MMO Social Epidemic

[Orryo]

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?

[Teon]

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).

[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.

[Orryo]

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.

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.

[jabbywocks]

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.

[Kirosuu]

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

[Shadowtrek]

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.

[ruinedmirage]

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.

[Orryo]

[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.

[Teon]

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

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.. )