MMO Social Epidemic

People have seemingly lost the ability to be social, or willingness to be social. (Of course there are exceptions) A deafening silence seems present in this game as well as other MMO's.

Have you been in a DF group or premade group, 30mins and no more than hello is said? Or a group where silence is only broken by a person raging on, or berating another person? Have you been in a city teeming with life and people running around, yet nothing in chat channels? FC's that never says a word to each other?

No MMO will be have continued success without a community sharing laughs and experiences( I promise). The greatest memories and most exciting moments come from the uniqueness that our interactions with each other bring. Content, graphics, mechanics, and gimmicks mean nothing without solid friendships and social interaction. Some people want to be left alone and wish to remain quiet( perfectly fine), but communication feels dead, and it is dragging FF, and every other MMO with it. Maybe it is just me. What do you guys think?

Every 2014 mmos have the same exact thread. Every single one.
Ends up with a common agree about how many jerk sociopaths are online. Some will tell you they chitchat on LS/FC (eventually).
Some will question "talk about what , hi was enough, now do your job or you're kicked".
I understand what you may feel missing: an alive highly social community, everyone smiling each other even if never met, helping each other, working together chitchatting about the battle, laughing if dead.
Those days on mmos are long gone, i doubt they will come back anytime soon. Let's deal with it or jumpship hoping next mmo will be more social (it will not).

I have met nothing but social people and have had some very hilarious experiences. Weird the connections you get with people without ever meeting them.

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Originally Posted by avecha

I have met nothing but social people and have had some very hilarious experiences. Weird the connections you get with people without ever meeting them.

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This is good to hear. I am glad you have met some funny people. I believe years from now, when people reflect back at their time playing MMO's, they are going to remember the friends and people they met along the way, not all the fancy gear the acquired, to me it is a shame that people treat the game like a job, only looking to get that promotion and not valuing the connections they made along the way. Oh well, so is life I suppose. Hope you keep meeting some hilarious people.

I always start with a "hello" and if there's a lull, I might make a comment or two. Mainly, I'm too busy tanking to stop and type a decent convo. It's like "Blah blah blah. Joke. Blah Blah" then "Oops! Lost aggro. Now we're all dead" :P Suddenly, that DPS who waited a hour in queue wants your head on a pike.

Rarely have a found a party full of people willing to joke around in a dungeon through DF. I usually get fun experiences and social chatter by running dungeons and such with my FC. If it's a full FC party, it's more ok if we fail because we can just insta-queue back up again. Plus, we all know (or mostly know) each other already. If you're going through DF, you might be partied with someone who doesn't even speak your language.

in game (not in this forum) there hardly other player ever try to help newbies that keep shout ask for help
duty routlet and duty finder is a place for ahole that lazy make premade party for sr instead use dr/df to force newbies to do sr
also this sr player doesnt bother to explain dungeon mechanic to newbies

I've met a lot of nice people and even gotten to know a few past the confines of the game. Maybe it's just the world I'm in, but I've never noticed a lack of interaction.

Think back to school days. Remember when there were groups of other people hanging out with others and talking with them without being interrupted by random strangers? Cliques? Groups of friends?

If you haven't established the connection yet, I'm referring to linkshells and FC chat (sorry Teon, had to be that guy XD), and they are far more talkative than open world screaming while weeding out other groups with dissimilar interests.

/shouting is two fold. People are traumatized now by the amount of RMT shouts when the game was launched, and I know some people go as far as blacklisting anyone that spam shouts now (including lfg and recruiting shouts). It's nobody's interest to be blacklisted, but you won't find other people with similar interests if you stay quiet, too. Zone shouting is a thing of the past, in my opinion. If you want everyone to know you are sitting on the toilet while you type something or have a new Chuck Norris joke, that's what facebook is for.

MMO's have evolved into a segregation of interests, like school. You either play to progress or play to have fun. As of yet, I haven't seen someone do both (even if they claim to). If you browse the first page of the forums, do you think you'd really enjoy listening to most of these players in game? It's natural as time goes with this genre. You'll notice that old school MMO's were grind oriented and ended up lasting for months or years to reach level cap. MMO evolution (or rather player evolution) dictates that if you're not running the race to get everything efficiently and as fast as possible, you should stay out of the other group's way.

Hmm.. I think I tend to rant and digress a bit. TL;DR: people in MMOs have become more detached as a whole, and more like a family within their own groups. The "Golden Age" of MMOs is over, just like being able to buy a full game back in the 80's and 90's without expansion packs and DLC.

[QUOTE=Teon;1721127]Every 2014 mmos have the same exact thread. Every single one.
Ends up with a common agree about how many jerk sociopaths are online. QUOTE] I don't think there are any more or less jerks online than there has always been, and I don't think there is a bunch of sociopaths running around in FF, just a break down in communication skills somewhere along the way. I do believe posts like this raise awareness and may encourage some to attempt to be more talkative, also it allows people to share their positive experiences. I think most people on this forum want this game to be successful, but they are frustrated and looking to focus on some of this games problems, which is made easier by the lack of interaction we have with each other. It is easier to be upset at things like Instant cast, animations, etc. when your not busy laughing or yelling at your friends). There is some hope. Not rainbows and puppy dogs kind of hope, but you never know.

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Originally Posted by Orryo

There is some hope. Not rainbows and puppy dogs kind of hope, but you never know.

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There is always hope. Tomorrow will be better, right? :)

(You may not have met them, but there are way more sociopaths on this game than you can imagine. Try a DF on CT.
I mean lol, even JP players are starting to act as jerks, expecially on titan ex/ifrit ex runs. Everyone must be perfect or kick him at 2nd wipe. lol.. )

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Originally Posted by ruinedmirage

MMO's have evolved into a segregation of interests, like school. You either play to progress or play to have fun. As of yet, I haven't seen someone do both (even if they claim to). If you browse the first page of the forums, do you think you'd really enjoy listening to most of these players in game?

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You bring up some good points. When you put it like that, it tends to make a good deal of sense. Kind of like kindergarten, no one really knows themselves and everyone plays together, but as time goes on you start finding your own little groups. I suppose MMO's reached adolescence. If every one began to post in the chat channels in the same manner as they do on Facebook, well...I suppose I would go insane, and be that guy in DF that just flips for seemingly no reason, haha.

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Originally Posted by Kirosuu

in game (not in this forum) there hardly other player ever try to help newbies that keep shout ask for help...
sr player doesnt bother to explain dungeon mechanic to newbies

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Glad you mentioned this. I have always played heals in all MMO's. Yesterday I started tanking and have loved it. I enjoy explaining to new people what to expect from bosses, as opposed to people just running in guns blazing. I like a quick pace, but I also don't want some one feeling overwhelmed, or lost. I feel if I offer someone a more positive experience they won't be as inclined to cancel their sub , ultimately leading to FFXIV having more success, leading to more content, and better problem solving, and so on.

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Originally Posted by Teon

(You may not have met them, but there are way more sociopaths on this game than you can imagine. Try a DF on CT.
I mean lol, even JP players are starting to act as jerks, expecially on titan ex/ifrit ex runs. Everyone must be perfect or kick him at 2nd wipe. lol.. )

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Too intense for me! In the future I imagine some great war starting in a video game. "Oh yeah you didn't interrupt? Expect drones on the top of the hour!" I will stick with the domestic jerks.

If 30 minutes of silence bothers you, why don't you start a conversation !?

Most of my dungeon runs are fun... except when there is a griefer on the party, but now we have vote kick xD

If nobody talks, I talk. I might be talking to myself for a while, but ppl eventualy join me too. Oh and if you check my profile, I'm mainly heals or tank, so thats NOT an excuse for being quiet yet expect others to entretain you. The GCD is long enough to allow for conversations to happen.

Until you feel to be sociable and willing to chat, do it. Players like you are unvaluable, and will forge the future real community of this game, once jumpshippers got their TESO/whatever mmo coming this year :)

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Originally Posted by Teon

Tomorrow will be better, right? :)

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'Tomorrow will be special; yesterday was not.'

Anyway...

I think a large part of the problem comes from two things:

1) Guilds
2) The nature of the content.

The former serves to create insular communities that see themselves more from the perspective of 'the group' rather than being focused on the individuals that comprise the game's community..
I could get into a whole rant about my disdain for guilds, but I'll spare you that.

As for the latter, because the game follows a progression-based system with rewards at the end, it promotes the idea that 'Failing to complete a run makes the run worthless.' Since everyone gets their prize at the end (potentially), everything leading up to it is a pointless exercise in tedium. As such, people don't want 'other players' to join them; you merely want 'tools' for the sake of completing the task.
And because of the mentality of getting through things as quickly as possible, even if someone did want to socialize, that simply can't happen since time spent chatting is time not spent expediting the run.

Many players in this game are on console, with no easy way to quickly respond.

instead of always whining about the bad folks, be one of the good folks.

I'm usually very quiet myself, but my group experience overall is: Everyone's silent all the way, greet then bid farewell, thanks for the run/party, ...then you have what happened on a second Garuda run last night :(.
I cleared it the first time in three tries(all were silent by the way-clear then leave) and the decided I wanted a rematch. After two wipes the DPS was cussing up a storm(at the game which wasn't so bad). Then I rushed in before I saw stoneskin that was my bad -_-'. Then the DPS says: "F???ing moron" Then Garuda did her wind slash move. The healer didn't quite make it to the rock and was hit hard. As if to add fuel to the rager's fire she then finishes the healer. Then the DPS says: Garbage healer. I'm so F???ing pissed off! Me thinking: :eek: Ok I've gotta...no...leave. I can't play for the rest of the night. I'm done. Forget this...
It's this kind of thing that prevents me from chatting... That and the nervousness of being made fun of for asking questions.

Most of the social interactions in MMOs are done over voice chat.

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Originally Posted by Seobit

Most of the social interactions in MMOs are done over voice chat.

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This game doesn't need any voice interaction, not even Twintania. An emote ( with text of what is coming and sound to alert) coordinates a whole group perfectly.
Some may prefer a mic to type. Lazyness , bad habit from OTHER mmos maybe (where maybe voice coordination was needed). The word "most" you used is surely not true. Not here at least.
The game also makes impossible a voice chit chat using functions like DF, so most are just silent. "Hi" "Goodbye, was fun". That's it.

Low level dungeons: I meet most of the time awesome social peeps. (Up to AV)

WP: Most of them are jerks and wants their precious tomestones ASAP
AK: Only met ONE awesome person and thats before 2.1
The 2 new HM dungeons: It's back to the awesome peeps, but only got 1 person that was abusive and way undergeared and he was insulting to everyone.)
CM & Prae: Dare to say a word in there...

That's my experience so far on it.

The entire social heavy environment formed in old online gaming because the games themselves required it to enhance the overall experience. Look back at what we used to play and consider if you would have ever spent any time in them if not for the massive amount of group interaction. The games 'relied' upon the players to create their own fun, and this is simply no longer the case.

Now we have multi-billion dollar MMO's that not only have the money to more thoroughly flesh out the game as a whole, but we have the technology as well to include so much more then they ever could before. Game design and development has evolved to the point where we can actually play just the game and be happy with it; the social aspect is just that, one side aspect of varying importance, but one that the games no longer rely upon to succeed.

It works the same way in real life, people used to rely on each other more and form tighter communities, but as technology advances, it's no longer necessary. The same applies here. Everything you do now is by choice, rather then forced upon you. Seek it out if you want it and you'll certainly find it in others like yourself, but don't expect things to ever be the way they were.

This is my first MMORPG. I didn't know what to expect socially and I had been reading the forums while I was learning the game. We all know that the forums or full of negativity and whining so I was a bit nervous about running into all these bad player stereotypes.

You know what I did? Started a free company based on all the things I want from a social standpoint and a game: progression, helpfulness, fun, maturity, and no drama. Needless to say, because of all these requirements I've found the coolest group of players around. There's always laughs, fun runs, and all around good feelings.

Moral of this story: Fun and social aspects are what YOU make it. :)

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Originally Posted by Teon

This game doesn't need any voice interaction, not even Twintania. An emote ( with text of what is coming and sound to alert) coordinates a whole group perfectly.
Some may prefer a mic to type. Lazyness , bad habit from OTHER mmos maybe (where maybe voice coordination was needed). The word "most" you used is surely not true. Not here at least.
The game also makes impossible a voice chit chat using functions like DF, so most are just silent. "Hi" "Goodbye, was fun". That's it.

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I'm not saying the game needs to have it, I'm saying people are already very sociable, just that they're mostly doing it over voice chat. People don't feel like typing when they can just talk instead, it doesn't have anything to do with them being social recluses. A FC that can appear do be completely dead and not get any lines of in game chat ever can be extremely active over mumble for example.

I care more about the GIL BUYING epidemic. It is destroying my mmo experience having to blacklist constantly while my blacklist is full.

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Originally Posted by Seobit

I'm not saying the game needs to have it, I'm saying people are already very sociable, just that they're mostly doing it over voice chat. People don't feel like typing when they can just talk instead, it doesn't have anything to do with them being social recluses. A FC that can appear do be completely dead and not get any lines of in game chat ever can be extremely active over mumble for example.

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I feel so sorry for ps3 users on those FCs , they must think their FC is dead junk , such awesomeness they lost..... :)

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Originally Posted by Teon

I feel so sorry for ps3 users on those FCs , they must think their FC is dead junk , such awesomeness they lost..... :)

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I'm on PS3 and yet I talk a lot... doesnt matter who's on PS3 or PC.

So how many actually attempt to strike something up rather than just complain about players not being social enough? It works both ways.

As has been said as well, I'm always on my vent server with friends talking away. It's not really a need, it's a want because of the flexibility. We're not restricted to any one game and you can play and talk, playing and typing doesn't mesh so well.

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Originally Posted by Feyniphia

I'm on PS3 and yet I talk a lot... doesnt matter who's on PS3 or PC.

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This. PS3 users can use keyboards easy enough. I do and I'm pretty damn chatty myself.

It has been a mixed bag for me. I'm a very social person and always start off a dungeon group with a hello. Some groups are silent the whole run. Others have been really social and on a couple of runs, we stuck around chatting until we got the dungeon boot. A few folks have asked what server I'm on and if I would come to theirs. I'm not the best of players but I am friendly and positive so guess that goes a long way. I always try to add constructive comments, especially if something isn't going well. Always try to compliment someone if they are doing an exceptional job. Then again, that is how I am in real life.

I've been in other groups and WP seems to be the worst place for some bad behavior. I've seen some incredible temper tantrums when there is an attempt at a speed run and players aren't equipped or don't know the strategy. Or if something goes wrong. I just assume the person is very young or socially inept and go about my day. Most players have been pretty nice.

Pretty much any MMO I've played, I start with the intention of being sociable, but then I start and most of the other people in the games have all ready been playing forever, so I have to start progressing through the game to catch up. By the time I get to a part where you actually play with other people, I'm so use to playing by myself that I just get through the multiplayer parts and go back to playing by myself.

I agree with the thread OP. While this MMO is not the first of it's kind, it grabs prayers from every other kind of MMO out there(don't ask me how, that is another story). I feel that what can make players feel more comfortable and connected is to use the forums!

Yeah, I know. We're doing it right now but SE once gave us the opportunity to skip servers for free and well, I couldn't transfer my Legacy character so, that was out of the question. I /propose we do this:
It's not a new concept but it's the perfect time to gather with friends and family for the holidays and agree with what server the majority of the NA/UK players would like to meet up in. Heck, you can even create a new character and start fresh or transfer, w/e.

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add:
The point: most of us are familiar with with each other, personaly I haven't checked anyones profile(yet) or followed anyone on the Lodestone. Everyone is welcomed to check me and send me a message or add me. If you like the idea that forum goers should make a LS or FC of their own and call it a club/end-game/community hub w/e, I would accept the invite. It's time we unite and send SE a message: We control this game!

I don't talk to people in real life, why would I in a game.
Silent dungeon runs go the fastest.

In a situation of silence, I tend to be the ice breaker and say hello first so I am not of the perspective that this game is lacking in social interaction within the DF. Conversations are actions between two or more parties so we would have to be willing engage in the first place in order to be engaged in conversation.

If I'm in a dungeon/trial, I'm there to play the game, and hopefully complete content. Besides sharing thoughts relevant to the fight, I will not be chatty there.

I talked a lot in my old MMORPG (RO), I'd even type while casting, because the game was painfully slow and leveling was a boring grind. Any distraction from the chore was welcome. Not the case here.

Hmm not sure about you all but most of my Ls chat goes like this "Hey everyone"

" Hi Seiss "

"Is there a call going ? "

and then I get a call to go into Skype that's where we do most of our talking and joking around .

I believe the reason most don't talk in DF runs and the like is that in today's world people are used to voice chat in games ala FPS and such.

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Originally Posted by Seobit

Most of the social interactions in MMOs are done over voice chat.

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Which would be great...

if the voice chat were built-in and universal.

Otherwise it just reinforces the insularity I mentioned earlier.

I've been votekicked out of a dungeon group once in Guild Wars 2 for being talkative. Apparently the 3 out of 5 people (all guildies with each other) in said group were chatting in some other chat about me being annoying, and without any warning decided to votekick me about at 2/3rds of the dungeon done. A little bit of whining and apologizing for not even realizing that I was offending people got me back to the group before beating the final boss though.

I quit Guild Wars 2 altogether after the incident. I can't imagine how antisocial some people can be in a game that's supposed to be a social experience. Nothing that bad happened on FFXIV yet for me though. Then again I haven't touched lv.50 content just yet.

Does anyone notice how a lot of those games we remember being all social and talkative had a rose colored filter?