Buckle up, this is a long one.
Something that's been getting a lot of press recently, particularly if you have been using the LFD tool, is the perceived decline in the quality of social interaction throughout the WoW community. This extends to a lot of reputed behaviour both in game and on the official forums; rudeness, name-calling, insults, item theft, elitism, bullying, ignorance, trolling and harrassment. The reason I'm bringing it up is because I've come across numerous examples of these antics, and I think the whole discussion could perhaps do with some perspective. First and foremost, it's worth reading:
http://blue.mmo-champion.com/topic/149848/this-community-is-horrible
It's a discussion involving Nethaera on the American WoW forums. It's relatively short, but basically starts with the premise that the entire community has devolved into nothing more than subterranean housing for the socially inept. Nethaera, to his credit, tries to paint a less damning picture with some examples of his own and hopes to reassure anyone reading it that it really isn't all that bad.
But is it?
I think it would be fairest to nail my colours to the mast. I've been playing since The Burning Crusade and my experience is that the community has declined since that time, and is now at its worst. I'm not for a single second saying that everyone out there fits the description I gave earlier; that would be an overstatement. But the percentage of people who seem to deliberately go out of their way to make the game less enjoyable for others is, frankly, quite worrying. Blizzard themselves recognise this issue, as they were originally willing to post real identities on their official forums specifically to combat the issue of trolling. It's not in the company's best interest to bury their head in the sand, as players who are not enjoying themselves do not renew subscriptions. But when the LFD tool, official forums and trade channels are full of bullies, elitists and malcontents I'm actually at a stage where I advised a friend of mine NOT to let his son start playing the game due to the cruelty he'd undoubtedly be subjected to while first learning to play.
But what's caused this to happen?
Well, there are a multitude of reasons - but to me, two things are at the heart of this problem and contribute to more hostility than any others.
The first is the significant expansion in the number of people playing, while the second is the significant contraction in personal responsibility.
The first issue is straightforward. World of Warcraft is the most popular MMORPG in the world by an absolute landslide, to the extent that it eclipses all other games of its type combined. Blizzard want a game that is both user-friendly for the newcomer, while enjoyably challenging for the veteran - this notion should maximise new people coming to the game and, more importantly, assist in the retention of those players. Of course, this isn't a problem in itself. New players are most welcome in almost any walk of life. They help fill out our battleground wars, our dungeoneering groups, our questing parties and our guild rosters. They bring with them their own personal experiences, cultural quirks and (with any luck) a fresh and pleasant attitude that contributes to the experience of our game. Nothing but the same old faces, tried and trusted practices and predictable patterns lead to staleness, boredom and burn out. Contrary to cynical and ignorant opinion, we WANT new players to the game because they, in turn, keep the game "new" for us.
The problem is that their subscription carries next to no personal responsibility for their actions, and players are rarely held accountable for them.
wysłany:
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wysłany:
Well said. I'm saddened to see so many comments claiming that we "don't care" about our community. That couldn't be further from the truth. We've provided the tools for you to report harassment, foul language and other objectionable behaviour, both here on the forums and in-game. All reports are dealt with, and I can personally vouch that we take any kind of rule-breaking very seriously. We urge you to use the tools at your disposal if you come across anyone behaving in an undesirable manner. Just turning a blind eye to it will help no one.
On the contrary, these are the World of Warcraft forums, therefore discussion here should be about the game, not about, for example, the latest internet meme, your brother's annoying bathroom habits, links to pictures of the most revolting ingrown toenails in history etc. Also, you are still free to post feedback and thoughts about the game in the existing forums, which we continue to send on to the developers. If you have any feedback about the forums, blog articles, live event presence, contests or community staff, you can send emails to [email protected]. |
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wysłany:
No offence taken, but I can hardly comment on the examples you gave without knowing the exact details, and this is not the place to discuss them. If you feel more action should have been taken, I hope you opened a ticket and explained the situation fully, or contacted us at [email protected]
Well, in Patch 3.3.0 we added a feature to dungeon looting that limits which items players can 'Need' on, based on their class. This significantly reduces the number of incidents where players take items they can't use. In the case of  Battered Hilt, that's a quest item and not gear so anyone is free to roll - but let's leave that topic alone ;-) |
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wysłany:
Currently, there are a few options open to you if you encounter an abusive player while using LFD, and I'm sure many of you have heard these before, but they are perfectly valid so I'll just highlight them again: Firstly, report the player, giving a proper description of their actions. Vote to kick them from the group if applicable. You can also ignore the player, you will not be placed in a group with them while he/she is on ignore. We can't force people to behave in a certain way while playing WoW, but we can take action if they break the rules, and we need you to report it when they do. And remember, LFD isn't the only way to get into dungeons. You can always look for others in the traditional way; ask guildies and friends if they'd like to group up. This way, you can guarantee you'll be with people you like, and therefore more likely to enjoy the experience. |
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wysłany:
I feel for you, Zellviren, but the response you received was indeed correct. Nowhere in WoW's rules or guidelines does it state that the designated tank in a dungeon or raid group has any more right over tanking loot than anyone else. However, people are usually polite enough to give the tank top priority if he or she wants the item, the same applies to healing items for the healer and DPS items for the damage dealers. If a player chooses to forgo politeness and roll on something for their off-spec, it's very unfortunate but it's not against the rules, as that person can and probably will use that item. All I can suggest is to maybe ignore people like that to avoid them in future. As you and others have pointed out, the issue here is more to do with players' behaviour, and all the valuable feedback in this thread on how to influence that will, as always, be taken on board.
On the subject of bans and suspensions, we have a strict anti Naming and Shaming policy here on the forums because we don't believe humiliating someone is the right way to go about things. Therefore, sharing details of actions taken against players isn't something we do and, quite frankly, I personally don't see how anyone would benefit from it. And if we published figures as you suggest, it wouldn't combat the real issues, like the one mentioned above. On a lighter note, I'm very glad to see that the vast majority of the posts in this thread have remained constructive and, for the most part, have stayed on topic :-) |
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wysłany:
I'm about to remedy that ;-) EDIT: Please keep the language clean, I know people are just discussing commonly used insults, but avoiding the word filter and posting obscene language on the forums is against the rules, whatever your intentions. |
