What is wrong with this community?

[Ahlen]

I blame league of legends entirely.

[AncientCetra]

A game has nothing to do with shaping a community. Online etiquette has gone down the tubes over the years simply because people feel like they can hide behind a screen act how they want and get away with it because there are no direct
repercussions. If someone is uncomfortable with something and speak up they are immediately teased, made fun of, or trash talked. I've seen it numerous times in parties/guilds.

Personally if people start acting rude or immature I just ignore them and hope they will eventually go back to Call of Duty or other such game where that kind of behavior is expected. In games like this things seem to go much smoother and a lot more fun when people are polite, nice, and helpful.

Just my two cents, but I don't believe a game molds the community. I think its the community of the game and what type of behavior is allowed that creates a good or bad environment.

[JamesX]

Just my two cents, but I don't believe a game molds the community. I think its the community of the game and what type of behavior is allowed that creates a good or bad environment.

I think game definitely mold the community. If a game requires complete dependence on everyone else to get anything done, you will see etiquette reassert itself. Because now there are direct repercussions for being not liked.

[EQBallzz]

Just my two cents, but I don't believe a game molds the community.

I disagree. Most MMOs now indirectly encourage bad behavior by making the content so accessible that there are little to no consequences for being a jerk. Back in EQ1 there were certainly a-holes but there was a serious price to pay if you got a bad reputation on your character. Train people, kill steal, be a loot-whore, act like a d-bag and your reputation would quickly be known across the server and prevent you from getting into any decent guild or finding groups which was a huge deal. Now not so much.

I know MMOs have changed significantly since then but the environment in that game most certainly molded the community and it's one of the things that made EQ great. It's a shame no developers have figured out a way to make current MMOs less "hardcore" while still maintaining that same sense of community.

[jbizzi]

Snip

AncientCetra has it right.

It doesn't matter what game you play, industry you work in or hobby you partake, the world is full of disingenuous people. Those people play video games too.

Individual perception (especially in an anonymous situation) is often more negative than seen in reality. There are the older generations of gamers, or the "well back in my day" folks and the newer generations since them. There is no level of respect between gamers now because everyone feels they are entitled to a personal experience and you are ruining it for them. This builds up over time and with so many people involved in a single community, we are bound to see tempers flare. There is no real repercussion to their behavior like there would be in life where everyone just wants to "fit in."