what is "Toxic"

I think it's kind of just a meme at this point lol

Deez nuts

I got called toxic earlier for not letting someone heal me against Legion. So I don’t even know anymore. It’s a word that has had its meaning diluted by overuse.

It's a different kind of toxicity, though another game might have toxicity in the form of verbal abuse and insults, DBD has less of that and more of in-game toxicity, and while someone pressing control a bunch of times sounds like something that should get you in a bad mood, knowing what they are saying by doing so does get you in a bad mood, it's not exactly just someone crouching a bunch, there's an actual meaning behind it that is pretty toxic and meant to make you mad.

I disagree that dbd has THE most toxic community, but I think it's still a pretty toxic one in general.

An overly used word that lost its value because of many entitled people

To me, toxic is acting in a way that's meant to piss off, belittle, or harass another player. Doesn't matter what vehicle you're using for it, ingame actions or chat - if your intent is to be an ass, you're being toxic and you're a problem in the community.

But on the flip side, actions that are taken for the purpose of winning aren't toxic, no matter how frustrating they are to put up with. There's a big difference between somebody basement camping as a Bubba because they want a 4k and somebody basement camping as a Bubba because they want to 'punish' survivors and farm -reps for their profile - or someone doing sabos and flashlight plays because they want to protect their team or do a challenge versus someone hook denying because they want to see how mad they can get the killer and don't want to let them get any points.

This does mean it can be difficult to distinguish between actual toxicity and people playing to win, and a lot of the false accusations of toxicity come from people assuming the worst from everyone they play against. I try to give the benefit of the doubt until people start doing gestures (which, to me, cements their intentions as intentionally taunting.)

I think that when we use the word toxic (not just about DBD, but about other situations in life), the toxic person is usually having a negative effect on the other people they interact with and contributing to a negative culture that sucks more people into it and encourages them to behave the same way. And, in that respect, I do think DBD has a lot of toxic players.

It's not just that individual people act like bullies or trolls -- it's that there's a whole subculture within the community that's all about celebrating acting like a bully or a troll, and where people who started the game with good intentions get pulled into doing the same kind of thing.

This is an excellent post. You're exactly right - pretending gestures are just button clicks is like pretending "your mother should have gotten an abortion, [insert slur of choice here]" is a string of sounds. I hear it as an argument so often, and it's obnoxious - it's unbelievably disingenuous to pretend there's no context to an action that has a widely agreed upon meaning. If it was just pressing ctrl, people wouldn't do it. I don't give a damn that a player is pressing a button any more than I care that someone is producing syllables with their face hole; I'm mad because they're going out of their way to be rude when I haven't done anything to earn it.

Though @Beaburd raised a very interesting point about gestures becoming worse because they don't have a specific meaning beyond negativity. It's not something I'd thought about, but it rings pretty true. Granted, there are times I can tell a survivor is tbagging to be silly/to thank/out of confusion, but when there's nothing to prompt those exceptions... I don't like getting tbagged because it's a sign that the other players aren't having fun with me, they're making fun of me. It's a hostile signal and I'm not having nearly as good of a time when I'm playing with people who want me to know that they think I suck - wanting me to know being the key thing. Even if I kill the offender or wipe the whole team, I'm still in a worse mood because I was brought to approach the game with a more aggressive and personal bent than I usually do, because I like to play this game chill. And I don't differentiate gate/pallet tbags from people telling me I'm trash and to uninstall in the endgame chat. It's all the same; you wouldn't be doing either if you weren't trying to taunt me.

But at the same time, I can easily be taking it more aggressively than somebody meant it, because different people are going to have a different connotations to the action depending on what communities they're familiar with and what their friends do. Some people might butt dance at the gates because it's their cheeky victory lap while other players do it as a "haha ######### you loser", and I am automatically going to assume anyone doing it is making a personal attack because I've encountered so much of the behavior that unequivocally meant that and there's no nuance for me to differentiate the severity of intentions when it doesn't.

Absolutely, you explained the tea-bagging thing perfectly, thanks.

This is the only reply I agree with so far

Toxicity is always related to intent and common perception of actions. using meta builds, looping or slugging is not toxic as its often used to end the game quickly. Face camping (no not strategic camping), flashlight clicking constantly, tbaging or flaming in chat is toxic because its often used to trigger a negative reaction to someone.