I thought the most toxic gamers in Counter-Strike 2 lobbies were kids, but I was very wrong

There has always been a bit of a stereotype that FPS lobbies are filled with toxic 12-year-olds using a bunch of racial slurs and screaming obnoxiously until you are forced to mute them, destroying the team’s communication and strategy. I have personally run into this many times, so I’d be willing to believe that kids and tweens are the most toxic age group in competitive gaming.

But I’d be wrong.

FACEIT recently studied 155,680 bans on the platform over the past 12 months and found that the most toxic players in Counter-Strike 2 are much older than you’d expect.

On X (formerly Twitter), FACEIT shared its findings with the CS2 community. In a chart that showed bans per every 1,000 accounts per age, the most-banned age was 28-year-olds.

In fact, the chart shows that CS2 players aged 13 to 17 have the fewest bans per 1,000 accounts. The toxicity only continues to increase as gamers get older, peaking at 28. By age 29, the number of bans per 1,000 accounts begins to decline, though not by much. As someone about to turn 35 myself, I was pretty shocked to see that there are more banned 35-year-old gamers than 13-year-olds.

What are you guys even doing? I’d not really forgive a toxic tween. I’d still block them. But at least they have a built-in excuse: their brains are not fully developed. No matter how clever they think they are by bullying female players, you can assume they are possibly doing this because their brains are not fully formed. They’re sorta dumb.

But your brain should be fully developed by 28. Right? For women, this can even happen as early as 25 years old. Male brains may not fully develop until their 30s. This could explain it. More than 90% of competitive Counter-Strike 2 players are male.

The comments only further solidified that FACEIT’s study was accurate. Accounts from presumably older gamers said that the younger generation “had no testosterone” as the reason they weren’t bullying and harassing people in Counter-Strike 2. I guess testosterone will make you uncontrollably annoying, which could explain cat-calling as well.

Another added: “Is it toxic or just new gen being soft AF?”

Most gamers seemed to agree that it’s a generational thing. Apparently, men in their 20s and 30s were just brought up to be exhausting and irritating. Some pointed to Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Halo, and Call of Duty lobbies back in the day (like the early 2000s). You’d hear tons of racist stuff! Tons of offensive slurs! Tons of ravenous sexism! These kids just don’t get it. They are in their safe little party chats with friends. They don’t know what it’s like to harass a bunch of strangers online!

Other gamers felt that there were more toxic older gamers than toxic younger gamers based on rank. If there are more older players in higher ranks, the matches may be more heated, and there may be more cheaters and other frustrations. Others just assumed older people are angrier since they have to pay taxes and such.

Whatever the reason, it’s sort of sad that there is this much toxicity at all. And that gamers are normalizing it as part of the experience. We all know the whole “just mute them” argument, but why are there so many annoying people to begin with? Why can’t people be expected to behave normally in a game? It’s almost like we are playing to enjoy the experience and get better, not to hear a random chud’s views on trans women and immigrants.

Some people just like to hear themselves talk.

On that note, enjoy this new insight. It definitely better explains why we still have pro players ranting about periods and saying racial slurs on stream. But don’t worry, they’ll be retiring soon if they’re 28.