Pretty accurate video. As Averis pointed out, there can be a great deal of toxicity across party roles. Healers have always seemed to take the most flak. While the tank is traditionally the centerpiece of a party, the healer is the arbiter of life and death. Anger your healer and you're openly inviting calamity in your future.
My introduction to party-style play in an MMO was in WoW as a resto druid. I was the only healer in my PvP bracket on my server for nearly two months. In both PvE and PvP I found my roll to be almost completely thankless. People were quick to give criticism for not being healed in time after breaking line of sight but would say nothing good if the healing was so spectacular that no one in the party ever got into trouble. I had a handful of players who knew to look for me and guarded me with their virtual lives but the majority drove me out of healing in all but the most dire of circumstances.
Now I prefer tanking roles and I go out of my way to let my healers know if they've done a good job. I also see it as my personal responsibility to stick up for a good healer if the DPS in my party starts ranting and raving because of a death due to pulling aggro or pulling a group of mobs before the healer is ready for battle.
While I am most certainly not a perfect player, even with the blame game, I do my best to own up to my mistakes. I like to give warnings to experienced players if I am new to a dungeon and let them know that I am open to advice. I apologize to the group when I run headlong into a group of mobs while the healer is still drinking, or completely overestimate my capabilities by pulling eleventy billion enemies at a time. And I am very forgiving of others who own up to their mistakes as well.
Toxicity cannot be avoided completely. Competition does not always bring out the best in people and we all want to win no matter how uncompetitive some of us may be. We simply have to chill out as much as possible and remember that the most important reason for gaming is for the fun. At least, that's the most important reason for me.
My introduction to party-style play in an MMO was in WoW as a resto druid. I was the only healer in my PvP bracket on my server for nearly two months. In both PvE and PvP I found my roll to be almost completely thankless. People were quick to give criticism for not being healed in time after breaking line of sight but would say nothing good if the healing was so spectacular that no one in the party ever got into trouble. I had a handful of players who knew to look for me and guarded me with their virtual lives but the majority drove me out of healing in all but the most dire of circumstances.
Now I prefer tanking roles and I go out of my way to let my healers know if they've done a good job. I also see it as my personal responsibility to stick up for a good healer if the DPS in my party starts ranting and raving because of a death due to pulling aggro or pulling a group of mobs before the healer is ready for battle.
While I am most certainly not a perfect player, even with the blame game, I do my best to own up to my mistakes. I like to give warnings to experienced players if I am new to a dungeon and let them know that I am open to advice. I apologize to the group when I run headlong into a group of mobs while the healer is still drinking, or completely overestimate my capabilities by pulling eleventy billion enemies at a time. And I am very forgiving of others who own up to their mistakes as well.
Toxicity cannot be avoided completely. Competition does not always bring out the best in people and we all want to win no matter how uncompetitive some of us may be. We simply have to chill out as much as possible and remember that the most important reason for gaming is for the fun. At least, that's the most important reason for me.
