Tired of toxic people on Showdown

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Hey yall, completely new to PS/competitive Pokemon here. I like Pokemon a lot but these toxic players really do be killing my enjoyment. Is that just a given with PS because of how many kids there are? Most people are fine but everyday I'll get at least one person who seems to be an edgy kid.
 

Kalalokki

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Yeah unfortunately, when also taking in to account the ease of creating new accounts, relative anonymity, and just how heated people can get during competitive play over the internet (certainly not unique to PS alone). Best bets are probably to report them using /report in the chat, so that global staff can check it out and potentially punish them. Alternatively, just checking the "Ignore opponents" box at the top right of the battle window if you don't really want to bother with any conversations.
 

Martin

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Yeah the best advice I can give you is to do what Kalalokki said. It sucks but at the end of the day immature kids will be immature kids (and some of them never really grow up). If you ever have any concerns about anything, get in touch with a member of PS! staff and I'm sure they will be happy to help however they can.

Anyway, this isn't really the place for this. I can't really see any discussion coming out of this so I'm gonna lock now.
 
I understand the mentality of trying to win by any means available, but there's a limit at some point. There are rules. You don't cheat or use bugs. So where do you draw the line at harassment? What about it encouraging escalation? And yeah the first rule of PS does pretty clearly say to be cordial.

I feel like most people generally will feel at least somewhat bothered by shit talking. Like some people have said, it can be used as a strategy to mess up somebody's decision making. Is that really the community we want? Making the game less fun and more hostile for people because you might get ahead? Scaring away newcomers who aren't very good? One of you guys talked about shit talking like it's some old tradition that PC culture cannot accept, but what about good sportsmanship? Do you see any serious competitive sport without the respectful handshake at the end or whatever is the equivalent? Do you see anybody at EVO or Pokemon tournaments allowing shit talking as a strategy?

If it's not about strategy and more about wanting to have fun, I feel like more people lose than win. Best case scenario both people are thick skinned and aren't affected, and BOTH actually WANT to shit talk. More likely I feel like is that one person starts it, and either one or both start to feel bad about it. Plus, if it's not used strategically, you're just being provocative to get a reaction because making someone upset is fun. That sounds like harassment to me. Either that or it's like kids on Xbox Live saying dumb things like the n word or I screwed your mom. Does that really make the game more fun for anyone but little kids?

Another thing, do we really have the patience for selecting moves AND typing? Wouldn't you rather just have the person pick a move quickly?

I can see how shit talking with friends you understand and are cool with can be fun. But vs strangers it just seems childish to me. It really just sounds like it isn't about strategy and it's more about mental gymnastics because being a bully is fun. And if it is about competition, well yeah some luck is involved, but just take it for what it is. Poker doesn't have "strategic shit talking." Win because you made good moves. Do mind games with the moves you select. Getting somebody riled up is an easy cheap shot and makes the game less enjoyable for people.
 
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Astra

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As a person who plays a couple of competitive, toxic players can be tilting sometimes. It really sucks that they're people like that, but unfortunately, toxicity is basically one of the few trends that can be seen in any competitive game. Honestly, the best thing to do if you're faced with a toxic opponent is to, like most games, mute and report them, and I'm pretty sure you can do both on PS! with /ignore and /report. Don't interact with them either, or else you'll most likely fuel them even more. Again, I know it's frustrating to face toxic players on any game, especially when there's not much you're able to do when it comes to changing them. In my opinion, the best thing you can do if a toxic player is hurting your mentality is to just ignore them and focus on the game.
 

Plague von Karma

Banned deucer.
I've found myself immediately ignoring opponents the second I enter, especially when playing more defensive/stall teams. I'm gonna be real, I learned more slurs playing stall on Pokémon Showdown low ladder than I did from my racist father when he was alive.

Even not playing stall (even the "fun" offensive teams!) I've had people actively seek me out on social media to sling an insult or two at me. Even had one dude find out I'm trans on Twitter and went on some bizarre rant in my DMs with their...high school level biology. It was a good laugh, though.

Unfortunately, people will be toxic, and all you can really do is ignore them instantly on some jibberish alt...
 
Hey yall, completely new to PS/competitive Pokemon here. I like Pokemon a lot but these toxic players really do be killing my enjoyment. Is that just a given with PS because of how many kids there are? Most people are fine but everyday I'll get at least one person who seems to be an edgy kid.
Unfortunately, that tends to be the case. Joining chatrooms and discord servers tend to be the best way of connecting with people on ps. Otherwise it’s usually best to just ignore things like game chat.
 
Hey yall, completely new to PS/competitive Pokemon here. I like Pokemon a lot but these toxic players really do be killing my enjoyment. Is that just a given with PS because of how many kids there are? Most people are fine but everyday I'll get at least one person who seems to be an edgy kid.
yes, unfortunately we'll see toxic people everywhere, but what i could say for you is that the best thing is do the opposite of what we don't like, also try to avoid things that could help to get ourselves mad with a situation, you could try joining in discord servers or the chatrooms of PS (there's a lot of them), also try to create some friends to get company and if you want to ladder, do it with someone that you like, we have the power to adapt and make the things better.
 
I've never been in any matches with toxicity since most of the chat includes me and the opponent talking about our sets and ggs, but the best you could do is ignore them to avoid getting to an incredibly illogical argument, focus on the match rather than the person who's flaming you
 

Specs

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Be the change you want to see is the best thing I can give you. Be the bigger person and don't let them win. Toxic people want you to react, stop playing, ect. Don't let them. Was already said above but ignoring opponents during battle, ignoring them completely with the command/button, or reporting them to global staff are your best options.

Wanna welcome you to ps and Smogon! Just like any other community we have toxicity, but the game and site as a whole is very rewarding. Best of luck out there:blobthumbsup:
 
Hello, I don't know if you are still suffering from toxicity in the simulator anymore but I thought I would give you a food for thought.

Most people are fine but everyday I'll get at least one person who seems to be an edgy kid.
If you see how competitive Pokemon works you'll be quick to realize how a single hax can quickly deescalate the game into constant bitching depending on who you are playing against and this issue will pretty much last forever because this game is accessible to players at any age. I haven't played PS! in years so I can't confidently determine the toxicity of the website as of now but I think it is safe to believe that pandemic is pushing people to the edge and some people are trying to let things out by being ass on the website; which is understandable, but not justifiable.

I think I spent like few months in PS! as a salty individual and I think I can understand the mentality of people that bother you - I can tell you that people will keep acting toxic if they know you are bothered by it. Being resilient isn't exactly easy, but it is Internet, and you have to get used to it at some point...
 
I played competitively in Gen 3 and 4, so my experiences are about 10 years ago... But competitive battling culture can definitely be toxic. Most people are nice, giving constructive criticism and complimenting you when you have a good team/moveset/win. However, some people can be very nasty when you make a mistake during a battle, when you use a 'weak'/'outclassed' Pokemon/moveset or do something else that may be a mistake. When you get confronted with the latter too often, competitive battling can definitely be toxic. Especially if the very competitive mentality some people have doesn't fit you, things can be difficult.

I don't mind some teasing or trash talking, or cursing when you are fucked over by constant hax. That's part of the game. But there's a difference between that and just being a total dick.

In Gen 4 OU, I had this cheap annoyer team that got me quite a lot of wins. Choice Scarf Iron Head Jirachi and Air Slash / Thunder Wave Togekiss, both using Serene Grace to make it nigh impossible for opponents to attack. Add a tanky Milotic and a Spore Breloom and you get some very frustrated opponents. I will never forget the insults and even violent threats I had to deal with when using that team. I just tried to ignore the opponents and didn't reply to them, but of course it hurts when people say those things to you. I can understand that it's annoying to deal with a team using flinch hax shit, but that's not an excuse to say horrible things to a stranger on the internet.

Or the time I had this Rain Dance team in Gen 4 UU, in which I decided to have some fun with Fuck Yeah Seaking. People did not take kindly to that, being swept by a fucking Seaking. Remember that back in Gen 4, you couldn't see the opponent's team before the battle started, so they were not prepared for it.

Back then, I had (and still have) very poor mental health, and did not take the threats and insults well. I mean, even the milder things, like the harsh culture outside of flaming, were already difficult to deal with for me. I got bullied in high school, and when I got home, I had to deal with toxic competitive battling culture during what was supposed to be a fun hobby. The toxic behaviour of some (not all!!!) people in the competitive battling scene is one of the reasons why I quit competitive battling when Gen 5 started. It was also personal, just not having an over-over-overcompetitive mindset, but the way some people behave definitely did not help.

I hope I haven't offended anyone. I still believe most people are kind.

I've found myself immediately ignoring opponents the second I enter, especially when playing more defensive/stall teams. I'm gonna be real, I learned more slurs playing stall on Pokémon Showdown low ladder than I did from my racist father when he was alive.

Even not playing stall (even the "fun" offensive teams!) I've had people actively seek me out on social media to sling an insult or two at me. Even had one dude find out I'm trans on Twitter and went on some bizarre rant in my DMs with their...high school level biology. It was a good laugh, though.

Unfortunately, people will be toxic, and all you can really do is ignore them instantly on some jibberish alt...
Very sad that you have to go through that... You deserve better than transphobic shit. I've had to deal with nasty shit back in my competitive days, but this...

And what you said about stall is definitely true. I even used this annoyer team with Serene Grace Jirachi and Togetic (FlinchHax) and Poison Heal/Spore Breloom. You can imagine how people reacted to that...
 
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HoeenHero

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I will never forget the insults and even violent threats I had to deal with when using that team. I just tried to ignore the opponents and didn't reply to them, but of course it hurts when people say those things to you.
I'm so sorry you had to go through that, users who do this kind of stuff over a game really irk me. I'd like to encourage everyone reading this to report any behavior like this that you see in your battles. You can report anything that breaks the rules ( https://pokemonshowdown.com/rules ) and its as simple as typing /report and following the prompts. Specifically you will probably want to open a Battle Harassment report. Once in the ticket room please:

- If the battle is ongoing post a link to the match (the page's URL when looking at a match is what you want to post)
- Once the battle ends / If the battle has ended already as the start of your report, post a replay of the match.

Its important that you post a replay of completed matches even if you already posted the battle link itself because battle rooms expire 15 minutes after the match ends. Meaning if you post a link to an ended match and we don't get to the ticket quickly we may not be able to see what happened and may not be able to do anything. Another thing to note, I know that the ticket system is not super fast, however its better than our previous system and I cannot force staff members to do tickets (were all volunteers, volunteering where we enjoy it the most). Any help on this is appreciated as we cant punish something we don't see.
 

Gray

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At the end of the day these are random people on a pokemon website that don't know a single thing about you. Why let anything they say about you even remotely matter? You might as well laugh at how mad they are to try and belittle you as a person over a Pokemon game rather than take it seriously.
 
At the end of the day these are random people on a pokemon website that don't know a single thing about you. Why let anything they say about you even remotely matter? You might as well laugh at how mad they are to try and belittle you as a person over a Pokemon game rather than take it seriously.
Rather than take it seriously... Maybe the ones bashing and flaming are the ones taking it too seriously...

I believe I've been called "virgin" dozens of times for running "stall" (when I am only running defensive cores on balance teams).

I screenshot the salt I see and share it with friends on Discord :D
Let me guess... Newbies or people who aren't willing to put any effort in Pokemon, and then being frustrated that they can't beat even the slightest bit of stall (as in, defensive core on balances teams).
 
VERY relatable, especially if you use something with status effects.
Really one of the main perks of a more stall-ish team, it never fails to get a giggle out of me
Oh, the responses when I used an annoyer team with FlinchHax Jirachi and Togekiss, a bulky Mirror Coat Milotic and a Poison Heal Breloom in Gen 4 OU... Either opponents forfeiting, or yelling and name calling. And occasional harrassment, flaming or violent threats.
 
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