Many people already recognize that toxic behavior is a common issue with online gaming. So that step's pretty much taken care of. Its what to actually do about it that's the puzzle. What practical and effective methods could game providers implement to reduce toxic behavior?
Notice I said "game providers". You could suggest government regulation getting involved, but what could it do that the game providers haven't already attempted? What could government legislation do that would not be excessive and totalitarian towards online game communities? Banning players for offenses? That already happens and it's easily sidestepped. Spamming nations with politically correct PSAs? That doesn't work either, especially with games that run on global servers. There's a lot of countries with online gamers that don't particularly agree with westernized ideals...
If you're scratching your head trying to come up with a workable solution, you finally understand the REAL issue for why the toxic behavior persists: a lack of power to prevent it. And it's not from a lack of trying.
Most online gamers grasp the existence of the issue. They just can't do anything significant to stop it. And I'm afraid a social media bandwagon movement to do so would be a pipe dream as well. Like I'm not trying to rain on your idealistic parade, but for now many online gaming communities are jungles that can't effectively be tamed with political correctness. As sad as it is, this is basically as good as it's going to get in many games for a long time. So if you want to play in those chaotic environments where you already know there's a risk of being harassed, log in with sturdy armor instead of a soapbox.
I'm not saying the issue is imaginary. I'm saying there are currently no effective solutions for eliminating the issue on a significant scale. You can't really tackle this problem with the same methods as offline social issues. It won't work. Too much anonymity and revolving doors.
So in short you do recognise it's a problem, but it's a complicated problem with no easy answer and we need to spend more time and energy trying to address it. Glad we agree.
For me it's less about regulations and censorship and more about education and cultural change. ---