The Friendliest Gaming Communities

Wholesome Gaming Communities

Gaming can be a difficult thing to navigate at times. Getting stuck in certain parts of a game that you’re playing is completely normal, and sometimes, the solution to tricky puzzles or navigating an obtuse level design can be found by other players. If you’ve been around the internet long enough, you’ll soon realize that there are good and bad eggs in video game communities. It’s logical to think that gamers would be understanding and mindful of their colleagues and help them any way they can, but that all gets thrown out the window, especially if we’re talking about online games. The gaming community, as a collective, has a marred reputation thanks to negative examples of a few rotten eggs in the community. Games that have a competitive online presence are often seen as aggressive, toxic, and abusive. However, there are also games and player bases that offer a shining beacon of what gaming can and should be. These communities act as a collective in sharing, discussing, creating, and helping with one another. It’s not easy to find a safe space for elite players and beginners alike these days, so we wanted to provide a list of the best wholesome gaming communities that you can readily join.

A Common Thread

You might have noticed it by now, but the games that revolve around PvE rather than PvP are the ones that have an overall healthier and more welcoming fanbase. The primary reason why they’re the “nice guys” is that the players aren’t competing with one another, but rather uniting together to defeat a common foe (except Stardew Valley).

It’s easy to write off every gaming community as toxic since the media does a poor job representing gaming forums as whole. Prime examples that have done nothing to help a gaming’s representation in media are the sexual harassment cases regarding Riot Games, the racism towards Terrence Miller, a competitive Hearthstone player, and of course, we can’t forget about the multiple lawsuits that Activision-Blizzard is currently facing. Through these companies and their public displays, gaming has developed a reputation in the media as a cesspool of toxicity that throws racial slurs and swears at anyone that gets in their way.

Deep Rock Galactic

Rock. And. Stooooone! Deep Rock Galactic is a game that juggles the first-person, co-op, and looter shooter genre at the same time. After two years in Early Access, it was fully released on May 13, 2020, for the PC and Xbox. In DRG, four players must traverse a procedurally generated world that’s 100% destructible to complete a variety of missions. You have four classes to play with, each offering their unique abilities in an intriguing FPS mold. As you venture deep into the underground, you’ll encounter swarms of monstrous, cave-dwelling enemies that include robots and aliens. If you want to overcome the challenges and be successful on your missions, you’ll have to work together as a team to coordinate, mine, and defeat the swarms that are headed your way.

Deep Rock Galatic has amassed over three million players across Xbox and PC alike ever since its launch out of Early Access. Trust us when we say this, but DRG has one of the best communities out there to date. Even with nobody typing or talking during missions, there’s a happy atmosphere with all the saluting going on. And with the space-mining sim finally getting a PlayStation port in January, we figured this is the best time to talk about it.

There’s a new dwarf inbound? Rock and Stone!

Reviving a downed player? Rock and Stone!

Buy a round of beers for your colleagues? You betcha. Rock and Stone!

When in doubt, just press V (if you’re playing on PC).

Stardew Valley

It’s hardly a surprise to many that Stardew Valley’s community is just full of thoughtfulness, togetherness, and creativity–can’t forget about the Linus memes too, of course. Players often struggle with the farming game’s control scheme or get to grips on how to organize their crops. Thankfully, the members of the Stardew Valley community are always there to deliver advice and help the newbies out. You’ll often see players showcase their creative ventures and achievements and are met with an abundance of praise from their fellow members. Whether it’s deciding on a cute name for their chicken or a creative house arrangement, your fellow farmers will always be down to assist you in any way they can.

Warframe

Warframe is more than just a co-op looter shooter. Boasting so many different ways to play and customize your loadout, a handful of planets and locales to explore, and ever-expanding lore, Warframe carries a momentum that feels like it goes further beyond the final frontier. The game had a lot of game award nominations back in 2020 and was even up for a Golden Joystick award for the best community. Warframe’s community prides itself in creativity–whether it’s by sharing fan art, music, or even fashion frames, players are always ready to engage and just altogether have a good time. Perhaps the most mind-blowing aspect about the looter shooter is that despite having hundreds, if not thousands of hoursworth of content, the game is free.