Etiquette and Assumptions

I've been seeing a lot of posts recently, especially after 2v8, about how Killers or Survivors are bullying the others. Now, I want to make a quick disclaimer that I don't mean to disregard people's feelings. If something bothered you, it bothered you.

It just seems to me that many of these feelings are happening as a result of assuming that etiquette established by some parts of the community are known by every player, including new players, and that actions assumed to be offensive may not actually be at all.

For now I'll just cover a couple I've seen brought up recently:

1) Spam Crouching
There seems to be an assumption that any time a Survivor crouches more than once in a row that it's meant as a taunt. I'm sure many do, but I'm just as sure that many don't.

I've seen Survivors crouch a lot in a ton of circumstances, most of which don't even have the Killer involved. The thing is, the only official gestures the Survivors have is a point and a beckon. They don't even have a "stay away" (which I've wanted many times to warn teammates). Survivors spam crouch to communicate a lot of different things due to a lack of other options. Other common reasons to spam crouch include trying to get another survivor's attention to ask for someone to get off a generator so they can heal them, or to ask for a spot on the generator because of a Tome Challenge they have.

I have good reason to believe that at least some times that a Survivor crouches to a Killer is not to Taunt them, but even just to say hi or otherwise acknowledge them. Sometimes they even seem to use it to request that I kill them (when they don't flee and have no friends that sabotage, they certainly aren't trying to show off).

2) Survivors Waiting to Leave
Obviously the main concern here is Survivors spam crouching at the Killer before leaving a match, but recently I've seen more and more posts that imply waiting for the Killer at all before leaving a match is an act of bullying.

I can understand in theory how this can feel, but I can also confirm that it's not by any means inherently intended. When I'm a Survivor, I usually stay inside as long as possible just in case my team needs me, and I only leave if the Killer shows up because I know my chance of helping the team has just expired, not because I was taunting the Killer. On the other end, when I'm a Killer, I myself actually prefer being able to see the Survivors one last time just to feel like I saw the end of the match. Having everyone escape when I'm between doors in my patrol feels a little anticlimactic to me.


Again, I don't mean to dismiss anyone's feelings, I just think it's best to assume ignorance of community etiquette before assuming malice. If someone's insulting you directly in chat, that's one thing. Any gesture in game, though, is really too vague to know what they really mean by it. Believe me, I myself have played against really frustrating Survivor teams that forgo objectives to flashlight you, loop you, sabotage hooks when you finally down one of them, and generally stay one step ahead as a team. It's not fun. Sometimes, though, I think our issue is with our preconceived notions rather than the intent of other players.