Before we get into HOW to deal with them, we must first look at the TYPES of trolls you will deal with in this and every game community. Let's break it down.

1. The "ProGamer"
These are the guys who flaunt their machine specs every chance they get and claim that if a game can't run as smooth as butter on a the waxed hood of a classic VW beetle, it's not worth anything and everyone should agree based on that alone. These wasters of mummy and/or daddum's money are the least volatile, to be sure, but are so into themselves they can't see past the reflection of their holy glow in their own screens.

2. The "DEAD GAME RIP"pers.
These are by far one of the most annoying types of trolls. They believe a game is "Dead" or SHOULD be dead, if it does not meet up to the following standards:
- Have a massive, active, mouth-frothing player base
- Have absolutely NO BUGS whatsoever. Ever. For any reason.
- Have a MINIMUM fps of 120.
- Meet EVERY personal expectation/wish/fantasy/wet dream
- Everything is FREE, available IMMEDIATELY, and the devs answer before a question is even asked.
If even ONE of the above criteria is not met, it's obvious that this game is DOOMED for failure, and everyone should agree and abandon it. Obviously.

3. The "I need Attention" Flea
These little blood suckers will attempt to siphon your will to live by being as annoyingly frustrating and toxic as possible. From racist comments to lame sexual humor, to horrid punctuation and spelling, these insects will easily cause even the most patient of gamers to itch and squirm.
And the saddest thing of all, they do it for attention and nothing more.
Side note, these are typically the ones to engage in hacking as well.

4. The "I Have No Social Tact"ician
These guys, Lord bless 'em, are usually clueless to their own trollishness. They are just reactionary. It could range from anything like mental illness, disability, or just being painfully awkward. The most harmless troll, but still kind of annoying due to their NEED to chime in on anything at all. Even if it's only remotely related.
The "Add ME For Skins" trolls fall into this group. Harmless...but completely lacking in social taste or grace.

5. The "Anti Vulcan"
Finally, this group of trolls is the one I find personally distasteful. These guys will flat out ignore any sense of logic, sense, or fact simply to stay in opposition. I guess I gotta hand it to them for sticking to their guns, but my God, man...if the evidence is stacked against you, give it a rest and move on! These trolls seem to enjoy arguing for arguing's sake. There's absolutely NO winning against such numbskullery.

There's one simple rule in dealing with trolls:
DON'T.
Just don't.
Seriously.
It's not worth your time, your effort, or your sanity in trying to reason with these monsters.

However, if you absolutely MUST engage a troll in an online battle (best of luck), here's some pointers:

1. Back up your claims with hard evidence. This includes ACTUAL articles (not blogs, opinion pieces, or forum posts from anyone BUT a developer), data compiled by statistics groups, research analyses...you get the idea. REAL evidence.
2. Never call out a troll personally. They will take this as a challenge and beat you over the head with dimwit experience until you cry for mercy. No matter how tempting it is or how much they deserve it, just don't do it.
3. Know when to back away. If you've presented your case in a clear, polite, concise manner and they STILL insist on attacking/♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, back away and let it go. This will sadly be the case in most troll interactions. Learn to tactically withdraw and cut your losses.
4. Learn from your mistakes. Look at what worked, what didn't, and what you could do differently next time.

As always, I suggest just letting trolls be trolls. Eventually, they'll either grow out of it, find another avenue to be a troll, or die/wind up in prison because they finally trolled the wrong person.

This is not possible. If you have a personal crusade to rid the internet of trolls, it is a fool's errand.

In this case, you cannot fight fire with fire. And your digital pride isn't worth the flame war you're so ready to wage. You're probably right in feeling slighted. Most likely angry because some turdburglar is being a tool about something you enjoy. Or just being a general killjoy.

Bottom line is, at the end of the day, you'll likely never meet these guys. So what's the use in expending energy? If you enjoy the game, as I do, then enjoy it! Ignore the naysayers, let them be grumps, and find enjoyment where it matters.

See you in game!