Common social flaws that most of us (myself included) are guilty of.

[Raxion]

Being how I am, I like to observe how people react to certain situations. MMORPGs are easily one of the best places to find how a multitude of different people react to stressful situations. Some of these aren't just reactions. Some of the following examples are mentalities that we carry around with us. Lets get started.

Flaw #1: Believing yourself to be better than those around you, no matter the lack of evidence.

This is probably the most common of the flaws, I'd say. Quite a lot of people carry around an inferiority complex when playing MMORPGs. While there are indeed better players than others, a lot of the people that carry this mentality around are, in fact, not near as good as they believe themselves to be. A skilled and humble player truly is a rare breed. I think if some of us were to observe ourselves and our actions at a later time, we'd be downright disappointed at how we handled certain situations and treated others.

Flaw #2: The loose cannon.

This is actually something I find myself guilty of from time to time. This is a person that simply looses all sense of composure after very few, or very small mistakes. This person might also try to justify themselves with excuses such as "You're wasting my time!" or "It's not my job to teach you how to play the game!". I can think of, at least, a handful of times that I displayed myself as nothing more than an ass, and later found myself regretting my reaction. Being a loose cannon doesn't necessarily mean you have anger issues, as some may think. It does, however, speak volumes on how badly you handle stressful situations.

Flaw #3: The Troll.

This is someone who not only goes out of their way to get a negative reaction out of someone, but they find enjoyment in doing so. While we should all be able to laugh at a little lighthearted trolling every now and then, I think it's safe to say that we've all ran into that troll that really did get under our skin. Just someone that enjoys annoying people and making them angry (umad?). They also like to spread their anger-invoking shenanigans to forums...like these. As stated below, the best way to handle a troll is to simply not give them the reaction they're looking for. While that can be hard to do sometimes, a simple blacklist can go a long way.

Flaw #4: Being unable to take criticism.

Another flaw that many of us are guilty of. So many people take great offense to anything directed at them that doesn't happen to be a compliment. This is a flaw that I, thankfully, can say that I'm not guilty of. As long as you weren't personally attacked, there really isn't any reason to take offense. Perhaps someone offers you sound advice, or makes it known to you that you're doing something wrong. Instead of taking it as an insult, try considering the criticism first. You might actually learn how to do something better. People sharing information with you isn't a bad thing. Even if they do so in an immature way, they might still be right. Don't just assume that you know everything there is to know.

I'm sure there are other flaws I could have pointed out. I'll leave the extras up to you guys. If you enjoyed the read, throw it a like. If you didn't enjoy the read, that's OK too. At the end of the day, we're all human, we're all different, and we all handle situations in different ways.

Maybe you read it all, maybe you didn't, maybe you only read this sentence. Either way, I hope you enjoyed the thread.

[Teroril]

I think it would be a good idea to add 'the person who reacts to trolls' onto that list, as the troll itself won't cause much havoc, unless there is an actual reaction.

Other than that, I think this list is comprised of the worst vices of MMORPGs these days. But, it's not just human behaviour, it's also facilitated by the mechanics of the game. The independence from other people in the game is one of the bigger reasons, as to why these vices are so widespread.

[Garlyle]

#1 is seen a lot in the mindset of "It's not me that has a problem, it's other people who can't do it!"
Not that there isn't truth to that sometimes - All the good skill in the world as a healer or DPS won't stop having a bad offtank from making Garuda EX a nightmare, for instance. But the idea that you personally can't play any better is pretty ridiculous.

[Karnyboy]

I am not guilty of any of those.


ps - negative criticism is actually a bad thing and you can't fault someone for getting upset if that's what you meant. I think you meant positive criticism.

[Zaero]

#1 is seen a lot in the mindset of "It's not me that has a problem, it's other people who can't do it!"
Not that there isn't truth to that sometimes - All the good skill in the world as a healer or DPS won't stop having a bad offtank from making Garuda EX a nightmare, for instance. But the idea that you personally can't play any better is pretty ridiculous.

This. Add in "talking big and yelling at everyone else when youre also dying a lot" I had a heals and dps in a titan ex run jumping one everyone else when we wiped but they died multiple times during the fight. I quickly put them in their respective places for it.

[ItzKris]

I am not guilty of any of those.


ps - negative criticism is actually a bad thing and you can't fault someone for getting upset if that's what you meant. I think you meant positive criticism.

He meant some people don't know how to take advice (aka negative criticism). "Don't tank there, tank here." "Don't pull with provoke, use shield lob."
Some people get mad when given those kinds of advice.

[Raxion]

He meant some people don't know how to take advice (aka negative criticism). "Don't tank there, tank here." "Don't pull with provoke, use shield lob."
Some people get mad when given those kinds of advice.

Precisely. Some people just don't like to hear that they're doing something wrong, or could be doing something better. Instead of embracing the fact that they could be doing something wrong, they instead take offense.

[OranKells]

This game has an astoundingly toxic community. I'm not sure where exactly it all comes from.

I think part of it is the story and grind from 1-50 being facefoll -I have to actively try to fail and even if I do I'll get the echo buff- easy & endgame can be -holy expletive batman dodging weight of the land/twisters- hard. I think the discrepancy in difficultly levels here causes a bit of problem #1, but then I look at games like League of Legends.

The entire pseudo anonymous instanced dungeons with people you may never see again means there are little consequences and tends to bring out the worst in some people. Reputations don't follow you like they used to back in the day. I wonder if they did would people still be jerks

[Codek]

"Welcome to the world. Everyone's different, everyone gets treated different. You try fighting that, you end up dying of TB." -Gregory House, M.D.

[Issac]

This game has an astoundingly toxic community. I'm not sure where exactly it all comes from.

I think part of it is the story and grind from 1-50 being facefoll -I have to actively try to fail and even if I do I'll get the echo buff- easy & endgame can be -holy expletive batman dodging weight of the land/twisters- hard. I think the discrepancy in difficultly levels here causes a bit of problem #1, but then I look at games like League of Legends.

The entire pseudo anonymous instanced dungeons with people you may never see again means there are little consequences and tends to bring out the worst in some people. Reputations don't follow you like they used to back in the day. I wonder if they did would people still be jerks

A thousand times this. One's possible marred reputation kept bad attitudes in check back in the day. Now we have these DFs matching cross-server and no one feels any repercussion beyond their capacity for moral behavior. Personally I would feel far too guilty and shameful to act as some as these twits do. I don't think I'm a bad person, and it shows in how I treat other people, even if strangers.

There needs to be a cross-server DF blacklist to bring back the consequences of mistreating your fellow party members in DF. If you're a complete twit long enough, soon will your DF queues extend from 30 minutes to 5+ hours as the system tries desperately to find players who are still willing to play with you.

This would force the person to either issue a public apology on the forums, or, make a new character and hopefully have learned for the better.