Toxicity

While writing our less-than-serious guide to choosing a character for WoW Remix: Mists of Pandaria, I went back and forth over the Demon Hunter entry a lot.

Even the games I love have things that I don't like. World of Warcraft has the interminable class balance problem that it has always had (and probably will always have) magnified by player perception that if a class isn't exactly as good at every aspect of gameplay as everyone else trying to do that aspect -- yes, I'm looking at you, tanking -- that said class is garbage and must never be brought to a dungeon or raid.

Is the solution to toxic behavior in World of Warcraft as simple as asking politely for people to not be toxic?

Having watched a lot of competitive Overwatch League play, I had a few thoughts on the introduction of a ping system in Overwatch 2, which will allow players to "ping" the map to organize without relying on voice chat.

It feels like there's a bit of confusion in the World of Warcraft community about what is and isn't acceptable as feedback or criticism about the game, versus what is or isn't considered a targeted harassment campaign.

The quarterly Activision Blizzard earnings call, where the company reports to its shareholders, is happening today, Tuesday, August 3 at 1:30pm Pacific.

It's 2021 and this kind of behavior shouldn't be acceptable to anyone, anywhere. But here I am, writing another story about a game company accused of mistreating its female employees, creating a work environment where taking sexist harassment and abuse were reportedly just another job requirement.

It's often tempting to forget that MMOs are full of other people.

Game developers are human beings with feelings.

Toxicity in game communities is not a new topic.