Train, skill level and leaving

@MandatoryIDtag And their motto is #Solomode.

@Koochi-Q

Sure. I understand. I made my first post on these forums a few weeks ago and I'm pretty sure you chimed in there as well. My post was regarding the requests for solos mode, and a bit of a rant regarding toxic solo squadders. One of you (you beautiful high forum xp people you) told me to give it time, if I was any sort of decent I'd be there eventually.

As the prophecy fortold, shortly after creating that post I hit something of a stride where my game sense started clicking, I got my control sensitivities dialed in, and I just started playing better. At this point I did in fact find myself getting frustrated when paired with less proficient players.

BUT

I had to attitude adjust myself reeeal quick, because I refuse to be a toxic player. What I feel like is majorly lacking here, is the ability for those who've played longer to give new players time to adjust and gather their bearings.

Poor PC performance
Poor network connectivity
Low quality display
Low quality peripherals
Lack of headphones
Excess ambient noise
Gaming in a high distraction area (living room with siblings/housemates)
Recent platform or control scheme switches
Being unfamiliar with BR or shooters in general
Casual gaming in lieu of regular gaming
Drugs
Alcohol
Attention demanding pets
Attention demanding kids
Compromised eyesight
Compromised hearing
Too much caffeine
Too little caffeine
Ambient room temperature

All of the things I listed above could be a reason why that one (or both) player(s) only got 150 dmg over 3 rounds. However the one thing that won't fix ANY of those things, is getting upset with the person, and obscenely telling them they're garbage and should throw their system away.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not naive. This is am issue present in online interaction in general. For some reason though, Apex does seem to have a higher concentration of this de-humanizing attitude than other games I've played.

I'll close with a story. I quit a game shortly after drop several weeks ago. Don't know who my teammates were, but we dropped in, got a kill or two, and I straight up bailed. Now I'm sure, that behind their screens, the other two players probably called me trash. They probably seethed, blamed respawn for a broken game, drooled over the idea of solos, and probably assumed instantly that I was a garbage butthole who doesn't deserve to breathe, let alone play Apex. Who knows, maybe they came here to complain about low level players bailing on their squads.

So here's what happened...

My 7 year old daughter had come down the hall to tell me that one of our family housecats was nowhere to be found. After she insisted that the cat was not in the house, I left the game. Turns out the cat had escaped earlier that day, and a cold front was coming in that night. After looking outside for an hour I called it a night. I then listened to my wife bawl with guilt about letting the cat out.

For the next 3 days, that cat stayed missing. Despite looking during the day, I played Apex at night to take my mind off the situation, and I played terribly as would be expected. At the end of the 3rd day we found our kitty, all was once again right with the world, and I was able to turn my full mental energy toward my gameplay again.

All I'm saying, is that the tendency to instantly assume to worst about a stranger, and the constant refusal to give another human the benefit of the doubt breeds toxicity.

Sure. Maybe that person got 150 damage because they're literal garbage. But I choose to believe that maybe, just maybe there may be more factors at play than whatever we pull off the top of our head to write someone off with.