DF zombies.

[Phe]

Don't know you, not interested in knowing you, just trying to get my shit done.
Less talking = more doing.

Your cheerfulness and goodness warm my heart.
Happy new year to you, friend.

[Hyunckel]

Since we're almost always paired with random strangers from other servers, and you can't even see if they're in fact from other servers or not (unless you take 2 minutes to Lodestone their char names), it makes sence not to socialize with them.

BUT that is not a justification for not at least saying HELLO, and if lucky, Good bye/ Thanks for the run / some compliment on playstyle or anything. (I'm barely thanked for my tanking when I've seen plenty of crappy tanks lately, pretty much why I tank exp roulette to make it as smooth as possible (and end up with crappy dps players instead lol)

At least we got zombie players, it feels like playing with the AI in Phantasy Star Online ♥

Better than having assholes trolling us like in some other 'big' MMORPG (Where they even get kick immunity after some vote to kick boots)!

[kyuven]

I've seen this exact same complaint in EQ1, EQ2, FFXI, City of Heroes/Villains, DCUO, STO, WoW, CO, and many, many others over the years.
The problem isn't a choice in design, it's player complacency. There are only so many times you can do something before it becomes second nature and you just want to focus on finishing it. Not ALL players are like this, of course, but it is very common.
There isn't anything SE can do to mitigate this problem. Why? Because no matter what solution they come up with to make things "more interesting," players will ultimately choose the most efficient means and stick to that until the end of time.
To put this into context, in the original EverQuest there were and are literally hundreds of zones spanning a wide range of levels. Despite this, the "leveling treadmill" was very narrow. There are zones in the game that are just never visited (contrary to popular belief, The Gorge of King Xorbb wasn't added in any expansion and to this day is the least relevant zone in the entire game), and even when the areas were semi-relevant no one visited them. The Lower Guk dungeon was so overused and camped by so many people that I STILL remember all the camps, their drops, and the mob names even years later. Building off that, as time went on EQ's developers created fewer and fewer zones for their expansions, since people would only end up using about half a dozen per expansion, tops. Complacent gaming syndrome takes hold and even today you can reach the lvl 105 cap and only ever visit maybe a dozen zones out of the hundreds present in the game.
Granted in those days we DID talk to one another, but only because 5/6 members of the group never actually moved from one spot. Our fingers were free. The word "camping" was almost literal back then...
Anyway, it's a problem, but more of a correlation than a causation, as people get like this even in the workplace or driving or the like.

[Synthesis]

I used to say hi a lot in DF, but since 4 random ppl like this

Don't know you, not interested in knowing you, just trying to get my shit done.
Less talking = more doing.

join dung and no one says hi I stoppped to say it too.... *and became one of them *grin face*

[Eye_Gore]

Don't know you, not interested in knowing you, just trying to get my shit done.
Less talking = more doing.

Yeah those 2 keys H and I are a killer.

it makes sence not to socialize with them.

Spending the next possible 90 min with someone, why bother?

[Hocchi]

Yeah those 2 keys H and I are a killer.

They really are.

[EmeraldAres]

As other(s) have said, a major reason for the lack of socialization is the likelihood that you will never see the people in your DF group again. If there was some way to friend and group with people from other servers, people might be inclined to make a little more small talk. But as long as the structure remains where servers are separate except for temporary unions in duties, players will usually only be inclined to befriend others that they meet on their actual server outside of the dungeons and trials.

I know I don't always feel inclined to talk much, although I usually participate in the greeting and sometimes say something at the end. I will also respond and give tips if someone announces they are new, or asks me a question about an assigned role on a boss fight. I may even answer more personal inquiries, such as where items or glamours came from. But often, I don't talk because nobody has anything to say and because it slows down my fighting ability. In speed runs especially, a badly-timed sentence to anyone (inside of the duty or not) can result in someone's death or a full group wipe. I often don't have time to talk between pulls either, because people are moving on to the next one immediately. So over time, I have adapted to the climate and only join the conversation if I feel it is appropriate or I am at ease. I don't often feel at ease in DF. It's impossible to tell if someone has a short fuse or not until you engage them a little bit, and often I don't like finding out that someone is in a bad mood the hard way.

If I want a light-hearted run, I will often help FC mates with dungeons they need. The pressure is usually off when I go with them, whether we are moving quickly in the dungeon or not. In DF, there's really no way to know if the run will be fun and social, serious business, or downright annoying until people start talking. That's my take on the "zombie" behavior.

[Elazu]

Yeah, most people won't even say "hi" in the beginning. Pretty ridiculous.

Sometimes if you don't get an answer there's the possibility of people just not understanding English.

[Hyunckel]

it makes sence not to socialize with them.

Spending the next possible 90 min with someone, why bother?

Since we're almost always paired with random strangers from other servers, and you can't even see if they're in fact from other servers or not (unless you take 2 minutes to Lodestone their char names), it makes sence not to socialize with them.
BUT that is not a justification for not at least saying HELLO

Nice reading skills you got there ^_^

I said it makes sence, it's the least effort route most people end up with, for being efficient and/or not doing something which seems not worth it for them, for not having a reward out of it.

I ALWAYS SAY HELLO. I always talk. 90% of the players don't even say hello.

Also, lol if you spend 90 min in a duty finder, low level to exp roulette, it takes 30 min to clear a run on average, sometimes less.

[BillyBones]

I've been playing this game since release and so far ran probably over 1000 runs in df. Long ago I used to say hello, bye and other things to keep up a conversation. But you know, after 1000 runs I just don't bother anymore. I don't even look at their names. To me they are just NPCs, not real players. There is no real interaction or teamwork required in dungeons. The tanks pull mobs, healers heal, dps burn stuff. Everyone knows the dungeon and how to do their job. It's just the way the game is designed.