Abstract Since Gamergate, has been a growing body of research on toxicity in online video games (for example, Conway, 2020: Massanari, 2017; Parent, et. al., 2019). “Toxicity” encompasses a range of harmful behaviors, including abusive interactions aimed at other players, such as harassment, verbal insults, and flaming. (Beres et al., 2021; Türkay et al., 2020; Lapidot-Lefler & Barak, 2012; Foo & Koivisto, 2004; Adinolf & Turkay, 2018). It also involves disruptive actions that break game rules and social expectations, such as griefing, spamming, and cheating. Toxicity can also be characterized by verbal and nonverbal behavior that is predicated on how gender norms are enforced in society to emphasize power systems that favor the authority and power of a dominant groups. Modern video games, particularly first-person co-op shooters and online multiplayer games, are able to give players immersive and hyper-real sensations while shielding them from the real-life repercussions of such toxic actions. To better understand the circumstances that allow toxicity to occur, it is vital to investigate such toxicity in particular contexts. In this study, toxic behavior in video games, notably first-person co-op shooters, is studied using a communicative approach. The goal of this study is to comprehend how gamers identify and classify toxic behaviors, as well as to explore how toxicity is normalized and expected within gaming communities, including how some players justify their own toxic actions based on specific circumstances and scenarios. From this angle, there has not been much, if any, research done thus far. Keywords: video games, toxicity, immersive, hyper-real. Adinolf, S., & Turkay, S. (2018, October). Toxic behaviors in Esports games: player perceptions and coping strategies. In Proceedings of the 2018 Annual Symposium on computer-human interaction in play companion extended abstracts (pp. 365-372). Foo, C. Y., & Koivisto, E. M. (2004, September). Defining grief play in MMORPGs: player and developer perceptions. In Proceedings of the 2004 ACM SIGCHI International Conference on Advances in computer entertainment technology (pp. 245-250). Lapidot-Lefler, N., & Barak, A. (2012). Effects of anonymity, invisibility, and lack of eye-contact on toxic online disinhibition. Computers in human behavior, 28(2), 434-443. Türkay, S., Formosa, J., Adinolf, S., Cuthbert, R., & Altizer, R. (2020, April). See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil: How collegiate players define, experience and cope with toxicity. In Proceedings of the 2020 CHI conference on human factors in computing systems (pp. 1-13). Beres, N. A., Frommel, J., Reid, E., Mandryk, R. L., & Klarkowski, M. (2021, May). Don’t you know that you’re toxic: Normalization of toxicity in online gaming. In Proceedings of the 2021 CHI conference on human factors in computing systems (pp. 1-15).