Toxicity is a huge problem in online video games. Some of the most well-known toxic online gaming communities include League of Legends, Dota and your favorite console shooters. While console shooters have generally included voice chat and a range of “your mom” insults screamed by the 13 year olds on the other end of the line, PC games typically include text chat, and a clearly visible record of every toxic statement.
I’ve been thinking recently about the kinds of things I’d like to work on most during the break from teaching, and I’ve decided that I really want to take a deep look at game design from a theoretical and practical standpoint. It seems to me that there could be some need for a more formal and methodological approach to the design of games than currently exists. In my experience, game designers (the ones that put the fun into the game) are hard to find and extremely hard to train.