To A Healthier Gaming Community!

[Hestern_Nestern]

Hmm, recently [that is, about five minutes ago (actually, Hestern, it was five minutes ago when you started writing this post, but you rambled so much that it has been more than an hour now, and since you'll spend another thirty minutes editing this thing, it might be longer)] I made two posts in two different threads encouraging a more accepting and compassionate approach to thread responses. Now, as a consequence of this, I would like to make a more formal statement to the community at large (I may have copy/pasted a little bit from one of my earlier thread posts, by the way! I am such a cheater!).

Let us begin. I understand that we sometimes feel a little annoyed by the constant Ferris wheel of repetitious and redundant topics, shortly followed by topics complaining about the sheer number of topics that are repetitious, redundant, silly, or dulll, only for the Ferris wheel to come back again, come off the tracks, roll through the clown show, smash a few elephants, destroy the cotton candy machine and then squish a bunch of children having a nice day...

...Maybe that was a bit too elaborate. Ahem.

I can understand that a poorly formulated thread post can sometimes irk people's nerves as well as upset some people reading, perhaps either due to a need for depth or a need for originality. I can also understand wishing for others to consider their responses a bit better as well as wishing for others to use the search function more often. Of course, it makes perfect sense that we would want more relevant and diverse topics to be showing up on the thread tracker than a series of would-ya-could-ya-should-yas.

Continuing on, I can understand startling emotional fluctuations when one feels that they have been poorly treated by a group or by individuals. Considering a few instances, one might feel that they have been unfairly persecuted for starting a thread OR unfairly persecuted for having disagreed with that thread's topic. At other times, one might feel embarrassed when one's argument is refuted by a replying party's shocking phrases (a jar full of insults and some cleverly placed similes) and might want to respond with the same level of animosity in turn. These things and more might spark a desire - rash and melding - to respond to a person or a group of persons in a manner that focuses more on breaking others down than proving one's point. Even when one attempts to focus on proving one's point, personal conflicts from having felt insulted might arise, resulting in a less than generous explanation of one's position -- this, in turn, moves the reader of said position to feel affronted and begin another analogy-destroying ferris wheel catastrophe - all rotating to the fray.

I feel that we can be more understanding of developers and other players on this forum and in this game. We can continue to strive for a healthier gaming community, cookie dispensers included.

I really believe that we can all learn to disagree with other human beings in a more effective manner - moreover, in an empathetic manner - and cease the endless yarn of "I hate you because of x" - "well you're dumb because of y" - "let's have a cat fight rawr". I really think that we can improve the quality of threads by taking a positive approach to our responses or even negate the existence of multiple threads (kept alive ONLY by angry posters) by posting only in topics that are grabbing the most posts at the time ( I am referring to multiple threads on the same topic, not all threads in general). We can work together - I know it!

Of course, I can be a downright ***** when I am offline and I am sure all of us can admit that much is true of anyone. But, when I am online, at least, I always try to remind myself that I don't actually have to press the REPLY button when I am in a thread and when I do, that I don't necessarily have to say things in the manner that they first materialize in my head, emotionally fueled or otherwise.

I would just like to encourage us to say only what we intend to say to move the conversation further and spend less time saying things we want to say to move the conversation deeper into personal territory.


Okay, okay, I know, I am a little flowery blossom who thinks cupcakes fall out of my eyes and that dreams wrap delicately about the world to bring us to a fluffy puppy exaltation. I'm a bit silly and optimistic - sometimes in a bad way. I get that. I also understand that it is arrogant of me to think that my words hold so much importance that they would require a thread start about them. I understand. Still, that doesn't mean that there isn't something to be taken from this glitter-in-the-wind post. I hope that other posters can see that. And I know: we can improve.

Thank you for reading.

(I do apologize for my lack of brevity and, I sense, my atrocious use of the human language)

[alkhemyXIII]

Agreed. A level of maturity is always a good thing.

[kazaran]

The community in general is pretty good compared to other games. You have a couple confronting negative people, that eventually just meld in. You also have a few that do a little extra to pull topics together when some of us have busy lives and can't catch up on all the news.

Even with new people on the horizon, many are other mmo gamers that have matured and will be able to contribute. We'll be ok.

[Jynx]

You think this is bad. Try somewhere like the Bioware forums if you want to see what a toxic community is really like.

[kazaran]

Oh god not some of the bioware ones, they are just straight out mean, condescending, and evil.

[rina_inverse]

You think this is bad.

this is not bad?

[Millerna]

I usually don't even visit official forums because of all the nonsense on them, but here it's fairly reasonable for the most part.

A lot of MMOs are just solo games until end-game. You level up, join a guild and do end-game. Your guild is the best one, and everyone outside the guild are idiots not worthy of your attention, let alone help. Of all the MMOs I've played, those with forced grouping to level up (aka oldskool/hardcore MMOs).

That said, there are always people that make it worth giving a pickup group another try, and I have to say I've been lucky in both SWtOR and TSW with meeting some nice people through random pickup groups.

[Cendres]

I always enjoy these threads and you are right we should remember that we are talking to other human beings just like us and try to envision ourselves face to face, at least this helps me. However I grew up when forums first appeared and the forum warrior is pretty strong in me, it can be hard to resist a well placed flame or two, it's almost like it's part of the communication process. I can also say that some of my best online battles with people have resulted in lasting online friendships oddly enough. Maybe because we all enjoyed a good debate?

I'm not trying to excuse the behavior but just shedding some understanding on how it happens. :P I'm also a card carrying member of the Bioware network and to that I can honestly say that the social network was the worst thing to happen to our community. When it was just a forum like this one it was fine, and I've known a lot of the same old members from back then and they were all pretty mature intelligent people. Then ME2 blew up the community (or was it DAO?) and we've got too many people to deal with. Like the WoW forums... >.>

This is why a smaller community is a good thing in this respect.

[Hestern_Nestern]

I understand that, given perspective (say, Bioware Forums, as good Jynx suggested), one can reasonably exclude a "quieter" place like this from emotional responsibility. That makes sense.

And if this is really true, then I hope my post can at least serve as a preventative measure to us players, if this forum isn't serious enough yet to require a bandage.

Nevertheless, while I strive always to be understanding, I still feel as if citing another venue's more venomous condition as an excuse of "bad" behavior is opposite to the blossoming of compassion in other human beings. Does that make sense? Now, it is likely that said posts were made in the interest of helping me to appreciate what we have here on this forum, and I thank you (Jynx & perhaps Kazaran) for that. I only make this statement now in the interest of clarity, so as not to say that I agree with that sentiment entirely, when in some veins I do not (honesty is very important to me).

I do know that it is presumptuous of me to use the word "excuse" in that context and will happily rescind that statement if it is confirmed that I misunderstood it.

Thank you for all of the positive replies so far.

[Lady]

Let us begin. I understand that we sometimes feel a little annoyed by the constant Ferris wheel of repetitious and redundant topics, shortly followed by topics complaining about the sheer number of topics that are repetitious, redundant, silly, or dulll, only for the Ferris wheel to come back again, come off the tracks, roll through the clown show, smash a few elephants, destroy the cotton candy machine and then squish a bunch of children having a nice day...

I've wondered about why people got so upset over a question being repeated for awhile now. Personally, it doesn't bother me for the most part (except those trolls that think its funny to announce they got an email from SE, that annoys me lol). I think there are some people out there who see a new post, hope for new information, and are so sorely disappointed that its a repeat thread, they lash out. Then, because those people have set a standard, we soon get the followers who want to elevate themselves above the crowd, and see a repeat thread and attack it because it has become "the thing to do". That's when we see the "LOCK THIS THREAD" and "SEARCH THE FORUMS BEFORE YOU POST" people spamming a thread.
Irony is, if they didn't post, or just answered the question, the post would soon disappear from the first page.