Forum Behavior a Commentary

[Vandellia]

Ihave been reluctant to post anywhere in any portion of the boards as of late, for some reason, people seem to feel its is fine to troll/bash and behave in a manner that they would never or could never do in real life. The sum effect is that the more timid less thick skinnedand the people that honewtly want to have an issue or suggestion discussed simply wont post. If we want to be kept in the loop have the feeling that the developers are honestly trying to fix issues and add content we need to get a firm grip on ourselves and start presenting logical well thout out trains of thought the utter silliness and ugliness and pure unreasoning stupidity of some of the discussions im sure will burn out the developers from even wanting to try and keep us up todate. They are people and deserve to be treated as such, the kind of behaviors i ve seen as of late is less then what i would expect form adults. That said I love good well thought out discussions point by point arguments well thout out and planned theknee jerk/whining only emotional response is simply going to lessen your input and drive any potential good/positive result out of even happening.

[Helcat]

I concur.

It's always been a pet peave of mine, certain individuals
who attack others while hiding behind the safety of the
Internet, who otherwise would never dare act this way
when that safety net is removed. Unfortunately, this is
how some deal with personal insecurities. That said, it
would be nice if we could keep the snipy attitudes in check...

[Justa Mirage]

Welcome to my world :(

It is a ploy to undermine the attempts to make the game more of a success, by reminding everyone "where horizons was" years ago, and what "isn't" in the game since the beginning.

It is far easier to point the finger of blame, than it is to try and help by offering discussion and suggestions that would better improve the quality of life in the game.

When I log in, the game operates, it doesn't kick me off for hours and hours, occasionally I will have a graphics hiccup and some lag, but my end goals are met, I have fun, and I go on to City of Villains or Heroes (depending on my mood) and go whack bad guys there.

It is such a shame that forums are used like the perverbial soap box that people stand on, giving their "world is ending" doom speeches, but in the long run, this game has been going for 2 years, and has many many new faces playing. Yes, it has problems still, and yes, it could use a new client engine.

Patience is something that is learned.

[Interested Observer]

Another observation to add:

Many who post are very intelligent people, that have strong feelings, and a clear viewpoint.
They often wish to influence, not only other posters, but even the developers if they can.

After achieving forum respect, even the most beloved will at times, flame or otherwise bash opposing ideas. Often this is due to fear. Fear that others on the boards, and worse, the developers, will side with ideas not their own. Usually these threads will decend into quoting each other until the original thread subject is obscured. Not only useless for giving info, but makes the posters look like children.

I personally like the "feedback" posts of late, because they provide valuable information to everyone, without resorting to soap box standing or bashing.

[Pariah]

I 'm guessing thats why Interested Obsever has newly joined forums TODAY to remain anonymous,obviously too afraid of speaking his/her mind with their normal forum acct. .....maybe I'm just jumpin to conclusions or just a bit too critical.

[Vandellia]

decending into the downward spiral of bashing and whining solves nothing and actually causes the perception of invaldidity to any argument, well thought out and rationally laid out point counter point is what is needed it alows both parties to point out the flaws in logic, crying whining or bashing simply fails, If you tried to whine or bash in a rel life environemnt how long would you keep your job, so what makes it acceptable here ? nothing but the anominity that the internet provides, it allows people to behave im ways that are normally not tolorated , which in the whole is a sad commentary on people in general.

[Peaches]

Yup, its more like temper tantrums, and they never got a kid their way either!

[LaughingOtter]

And here I was planning on kicking and screaming until I get my Moothusulah...

[:@]

[Darkgloom]

LOL! Moo...

Although we may not be perfect, and all of us can vent from time to time, I like to hope we strive to be cordial whenever our neural impulses aren't out of whack. The forums are a type of community, although a community where everyone wears masks, and we should try to be respectful of others whenever possible (though we all make mistakes though and have lapses in judgement and I can tell you that I have moments when I just wanna smack someone). I think my personal weakness is my intollerance to stupidity (not ignorance, that is a different thing all together and not the fault of the uninformed). Stupidity, to me, includes needless flaming, bashing, and basically talking out your rear end. Also, those that don't have patience with those that are ignorant of something and don't take the time to help them and inform them, I don't have patience with them. The forums are a place of learning and information, and should be treated as such.


Darkgloom

[Goriax]

There's a lot to be said for being polite even if you disagree.

[Kulamata]

On the rudeness, I just assume someone is having a painful adolescence, and wishes to share.

On the purposeful undermining, I just assume it's an employee of some some less imaginative game company.

One example of that I remember: there was some guy quite a while ago who tried hard to convince us all that a game was utterly worthless and without redeeming social value if it did not have dual sword wielding. And that was his sole view. About the fourth essentially identical post, it was pretty obvious that in-depth feedback was not the intent.

[Weston]

Amen, Vandellia. You can see from my stats that I don't often post, but have been in-game for 2 years, next month. I tend to let certain little things bother me, then let my emotions get the best of me, and rant about some pet peeve or another. Tragically, this may give regular board posters the idea that I'm trolling or bashing someone. Case in point: last week I started a thread about the lack of obvious activity from Tulga over the Holidays. I'm still not used to the fact that they have moved to the more traditional 'monthly updates' rather than semi-regular 'weekly updates' that we used to enjoy. In late November or early December, the Yew Staves got mucked up, and I couldn't tech or trick them. I complained, and in a response, Amon said that the fix for the problem was on Blight, and it would be going live. It did, but not until yesterday, January 17th. Soth had been asking me regularly for a Yew Staff, and I kept putting him off, so I was becoming impatient, and in a weak moment, I posted a vent, and included comments, one of which was 'hearsay'. Someone had posted in these boards on at least two occasions, that Tulga might possibly roll back the changes to Pawn Brokers, since they had 'obviously' made these changes prior to the Dragon Lair auction to stem the tide of wholesale Gold coin production. So, I happened to mention this in my post, not taking into account that what I'd heard was only rampant speculation or pure wishful thinking.

Boy, was I unprepared for the hits I would take. I was anti-dragon, selfish, hateful, and a vicious troll.

Well, okay, maybe I AM dumb. lol... Cobol in particularly attributed alterior motives to me that I couldn't believe. I have a Dragon on Chaos too, and I love him. I simply inserted something I'd heard in my tirade, and paid the price for it. When I tried to defend myself (that was dumb too), it only made matters worse. Some here may enjoy that back and forth hash slinging, but I don't.

So, the moral of the story is: If you post in these boards, keep the emotion out of it as best as possible, 'cause there's gonna be someone that you tick off who won't be afraid to tell you things about yourself you never imagined. I realize there ARE trolls and idiots out there... but too much that occurs in these pages are overly reactionary and extremely unkind. There seem to be various agents of the thought police on both sides of every issue whose only function in life is to grief anyone who expresses a not-well-thought-out or pure off-the-cuff opinion.

Sorry. I repent. Be nice, please. Thx. I love you too. ;)

[Custard]

I'm not sure what the aim of the OP is here or if we are supposed to read particular threads to see why this post was brought to life.

If there is a problem with behaviour on the boards, ie thread hijacking, trolling, bashing etc, then it's a Mod problem. Take it up with them to get posts modded, removed, the thread locked or moved to rants.

Inablility to cope with the various responses to your posts that stay on topic and do not break the forum rules is your problem.

As for the anonymity of the internet... that is a great thing. People do not have the opportunity (in these forums) to dicriminate based on your appearance, sex, age, disability or whatever else and get away with it. Real life on the other hand is often quite different.

[Cobal]

Well, okay, maybe I AM dumb. lol... Cobol in particularly attributed alterior motives to me that I couldn't believe. I have a Dragon on Chaos too, and I love him. I simply inserted something I'd heard in my tirade, and paid the price for it. When I tried to defend myself (that was dumb too), it only made matters worse. Some here may enjoy that back and forth hash slinging, but I don't.

Well I was kinda having a "little moment" myself there too.
I won't hold it against you if you won't hold it against me :P

[Sigi1985]

Inablility to cope with the various responses to your posts that stay on topic and do not break the forum rules is your problem.

Nice remarks like this do the trick [:^)]

[Vizharan]

Patience is something that is learned.

Needs to be repeated.

Even dispite what happens on the forums, the overall feel ingame is quite the opposite. Makes me wonder if the people that go off on rants(the bad kind) even play the game anymore.

Ah well. Again, from the top!

Patience is something that is learned.

[Bori Grimbattle]

The main problem lies with the two polar opposites we see on these forums. That is to say, the rabid fanbois versus the just as rabid ex-player. Each side has their comments, viewpoints,opinions but in many cases to post in one way or the other produces the antagonistic responses we see. Why? Simply because some people do not and cannot respect the fact that others may have a valid point, concern, or topic and rather then reading and trying to understand that person they lash back because they do NOT understand.

Many ex-players, such as myself, still follow the forums because we are still interested in the game and hope with future improvements in our areas of concern we may be able to return and enjoy ourselves. However, by posting these concerns we are quite often told (as I have been), that our opinion does not count any more as we are no longer paying for a sub.

If everybody was happy with the game the way it is now there would be little to no incentive for the devs to improve upon it. Granted, some post in utter frustration which comes out as a rant but most, given time to cool down, will admit to their errors and post constructively. There are a few though, who insist their opinions are the only valid ones that should be posted, from either side. This assertion that they are correct and their inability to attempt to grasp what the other wants to say is where the troubles arise from.

This is not only true on the forums or in-game where anonymity grants some form of security, it is also evident in real life. A change in this pattern can only come with maturity. My advice? Simply, if a post irritates you or the game frustrates you to take some time to cool off before responding. I myself, at times, should heed my own advice. [;)]

[Jayne]

Yes there are many different personalities here and things arent always as smooth as we would like.

I do have a question, and please don't take this the wrong way Bori, because this includes yourself. I am only interested.

Why do players get to the point of not having anymore fun and leave game only to hover in the forums to throw in there opinions and what not?

I mean if they think there doing justice and helping the game, then shouldnt they feel that paying for a subscription and being in game brings about the same justice?

I mean if I was truly upset and wished to not play anymore, it would seem I would move on to another game and then visit that new games boards to give input. I think about this only because I spend enough time on the computer as it is, much less visit boards that involve something that I'm not directly involved with......

Again I am not taking shots or anything at those that do this, just wondering.

Jayne

[Bori Grimbattle]

Nah! I won't get upset........much. I tried to answer that question in my previous post. Simply, I hover here in the hopes that the concerns I have about the game will be addressed which would entice me to come back at some point in the future.

Now, if I did not post my opinions or concerns, and all those others that are sitting looking over my shoulder did not express theirs, then how will those concerns be heard? If those that are still in the game and paying for a sub have no problem with a certain aspect of the game and those that have quit do but do not post on it then how do the devs decide where their focus should be? Will there be any enticement for them to change that aspect in hopes of satisfying both sides and bringing back ex-players if they do not listen to or understand why those players quit in the first place?

By limiting input on the forums to those who are happy with the game as is and will stay no matter what, then they are limiting their growth potential. With that growth they can then evolve into something that would entice even more players and so on. Negative input is quite often more valuable to a company then positive input because that gives the company directions to grow in. As long as it done constructively and I attempted to address that in my first post as well.

Answer your question Jayne?

[Khoal]

I've pretty much stopped posting in internet forums, period. The way I see it, they're only good for certain narrowly defined topics where the posters are directly involved in the subject matter (gardening, for instance).

Forums for subjects where the posters are either observers of the topic (sports) or indirectly involved in the topic (MMOs, where a person may die, but this has no physical consequence on the player) are ripe pickings for trolls.