Quote Originally Posted by Azurymber View Post
when i played Hello Kitty Online when it was with aeria games (and i was a gamesage on it) the game sucked. It was broken and mobs were like impossible to kill even in the first area and everyone knew it. But everyone still had fun. There weren't many complaint threads and most people focused on community and fun events (some of which i held). It was a -very- different environment and the community was like 90% 25-30 yr olds.

Star Wars TOR boards right now seem a lot less trollish and complainy than here.

And while XI had complaint threads, there weren't nearly as many, because they never really told anyone what was in a patch till it was out

Perfect World (which essentially suck) also has/had way less complaint threads than here

i dont believe EVE online has a lot of complaint threads

And since when do we have an ETA for relaunch? Isn't that speculation -right there-? link to where the ETA is?
They've expressed that they have loose expectations on when the release will be, which is sometime next year. Its speculation to try and claim a specific quarter, but its been clear for a while that their ultimate goal is releasing the PS3 version (which is ready to go) before the end of next year, if not earlier.

/sigh/

The community of a completely broken game run by a company that doesn't care enough to balance the primary functions of the game is NOT good indication of a good community. And how can you assess the age range of the ENTIRE community of the game? Final Fantasy is a 24 year old series -- One can easily assume that most of its core fanbase had to have been old enough to appreciate its better games (3~7, which is debatable but beside the point), meaning meaning that 25~30 age range is probably applicable here as well.

Star Wars TOR hasn't come out yet. So you can't talk about how its community is amazing when most of them don't even have access to the game yet. Wait until a couple of months after they've gotten used to/tired of the baseline content and then come back.

Final Fantasy XI-era SE gave us LESS information. So bringing up that community by saying it is better is contradictory to your entire argument. Apparently, to appease you and create a dream community, they should tell us absolutely nothing (which I assume is why the first community you listed was so "good" -- I can't imagine a broken game having very much information flowing from the Developers -- especially when starting areas were overpowered and impossible to fight in.

EVE is a game you can play without touching your computer for a week, and the lengthy and exhausting requirements for becoming a top tier "player" off it lends itself to a style of gameplay only hardcore enthusiasts can really enjoy for extended periods of time. Hardcore games tend to have less complainers as the grassroots communities tend to drive away "whiners" who are new to the game before they've rooted themselves enough to want to stick around. Its a common thing among gaming communities, though its more common in competitive ones (which is why many more hardcore gaming communities experience very slow flow of new players in high tier play) -- and its something I see constantly as founder of a company that deals primarily with competitive gaming. This point doubles up when you consider that Final Fantasy XI was significantly more hardcore when compared to say, World of Warcraft, which has a notoriously "bad" community. Final Fantasy XIV is purposefully more casual, and casual communities have much larger low-ends; i.e. less grind-it-out style hardcore gamers.

And that's not necessarily a bad thing; it's not something to chastise the community for. Its the nature of people and the way they respond to scenarios. Negativity, like positiveness, has its goods and its bad. Just like you say people who are overtly in-favor of SE's approach are "white knights" and blind to their fallacies, those complainers you bark about are representative of the kind of players who will be integral in helping the game become more successful. This game has problems, and until there are more people willing to support it than there are condemning it (i.e. when there's something to fight for), there are going to be LOTS of complaining threads.

And that's a good thing.

It means, at the very least, those people care enough to express their opinions and voice their concerns about how the game could potentially be better. They may not always be right, and SE definitely won't always go with their point of voice -- but a forum full of thousands of people who, despite how badly the game has done thus far, are willing to stick around to play, give feedback, and brainstorm improvement ideas to help the game become better and more enjoyable for everyone is the definition of a good community.