bullying, harassing, or even “criticizing” them is an entirely pointless endeavor that does nothing but make you feel superior to another person. having a “minimum standard” for random matchmaking is OK i guess, but not having that standard met is the developer’s fault for not having proper matchmaking, not the random shitty player just trying to play the game.
and it’s a game. it fundamentally does not matter if someone is so bad you can’t get your +0.2 second record or whatever. it does not matter if you can’t win the difficulty you chose. everyone starts somewhere, and in games where different difficulties tend to be almost like entirely different games, this is even more true. if you want a game where you have an 100% chance of everyone involved being at the correct skill level you want, than don’t play with explicitly random players. no one cares if you want to feel special because you can win more at some fictional game than other people. I respect skill, but if you think that’s a reason to bully people than you should leave every game scene ever to save people from your presence
if a player stumbles into something but doesn’t understand it it’s the developer’s fault 90% of the time. if a player doesn’t want to “git gud” it’s the developer’s fault 90% of the time. every single genuine criticism made about a game’s difficulty is inherently valid. every game should have an easy mode. players should default to helping new players rather than dismissing them. learning a game by playing it is always more intuitive than using google or reading blog posts.
Co-op games where you’re just playing against the game are usually pretty chill, like Warframe is usually the one that comes to mind. I only played it for around a year but I think there was maybe one or two people that were just unpleasant for whatever reason. Team matches where you’re playing against other people turn gamers into absolute demons though, MOBAs and FPS games in particular seem to really attract the edge lords. I just assume the psychology is “I am good and this person is bad and now I’m bad from association.”
Rocket League and Overwatch made me quit competitive online team games permanently. Between people who drop out the moment you start losing and people who fly off the handle at you or start wrecking the moment you make a mistake (or they just perceive you as having made one), it’s just not worth it.
It really seems to vary due to a lot of factors. DRG has been mostly kind to me even when I’ve fucked up, for instance, but fuck up while playing Don’t Starve Together by eating meatballs instead of bacon and eggs and everyone hates you.