It has been ZERO DAYS since a moderator actually did something in General Discussion

[LaylaTsarra]

What's going on is an unfortunate trend in not just MMORPG forums, but any multiplayer forum. It happened on the WoW forums so intensely, and so frequently, that a blizzard representative had to quit because there was no quelling the crowd. People go onto the forums, and they scream about how the game is horrible and demanding improvements. In their frustration, they get hostile twords people that either don't see things the way they do, or actually enjoy the mechanic. Then you got people that insist on associating certain themes of the games with socio/political things, to which the people saying "Keep real world stuff and controversial stuff out of the game" which results in more heated debates. And then you got the trolls, whom are able to clump in with the topics, and start the fires they typically do.

This isn't anything new. Not that I'm excusing it, but here's the big question: How many people go to discussion forums to praise the game? The answer is "little-to-none." The reason for this is because the people that are enjoying the game are playing it while the angry people that are upset with the game are on the forums. And, for better or worse, a customer does have a right to complain.

As for the activity of the moderators and representatives, what could they do in the forum that wouldn't cause a dogpile on them? When people behave uncivilized, and act on emotion, it can make things harder for everyone.

Totally agree although I've been here a long time and it's never been this bad and community reps would be crazy in my view to even attempt to spend time here interacting with the crowd. More frequent updates via live letters and community representative posts on Mogstation might be a good idea.

[KizuyaKatogami]

Totally agree although I've been here a long time and it's never been this bad and community reps would be crazy in my view to even attempt to spend time here interacting with the crowd. More frequent updates via live letters and community representative posts on Mogstation might be a good idea.

Ah yes, how crazy it would be for someone to actually do the job they’re getting paid for.

[LaylaTsarra]

Ah yes, how crazy it would be for someone to actually do the job they’re getting paid for.

They're not getting paid to come here even though you think so. LoL been here since 2014 and we've never had a community rep here so that is nothing new. More forum moderation would be welcome though where they ban some of these persistent trolls and the consolidation of duplicate threads would be nice.

[Nav_Fae]

They're not getting paid to come here even though you think so. LoL been here since 2014 and we've never had a community rep here so that is nothing new. More forum moderation would be welcome though where they ban some of these persistent trolls and the consolidation of duplicate threads would be nice.

They are definitely being paid. Cooperations don't just ask unpaid volunteers to represent them.

They had an application for the position a few years back. Knowing Japanese and have the ability to travel were both requirements.

[LaylaTsarra]

They are definitely being paid. Cooperations don't just ask unpaid volunteers to represent them.

They had an application for the position a few years back. Knowing Japanese and have the ability to travel were both requirements.

Oh they are being paid but not to interact here. If they were they'd have been here all the years I've been here. Someone correct me if I'm wrong and perhaps they did before I arrived but I have no recollection of any direct interaction with the forum community here other than a few informational top posts at the top of the forum.

That's not to say people can't ask but i wouldn't expect things to change.

[RyuDragnier]

Totally agree although I've been here a long time and it's never been this bad and community reps would be crazy in my view to even attempt to spend time here interacting with the crowd. More frequent updates via live letters and community representative posts on Mogstation might be a good idea.

Same, the forums have never been this bad before recently. Seen more toxicity, trolls, and the doomsayers/ragers the past half year than I have EVER seen in all the other years I've been on these forums. It's downright insane. I don't know what the hell is causing it, but I certainly hate it.

[Nethereal]

Well looking at the Dev Tracker It's good to know that our feedback is to be seen not heard.

[Lyth]

Part of the problem may be due to uncertainty around standards. The 'Prohibited Activities' section of the ToS is fairly all-encompassing. In game you do have to be relatively cautious of what you type even in jest, simply because 'language that a reasonable person would find offensive' can be quite grey. Up until I'd say early Shadowbringers this was followed fairly strictly on the forums, resulting in a lot of players just not being able to post in here due to prior reports and subsequent infractions. On the plus side, people toned down their aggression out of necessity.

It seems to me that sometime during Shadowbringers those historical strikes against accounts were reversed and the amount of moderation suddenly dropped off, after which the forums slowly drifted to the other extreme. A balance is needed, but right now anything would be an improvement.

I do think that there is some awareness of this issue, given that Yoshi-p has commented on some of the language used in feedback. And if it's toxic to the devs, it's even worse for the average poster who wants to participate in here.

I'm not sure what happened to the Community Reps. I've always hoped that they would eventually become something closer to the level of the blue posts in early Warcraft, and it seemed like we were slowly moving to that in late Stormblood with some of the more enthusiastic reps. Even on Reddit, there used to be a few designated SE reps who would jump into discussions and whom you could flag interesting threads to. I haven't seen any of that for some time now.

I'd very much like to see a discussion around this and the dev team's communication strategy during the next Q+A. I think that the system and approach to feedback has to evolve with the scale of the game.

[Iscah]

How many people go to discussion forums to praise the game? The answer is "little-to-none." The reason for this is because the people that are enjoying the game are playing it while the angry people that are upset with the game are on the forums.

If that's the common mindset, I think that's a real shame. Discussing a game on its forum (where the forum is a gathering place for fans) is part of enjoying the game, for me at any rate.

[Theodric]

Same, the forums have never been this bad before recently. Seen more toxicity, trolls, and the doomsayers/ragers the past half year than I have EVER seen in all the other years I've been on these forums. It's downright insane. I don't know what the hell is causing it, but I certainly hate it.

A lot of what some people read as 'toxicity' isn't even toxicity in the first place. It's just people dropping by to express their concerns with the direction of elements of the game, or they're simply saying their piece in a way that reflects their different background, personality and writing style to you. If they're not explicitly breaking any rules then it isn't really any business of other posters to try and intervene.

If that's the common mindset, I think that's a real shame. Discussing a game on its forum (where the forum is a gathering place for fans) is part of enjoying the game, for me at any rate.

Indeed. How unfortunate, then, that there's no shortage of - for lack of a better word - 'concern trolls' who try to police which subjects are deemed worthy of discussion or which characters/aspects of the game that people are 'allowed' to like or dislike.

Worse yet, it's often implied that just because someone voices their concerns about a particular aspect of the game then that means they should quit or that they hate absolutely everything about the game across the board. Which...simply isn't true in the vast majority of cases.