Why? Ego....status...and money. I'm a GenX gamer. So when I was growing up, gaming was something you largely did either by yourself, or with a group of good friends. Games were much smaller and simpler, so most people just focused on the fun of playing the game. The problem is that games are no longer that contained. They're now online and you're playing with thousands, if not millions of others. This has now brought a HUGE...and impersonally....social aspect to gaming. A problem that has been compounded by the money that e-sports and streaming have brought to gaming...and the directly competitive nature (pvp) of those games. So instead of just being about individual fun, you now have lots of people who are gaming for reasons that have nothing to do with having fun actually playing teh game. They're trying to achieve---or protect---perceived STATUS with a game's community or within their community of friends. Or they're trying to protect their business and income....or their path to said income. You see the same thing in sports as you get to the higher ranks of a given sport. Especially team sports, as (team) politics start to play a role in who does---and doesn't---get a shot. Or a starting job. But sports has a culture of sportsmanship...and FIXED rules that help to contain all this toxic competition and social drama. (As Hope Solo found out the hard way). The problem is that gaming has NONE of this. So when people can't win in the arena, they then start to try to "work the refs" to tip the playing field in their own favor. (Lets nerf that weapon or that play style that's frustrating my own. I'll play better without having to get better....or it'll give me an edge.) Lastly, devs have no incentive to try to enforce any of this. They're in the business of making and selling games. Not policing bad behavior, or playing nanny to unruly kids. Policing any of this beyond a certain bare minimum is goign to cost them money and customers.