Comments on: Forum Fail

By: vonBehren

vonBehren — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 03:59:10 +0000

I think all of the points you make contribute to the situation. I believe there are also some other factors that may contribute as well.

1) The sheer number of players now has moved us beyond merely hobbyists talking about our hobby. MMOs are mainstreamed, full of non-gamer types. Sociology teaches us that as groups grow in size, all of the normal social subgroups within society become represented in the original group. Many of these subgroups are not pleasant, or courteous people.

2) On the other hand, hobbyists tend to identify strongly with their hobby and have exhibited the same behavior you discuss since well before the days of the internet and computer games. Read some music, comic book, film buff, autobuff, etc. fanzines to see my point. In the ancient past of my youth I followed a lot of punk and rock fanzines – it was the same whiny, confrontational, personally abusive crap we can find in MMOs today. Fanzines were generally localized geographically, the internet changes that.

3) Continuing the theme of not really being all that new, I started playing WoW in Oct 2005. The forums were already toxic and something to be avoided. You all may remember the old t-shirts “I survived Barrens chat” – I am not sure things are really that much worse since those days other than the fact there are more flamers so their fecal matter accrues all over the place.

I could add more, but I’ll spare y’all the trouble. Suffice it to say nice read.

By: Inktomi

Inktomi — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 13:52:34 +0000

You are always hysterical cmag, hitting the nail on the head once again.
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For many years the pc/mmo gamer has held a stigma of being an awkward type lacking social skills. And in some cases that stereotype bears truth. Just browse the Darkfall forums for a day if anyone isn’t a believer.
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The ambiguity of the internet enables people to take on different persona and play roles. In others it grants an air of freedom and empowerment. Unfortunately there is always one yahoo that uses that as an “a–hole pass”. Anonymity doesn’t give you the right to act out at someone differently than you would act in the street, just enables you to meet someone that you wouldn’t normally meet on the street.
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Many times I found myself clicking the /ignore button while grumbling, “come to new york and say that shit to my face.” I never was one to hold a grudge but I have no patience for internet tough guys. I always stand up for myself and hold a few (quite a few) personal rules of internet etiquette.
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I have a motto that I need to remind myself every time I log on; “The internet is an insane asylum where the patients run the show.”
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Good read,
Frank

By: Pan

Pan — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:37:50 +0000

You’re absolutely correct. We touched on this a little in a recent discussion and now it’s bad enough that on my ‘Aion – My First Week in Review’ posting at http://strictmachine.me/?p=423 I actually recommend that people avoid the ‘General’ forums for Aion. Don’t even read them. I’m really looking forward to five weeks or so from now when some of these players leave (one can only hope) so that the forums are readable.

While there are some legitimate issues, the deafening cry of the whining, “Center of the Universe” players is overwhelming. I’d love to see an MMO launch with a forum rating system such that lower rated threads are not visible unless you adjust your viewing threshold to a lower value. Slashdot, often the land of forum trolls, does something like this and with your viewing threshold set an appropriate value you can hide the noise and trolling.

By: Qix

Qix — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 18:20:14 +0000

I completely agree that far too many people have your “Center of the Universe” mentality. I also agree that this extends to forums and into most of the newbie parts of MMO’s.
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But I disagree with the ‘If you don’t have anything nice to say, dont say anything’ ending paragraph. People need to be going to the forums and complaining. Explaining why they are not likely to keep playing. But like you said, its pointless to do it like a whiny little brat. Constructive criticism is a good thing.
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Also I think its more than just the ‘new’ players to MMO’s that are crying. I have played most MMO’s (or at least the beta’s) since UO. I am completely sick of game’s being launched that are not ready to be played. Champions Online is a great example. I played with the beta. It wasn’t that bad, but I did not get very far before I got bored. Then on release there are MASSIVE changes to the entire combat system. To me that just screams NOT READY. As far as I saw, these changes were not (widely) tested. Why were they not in the beta? Because they were last minute, rushed into a game not ready to be played.
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MMO developers need to realize that they are competing with games that have been out for years (like WoW). Games that have an immense amount of polish in them. They also need to realize that (especially in MMO’s) first impressions are HUGE. It would not be an understatement to say that first impressions can make or break your game. Look at Conan. It could turn into a better game than WoW (for certain types of players). 90%, probably more, of those players will never even give Conan a chance after that abysmal launch.
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Thats why I am all for bitching about a crappy game. But I do think you’re right that most people on these forums take it overboard.