Things Need to Change and Quickly!

[Arazehl]

I've been playing this game since 2015. Now I'm just a bit baffled by a few things. Maybe it's just me, I don't know, but I feel the forums have gone from bad to worse or just gone "To Hell in a handbasket".

Where do I start? In these forums lately, I see the trolls trolling more than ever before. Players trash talking each other and insults tossed at others by the truck load. The moderation is nearly non existent on our NA/EU forums it seems.

It wasn't this bad three years back. It was there but not like it is today. I'm just baffled by the cause of it. Trying to figure out what's different now, than a few years ago and if SE keeps doing nearly nothing about it, it's just going to be worse as time goes by.

I love coming to the forums for player's genuine feedback, which many posts are, but not all. The bad apples seem to have multiply lately and I dread seeing what comes from it later down the road if left unchecked. Seems like a canker sore on the game itself. One with no cure in sight. It just keeps growing.

I just wish this company would give a damn. Better yet, I wish some people gave a damn and stopped being disrespectful to one another.

[Stressei]

I think it's because people don't really use the formus that much anymore and just ask questions in-game or on other internet sites. The site itself is not that updated and works really badly (my experiance at least), so maybe we can say square enix is not that interested on reviving it.

The trolling is annoying, but I don't see it stopping from the players' end. Just look at the novice network x)

[Arazehl]

I think it's because people don't really use the formus that much anymore and just ask questions in-game or on other internet sites. The site itself is not that updated and works really badly (my experiance at least), so maybe we can say square enix is not that interested on reviving it.

The trolling is annoying, but I don't see it stopping from the players' end. Just look at the novice network x)

Well that's a possibility. But I think quite a few do use it in conjunction with Twt, FB, and Reddit. They come here to leave feedback, bugs reports, learn if the game is having issues, and their own entertainment. The Novice Network, I won't even go into that and what I think of it from the day it was formed.

[Kurando]

I tend to come and go but I've noticed some people who were pretty active are no longer around. Perhaps they moved on and just stopped bothering with the forums, though I heard a number did get banned as well over the years (some for legit reasons, some not so much...). Never really expect much from any forums in this day and age though, feels a bit like an antiquated system when we have all the other social media mediums out there you know.

[Arazehl]

I tend to come and go but I've noticed some people who were pretty active are no longer around. Perhaps they moved on and just stopped bothering with the forums, though I heard a number did get banned as well over the years (some for legit reasons, some not so much...). Never really expect much from any forums in this day and age though, feels a bit like an antiquated system when we have all the other social media mediums out there you know.

Yeah one day we'll all move on from the game. Hopefully by not getting banned.

[Iscah]

Never really expect much from any forums in this day and age though, feels a bit like an antiquated system when we have all the other social media mediums out there you know.

A forum, especially a properly tended one, has an advantage in keeping discussion organised and everything in sequence of a conversation. It's not like the approach where everything is in nested replies and the conversations splinter into the newest replies appearing at any point in the thread.

I feel like social media has ruined people's approach to that sort of "all in" conversation of a forum thread though. People just reply to the OP without bothering to read any of the conversation inbetween or see what points have already been addressed.

[Carin-Eri]

A forum, especially a properly tended one, has an advantage in keeping discussion organised and everything in sequence of a conversation. It's not like the approach where everything is in nested replies and the conversations splinter into the newest replies appearing at any point in the thread.

I feel like social media has ruined people's approach to that sort of "all in" conversation of a forum thread though. People just reply to the OP without bothering to read any of the conversation inbetween or see what points have already been addressed.

Agreed.

As you say, Social Media has a 'read the OP and move on' approach. It doesn't really encourage discussion per-se, as the 'thread' all too often ends up being too short lived. From my own experience at least, I'd also say that the replies to said threads (on social media) tend to be of the short and sweet variety, with those posting replies having little interest in much beyond saying their piece in a few sentences before moving on and undoubtedly forgetting about the subject.

Forums usually tend to be for those who want a more in-depth discussion about a particular subject, can revisit the thread(s) of interest, and can easily return to continue said discussion.

[Lhanu]

Forums totally can still work in the modern day, you just need to actually give a shit and keep your software up to date. Consider Sufficient Velocity, Spacebattles and ResetEra, which all actually use the most modern forum software in Atelier Aphelion's particular take on XenForo rather than something that was outdated in 2011.

[Iscah]

I don't think the software really matters? This site is fine, functionally speaking. We can post stuff and communicate.

The important thing is moderation - keeping the discussion on track, deleting or redirecting duplicate threads, stopping trolls from dominating the forum.

[Lhanu]

I don't think the software really matters? This site is fine, functionally speaking. We can post stuff and communicate.

The important thing is moderation - keeping the discussion on track, deleting or redirecting duplicate threads, stopping trolls from dominating the forum.

That's all connected to software. Disclosure here, I'm an administrator at one of the sites I previously mentioned, and the main reason we spend so much money on the software side of it is for effective moderation. With our most modern software, we have a complex report centre for assignment and review of reports, along with an infraction system for tracking of offenders and nuance in sanctions — I'm sure we've all noticed that the only buttons they really have here are 'ban' and 'delete post'.

If there's a moderation problem in a site with functionality as old as this one, a large part of it is going to be the software — I was doing the same thing back when vbulletin was in vogue and had absolutely nothing to give moderators beyond said 'ban' and 'delete post' buttons — and this software reminds me an awful lot of all that. I guarantee you that the FFXIV forums moderation team do not have the tools needed to effectively manage this forum with nuance, even if they had both the will and the training and support to do so (which I also doubt they have).