First post (and its a necroooo post), I love Vintage Story, and I agree with all the comments related to the merits of cooperative communities and gameplay focused on building, creativity, and collecting. I don't want VS to attract toxic habits and bring anyone down ever. I also think that gaming, in general, is what one makes it, and there are examples of PVP games that have managed to curb some of the 'weeds of toxicity' that can emerge from fertile gameplay experiences.
I'm going to highlight Rust, which some may say has a toxic player based, though as a seasoned player who has played since beta, the developers managed to implement toggles for servers admins to tailor exactly what some players want from that. There are plenty of PVE and moderated PVP servers with house rules that can provide a variety of experiences from the same game base. I think so long as a public server is well moderated, and the game itself has the right toggles for admins, it is a great way to provide even more options for players, and perhaps attract more new players.
Just my 2 cents. Whatever people do is what they'll do. I personally enjoy gameplay that does not come at the expense of another players experience.
