What exactly causes "toxic" fanbases and is there any way to prevent them?

[Polarblastman]

I'm just wondering.

[TTMXMP]

I would say just a community becoming to large, making the few superhardcore out of control fans finding eachother and binding together and thinking their game is the best game ever and everything is perfect about it.
But no I don't think there is a way to prevent it. What about you OP?
- MrTT

[Tux]

usually...but not always to be fair...the people throwing around the 'toxic' card are the ones being toxic.

[King Of Nothing]

https://youtu.be/2jxKiPWBenY

[GhostSailor]

Easily summarized into the fact that in certain circumstances, individuals on the Internet can be completely anonymous, or choose to have falsified personalities apart from who they truly are -- online gaming communities thrive on the anonymous factors

[Rio]

No, it can't be prevented. It all depends on what kind of crowd the subject matter attracts. Like if it appeals to teen/kid boys or furries its doomed by default after a certain size.

[Kenny]

There is no way to prevent such thing, there are always try-hards who believe they are pros and all others are noobs, know-it-all people who believe they know everything and show that down everyone's throat, and some people with too much free time who try to blend silly ideas and the result is atrocious and people get triggered.
And then you have normal people who get cringed when they see such people arguing and showing nasty stuff.

[Polarblastman]

Originally posted by TTMXMP - Mr¸ ┬╦:

I would say just a community becoming to large, making the few superhardcore out of control fans finding eachother and binding together and thinking their game is the best game ever and everything is perfect about it.
But no I don't think there is a way to prevent it. What about you OP?
- MrTT :cure:

I guess that is one way a bad fanbase could happen. As for how it could be prevented, I think developers should be more involved with the fans so the fans feel connected to them. That won't ensure that the fanbase doesn't turn out bad but it can help a bit. I was just curious to see if there were any other ways to prevent bad fanbases.

Originally posted by Tux:

usually...but not always to be fair...the people throwing around the 'toxic' card are the ones being toxic.

I try to be a resoanable person on the internet but I understand what you mean. I was just curious to see if there was any way to prevent bad fanbases.

[pipagao]

Originally posted by Sashie:

or furries

Especially those mlp nerds geez

[Prince Jude of Nohr]

Originally posted by TTMXMP - Mr¸ ┬╦:

I would say just a community becoming to large, making the few superhardcore out of control fans finding eachother and binding together and thinking their game is the best game ever and everything is perfect about it.
But no I don't think there is a way to prevent it. What about you OP?
- MrTT :cure:

So basically the Fire Emblem fandom.

[Polarblastman]

Originally posted by Boyd the Reaver:

Originally posted by TTMXMP - Mr¸ ┬╦:

I would say just a community becoming to large, making the few superhardcore out of control fans finding eachother and binding together and thinking their game is the best game ever and everything is perfect about it.
But no I don't think there is a way to prevent it. What about you OP?
- MrTT :cure:

So basically the Fire Emblem fandom.

And Sonic fanbase too.

[Prince Jude of Nohr]

Originally posted by Polarblastman:

Originally posted by Boyd the Reaver:

So basically the Fire Emblem fandom.

And Sonic fanbase too.

Fire Emblem's pretty bad too. Elitists vs. Casuals and insults over opinions are rampant.

[GhostSailor]

Originally posted by Polarblastman:

I guess that is one way a bad fanbase could happen. As for how it could be prevented, I think developers should be more involved with the fans so the fans feel connected to them. That won't ensure that the fanbase doesn't turn out bad but it can help a bit. I was just curious to see if there were any other ways to prevent bad fanbases.

Interesting subject. As an indie developer on Steam, I can say that I've more than likely mitigated a few possible situations where toxicity was at play, but then resolved. However, it's the Internet, so even as "the developer", you can't necessarily "white knight" everything -- some people just genuinely do not like your product, or the attention it has received, and will let you know about it immensely: truthfully, or falsified

I had a few thousand hours in Counter-Strike throughout the years of playing since 2004, and I can't think of any worse fan base that I've encountered in video games via voice communications -- it's a bit better now due to the ease of blocking, and report functions, but it's relatively the same in many ways to the prior versions in the prime days

[PastelWraith]

Originally posted by Polarblastman:

Originally posted by Boyd the Reaver:

So basically the Fire Emblem fandom.

And Sonic fanbase too.

Dear god, the Sonic fandom

[laff]

Persistent ranks and cosmetics promote elitism and snobbery, get rid of them and you'll have a better community.

[PastelWraith]

Originally posted by laff:

Persistent ranks and cosmetics promote elitism and snobbery, get rid of them and you'll have a better community.

You'll still be judged on your skill even if you're having an off day. I prefer ranks to at least keep me with similarly skilled players. There just needs to be a better algorithm so I'm actually with similar players.