Toxic Player Behavior

From the beginning, the social element made MMO's exiting for me. And now, even though the social media generation is on the rise I feel like the term Massively Multiplayer isn't accurate anymore.
Instead of trying to achieve a common goal by cooperating with other players, these days it seems like you tolerate them to conveniently get there faster.

By the time I hit 50, I've ran a few dungeons. I couldn't wait to try Bahamut's Coil, so I've run Castrum more than 40 times for a full Dark Light Set.

If something went wrong, and it didn't matter what, someone quit, followed by everyone else.

Someone pulls a trash group that was easily avoidable?
„What a newb, we could have saved a minute there. Why is there no kick function?“

Someone wants to enjoy the awesome cutscenes?
„???? you, you can watch them later !“

Someone has to go afk for five minutes?
„Report him, that guy is a troll !“

The last reply is something I've heard a lot lately and for those of you who are unaware, it's something commonly said in another game, League of Legend.

Now League of Legend is known for it's toxic player base. And they have a system that allows players to report unfair behavior, like being AFK for too long. There seem to be many players that think the customer service is now obligated to ban players who go afk while in a party.

Please people, chill!
First, let's be realistic, the customer service has better things to do.
Second, stop being annoyed every time. If you're always getting upset playing a video game, you're doing it wrong.

Yes, by the time you're running Castrum for the 37th time it's getting hard not to be annoyed. But please believe me, if you introduce yourself at the start, explain / argue things in a polite manner, not only will your mood change, but you'll likely finish faster as well (and I'm only talking about the duty finder, not premade groups). Yes the guy that's afk will still be afk but more likely to return.

I know someone who actually loved the gameplay, graphics and everything, but left. He started playing Ragnarok Online again after 4 years, because the community there has already matured. I'm really hoping this will be true for FFXIV:ARR as well someday and hopefully it's not because the community is almost nonexistent.

Please comment, criticize or flame me, I'd really like to know what you think about the player base and it's problems.

I think this has been explained in other posts, the fact that dungeon finder allows your to group up and never meet someone again means players can afford to be toxic, however grouping with players in your own server or free company will give you another point of view. Try finding a group on your server or join an FC, just like league of legends, toxicity comes from randomers.

They behave like this because they think they are Anonymous through the Internet and nothing will bad happen to them. There should be an option in the Lodestone where we can Comments on the Players or Rate them, so this behavior can be stop.

They said they are implementing a Rating System in Dungeon Finder though, can't wait for that because I'm getting sick of all this disgusting behavior.

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Originally Posted by Tonben

I know someone who actually loved the gameplay, graphics and everything, but left. He started playing Ragnarok Online again after 4 years, because the community there has already matured.

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>Ragnarok Online
>Mature Community

http://i327.photobucket.com/albums/k...ps3219687b.gif

While I do agree with you that there's a lot of toxic players sadly unless SE actually decides to do anything about it, it will continue. They said they have no intentions to implement party kick, and it seems like they're too busy with RMT spam bans to ban someone being a jerk in game. Best thing to do as everyone will tell you, make friends, or just cross your fingers and hope you don't end up with jerks in DF.

But that rating system could backfire. I mean, couldn't trolls just start giving everyone bad ratings? Or what happens if you have a bad day in a dungeon and mess up and everyone in the party rates you badly for it? That'd kind of suck...

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Originally Posted by Nukocafe

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While I do agree with you that there's a lot of toxic players sadly unless SE actually decides to do anything about it, it will continue.
snip

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I actually think that the community will change once free month/first month subs start going off, the people who act like this are the ones who don't really care about the game, they'll move on and forget about it.

It's an unfortunate glance at the true nature of people who would otherwise not act this way if they knew they'd be held responsible. It's the actions that someone takes when they don't think they're being watched that speak loudest about what kind of person they are.

Also, youtubers like the Yogscast are doing videos on this game, expect an influx of bad players between the ages of 8 and 15.

This is always hit and miss, last night I used the DF to do Easy mode Garuda. It took me 3 different groups before defeating her and numerous tries with each group. Nobody was toxic, even though we were wiping most the time people were willing to discuss what we needed to do and eventually ended up downing her.

I'd say if everyone is open to playing and doing things differently maybe a better playing environment will open up, If someone wants to take the lead and tell people what to do let them, if it doesn't work out let another player try his or her method. Everyone needs to be open minded though. Of course there seems there will always be the really big jerks.

Gotta say I have never seen any of this a single time in any of the 60+ AK/CM runs I have ever done because I party with people from my server (via /sh or in my FC). If you're grouping with people from your community you'll find that they tend to be a bit more respectful because their reputation may actually become known otherwise.

This seems to be a completely different situation if you group via DF, but I avoid DF like the plague for anything end-game related and hated it even while leveling.

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Originally Posted by Zaiken

They behave like this because they think they are Anonymous through the Internet and nothing will bad happen to them. There should be an option in the Lodestone where we can Comments on the Players or Rate them, so this behavior can be stop.

They said they are implementing a Rating System in Dungeon Finder though, can't wait for that because I'm getting sick of all this disgusting behavior.

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I totally agree. Personally, I never understood why forum admins were so against naming players who acted like jerks. Why should their ID be protected when they douche up the game. If they are anonymous enough to act like a tool in game or on forums, they should be listed for everyone to see and hopefully this will straighten them up or force them to leave and take that behavior elsewhere.

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Originally Posted by Nukocafe

>Ragnarok Online
>Mature Community

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Never played it myself, so i wouldn't know ;)


You are all, of course, correct in suggesting that premade groups are far less toxic. I still have to join a FC, so i'll put that on top of my to do list.
Still, the duty finder has it's perks and i'd like to continue using it. I really enjoy having a group with players from all over the world, for example.

A rating system could help, but i like Evumeimei, i remain skeptical.

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Originally Posted by Tonben

He started playing Ragnarok Online again after 4 years, because the community there has already matured. I'm really hoping this will be true for FFXIV:ARR as well someday and hopefully it's not because the community is almost nonexistent.

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Pre-renewal RO community was amazing, nowadays it's just your everyday MMO community. I don't think FFXIV community will change unless a giant black hole rips the fabric of Eorzean space and time and swallows every single player who is not following classic MMO standards. Alas, it's just a mere dream but it helps understand how detrimental our community is.

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Originally Posted by FF2GO

I totally agree. Personally, I never understood why forum admins were so against naming players who acted like jerks. Why should their ID be protected when they douche up the game. If they are anonymous enough to act like a tool in game or on forums, they should be listed for everyone to see and hopefully this will straighten them up or force them to leave and take that behavior elsewhere.

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On one hand, I agree that it's distasteful that they don't need to bear the consequences of their actions, but I feel a kick functionality would more than resolve that. The public shaming of individuals hardly feels like an optimal solution to me. It seems very much like a strike-one-and-you're-out scheme, much like what has happened with people who have been hacked and then blacklisted and are unable to interact with their server because of it. I more than agree that such actions are utterly juvenile, but should you be branded a sinner forever because of a mistake you might make only once?

Yeah ... thats what happens when they give western players free reign to do what ever the hell they want with no consequence. Makes you realize just how shitty most of humanity still is.

Why developers dont THINK to add some real tools to the game to ignore and seclude these players from the rest of the community is beyond me. Its like they prefer letting them poison the community than lose their measly $15 a month. Still waiting to see the day when a p2p MMO dev makes it so I can blist entire accounts, not just individual characters, and youll never hear or group with them again.

i will agree there is some "toxic players" that could ruin the time for evryone i was in CM for a quick speedrun to kill some time and i saw a healer go down evryone moved on and he asked in chat "oh .. i guess i should just walk" he was about to quit until i told our other healer to cover the group and that i will ressurect the down'd healer some players will ignore someoen who is downed or someone who is new just for those facts :\ additionally when i watched the cutscenes i was glad i had 2 people from my FC with me becuse they all left me when i watched the cutscenes and my buds from my FC told me where to go to catch up

I can't WAIT to get to 50 and start running these dungeons. I do a static with a healer with me as tank. Those poor excuses for humans can go get bent for all I care. I'll get another DD to replace them and continue my dungeon while they sit in queue for another hour or so. I'll go afk on purpose! I'll watch the CS every time. Just to weed out stupid people like the OP mentioned. If you're going to act like that I don't want to help you get through any content anyway!

AW to hell with it! I'll even post some of the chat screen SS so we can all have a good laugh. Names will be blocked but it'll still be worth a laugh.

I've only done about 10 duties as this point, and one from yesterday is the only one with a jerk, so it's been okay so far, but even 10% seems too high for me. He ran off one of our players, and I eventually left after apologizing to the healer and replacement, at which point I was the one being flamed.

As much as a voting/kick system seems like it would be good, it would unfortunately be rife with abuse. Since League of Legends has been brought up, I think a Duty Finder Tribunal would be an interesting approach. It could punish by denying the use of Duty Finder for a certain period, meaning they'd have to form their own parties.

Most people now a days like to think gamers are modernized. What I mean is that the average gamer still plays 6 hours a day or more. Lets put it this way if you spend that much time on something every single day your going to get pissed all the time over things. I think this idea that most gamers now have full time jobs kids etc do other things blah blah okay. Um how do you survive if your don't have a job for one? Having kids you can be a stay at home parent and play all the time once your kids are 3 or so they can play by them selves and you can play games all day etc. People need to go back to the wow nerd in his moms basement rage quitting all the time example, and realize people are still nerd raging 24/7 and freaking out over a game.

Its part of the experience.

Edit the idea that having a job and kids makes you a more mature gamer is well I liked to see the statistics on that. I've played many COD matches and have had the guy swearing up a storm at his teammates while hearing kids in the back ground.

Don't get me started on Halo 2 the first real FPS with standard voice communication.

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Originally Posted by DiceMan

Its part of the experience.

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That doesn't mean it should be accepted. It's a problem, and even though it might not ever be truly solved, we should always continue to attempt it. Honestly, I think that if people are going to act like children, they should be treated as such: take away their game. I've seen people on the LoL forums genuinely seeking advice on how to improve their behavior, and that's great—I applaud them for it—but that never would have happened without the Tribunal, which bans accounts for repeated offenses. Most of us know how, and are willing to participate in a community in a civilized manner, but justice systems exist for a reason, and without something resembling that in multiplayer games, toxicity will thrive.

I haven't ran into any toxic players yet, but I've only ran DF twice now. Both I joined mid-party where the first time the healer bailed mid dungeon and I replaced them when I joined. The second was as healer again for Toto-Rak where it was only two Arcanists because the Tank lagged out and I guess the healer bailed before or after. It wasn't the easiest of battles but the two Arcanists used their Carbuncles to tank the mobs and I assist healed their Carbuncles. Only one wipe at the start of one mini-boss because I couldn't figure out how to target their pets.

In the end we beat the dungeon and had a lot of fun doing it with just three people and no tank. Afraid I can't remember your names you two but if you are reading this and remember doing Thousand Maws of Toto-Rak with a Miqo'te healer named M'hana Zhralyia thanks again for the party! I was one where one of you asked at the end why I was doing the quest with an Ifrit weapon. We also beat it with about 2-3 minutes that night before the emergency maintenance was to begin. Was fun and a bit challenging! :D

Where did these people come from? In I have NEVER, EVER been treated with as much hatred and disdain as I have been when ARR launched. 1.0 was not this bad I don't think, unless I was just lucky in avoiding it. Sure, 1.0 prolly had a troll or two, but the words used in ARR, wow...

Are these trolls and toxic members new to ARR? Did they only come here because ARR happens to be the flavor of the month MMO? It's so weird that I never was treated the way I am in ARR while I was playing 1.0. Seems to me these people come from other games and spew their BS here.

Its the way parenting has changed. instead of punishment, parents just send their kids to their room where all their video games are. Or they just shake a finger and tell them not to do it again. when I was young. I got my fathers/mothers hand or belt on my ass. even if I said something slightly dirty.

Kids get away with murder these days.

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Originally Posted by Seig345

It's an unfortunate glance at the true nature of people who would otherwise not act this way if they knew they'd be held responsible. It's the actions that someone takes when they don't think they're being watched that speak loudest about what kind of person they are.

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I have a feeling a lot of them are jerks in real life too. Nice people don't just suddenly turn into jerks when playing online.

have to agree with the OP. So far what I have seen from people in this game makes WoW's community look like it is full of angels.

I remember in an interview that they didn't add a kick feature for this reason, drum roll please: because it would exclude new players and they would be kicked because group didnt want to help them. When the exact opposite is happening 2 people willing to help 1 harassing trolling the new person (4 person groups). Please SE add a voting kick function to DF with a 3 point or some selection on why with varying punishment rewards for case. Harassment 1 hr, afk 30 min and the such

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Originally Posted by Eclipsed

have to agree with the OP. So far what I have seen from people in this game makes WoW's community look like it is full of angels.

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I don't know. Wow players are just as bad too. In the pick up raids you get a lot of people afking just because they don't feel like they should have to actually do any work or earn the rewards they get. Also they are just as unforgivi g if you are new or are learning a fight..etc... In fact my first impression when I started playing ffxiv was that a lot of the jerks I encountered in wow must have started playing this game as well. Its kind of sad as it makes it a lot less fun when nobody cares about anyone but them self and act like an a$$.

It would be interesting to do a social experiment and disable DF for a month. I wonder if reports of bad behavior would go down.

I've already lost 2 friends from playing this game due to the endgame community. Both worked their hardest to hit 50, got there and realized that the people just SUCKED. And tbh... I'm inching my way out the door, too.

The game itself is amazing. Beautiful graphics, awesome story, great soundtrack... there is really very little to complain about mechanically. But the endgame requires a great deal of playing with other people, and there if they do their best to make the experience miserable? Then it will be miserable.

To say this is a DF problem is a joke. I joined a pug for titan to get my 3rd relic since FC members weren't available, and because I had to keep an eye on my son while playing, I had some trouble avoiding titan AoE where I usually don't. I explained this to party members after 2 wipes and apologized, one member proceeds to tell me to "stfu" and they'll kick me if I mess up again. Didn't bother me really, but my point is, its not a DF problem, and its not possible to always do stuff with an FC, which makes it inevitable that you will run across these players.

this is what im afraid of. i love this game and im really getting into it but im still a reasonably low level. im playing through the game a slow leisurely pace alongside my fiancee and im really afraid that my game playing experience will be ruined by this attitude. im hoping not - but even the idea of this attitude is enough to put players off.

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Originally Posted by Obzeta

this is what im afraid of. i love this game and im really getting into it but im still a reasonably low level. im playing through the game a slow leisurely pace alongside my fiancee and im really afraid that my game playing experience will be ruined by this attitude. im hoping not - but even the idea of this attitude is enough to put players off.

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i would stop for 3-4 month until most of the "garbage" people stop playing, at least thats what I am doing, stoping FFXIV now until my friends from FFXI gather via transfer on one server/start on FFXIV on one server. Its jsut not bearable if you have no decent people with attitude to play with, hence why playing now FFXI after 3 weeks of break.

Anonymous, not for long, if you know how. :p

An honor system like league of legends would be a good idea I think. It discourages trolls, griefing, and toxicity. At the very least it's an incentive to be excellent to each other. :)

Whole OP is kind of pointless since only a very small part of the community will even read this and odds are it's people that don't blow a gasket every time they play.

Personally I don't mind the DF 'community', I use it exclusively and have done 100s of runs now. I would say out of that only maybe 10 were quite unpleasant and or terrible experiences. That's not so bad when I think about it.

The worst run I have ever done so far was actually with people on my own server...

Toxic players can only exist when the ability to PK them doesn't. If in a dungeon someone gets upset, you kill their character till they leave - problem solved.

My god it gets worse in binding coil runs the community of ARR right now is littered by a bunch of the most toxic elitist players on the face of the earth who believe simply because they are better geared than you that they are beyond reproach take no responsibility for their own mistakes and are quick to completely step on you for even the simplest of mistake right now a huge artificial stonewall has been formed for players wanting to do this end game content dude to these toxic players that require you to actually complete the dungeon to even join their party it doesn't matter at all the experience that you have accumulated by attempting it countless times. never in my life have i met such a large collection of sad excuses for human beings who simply take this game a bit too seriously and abuse,harass and completely devalue skilled but unlucky players I hope they don't make me quit Final Fantasy ARR but the thoughts have been crossing my mind lately nobody deserves this abuse.

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Originally Posted by Nukocafe

>Ragnarok Online
>Mature Community

http://i327.photobucket.com/albums/k...ps3219687b.gif

While I do agree with you that there's a lot of toxic players sadly unless SE actually decides to do anything about it, it will continue. They said they have no intentions to implement party kick, and it seems like they're too busy with RMT spam bans to ban someone being a jerk in game. Best thing to do as everyone will tell you, make friends, or just cross your fingers and hope you don't end up with jerks in DF.

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RO was good ages ago, now it's a robotic community (full of bots and spammers.)

It does suck to meet up with people like that and it unfortunately happens in every MMO =(

Luckily every group the 'dungeon finder' has put me in so far has been great. No one has gotten mad over me watching the cut scenes and they've all been nice. I hope you get into some nice groups and are able to avoid the bad people.

Good luck to you!

I had my head bitten off me for going afk in Copperbell Hard the other day because I had to take a phone call. I'm sorry if someone knocks on the door or rings I'm going to answer I can't predict when the people in my life wanna do this unless I've arranged something prior in which case I won't be in a dungeon :p At most I'm gone for 5 minutes CHILL OUT