Commercialization and the need to expand demographics to increase profits. I think the people who find it unacceptable always existed, but the internet (and es

Commercialization and the need to expand demographics to increase profits. I think the people who find it unacceptable always existed, but the internet (and especially MMOs) tended to be heavily conflict-based and would simply drive them away. You either learned to cope (or enjoy it), or you left. Eventually it became clear that companies were effectively leaving money on the table by allowing some users to drive other users away, so they decided to stop that from happening. I don't think there are enough users interested enough in their ability to call each other names to actually quit to influence companies to stop. E.g. I prefer less moderation because it's sometimes hilarious, but not enough to use that as a criteria for which games I'm going to play (for the most part). I also think gaming became mainstream enough for media outlets to start reporting on games, and companies didn't want to be associated with the actions of users. Nobody wants to be the company that runs the game best known for its use of racial slurs. It was fine when gaming was niche enough that the only people who knew about that was gamers; it's a bigger problem when your investors become aware of how often people use the n word in your game.