BHVR need to reduce the toxicity ASAP.
Hello fellow survivors and killers,
Yes i know, you may think this is another rant post on overall toxicity in DbD community.. Well kinda, but i try to make it constructive. Keep in mind thats english is not my native language, so be cool with me on that point.
I want to warn that this post is neither Killer or Survivors sided, because both party have their share of responsability in the current ultra toxicity that destroying the enjoyable experience thats DbD was once (very long time ago).
The main problem here, is the global behavior of the player base, most (yes lets be honest, majority of players are toxics, being chronicaly or on the spure of emotions.) of the players engages themselves in toxicity in everyways possibles that their imagination can realise. I played DbD for 539h as of now, yes im not the most dedicated player, and i often stop playing it and coming back some months laters... Well i kinda got a life for myself on the side and other hobbies. But i do believe that the number of hours i pourred in this game give me a good insight of how things are now. And if there is one thing i can say, is that i like DbD, i really like the concept in itself, like how its executed. This game followed me every days of this quarantine.
So, the main problem here being, camping, flashlight, key, teabag etc etc.... In short, nowaday, everything that doesn't please a player wichever side he is. And that must stop. BHVR need to do something to reduce that asap and the player base need to start growing some decent behavior (yes i know im just dreaming but heh). As i said i love DbD, i play it regulary, come back after i took some break of the game, but the overall toxicity keep increasing each passing day. Lets be honest, it became suffocating to play. For one game where the killer will play fairplay and we will all have a great game, great chases, great rescues, amazing mindgame from the killer, you gonna get 10 games if not more where all the fun of playing a videogame just vanish... Being face camped, teabagged, bullied (wichever side you are) as became rampant. Hell, im totally OK to lose if the game as been great behind ! Its just a videogame, no Esport, nothing at stake.. Chill down peoples.
So, for now it just been a rant post, so here my proposition about it. I don't know if it has been proposed, but here what i think.
I saw many, prevent face camp, remove or nerf X perk that doesn't suit my taste etc... all of these are idiotic.. I agree with BHVR politic on that... Well only half agreeing actually.
Yes a player should be given the choice to play the way he want as long as it fit the legal rules of the games, but some ways are extremly frustrating for the player suffering it. We will not talk about ban or things like that, but purely how to reduce the amout rage inducing and toxicity making behavior... In a multiplayer game, are you not supposed to not ruin the gaming experience of others ?
So what i propose is a reputation system. But not a player vote based one, it will be biased anyways. But an automatic one based on the actions a player do that are wildly considered by the community as toxic.
Lets take exemple on Face Camping, one of the most frustrating and considered one of the most toxic behavior during a trial. Yes its easy to counter it, just do gens while the hooked guy just sigh in disgust in front of his screen... He spend many minutes waiting for a game, than some others waiting for it to launch... And when he think he can enjoy a game, he end up hooker and unable to do anything for the whole game. Its called a big loss of time and a very frustrating experience for the player. Its virtualy unnaceptable in an online game, pretty much the same as being spawn killed in a FPS... NOBODY like that. See my point, there come more.
So now, lets say Bubba (cause YOU are the biggest camper of all) decide to face camp. Then the reputation system would come in action. Every player would start with a given amount of reputation points, their action can increase or decrease it. For exemple, once he start face camping, his reputation pool will slowly starting to lower depending on the distance he stay from the hook, if he is in motion or plainly staying still in front. Of course the area should not be too big, as patroling a hook is NOT camping, Borrowed time is here for these situation. So in the end the killer would risk gaining few BP, lose some pips, but as its not enough to prevent this behavior, he wil also loose reputation.
So what does it would do to lose reputation ? Well it would affect your matchmaking. Basicly put, you would be pitted against players with a reputation around your. Toxics would play with toxics, fair players with fair players. Problem solved.
Here i took face camping, but this process can be installed in many many situation. On the other side, doing good play would be considered increasing the reputation. Chasing a survivor, taking a pallet as a killer or stunning him as a survivor... Basicly playing the game as intended.
Human by nature are defiant, they love to go against the rules. The only thing they understand is when the consequence fall on them and they can't escape it.
I perfectly know, thats my idea will never happen, and peoples gonna keep being ultra toxic, i know that BHVR doesn't really care about the atmospher in the community and player base. But i just wanted to share my view of the thing cause i love this game, but im ashamed of the players behavior.
Comments
Unfortunately i don't think I'd trust an automated system to be able to accurately track what's going on in the game. If people are hook diving before a killer can leave, but are avoiding hits left and right, then an automated system would struggle to realize that the killer isn't BMing. I know too, ever since I had to remap my buttons since my W key thinks it's stuck down on long presses when my machine heats up, I will occasionally mishit my new crouch button, and now I'm tbagging when I quite literally never do so intentionally. Would an automated system detect that? Unfortunately, it's not likely that we'd be able to have an automated system that'd be accurate enough to not cause more problems than solutions.
That system would require a massive consensus of players to help build an actual rule set that both sides agreed upon. Yet considers killers are not required by any means to be considerate to survivors. They are on separate teams. So I am doubtful that an idea like this could be implemented.
Social credit score? Yikes.
Honestly, they need to deal with the toxicity on the forums, first. Why they let the abusive comments and bait threads go on is beyond me. It just makes everything worse. The forums wind people up and then they take it into the game. They need to do a better job of dealing with posts/threads that are just going to bread toxicity.
I think, firstly, that the definition of toxicity needs to be discussed. For me personally, and I'd be inclined to go so far as to say definitionally, the intention behind it is what defines toxic behaviour. Toxicity is destructive in its nature, and seeks to bring down or ruin. In other words, toxic behaviour is anything that is done with the primary intention of hurting or upsetting someone else. Playing the game to win (camping, tunnelling, etc.) is not toxic under that definition, even if it isn't enjoyable for the other players, because upsetting other players is not the goal. Sometimes in competitive multiplayer games (put away the pitchforks guys, I'm talking about "competitive" in the sense that players compete with one another), things happen that aren't very fun, and that's just how it is - it's virtually unavoidable.
Having said that, that doesn't mean that playing in ways that makes the game particularly unenjoyable for other players shouldn't be discouraged - I just don't think it should be punished. I'm actually very much in favour of an honour system in DBD, but as @LordRegal said, I don't think that could be reliably automated, and I also don't think that having a bad reputation should be punished. Positive reinforcement is the way to go, in my opinion. Perhaps the current "props" system could be expanded into something that rewards players who are recognised by others as being a particularly positive force in their games.
Why would they? Frustrated gamers come back for more. It's the old nes game strategy, but the bosses never end.
I think part of the problem with this community is the narrative they try to create and the dev's understanding of it.
Why do I say this?
Because as an example, I keep seeing and even saw it mentioned as a question n the latest dev Q&A's stream if Camping or Face Camping should be bannable. When in fact while yes some people want that I am sure, there are multiple people asking for a Change to that mechanic in the game, not outright Removing or Punishing it. The person getting camped SHOULD have a decent amount of points if they are going to play the role of the "bait". Nobody that has to play that role expected to be camped to the point that they were basically not playing the game.
That's just one example. We don't need to enter other discussions about how the devs feel about camping itself because if you play killer you already know it is at your disposal 24/7 and well within the game's rules. No one is questioning that portion.
I play both sides and understand enough perks (doesn't mean I am perfect) to KNOW that if someone is hooked and camped from stage 1-2 + the time it took the survivor to figure out that the killer was straight up camping + the perks and add ons that slow down the gens does not give enough time for survivors to finish ALL gens. Not in the "punishing" way that many want to make it sound. Heck, you have people saying "Rush Gens and Punish" and then those same individuals complain that "Gens go by too fast"... which one is it? Again. Narrative.
Even after all this I don't believe Camping is "Toxic" or other in-game features... but that doesn't mean that I think it is deserving that someone who waiting 15+ mins in queue, just to go into a game where they get hooked and get camped is a fun experience. Especially when there aren't points involved.