(For context, I'm a psychology minor, so I find human social behavior/emotion/cognition fascinating!)
The other day, me and my friends ran into someone who was possibly the most toxic player I've ever encountered. He was rude to everybody, he actively tried to get his teammates killed both directly and indirectly, proceeded to tell others in the lobby (who were not provoking him, btw) that he was going to rape their mothers and sisters, yadda yadda yadda. By the end of the match, everyone in our lobby had already muted him and/or reported his behavior.
We've all met these players before or at least heard of them, but I spent some time thinking and realized that I've only encountered these kinds of people in competitive gaming environments. I've never met such truly toxic players in cooperative games (I HAVE met trolls, but I don't know if I would necessarily call them toxic gamers... they just goof around, have their fun, and then leave. By contrast, the actions of toxic players are typically driven entirely by emotion).
This got me wondering: What is the full relationship between competitive gaming and toxic players? Were these just mild-mannered gamers before they were exposed to the PvP realm, or did modern competitive gaming merely present an outlet for nasty expression of preexisting emotions/personality? I don't remember competitive gaming having as many toxic players as I see today... Are today's competitive games pandering to such socially aggressive individuals by endlessly promoting conquest over our opponents and "becoming the best"?
Remember when PvP was "plug in controller(s) 2-4"? I'm sure we played with a poor sport or two, but did any of them ever threaten to kill you or to commit rape? Most likely not (at least I certainly hope not!). So to what extent does online anonymity play a role? Would we still see such modern toxicity if we could see each others' faces and/or real names in-game?
I've already developed my thoughts and opinions on this issue, but instead of sharing those here, I'm mainly interested in hearing what you guys think about these questions. This is not an issue I've seen discussed online (although I'm certain it has before me), so I'm just here to collect a variety of voices and hear from you guys. Share your thoughts, stories, experiences, and/or opinions!
(BUT PLEASE DO NOT NAME ANY NAMES! The point of this is to discuss toxicity in general, not start any witch hunts!)