Is it me or has the community gotten worse...

[Driavna]

Frankly, I do not respect people that cannot compose themselves before speaking. Seriously, nothing you say out of frustration or anger will ever have any value. Passive-aggressiveness may be immature, but I at least know that the person who's upset has to control themselves, which proves to me that they're at least worth basic human decency. If I were to play most other MMO's, I'd have to deal with mindless degenerates that can't act like civilized people. And that's beneath me, so I'll take this game any day of the week.

Passive-aggressive people are at the same level. Usually, passive-aggressive individuals want to leash out but are just a coward too afraid of repercussions. In an ideal world, everyone will be assertive.

Also, just because criticism is not enveloped in a pretty nice package doest automatically make it invalid and dismissing that criticism outright is foolish.

Edit: And no, "vomit" criticism over others is not the way to go but at the same time being blunt is not equal to being rude or "toxic".

[Nedkel]

Passive-aggressive people are at the same level. Usually, passive-aggressive individuals want to leash out but are just a coward too afraid of repercussions. In an ideal world, everyone will be assertive.

Also, just because criticism is not enveloped in a pretty nice package doest automatically make it invalid and dismissing that criticism outright is foolish.

Edit: And no, "vomit" criticism over others is not the way to go but at the same time being blunt is not equal to being rude or "toxic".

They are not.
One does control his emotions, other ones doesnt and just wishes you to get cancer or some stuff like that. Its not the same, its completely different level.
Sarcasm is not the same level as the dead wishes.

Because of thinking like this, we have ceases where looking at woman is being categorised as sexual assault...

Don't go to REDDIT. you WILL be downvoted for going against group think. :c

Reddit is the lowest level in the foodchain, nothing there is allowed. xD

[JohnSpawnVFX]

They are not.
One does control his emotions, other ones doesnt and just wishes you to get cancer or some stuff like that. Its not the same, its completely different level.
Sarcasm is not the same level as the dead wishes.

Hiding your emotions with sarcasm doesn't mean you're controlling them. You're basically just lashing out politely so you don't look bad, forgetting that the content of what you're saying is more important than how it is presented.
Not to mention it's harder to recognize hostility with passive-agressiveness meaning the agressor has more time and opportunities to harm you in any way.

This. This right here.

I have brought up the importance of taking action, and I have been met with brushing off and variants of "it's not a big deal." I am glad to see someone else getting to the heart of it. It may seem like pettiness for the sheer volume of it, but it does not do a community good when you allow yourself and others to sit in a lukewarm cess pool then say, "Man I wish the water was a bit cleaner."

Except many people use the report system more as a "please go silence people I don't like/saying things that upset me" than actual problems.

[Gula]

Except many people use the report system more as a "please go silence people I don't like/saying things that upset me" than actual problems.

No matter what the system is, as long as it exists, people will abuse it. So really, why not make the effort of betterment?

[Melichoir]

No matter what the system is, as long as it exists, people will abuse it. So really, why not make the effort of betterment?

Because this isnt an effort to make things better.

Gonna be frank and people may not like to hear this but there are varying degrees of being toxic. Someone telling you that you suck and being mean I dont find as a reportable offense. Is it offensive, rude, and crappy to hear at times? Sure is. It stings at times too cause it gets under our skin or makes us feel a little bad at times. But that is quite literally life. There are gonna be people who are a bit rude to you. Instead of saying "Im gonna ruin your entire gaming experience by getting you suspended/banned because you were a bit mean to me," perhaps people need to get a bit tougher and dont let other people so easily define their feelings for them. Why should a complete stranger make you feel bad? Why is there opinion or meanie words defining how you feel?

This isnt to say that people shouldnt report. If youre getting constantly harassed by a specific person, that theyre going out of their way to cause trouble for you. Singling you out and over and over and over going after you or trolling you. Yeah, report that. Thats a different level of toxicity that does need to be addressed at that point.

But to go to the "Report people if theyre rude to me or say something mean" mind set doesnt solve anything. It just makes the problem worse. You just become emotionally weaker and more prone to being unable to cope with mean or rude people, which means youll be more prone to file reports. And if the community culture shifts over to "Im gonna report people for the pettiest of mean comments or crude jokes", then were gonna end up with a situation where its better to 'strike first' and report someone before they report you. That or we'll end up in a situation where people wont speak their mind because theyre afraid of getting reported and banned. In either case, its gonna turn into people not having fun for fear of the report function.

And this doesnt even address possible grains of truth in people's comments. If youre constantly being told "You suck" or "Youre bad" by complete strangers, when do you start saying "Hmmm there's a pattern here, and Im the common factor." Ive seen people be blunt and tell people they suck over a simple mistake. It's dumb. But Ive seen that same bluntness to call out players who ARE bad and make progress difficult for everyone involved. Sometimes when people say you suck, its cause you do. Sometimes when people tell it to you, its calling you out on an obvious mistake. Sometimes it's them being stupid. You have to be real about things and learn when theyre calling you out and adjust your gameplay vs when theyre being an ass.

In the end though, way I see it is if youve used the report function more than 20-30 times in the last few months over 'toxic' behavior, the problem is probably you and not the community.

[LittleImp]

But to go to the "Report people if theyre rude to me or say something mean" mind set doesnt solve anything. It just makes the problem worse. You just become emotionally weaker and more prone to being unable to cope with mean or rude people, which means youll be more prone to file reports. And if the community culture shifts over to "Im gonna report people for the pettiest of mean comments or crude jokes", then were gonna end up with a situation where its better to 'strike first' and report someone before they report you. That or we'll end up in a situation where people wont speak their mind because theyre afraid of getting reported and banned. In either case, its gonna turn into people not having fun for fear of the report function.

Can personally vouch that this is already happening among PUG savage raiders. I've been personally threatened with reports for saying something as innocuous and honest as "DPS is probably too low to clear" after noting the bosses %HP. I've seen multiple instances of players saying things like "Tread lightly, they changed the ToS " to other players as a veiled threat when people start troubleshooting performance issues, regardless of how kindly they approach it.

It's come to a point where my partial group just kicks people without saying anything rather than attempting to offer criticism, because you never know how insane that person is going to turn out to be. Heck, just today I saw this exchange in a party:

https://i.imgur.com/G60VSwh.png

Does every message need to be ended with an ugu or an uwu to make sure people aren't offended and won't report? The old "Blacklist and move on" approach the GMs employed was so much better than the mess we're in now.