How it used to be...

[Oscura]

I've been playing since ARR early access, and I can assure you, hardly anything has changed.


People act as if FFXIV, at any point, was this haven of inclusiveness, sunshine and rainbows. It was not. It's just another MMO.

[CazzT]

I've been playing since ARR early access, and I can assure you, hardly anything has changed.


People act as if FFXIV, at any point, was this haven of inclusiveness, sunshine and rainbows. It was not. It's just another MMO.

People say this about WoW, also. I can't help but wonder if the people saying this are part of the problem. That's the only explanation I can think of for not being able to see how things have changed.

[MOZZYSTAR]

The first dungeon I remember doing back in 2.#, I was being made fun of and ridiculed for being a newb in, yes, a low level dungeon. The first FC I was in was run by an abusive player who shat on his raiders all the time, to the point where most members didn't feel comfortable speaking in chat. Eventually the FC broke apart, and you can imagine why.


In other words: there were always asshats and there always will be asshats. New expansions just seem to exacerbate the problem because a huge influx of different types of people flood back in to try it out. Unfortunately, the negative experiences tend to weigh heavier on us than positive experiences, but try not to let it get you down. Just wait it out.


Don't forget that you can blacklist people you were partied with, too, from raids (in your own team) or dungeons or trials. Just go to your contacts list and blacklist the ones that were unpleasant. I was once told by a GM that blacklisting will prevent those "bad apples" from being thrown into your party but I don't know if that applies to alliance raids.


You can also add some new friends this way, too!

[Oscura]

People say this about WoW, also. I can't help but wonder if the people saying this are part of the problem. That's the only explanation I can think of for not being able to see how things have changed.

Thanks for insinuating that just because I do not agree things have changed, or are "blind," to it, that I must be part of the problem. The fact you even felt the need to amuse such a ridiculous viewpoint shows an incredible lack of self-awareness. "People don't see what I see? They must be why it's happening in the first place," is even more negative than the "change" people keep talking about.

In 2.0 I got mocked for casting melee LB during Ifrit HM when it was brand new and not knowing that you had wait for caster to LB the nails. My guild leader, who I thought was a stand up guy, laughed at me and said he specifically didn't tell me to "see what would happen." A week or two later a group I had flamed me for wiping at demon wall in Amdapor Keep because I was a dragoon and it was impossible to do positionals there, so it was "all <my> fault," and I should, "just leave since melee is bad." This was before vote kicking, so they simply trash talked me until I left. I could give you dozens of examples of rudeness, abuse, and downright bullying I've seen through every single iteration this game has had since ARR. Though yes, people saying that nothing has changed are definitely part of the problem.

[RyuSaarva]

Thanks for insinuating that just because I do not agree things have changed, or are "blind," to it, that I must be part of the problem. The fact you even felt the need to amuse such a ridiculous viewpoint shows an incredible lack of self-awareness. "People don't see what I see? They must be why it's happening in the first place," is even more negative than the "change" people keep talking about.

In 2.0 I got mocked for casting melee LB during Ifrit HM when it was brand new and not knowing that you had wait for caster to LB the nails. My guild leader, who I thought was a stand up guy, laughed at me and said he specifically didn't tell me to "see what would happen." A week or two later a group I had flamed me for wiping at demon wall in Amdapor Keep because I was a dragoon and it was impossible to do positionals there, so it was "all <my> fault," and I should, "just leave since melee is bad." This was before vote kicking, so they simply trash talked me until I left. I could give you dozens of examples of rudeness, abuse, and downright bullying I've seen through every single iteration this game has had since ARR. Though yes, people saying that nothing has changed are definitely part of the problem.

maybe you just like to hang out with toxic people since you keep finding them.

[Oscura]

maybe you just like to hang out with toxic people since you keep finding them.

I guess no one has ever told you that duty finder randomly selects party members when you jump into a queue.

I don't choose who I "hang out" with when I solo queue.

[CazzT]

Thanks for insinuating that just because I do not agree things have changed, or are "blind," to it, that I must be part of the problem. The fact you even felt the need to amuse such a ridiculous viewpoint shows an incredible lack of self-awareness. "People don't see what I see? They must be why it's happening in the first place," is even more negative than the "change" people keep talking about.

In 2.0 I got mocked for casting melee LB during Ifrit HM when it was brand new and not knowing that you had wait for caster to LB the nails. My guild leader, who I thought was a stand up guy, laughed at me and said he specifically didn't tell me to "see what would happen." A week or two later a group I had flamed me for wiping at demon wall in Amdapor Keep because I was a dragoon and it was impossible to do positionals there, so it was "all <my> fault," and I should, "just leave since melee is bad." This was before vote kicking, so they simply trash talked me until I left. I could give you dozens of examples of rudeness, abuse, and downright bullying I've seen through every single iteration this game has had since ARR. Though yes, people saying that nothing has changed are definitely part of the problem.

Your claim is that things have not changed. I, and many others, do not see this reality. Saying you had a bad experience many years ago does not invalidate that things have changed. No one said "things like this never happened in the old days". What we're saying is "things like this happened far less and were not tolerated like they are today".

People who assume we're saying "it never happened" tend to be the people who engaging in the bad behavior. Hence my statement of "I have to wonder".

[Nariel]

People realising other player are real human behind a screen and not some magical world were everybody is nice and happy.

Hundreds of thousands of player, of course there is bad one. But for every bad community exemple you'll find a good one so maybe you should consider managing your entourage like you should do it in the real world. Its an online game your not alone, rude people are allowed to play too.

[Oscura]

Your claim is that things have not changed. I, and many others, do not see this reality. Saying you had a bad experience many years ago does not invalidate that things have changed. No one said "things like this never happened in the old days". What we're saying is "things like this happened far less and were not tolerated like they are today".

People who assume we're saying "it never happened" tend to be the people who engaging in the bad behavior. Hence my statement of "I have to wonder".

Change is relative and you will never be able to reach a consensus on something that large of a scale. All of it is anecdotal and everyone has different experiences. To many people, nothing has changed at all. To you and others, things have changed. You cannot prove there is a direct correlation between "people who were/are toxic," and "people who don't believe things have changed," which is why I even stated what I said. You are creating a rift to separate those who disagree with you, which is pretty toxic in itself. It's not as if I stated, "It has always been this way, anyone who disagrees with me needs to get thicker skin and is a crybaby." I simply stated my opinion that FFXIV wasn't any nicer than any other MMO. I think it's quite frankly rude to suddenly insinuate that I might be part of "the problem," simply because my viewpoint and experiences are different than yours. Saying you had good experiences, or did not have as many bad experiences in the past, does not invalidate my opinion that things have not changed either. It is a two way street.

Edit: Also, I never assumed you or anyone said it "never happened." I just said that it "hardly changed," that it happened more than people believed. You're putting words in my mouth.

[Tsukino]

I think the most common cause of this behaviour in games is based on its popularity.
The higher number of people, in any scenario, means more bad eggs.
Can't escape it.
Just have to ignore the bad ones and keep the good ones closer.

And as time changes, and the society gets more and more stressfull and less free time (depending ofc), means more and more people will take it out while playing when things doesn't go as they planned.
More and more feel that they can't spend as much time doing trial and error because it's wasted time for them.

That is atleast how I see things.

I don't think it's popularity as much as it is age.

Most people who play an MMO play semi-regularly with peak times around major additions like patches and expansions. A sizable amount of people never even finish the game's main content (leveling, story, etc.) during the times they resubscribe or try it out. But there is also a pretty big group that has been playing the same game for years and years, and they get deeper and deeper into how the game "should" be played for the most efficiency.

Not all of them are going to be rude, of course, but I believe it is from this group of players you get the most people who just do not accept anything less than perfection. It comes easily to them because they have played a lot, and so they think everyone else can do the same.