However judging from my experience and my friends experience russians tend to be closed off to non-russians which can come off a bit toxic at times.
Usually it's because many Russians don't know English, which is considered the world language. So it's much harder to build communication with people from other countries. And this is in no way a sign of "toxicity". Imagine if the world language was... say, Chinese. I suppose many English-speaking guys would also find it much harder to communicate with the world that "all speaks Chinese". I can also assume that in this case they would unite around the same English-speaking groups. And that's normal.
I meant "worldwide" is a decent chunk of gamers have past experiences with russian players and its not positive.
I know generalizing is a sign of ignorance but you can't help it sometimes because it can be an agitating or frustrating experience.
You do understand that this game can be played by two people, right?..
For example, the English are "considered" to be rather prim and arrogant people. However, I have met Choppy in games. This old guy has always been kind to other players, was always positive and I have never seen him arrogant. I have never seen him put himself above anyone else.
The Spanish are considered to be very religious people. But I know several atheists.
The French are very loving, they love wine.
The Germans are precise, calculating and have a military bearing, they love beer.
The Russians are lazy and love vodka. I may be lazy, but I am an absolute teetotaler.
The Jews love money...
Etc.
You can approach it from another angle:
Well, in some circles, Americans are considered stupid people. But is that true? I don't think so. There is plenty of evidence to the contrary, at least that they are still the leading power in the world. The stupid wouldn't be able to do that.
China was recently considered a country that sells outright low-quality crap. And now, literally before our eyes, Chinese technology is literally soaring in quality, ahead of some traditionally technological countries.
. . .
You project your personal experience and raise it to an almost absolute value. Thus, you are terribly slandering. And if Equinox, at least, accuses specific people - then you are starting to accuse (based on your personal experience) an entire nation! In my opinion, this is much worse and this is what constitutes toxicity. I will give a very crude example: Equinox kills several specific people, and you kill an entire nation. Think about it.