The Real Problem with Parsers

[Subucnimorning]

Calling out does not necessarily mean negative tone, it just means pointing out where someone can improve. Although a lot of people associate calling out with being toxic...does not make it true though!

[Kabooa]

Calling out does not necessarily mean negative tone, it just means pointing out where someone can improve. Although a lot of people associate calling out with being toxic...does not make it true though!

It's similar to the devolution of the term 'gg'

Originally it was a term expressing "Good Game", which was thanking the other person for playing the game with you, not a representative of the quality of game. It seems these days GG sounds condescending, and even members of your own team would think other wise.

Similarly, 'calling someone out' is nothing more than "You there." You combine it with "Your X is Y.". This is not rude by itself, but it tends to be construed that way because people do not like being singled out of a group, especially if it is in regards to their performance.

It's not really necessary in anything outside savage content and extreme primals since your team is heavily punished by a mistake made by one person. So for 95+% of content, no, calling someone out isn't necessary, but for the remaining 5%, you can still do it with more tact.

"Someone needs to not drag the death zone onto the healers." <= Tactful
"Hey Leonardo, stop dragging the death zone onto the healers." <= Less tactful

[spelley]

"Someone needs to not drag the death zone onto the healers." <= Tactful
"Hey Leonardo, stop dragging the death zone onto the healers." <= Less tactful

Or the even nicer way:

"Hey guys, I noticed we were placing the death zone onto the healers by mistake. If we try and put them [here] and [here] (using waypoints) I think we should be able to handle this no problemo. We got this!"

What usually helps the most, and tends to result in people NOT getting up in arms is:

a) Not singling out by name (as you suggest) and
b) Offering, politely, the solution/general tips so you don't just sound like a complainer

[RapBreon]

"Someone needs to not drag the death zone onto the healers." <= Tactful
"Hey Leonardo, stop dragging the death zone onto the healers." <= Less tactful

While I agree broadly with your points.

The 'tactful' example, is very passive-aggressive. Some people find that worse. Meh.

[SpookyGhost]

While I agree broadly with your points.

The 'tactful' example, is very passive-aggressive. Some people find that worse. Meh.

An easy way I've found for saying 'dont do this' is to just say what the problem is and making sure everyone is aware of it:

"We can't have the death zone on the healers, so please everyone watch out for that when it goes out"

Or something like that.

[Aiselia]

Calling out does not necessarily mean negative tone

Let's pretend that what appears to be the generally accepted definition of the phrase does not mean negative tone. Let's say that it could be either negative or positive tone.

If someone is using the phrase with the clear intention of meaning the negative tone definition, then whether it has a positive definition is irrelevant and semantic arguments suck.

What matters is the definition that the person using the phrase intends. So if someone says "People shouldn't call others out on their DPS" meaning "People shouldn't try to shame or insult others on their DPS", pointing out that "calling someone out" could be done nicely is irrelevant, because they obviously mean that people shouldn't be doing it negatively.