I have the misfortune of being a woman, so I play absolutely zero things with voice. And when I was younger, I'd pick the most 'bro' username possible just to avoid the bullshit.
Now that I'm older I just refuse to play competitive games at all. Life is too short to be constantly insulted. (Like the above user, I played LoL maybe twice before uninstalling.)
League had a brief moment kinda from season 3 to 5 that had quite a female playerbase but they lost Lyte the guy who handled community systems and all went to shit. Throw it in the mountain of bad decisions they did. They were on the road of something good and they lost it. It's sad to see now, they have the worst image possible the por scene collapsed, their numbers are pulled up from China and Korea.
I'm very sad to think it was a good game and I'm so very sorry for the way they treated us.
That's funny because I think that was around when I played. I only ever played with at least a duo though. I'd almost never play on my own. Not because I couldn't play well enough, but because I didn't want to have to deal with people alone.
I enjoyed my time (not all of it but some) and watching Arcane made me miss it. But I don't think I'd go back to league. Maybe tft and we'll see how the mmo does.
Before the internet was mainstream, I dreamt that online games would be amazing, civilized activities. Now I want nothing to do with what it became, and this is coming from a guy. It's like being a gamer became an identity, people take playing games too serious and there's virtually no punishment for being a dick. I've seen more mature 12 year-olds than some of these adults.
I think you hit the nail on the head. There is almost no recourse for anyone being a dick, and some people consider it part of their "strategy" to get under people's skin.
It's such a pity that it has come to this. Having women present in voice chat somehow makes gaming with strangers more comfortable, probably even more fun, for me.
That's part of the reason I love Splatoon. No voice unless you are playing with friends, and it's not a total sausage fest. Though for whatever reason, the squid bagging and griefing gets cranked up to 11 during Splatfest.