There seems to be confusion about these terms and with gamers’ understanding of sportsmanship, so I’d like to help.
Smack talking and taunting opponents can be part of competition, it’s personal preference.
Taunting directed to teammates is not smack talk, it’s just pathetic.
We always report for trashing on teammates. That’s the breakdown, start from here please.
From another thread: “Kobe Bryant did it every game to get in his opponent’s head, it throws off their game.”
That’s not toxicity, by definition. That time when Kobe told Shaq on the court in the finals, “You’re absolute trash at this game and should uninstall, ez avoid.”
There’s no strategic advantage to belittling teammates, that’s toxicity, and that’s what gamers do because they can’t take L’s and nobody taught them to be winners. Giving criticism to a teammate after a game doesn’t make sense either. Why would you be constructively helpful to someone who may be on the other team next game? You’re not, you’re just mad you lost and looking for a scapegoat. Avoid and keep it to yourself.
I appreciate that someone other than myself understands the difference. Unfortunately for you, most people here will still fail to understand the difference. It is like trying to explain color to a blind man. Impossible. At least the blind guy has an excuse.
Just don’t be shocked if it results in a lot of reports and a ban?
Rule of Thumb: Smack talking is generally something best kept among friends and family… Not strangers. They don’t know you, so you can’t assume everyone knows when you’re “just kidding”.
I don’t trash talk, but at the same time I won’t report someone for trashing an opponent unless it crosses specific lines like telling them to harm themselves or sexism or racism and such.
EDIT: But if you tell a teammate “You should uninstall” you probably will get a report from me.
I am pretty sure he would say that if basketball had an uninstall button.
I play with the philosophy that people can play what they want, at the end of a game I might quip that junkrat was a stellar pick cause they have a pharah on their team. Why throw issues during a game and cause drama, not to mention that junkrat may work don’t know till its over but still might mean the deck is stacked against you…
Kobe never trashed his teammates on court. He and Shaq had issues behind the scenes that became public after they split.
Say it during the game if you think it will help, it’s really easy to say it was a bad call after the game. Don’t avoid confrontation (‘drama’ as you call it), only to get angry and then confront after the game. You are backing yourself into a toxic corner.
That’s fair, because similarly… I don’t know the rapport between two people.
Just… Yeah. People don’t know others as individuals, so they don’t really know where that boundary is. Additionally, I only say things like “Hey, I know you got a sick headshot, but that one headshot didn’t win us the round. Stop sniping.” To my brother (actually it was my brother saying exactly that to me in Gundam Evolution), and I know he’s just shooting both truth and banter and isn’t honestly upset.
Complete stranger… Tougher call. I also can’t assume if I say that to them they know I’m not actually angry at all.
Rapport is the key… If I saw someone going compliment someone on the other team first with, “Dang… Nice shot Widow” Then later go, “We’re not playing anymore Widow” and they’ve been exchanging comments, CLEARLY, they’ve established that rapport.
Oh… Guess you’re also demonstrating that that older generation made of glass and unable to understand people don’t feel like dealing with their folks’ . Goes both ways, hoss.
What do you hope to achieve in this scenario you’ve created? You had a junkrat one trick and lost to a pharah, you didn’t want to confront them in the game when something could be changed… Now what do you achieve by blaming them after the game ends? You feel better having a scapegoat. That’s toxicity.
Larry Bird once famously made a left-handed shot over Craig Ehlo and asked if his mother was watching. I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone call that toxic, or whatever word would have been more appropriate for the time.
Now doing that to teammates is trickier, because the standard for when you’re just being toxic is much lower. It isn’t zero, but you have to be careful.
I’unno. Folks gotta stop clutching “But it’s the internet” because they miss their wild west… It’s not 2004 anymore.
The digital divide has more or less vanished, and folks can’t be shocked or cry about the good’ol days because there’s more out there that will go, “Nah, trash goes in the trash. Bye.”
I can’t understand how a text from a complete stranger can affect you in a video game…
If that happens to you, you better stop playing and get some sun outside.
You focus on this, but not the much more trivial thing - getting so angry about a teammate making a different decision or a mistake that you lash out and flame over a video game.
Compared to that, being effected by other people’s words makes a lot more sense, just saying
This is a horrible comparison. There’s a big difference between a professional sporting legend and a mid 30s dad trying to have fun in a video game.
If a dude was yelling at every one that they sucked and made the experience of playing basketball miserable at the local YMCA he will probably be asked to shape up or leave.
And btw Kobe was notoriously hard on his teammates so even if this wasn’t a horrible comparison it’s not even accurate.
. Goes both ways, hoss.
and others don’t care to deal with it and have ways to toss them out, they get tossed out.