It seems like with every new patch/expansion the level’s of sensitivity and toxicity are rising to record highs.
What do you think is contributing to downward spiral of negative and sensitive(outrage culture) behavior in WoW.
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The vast majority of people are fine but they let the loudies go about their rants as there is … no reason to try and stop people with no reason to be civil in the first place.
Or…
Wow is a giant social experiment to see what happens when accessibility is stressed over ability to an extreme
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I made a thread the other day about how WoW doesn’t encourage making friends, and people got so offended they reported it.
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At its base: Jerks like having a reaction so they say mean things to get a rise out of people(also known as trolling) and overly sensitive people want everybody else to care about their feelings and instead just ignoring people and moving on they screech and whine.
Deeper down, a lot of the toxicity between players that isn’t related to being edgy/a troll is simply because we’re on the internet and modern WoW really anonymises the playerbase which tends to bring out the worst in people.
Add to the fact that you really don’t need to talk to anyone in modern WoW to progress. You can literally level to level cap, do instances, and even do raids and mythic+ instances without saying a single word in chat, so when people do say things, a random anonymous jerk is going to say some vulgar things because they can.
It really just proves John Gabriel’s Greater Internet !@#$wad Theory.
Take a normal person and make them anonymous and then give them an audience, suddenly they’re reprehensible people.
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depends what you mean by toxicity. I dont really see it as much as what the forum claims. Yes there are bad apple out there but I only find them 1 out of maybe 10 groups or even less. Tbh what triggers alot of people is the lack of personal responsibility from other player. There are people who try their damness to not be a burden to group in group content while other expect to be carried/taught on a level of play where you shouldn’t be carried/taught
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Toxicity means being rude without just cause as well as saying edgy crappy things(ie: racism, homophobia), swearing at people for no reason.
There was a thread that got posted in here the other day where the poster kept tabs for 100 instances to see people’s reactions to “Hi Guys”
97% of the people ignored him, of the remaining 3% one said “Hi” back and the others said crass things to him.
It’s the nature of being anonymous on the internet.
People can’t get punched in the face through their monitor so they saw awful things to each other.
Edit:
Not the OP, but that’s what I consider to be toxic behaviour.
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Bunch of young whipper snappers who aren’t raised properly! Back in my day if I was a jerk or talked smack I had to go break a switch off the bush at which my folks would tear my butt up. (would always grab a small one too, which hurt more).
The point holds true though. These days, a lot of kids get away with so much stuff that they shouldn’t. Factored with so many instant gratification type games and anonymity. But, toxicity has risen in every type of online game really, it’s not just WoW. Battlefield/Call of Duty/Counter Strike/etc… Some crazy toxic jerks on those. Along with games like League of Legends, DotA, etc…
Toxicity is everywhere, which honestly brings me back to…
Bunch of young whipper snappers who aren’t raised properly!
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In-game toxicity is down to minimal now.
The forum, on the other hand…
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The forum is way tamer than it was in Vanilla.
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Yes that’s true. I’ve been here on and off since BC, and back then…woo-hoo!
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I think its not WoW itself, just the people changing. The real world aint like it used to be 10+ years ago ya know? and sometimes the real world spills into the game world.
for instance, just the other day i saw a guy with a guild name “Make America Great Again” attached to him.
but you know what i think will make WoW come back to life? if we brought back Mr.T and the night elf mohawks!
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I once made a thread about chicken. A mod deleted it. Meanwhile every day other irelevant stuff gets to remain on GD.
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I don’t know, worst experience I’ve had is being told to “shut up” once after telling people “goodluck” in a random bg.
I think WoW players for the most part have been super nice and pleasant.
Maybe the way the majority treat you is just a reflection of your own behaviour, especially if you’re mentioning that they’re sensitive?
If someone bothers you, you can also always kill them with kindness or use the ‘block’ feature! Good luck and I hope it gets better for you. 
The online world is changing. Up until now like Hvergelmir said, anonymity let everyone be as much of a jerk as they wanted. In the past when the internet was just for the geeks and nerds of the world everyone just put up with it or joined in. The thing is though, more and more of the world is online these days. And people just dont want to put up with that sort of behavior.
So being the jerk troll isn’t just being put up with anymore, and companies like Blizz are realizing this so they are giving people ways to do something about it. Anonymity lets people be dbags because unlike in irl they won’t get a fist to the face and suffer no consequences. Now they can. Squelches and silences are the new online fist in the face, and the dbags aren’t happy about it, which makes them even worse which makes others fight back harder.
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There was a time when politeness and manners were valued and expected in human society. Those values still exist in some countries however the US isn’t one anymore.
Blaming victims of abuse and derision for being too sensitive is the self-serving tactic of an abuser.
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Toxic elitism and the constant need to put other players down because they don’t like how or what they play. Blizzard also rarely ever tries to consistently enforce its policies, so it gets worse.
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Welcome to the year 2019.
People are offended by everything in this day and age, it’s not just in WoW or video games. Look at some unnamed places in the US, they can’t even call a manhole a manhole anymore because it’s offensive. That same place in the US won’t be calling felons a felon anymore because that word is also too offensive, felons will now be called a justice-involved person. lolol
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Oxymoroness (word?)
That emoji is making a threatening gesture towards me. Thus, I am offended.
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