Summary
- It’s a known fact that gaming has gotten a whole lot more toxic over the past few years.
- Case in point, the Steam Forums, which are known for being a hotbed of abuse and intolerance.
- The creator of Coquette Dragoon has shared Valve’s advice for developers, and it’s pretty bleak.
The creator of Coquette Dragoon has shared Valve‘s official advice for developers dealing with toxic players on Steam Forums and, with lines like “it’s a battle you won’t win”, it’s pretty bleak.
While I’m a true believer in the healing power of video games and their ability to bring players together for incredible experiences, it’s a simple fact of life that the hobby can be very toxic at times. Nowadays, all it takes is one look at whatever major triple-A game is releasing next and the exaggerated controversy it has attached to it to see what I mean.
Gaming is sadly toxic all over right now, but undoubtedly one of the worst places for it is the Steam Forums, where anyone with an account can say basically whatever they want without much fear of retribution or being moderated. While Valve does have things in place for toxic players, its official advice for developers facing abuse is a little telling of how bad things can get.
Valve’s Advice For Developers Facing Abuse Is Basically To Just Try And Ignore It
Over on Bluesky, Coquette Dragoon creator Ivy May shared a screenshot of the “official documentation” from Valve regarding developers facing abuse on Steam Forums. Ivy May pointed out that Valve’s advice is basically just, “No you can’t stop it, try and look away from the vortex”, and it’s easy to agree after seeing what’s shared.
While it’s true that Valve does offer to add more moderators and requests creators go directly to it, some of the other advice is rather telling for how toxic things get. One of the gems reads, “Don’t try to censor players or get into public arguments – it’s a battle you won’t win”, while another simply tells developers to “take a break” instead of trying to figure out why they’re being targeted.
Valve even points out to developers that the abuse will eventually “return to normal” and that it has seen many cases where a “surge” of negative sentiment will (hopefully) burn out after time. That might be true, but it’s not exactly comforting, and makes it plain as day just how horrible things must be for developers if even Steam itself recommends just riding it out.
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