Has the average player become worse over time?

Now, I'd like to preface this by saying that I'm not writing this because I just lost and am malding or anything like that. I started playing Brawl about 7 years ago (according to steam). I do love this game and it's a game that has helped me make friends, and in general provided me with some good memories. Thus, I'd like you to know that I'm writing this out of pure curiosity/to comment my observations.

My Brawl history is quite simple, I started 7 years ago and quit about 3 years ago, but I still tune in once or twice a year to complete my placements. I was never great at the game (peaked at around 1850 I'm pretty sure), but I still enjoyed the game back then due to its competitive scene. Today, after finishing my placements I got placed at 1710 and played like 10-15 matches before I decided to write this.

I'll be using the words "average player" a lot below and I'd like you to know that I am probably one of these average players, but considering the fact that I've been here for such a long time, the only thing I'm trying to accomplish is to comment on the changes the community has gone through, and NOT talk smack about newer players.

Back then, when I started, post-match-chat was a shit-fest, people calling each other names that would automatically reserve you a spot in hell, yet I still find the state the game is in today WAY more toxic. The average player has adapted extremely toxic playstyles such as: your average timewaster for 8 minutes, sig spammers combined with an extremely passive playstyle otherwise. These playstyles, which in my opinion, are not only unhealthy for the game, but the fact that most average players don't know how to punish such a playstyle, makes it a long term problem.

Consider this: you download the game, meet a sig spammer and the next match you try it yourself. Magically, it works, and leads you to winning a couple of matches due to the fact that the average beginner, AKA the people you are facing, can't even fathom how to punish such a playstyle. What does this lead to? That's right, another spammer that just tried it out and it worked. Thus, reinforcing the cycle of new players turning to quick fixes, rather than actually trying to learn the game.

Such a playstyle loop where these "toxic", playstyles are encouraged are not only making the average player worse (take it with a grain of salt, I'll comment this later), but also pushing other beginners who don't want to resort to such means to ultimately quit the game as the learning curve is pretty steep and not everyone finds it fun to lose against sig spammers for tens of hours before you can even attempt to counter them.

At the same time, these playstyles have made climbing the lower ranks super easy. I remember back then, back when I was playing consistently, climbing to plat was a fight for me (once again, because I'm far from the best). Today, I automatically get placed into plat, and that has been the case for the last couple of times I've done my placements. Consider this - I don't play at all, tune in for 10 matches, and almost match my peak rank which I acquired by grinding for hours on end. And why is that? Because, EVERY SINGLE PLAYER below plat (I've never been above plat, but I'd like to hear some opinions about the gameplay there), is a god damn spammer or a passive player which, if you know how to, are two playstyles that are EXTREMELY easy to punish. I remember a year or two ago, I once again completed my placements. Ended up at 1750~ and decided to drop down to low gold. The entire climb back up to plat was an experiment which proved my hypothesis, that I'd manage to climb easily due to the fact that everyone is a spammer, true.

This in my opinion is super weird, where most games are experiencing the opposite effect of newer players becoming so good, that older good players wouldn't stand a chance (Fortnite, Valorant, League etc.). Brawlhalla has the opposite. New players are so extremely bad and have these easily punishable playstyles that not only make the new players worse, but also soft-locks them into a specific rank as climbing as a spammer past plat without good game sense is pretty hard (I think so at least haha?). It's like the end of the Flynn effect, where we had players becoming better and better, and at some point people started getting worse.

To conclude, I find the fact that these "toxic" playstyles are being reinforced have made the average player not only worse than before, but has also made the game unenjoyable for beginners. I'm sorry if there isn't too clear of an opinion or if the text is all over the place, I just wanted to share my observations and I really want to hear what others have to say.

If something is EXTREMELY unclear, please ask me and I'll comment on it further haha.