This is going viral in the MMO community and everyone should read it

[Ryutamashiisan]

Terribly terribly sad, right in the feels. In the midst of all the crap going on in game its easy to loose sight of the fact that there are actual people behind those charachters.

[Machazareel]

Snip.

Largely irrelevant. The point is that people need to take responsibility for their own actions. Being in a less than optimal situation is not always something you can control, and a third party can indeed be the architect of that situation, but how you conduct yourself while in that situation is entirely on you.

[Amayasu]

Except your hypothetical makes no sense, because it is not a job. I know you don't have a real job, or even a life, so you like to think it is. But I'm afraid it isn't. It is a game, a form of entertainment. Although challenging, it is fundamentally meant to be fun. Needless bullying has no place in games. The same as your pathetic comments have no place either. What if I am a child? Does it make you proud as a middle aged (most likely divorced) man to insult and pick on a young boy or girl? No wonder you hide on the internet, because there's no place for you in the real world sweetpea

Fascinatingly wrong, but keep trying.

While this isn't a job, it is a social network built around individual performance much like, say, an office. Sure; it's a game. It's meant to be fun. If the game wasn't fun you'd say that was a developer responsibility, correct? So if individuals don't find the game fun, but instead find the game full of impatient, elitist morons because of the design of the game and how time is rewarded, that's not a developer responsibility?

But I can see you won't accept that, so fine.

Needless bullying has no place in games.

There's no such thing as needless bullying; it's never needed, and that's the point - It has no place anywhere, not just in a game "because this is a game".

As a society (wait that's like a community, right?) we build social systems to aid those who struggle and remove tension and bullying. By "We" I refer to the people who sit at the top of the community; government, teachers, employers, care works, moderators, Facebook admins, twitter, etc etc etc.

So tell me why this isn't the responsibility of developers? The people who (through design) can have a massive influence on the behaviour of a community.

Developers are part of the community. It's their responsibility as much as ours, and more so because they can, through design of social and reward systems, improve things considerably.

But hey, I can see nothing I say will change your mind; it's easy to deal entirely in binary opinions.

[Gradlein]

In a game where it's easier to just quit and rerun in order to maximise your rewards over helping a stranger you're unlikely to ever meet/run with again?

OK, sure. So you run with a dude. His DPS is awful. I mean AWFUL. You need 4 runs of the same boring thing to get the shiny thing you're doing this for. So you stop, at the bitterness of the other two in your party and you help. That's great. So you finish the run, it takes twice as long, but you finish it and he thanks you. So you queue again and get a quick run! w00t! Two more runs! And then you get the worlds worst Dragoon who eats the first repel and you die on the Wall. No limit break and you're a Bard, so you're not doing anything to that add on spawn, and you can't ignore them because the Dragoon's DPS is terrible... so you think... well, OK, sure, I can help... but i'm a Bard; I don't know how to Dragoon. So I can't help him much, other than outlining the mechanics. Cool. You do that. But you've already helped one dude, and you still have another run... etc etc etc.

I agree completely with your sentiment, but let's not kid ourselves - after a while you get numb to it. You get irritable to the people are bad, and worse, you can't help them; there's no way I can make a Black Mage's damage better, I don't know the first thing about it, for example.

So you finish the instance, time out, or it takes too long and some other less patient dude quits and the group falls apart. We've all been there; you're a 4th of the group, the other two most likely don't share your views.

The developers have a responsibility here; and they know they do, there's an MvP system on the way proving it.

I'm ashamed to say that I've fallen into the same elitism as many people have. There were times when I got into a group with people who are new or are having trouble with the mechanics that I end up trolling so someone will leave first. Then just a few days ago, at around 3 AM in the morning, I queued up in the duty finder for AK to do one final run to cap my myth tomes. I was hoping for a quick run so I can go to sleep as soon as possible when I suddenly found myself in a group with three other players who were all new to the dungeon and had a mix of AF and WP gears. The tank was quick to say something along the lines of, "I hope you're ready Reg, we're all new!" then one of the DPS said, "*suddenly leaves the dungeon*", probably expecting me to leave. In truth, I had the urge to just leave and go to sleep. I knew I was in for a long run. Then I suddenly remembered a time in Tonberry when me and a couple of friends went through AK for the first time and a tank guided us (he was already doing the speedruns before it was patched). We were actually surprised that the tank never left until the time ran out and we were stuck on Demon Wall. He was THAT patient. I resolved to do the same for that party and I was impressed that they did better than me and my friends when we were first starting out and managed to beat the dungeon. I got a warm feeling when they thanked me afterwards and had a really good sleep that night.

[Amayasu]

TBH, I'd rather have fun than win. So if it takes longer to complete an instance, I'm totally ok with that.

Me too. It was an example of how design influences behaviour, not my own personal feels on how I spend my game time.

I actually play a tank and so set the pace of a run. It's amazing how many people turn up and rage at you because I WANTED SPEED RUN!!11

Design influences behaviour, which makes it a developer responsibility too.

[Molly_Millions]

Total lack of personal responsibility.

Every member of a community plays a role in how that community is viewed by both insiders and outsiders. Take some responsibility.

[Rane]

We need to stay human, even on videogames.

I cannot like your post enough. Where's the "Double Like" button?

[Amayasu]

Every member of a community plays a role in how that community is viewed by both insiders and outsiders. Take some responsibility.

Your quote of me is something you typed; therefor it's not a quote.

At no point did I say people aren't responsible.

I said the Devs have a responsibility too, and claiming it's all on "the community" is flawed thinking.

Design influences behaviour.

[TeganLaron]

snip

Where did I say it wasn't the developer's problem? Oh right I didn't. All I said was this is not a job, which you still insist it is. It's not an office, it's not a firehouse, a police station, a bakery. None of it. It is a game.

But I can see you won't accept that, so fine.

My favourite part though was "elitist morons." Like yourself you mean? People who think they are better than others because they have more free time than others. People who look down their noses at others for no logical reason (such as being a child.)

However, it's time for me to stop feeding this hungry troll, that's why my mummy halved my pocket money before. Anyway, didn't you sign some sort of register so you can't talk to people my age? I'd scram before Chris Hansen arrives.

Love you!

[KraggyKor]

The developers have created an environment where those who lack skill/gear massively hold back those who don't have friends.

FTFY.

Those who don't want to have to deal with 'newbs' join FCs ... of course, if you don't have any friends and can't find an FC to join then ... well.