There actually is literature on how to remake cultures and environments to be less toxic, less dangerous and damaging to people in it.

One of the best case studies on this was a series of efforts done on oil rigs in the name of safety.

Oil rigs in general are quite dangerous. You're working with highly complex machinery, with significant forces and power behind it, all to pump up a fairly dangerous substance.

And accidents cost money and time. You can lose valuable and knowledgeable personnel, not just to accidents themselves, but because of trauma from accidents and loss.

So what happened was a focus on working together for common safety, and training in healthy ways to work together.

The observed effect, as these men were shown the tangible benefits of honesty and acceptance, was a significant reduction in bluster and machismo. This meant fewer workers were pushing themselves too far, and thus less likely to make mistakes from being tired or sore. They were honest, and asked for help when needed. They talked about their feelings (THE HORROR!) and resolved tensions before they affected performance.

The impact was significant - the oil rigs this happened on became some of the safest in the world. Deaths and accidents still happened. Oil rigs are naturally dangerous. But fewer of them. More experience retained. More productivity.

So what can we take away from this?

First, we need role models who model ideal behavior. I find the professionalism and maturity of the mods here to be excellent role models of behavior. But we need to also do something about the other role models players will imitate - the youtubers and streamers who are toxic, negative, raging assholes.

Since we aren't a company able to enforce a top-down safety training program, we have to solve this in the ways communities have solved this for thousands of years: replacements and work.

Recognizing there were negative youtubers that were teaching new players extremely toxic habits and views in the Magic community, many talented players and content creators set about creating compelling replacement channels and personalities on YouTube and Twitch and other platforms. These were higher quality, positive, and with broad community support, became recommended channels for new MTG players.

We can do that here. We need to identify good content creators who model positive, healthy behavior and teamplay, who provide new player accessible content. If we don't have those, then we need to develop those channels, and support them so they get recommended over the toxic and negative streamers/youtubers.

Second, we as a community need to model healthy behaviors here on these forums as much as possible, and elsewhere.

I ask everyone here to, if they can, type 'Good luck, and have fun!' in the team chat at the start of every game. If you're on the PS4 with no keyboard, do a couple "Good Games!" pings at the start.

In addition, we need to be quick to acknowledge our own faults and mistakes. I know my flaws. I know what I need to work on. (For disclosure: I often over-extend, sometimes miss important mini-map information, and lack skill in my skill shots. I do play well as a support, because then I'm paying more attention to the map, and my tactical mind leans in that direction of disruption and protection.)

We need to be encouraging and supportive, and provide information. We cannot force anyone to do anything, to play better. But if we model desired behavior more, then we'll see it more.

TL;DR:

• We need engaging, positive new-player accessible content creators, and to support them so new players see them over negative, toxic creators
• We need to model healthy, cooperative behaviors here in the forums and in games we play
• Try to start every game with positivity, even if it is a front - "Good luck and have fun" or "Good Game!" pings can help.

The benefits of this are big. As we learn and model healthy behaviors that work well with others, then we'll play better in Paragon, and we can attract more players.