Why Are the FFXIV Forums So Bad?

[Cilia]

Anonymity and an audience lead people to indulge in otherwise uncouth (if not contemptible) behavior.

[Carin-Eri]

I mean if the forums were moderated as heavily as in game you basically wouldn’t be able to actually have a discussion because you can barely present a dissenting view in game without risking someone reporting you (and no this isn’t a case of “you are just rude but don’t want to admit it”)

You notice the moderation though, people rarely insult each other, at most you get some heated arguments but nothing ban worthy, if anything the forums are a more accurate representation of the actual community opinion on things without the ever present threat of the ban hammer in the main game

Moderation is a really difficult thing to balance.

I know there are those who don't like 'whataboutism' here, but I've experienced the polar opposite of what is experienced on this forum, having been perma-banned from the over-moderated official forum of a game I used to play for making negative comments.

[Noumenon]

if anything the forums are a more accurate representation of the actual community opinion on things without the ever present threat of the ban hammer in the main game

Accurate representation of the community, perhaps, but hardly representative of everyone who has tried FF14 before. You have to stay subbed to be on the forums. Tons of players have quit the game and will never discuss its shortcomings on the forums.

The FF14 "community", if it can be called that, is now an extremely insular echo chamber because of survivorship bias.

[Aldath]

Just curious, in-game its pretty pleasant, most people are reasonable and easy to talk to, the game has a pretty bustling social scene, I've made plenty of friends that I've linked with irl, but on here you're all like 12 year olds screaming at each other over who loves FFXIV more like you're some weird attention starved children begging for your parent's attention. Literally every discussion post is littered with lonely 40 year old women and neckbeards spurting Mean Girls comments over any and everything.

So what made you all this way? Was it years of neglect and moderation from Square-Enix? Lack of healthy social lives? Mental illness? I'm curious

That's pretty much the same case for most games, for some reason. Reddit is usually the church full of zealots and the forums are always one or two mods away from the site becoming 4chan.

Consider that many of the people who play the game actually use these avenues of communication and their forum persona might be different from their game persona; they might be very heated and toxic here to vent their frustrations but they're nice guys in other places.

As humans we are suceptible to peer pressure and "hive mentalities", sometimes we subconciously assimilate attitudes that otherwise would be unexpected from us. I consider myself a chill guy and I've had a pretty possitive experience in game and try to make it the same for others, but I won't deny I have also fallen into the whole toxic posting once in a while.

[Luluya]

The forums are 'bad' due to posters appearing who say every other poster is like a screaming twelve year old and that they're "attention starved children", not to mention "lonely 40 year old women and neckbeards".

Especially ones who imply that their so called bad behaviour is due to lack of a healthy social life or mental illness.

[Sindele]

Low activity moderation that doesn't read its own forums and is strictly policy-based + obvious first port of call = toxic hell, every time. It's better here than the average Steam discussion forum at least, which is sort of like saying falling into lava is better than falling into acid.

Some people have no fallback because they've already been run out of other discussion forums. Some just never bothered to look. Some use it as their toxic opinion dumping ground because it won't fly anywhere else. Some use it as a source of entertainment through being annoying on purpose. Some are pedants wandering around from place to place to quibble over their favorite minor subjects. Many will lie to you about why they are to present themselves as higher-minded than in reality. The reasons are many, but the truth is always thus: any serious, productive discussion that happens here has always been largely by accident (or involves really stretching the hell out of the definition of 'serious, productive discussion'.)

But maybe that's become the point over the years, whether intentional or not. If you wanted to set up a honeypot to lure most of the worst posting behavior into one place and away from topical subforums, well, it'd probably wind up looking a lot like this.

[Denji]

the forums aren't that badly moderated; it's just nobody uses the report button here and then complains when nothing is done.
i've used it countless times and have seen the posts removed like that guy who was editing people's quotes to make them sound like pedos from a couple months ago.

[ZephyrMenodora]

Moderation is a really difficult thing to balance.

I know there are those who don't like 'whataboutism' here, but I've experienced the polar opposite of what is experienced on this forum, having been perma-banned from the over-moderated official forum of a game I used to play for making negative comments.

But then there is basic moderation that would improve the forums without controversy.

Like locking threads when someone goes on a “necro threads that have been dead for years” spree.
Immediately banning accounts of people who were already banned.
Actually enforcing the rules we have.

These basic things would already clean up the forums quite a bit.

[Carin-Eri]

But then there is basic moderation that would improve the forums without controversy.

Like locking threads when someone goes on a “necro threads that have been dead for years” spree.
Immediately banning accounts of people who were already banned.
Actually enforcing the rules we have.

These basic things would already clean up the forums quite a bit.

Definitely - no disagreement there. Was simply saying that most forum moderators don't seem to find that balance.

[ZephyrMenodora]

Definitely - no disagreement there. Was simply saying that most forum moderators don't seem to find that balance.

One game I played got so bad they would ban people from their streams who said the name of the PVP zone because it was so buggy. They got a lot of heat for that extreme behavior lol.