View source for Apex Legends: Solving The Problem Of Toxic Random Teammates

<br><br><br><br>Apex Legends is more than a year old, yet one aspect that's been problematic since the game’s genesis still continues to be an issue in the game: toxic random squadmates. <br><br><br>Like many team games, players who join the game without full teams will find themselves placed with random players. <br><br><br>For the most part, randoms won’t cause problems. They either won’t talk, or they’ll call out suggestions to help guide the game and support weaker players in gunfights. <br><br><br>But every so often, a random player can spoil the experience. And sometimes, this happens numerous times in a row, which can prove to be extremely frustrating for people who just want to play the game. <br><br><br>Toxic Randoms Spoil The Game For Others <br><br><br>In games of Apex Legends , I’ve found myself matched with profile names that are blatantly racist (they used workarounds to pass spam filters). Once, the first thing someone said was a sexual comment. I’ve been told I was trash for losing a fight by missing a shotgun shot. Random players frequently separate from their teammates, go AFK in the middle of a fight with no explanation and can be toxic in any number of other ways. <br><br><br>In the past few weeks, I've twice watched someone back out of a game because I chose the character they wanted to play. Both times, it was because my game defaulted to the character because I didn't make a selection. In one instance, I even apologized after noticing the other player had wanted to be the character I had chosen, but the player backed out anyway. It's important to note that in Apex Legends , selection order is randomized. In both cases, my name popped up first on the selection menu, meaning I had every right to choose whichever character I wanted to play.  Regardless, backing out for something so mundane is problematic because my team is forced to play the game as a squad of two up against squads of three, which makes the game much more difficult. <br><br><br>I recently read a sarcastic remark after I bailed on reviving a teammate. My infraction? I jumped up and ran away after I discovered I was about to get hit by a grenade that would have killed me. <br><br><br>Recently, I was matched with someone whose name was a play on the coronavirus. Perhaps merely evidence of a juvenile sense of humor, it hits different when 23,000 people in your city have died of the virus. <br><br><br>I don't even bother to go on comms, because the last thing I want is for these random teammates to use the fact that I'm a female to harass me. <br><br><br>A video recently emerged on Reddit showing exactly how toxic random players can be. A player downs two enemies only to get knocked before a teammate kills the third. The teammates then refuse to revive the downed player. To see it and know there are few consequences for these actions is frustrating, to say the least. <br><br><br>The easiest fix would be to play only with players one trusts. However, one key issue is that my friends range from far better to me to far worse than me, which poses challenges with skill-based matchmaking. Even though my K/D is below one and  [https://Apexlegendsfans.com/ Apexlegendsfans.Com] I have a win rate of 5 percent, squadding up with my higher-skill friends means there will almost certainly be Apex Predators in our lobby. <br><br><br>How To Solve The Issue Of Toxic Random Squadmates <br><br><br>So, what do we do about randoms? There’s an option to report players, but if it’s because they said something toxic and it’s not documented, that option doesn’t seem helpful. <br><br><br>Do we shame them publicly? Certainly, publicly shaming them won’t help if they have no public identity attached to their gamer persona. <br><br><br>Should we ignore bad behavior? Perhaps, but it’s not always easy to ignore rude comments and actions when teammates are being selfish and callous. <br><br><br>One solution is the one that Overwatch implemented, which allows players to endorse other players at the end of each game. In that game, endorsements only reflect positive attributes, such as Sportsmanship, Good Teammate and Shot Caller. <br><br><br>As applied to randoms, this optional metric would be a terrific way to incentivize good behavior. Perhaps the result of numerous positive endorsements could be a guaranteed legendary item, a unique skydive emote or a special profile badge. <br><br><br>Further, this could help balance the lobbies. The theory would be that someone who has gotten "good teammate" accolades has earned the right to not have to squad with potentially toxic teammates. It wouldn’t have to be the case every game, but the "good teammate" would overall have the benefit of playing far fewer games with potentially toxic randoms. <br><br><br> via: Electronic Arts <br><br><br>Revenant glares while holding a weapon in Apex Legends. <br><br><br>As a non-pro player, I’ll always make mistakes. I’ll try to revive a teammate when I should be fighting, and I’ll miss shots that I know aren’t difficult for good players. But I’ve put around 1500 hours into Apex Legends , and yet I can’t recall a time I’ve ever become vocally frustrated with a teammate without obvious provocation. Those I play with will also sometimes run out ahead just to get downed or will push fights they have no chance of winning, but I trust they are doing their best and aim to support them as teammates no matter their choices. <br><br><br>Toxicity is nothing new in gaming. But I fail to understand why we should continue to allow this behavior to continue if there’s something we can do to mitigate it and reward those who don’t engage. I’ve had friends uninstall Apex Legends due to frustration with random squadmates. <br><br><br>Video games should be fun. But issues with random players detract from the experience. It’s time for Respawn to step in and develop a strategy for dealing with players who can’t play with basic respect and decency. <br><br><br>For more Apex Legends discussion and analysis, check out TheGamer’s new podcast, Pexin’ with the Legends . <br><br><br>READ NEXT: Apex Legends: 10 Things You Didn't Know About The Toxic One, Caustic <br>