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.

[Rex]

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.

The troll can just not troll

If there's no action, there's no reaction.

[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.

[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.

[necrosis]

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.

People do not like to hear that they're doing something wrong in the tone and method most people use.

[Karnyboy]

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.

Well wouldn't that just be criticism?

[Drako]

Wish I saved a screenshot from my roulette last night, its perfect for this topic. I had a blm in amdapor last night, and I did a quick gear check to see what we had going on. This guy had allag gear, and was working on his animus. The rest of the group was equally equipped. So I would pull a couple groups at a time. The first couple waves, I noticed it was very slow killing everything off. Then I started to take notice of what was going on. The blm was doing Fire II, until empty, then blizzard III, then back again, not initiating Fire III to kick it off, no flare, if it was done it wasn't done with umbral 3. When there was only a couple mobs it was Fire III > Fire III > Fire III > Fire III > Blizzard III > Thunder/Blizzard III > Repeat. I advised this guy from the get go, I want to give him some advice, and I have no intention to offend.I explained to him how he should use Fire III only to switch to umbral fire, then do Fire I unless you get a freebee on Fire III. He said cool I'll try it. 10 mins into the dungeon, I didn't see him trying at all. So I kindly asked, if he had any intention to try it in the dungeon, and stated, it would really speed things up. At this point he said something along the lines of, "oh great another tank that thinks he can control the entire party, and everything they do". I was like woah, man just forget it, play how you want, I didn't intend to upset you. We get to the end of the run and he knew how to mark and do the doors, so I was happy with that. Maybe he thought it worked like FFXI, it never occured to me maybe that's what he thought. I'm not really sure. In the end the run took 35 minutes, and everyone was 85ilvl+, and we didn't wipe on any boss.

Anyhow this just goes back to whats been said. A lot of people are generally sensitive about being educated. They feel they do it well enough and its not something they feel they can improve upon much. I'm not sure if its just how our generation is, or what. But people are not willing to accept advice, because when they receive it, it automatically is assumed that advice = looking down on you. Or that it means something far worse then just, "here let me help you out friend." They interpret it as, "you suck do this or you are a complete noob".