choosing to feed the fire by continuing arguments and letting others' toxic behavior get to them. There needs to be a tough crackdown on all the harassment going on or it will drive more and more players away and further the division in the community

 

[The7thCpt]

You can't change other people that easily, they should either change themselves or just be ignored by the community. I'm also tired of people being *******, foking grow up and start taking people's ****. Wake up into reality, we don't need this server to become a safe space either.

I don't see what point you're trying to make here. This has nothing to do with being a ***** or making HavocMC a safespace. No player should have to deal with constant harassment from others. All players are entitled to their opinions but staff are equally entitled to shut that opinion down if it's unnecessarily toxic or encourages hateful behavior.

 

[Captain_xWolf]

The problem now is that mutes and forum bans aren't being handed out at all to those who deserve them. Many are choosing to feed the fire by continuing arguments and letting others' toxic behavior get to them. There needs to be a tough crackdown on all the harassment going on or it will drive more and more players away and further the division in the community

I think after the harassment towards some of the newer staff members should set the bar of the amount of action can be taken against this. Hopefully, higher staff (hopefully the owners) will come forward and perhaps settle this once or for all, even if it means putting a halt on the updates. ChlngeAccepted made it clear on his resignation: The slow updates and PvP Mechanics aren't going to kill this server, the toxicity will. But staff cannot do it alone. We need as many people as possible to help bring this to an end. Whether you are a veteran or a newcomer, we all know that we can't let this server die to this. It Must Stop!

 

[seuboi]

last time I reported some idiot spamming racist stuff got muted. M U T E D, for like what? At max a couple of hours, as if being afk @ berx would change anything.
The moderation should have some rules and enforce them, not getting blinded by some silly guidelines. First offense, mute + warn, second = ban for X days and so on until perma. It looks like they're afraid of losing more playerbase, as it would be better to stick with the thrash than no players at all.

 

[MichaelSteve]

I was like "Michael" and was like what. xD

 

[The7thCpt]

I was like "Michael" and was like what. xD

I was actually watching "The Office" while making this thread so that's what I drew on for reference lol.

 

[Tactical_Fox48]

Gonna have to agree with the harsher punishments. While I was still staff, I did exactly what Capt mentioned staff should do and he's right about the method; it IS quick and effective, and it prevents anything more from being spouted. Unfortunately, it seems that it was too effective and staff in general were told to be a little more lenient with the punishes. This server needs a stricter policy not just because people are tired of hearing unnecessary insults, but because we need to keep players wanting to stay. No one wants to play on a server after they're constantly harassed for dying to someone with superior firepower.

 

[The7thCpt]

I think after the harassment towards some of the newer staff members should set the bar of the amount of action can be taken against this. Hopefully, higher staff (hopefully the owners) will come forward and perhaps settle this once or for all, even if it means putting a halt on the updates. ChlngeAccepted made it clear on his resignation: The slow updates and PvP Mechanics aren't going to kill this server, the toxicity will. But staff cannot do it alone. We need as many people as possible to help bring this to an end. Whether you are a veteran or a newcomer, we all know that we can't let this server die to this. It Must Stop!

Definitely agree. Action needs to be taken swiftly when it comes to harassment on the forums and on the server. If this is done routinely, eventually a lot of the toxic players will be gone and the constant harassment will fizzle out.

 

[UterZorker]

The problem now is that mutes and forum bans aren't being handed out at all to those who deserve them. Many are choosing to feed the fire by continuing arguments and letting others' toxic behavior get to them. There needs to be a tough crackdown on all the harassment going on or it will drive more and more players away and further the division in the community

absolutely