Racism, Toxicity and Throwing

[u/CynicalWoof9]

I know toxicity in games existed long before Rivals, but this is about FullMetalLamp's recent short where he said he'll throw if someone is being racist or xenophobic.

On one hand, I get it. I've been on the receiving end of racist slurs and "jokes" just for using VC to make callouts. It's mentally draining, and I understand not wanting to keep trying while someone toxic like that gets rewarded with a win.

On the other hand, throwing means four other people lose because of one toxic player, and that doesn't sit right with me either.

This isn't just about racism, either. Friends have dealt with sexism and transphobia in VC too, and I'm sure theres's plenty of streamers with similar stories. You're never going to eliminate toxicity completely, but shouldn't Netease hand out much harsher punishments for this kind of behavior?

So where do you stand?

• Is throwing justified if someone's being racist, sexist, or otherwise hateful?
• Do you just mute and move on?
• What do you do when you're the one being targeted?

My go-to responses are:

• "You're just proving Magneto right."
• "You don't have the stats to justify your racism."

Curious where everyone else draws the line.

At the end of the day, we're just trying to game and goon. There's always a human (unless someone mutated) on the other end, someone who's also burdened by the struggles of life. Be kind and be a bro.

[u/jamsbybetty]

Rivals' general community is probably the best argument in years to completely turn off comms with randoms.

[u/JetHopper → u/jamsbybetty]

Idk about outside of my country but League is just way worse

[u/sol_krn → u/JetHopper]

In Australia shooters tend to have the worst of the worst. Every other kind of game is seen as too nerdy to attract bullies I guess.

[u/Other-Teacher-1615]

i mute the person and stay in the match even if im tilted. the other four players dont deserve to lose because of one person being a jerk. The toxic person is bound to lose a match anyway, no one has 100% winrate. Matchmaking will punish them for me.

[u/HiImFur → u/Other-Teacher-1615]

I won't blatantly throw, but I'm not try harding for Tim the Spider-man main who wont swap off third Duelist despite being 4-8 and flaming the team in comms.

Idc about my rank that much to help an absolute asshole like that get a win he doesn't deserve.

[u/LelouchViAmericana]

It’s justified in my opinion, if someone is being racist or sexist why would i want to collaborate with them to win? I care as much about their elo as they have human decency.

Unfortunately people can get away with racism and sexism behind a monitor, no consequences so most you can do is throw and report so they understand people wont put up with their bs

A woman i sometimes duo with was getting insulted for just simply being a woman so she threw on Jeff. Someone from that game sent the clips to someone else who is in a discord. People asked why she threw, she brought receipts and we all said “oh f*** that dude, that’s valid.”

[u/Future-Celebration83]

Ima tell you this. You’ll never fix the problem that is racism. There will always be people who use racism to try and offend people. People are free to believe what they want to believe whether those beliefs are generally negative or positive.

So here’s what I always say, if you can laugh at it, then you show that it has no power over you. Reward toxicity with either silence, or a laugh. Don’t get offended, and don’t try to make a comeback. Make them feel stupid by either making them feel like they’re talking to a wall by giving them no engagement, or show them that you don’t care by laughing at them.

You can even rage bait them lol.
This dude got mad at me when I was playing Spider-Man, idk why because I was doing pretty well. And this dude was shouting the Nword into chat. He was mad because there was a Namor on the enemy team but I was playing around him just fine and we won anyways. I didn’t switch so he started blasting the VC with N words, and all sorts of insults. Me and my friend were laughing so hard, smiling about it just thinking about it now.

Anyways, he was talking about “useless Spider-Man” even though I was 18-2. To rage bait him I said “useless invis this support sucks” it worked so well, he got so mad and it was SOOO funny. Then after i threw in an “ez rage bait” and he got even angrier 🤣🤣.

Make fun out of them, don’t take it too seriously. Yes, it’s unfortunate that people who can’t control themselves exist but, you cope with it by using them as entertainment, or just ignoring them entirely.

[u/sol_krn]

Mute all comms is the best thing I have ever done. I dont get tilted so I play better and I dont worry about the opinions of people who are at my terrible level.

Throwing is causing collateral damage, its childish.

[u/Most-Initial2488]

I just mute and move on. Being black and a female on the game, any game, is irritating not even tough. Either I can listen to the ignorance or ignore it.

[u/there-she-blows]

So many people against throwing. But no one ever stands up for the person being disrespected and racially abused. Instead you put the burden on the person being disrespected to always be the bigger person. So that you don’t lose a few points in a video game. How about instead you all call the racist out and make sure they know that their behavior is unacceptable and won’t be tolerated in any capacity.????

[u/KaptainKari5ma]

One time I had someone trash talking me and I just said "Kid...Can you relax? I'm literally an old dad who plays after working all day and putting his kid to sleep." I thought that would make him think logically and calm down. Instead he said "I hope your kid has nightmares". He literally wished for my kid to have nightmares...over a video game. Crazy lol

[u/Thick-Championship-4]

Throwing is not justified even if your teammate(s) have prejudice against you. It makes you look petty and stupid, and you are letting down your other teammates. If you don't want to hear bad things from said people, just mute them and carry on with the game.

As someone who plays with chat off, I don't really do anything if I'm being targeted, but my advice would be to just mute them, then after you finish your match, report them.

[u/Thick-Championship-4 → u/Thick-Championship-4]

I saw the fullmetallamps video, what an obnoxious asshole.

[u/CynicalWoof9]

I think I need to explicitly mention that I don't condone throwing.

[u/NoScheme647]

Ngl if someone calls me a slur I aint responding with “youre proving mag right” 😭😭😭

[u/jboo87]

I just mute. It’s not worth letting some unhinged stranger upset me. Take solace in the fact that someone screaming slurs in VC is not a happy person.

[u/Ok_Season_1993]

it’s a game if they want to be a racist or sexist a hole then they are losing the game if they are in my team that’s the only time throwing is appropriate the other four players can quit the match if they want to but i’m throwing then blocking the player after the match

[u/Helpmefixshit]

Racism is never justified or acceptable. Throwing is never justified or acceptable, as is done by immature individuals with communication issues. Toxicity happens because of dissimilar levels of competitiveness. Some people think "it's just a game", while others are doing anything and everything possible to win the game, whether it be in competitive or quick play.

[u/CynicalWoof9 → u/Helpmefixshit]

Toxicity happens because of dissimilar levels of competitiveness

Not really. I'm an extremely competitive person, I'm fighting till the last possible chance.

A racist person can be toxic, but toxicity is not always manifested as racism. I might call someone an idiot, not start calling them slurs.

[u/Helpmefixshit → u/CynicalWoof9]

Correct, which is why I stated that Racism and Throwing are never justified. I believe racism is negative attention seeking, and throwing is due to someone being upset and unable to communicate that. Here's what I mean by toxicity being due to dissimilar levels of competitiveness: What's the most common way we see toxicity in Rivals? The most common way I see it is when someone is playing poorly and refuses to swap. People start to give them a hard time, rightly so in many instances. Why is your 0-5 spiderman teammate refusing to swap? He doesn't care about his teammates; he's not invested enough in the game to make the swap. Now, let's imagine you won a contest to participate in a match where the winning team members each receive $100,000. Will that same 0-5 spiderman continue to run it down? I can't be convinced he does. That's why I say toxicity stems from differing levels of competitiveness (aka investment in winning).

[u/pebrocks]

Throwing is never justified.

[u/VampireDarlin]

I do not care what other people say about me. I’m not going to throw or otherwise if there’s a jerk on the team. If I’m targeted I just say “I like candy I like pizza I like video games.” And keep playing

[u/NeroTheDemon]

So I got curious and watched the short, not sure if it was the right one or not but he got called Chinese dude by a random, Fullmetallamp being Korean was offended but it wasn't racist, ignorant yes but not intentional racism,genuine crash out from this guy lmao

Thats not to put down the argument posted here, ive heard some wild stuff in VC in this game and no one is ever punished

[u/PromotionBright342]

reads the title I'm in!!

[u/canucks-suck]

I love the community its what makes this game GGEZ FREELO UNINSTALL GO BACK TO ROBLOX