Appear Offline MUST be removed from the Blizzard app

[Eurhetemec]

You cannot allow players to be antisocial. It kills the games. Its the reason we dropped from 12 million to 3 million subs.

If you think "players being antisocial" in the sense of avoiding each other is what caused WoW's numbers to drop, not massive changes in gaming culture (and entertainment culture generally), aging of WoW players, and so on, then you are being pretty ridiculous, to put it mildly.

It's worth noting that virtually every "great" MMO prior to WoW did have an "appear offline"-type feature, and in no case did it make the game "more antisocial". Quite the contrary - it prevented the worst players from being as antisocial/socially destructive as they otherwise would be.

[Queen of Hamsters]

It's plain to see why the crowd needing others to be forced into interacting with them, would hate this feature...

But then again, those players don't have that many Battle.net friends, so it's a moot point... You won't appear offline to guildies, or people in-game.

[Lasombria]

What kind of a dullard finds what you're doing funny?

[huth]

But wait, you're a person on the internet telling me not to listen to a person on the internet who is telling me not to listen to people on the internet!

Man, I'm lost here. I really need a person on the internet to tell me what I must do.

No, no. I'm merely suggesting a possible course of action for you.

[Deleted]

you know people hate not being able to appear offline? Its a massive complaint and put off to not have control

seriously just stop with this bullshit. you can be offline anytime you want just quit the game and play a solo game.....
if you cant tell your friends "no" the problem is you not the game.

[huth]

seriously just stop with this bullshit. you can be offline anytime you want just quit the game and play a solo game.....
if you cant tell your friends "no" the problem is you not the game.

If you have to tell them no, you already have to interact with them. Sometimes that's more than one is willing to put up with for an introvert personality.

[TyrannicalPuppy]

Its the reason we dropped from 12 million to 3 million subs. It is not negotiable.

Prove it.

Also, where are you getting 3 million? You owe us at least 2 sources for that sentence alone.

But you don't have them, do you?

[Darkynhalvos]

Let me guess: the OP is also against every other social interaction platform that has an offline mode? Like they've had since the 1990's?
Also, they better not like Facebook since FB also has the feature.

[Planetdune]

No thank you, I am always offline on Steam and Facebook chat. I only talk when I want to talk, other people should not see when I am online or what I am doing.

[Hotsforyou]

I agree. Appear offline is a horrible thing for an MMO. If you dont want to be social, go play a single player game.

[THEORACLE64]

The ENTIRE point of doing something like the advanced social features added to the Blizzard app is to generate some sort of in-game community. If they follow through with it, they can DRAMATICALLY boost the sub counts in WoW, player activity in D3, etc. Its really a great move. HOWEVER, as I have said a MILLION times over the years, if you EVER give the playerbase an antisocial option, they will all TAKE it and the in-game community will suffer incredibly.

So they are creating these social app features....and then they RUIN it by implementing an appear offline mode. That basically undoes the entire effort. You MUST force people to social. If you force it, they won't do it. And if they don't do it, player activity craters.

Appear offline must be removed. It would be better to let everyone who wants player offline to simply unsub and leave Blizzard games, because the players you draw in with a fully functional in-game community will more than compensate for any losses. But if they allow people to appear offline, then you shoot the app in the foot.

That whole notion where if you don't like it, its not meant for you....or you can't force players to play the way you want...its all invalid. You cannot allow players to be antisocial. It kills the games. Its the reason we dropped from 12 million to 3 million subs. It is not negotiable.

Uhm, no. I also don’t know where you got that sub number from, considering Blizzard no longer reports them.

[Nnyco]

if people dont wanna be seen, let em, dont get why it bothers you unless youre a creepy stalker

I agree. Appear offline is a horrible thing for an MMO. If you dont want to be social, go play a single player game.

blizzard app is not just for wow

[edspans]

You MUST force people to social. If you force it, they won't do it. And if they don't do it, player activity craters.

Nah dude. Socialization should be encouraged but never, ever forced.
We have enough anti-social assholes already.

[HuxNeva]

The ENTIRE point of doing something like the advanced social features added to the Blizzard app is to generate some sort of in-game community. If they follow through with it, they can DRAMATICALLY boost the sub counts in WoW, player activity in D3, etc. Its really a great move. HOWEVER, as I have said a MILLION times over the years, if you EVER give the playerbase an antisocial option, they will all TAKE it and the in-game community will suffer incredibly.

So they are creating these social app features....and then they RUIN it by implementing an appear offline mode. That basically undoes the entire effort. You MUST force people to social. If you force it, they won't do it. And if they don't do it, player activity craters.

Appear offline must be removed. It would be better to let everyone who wants player offline to simply unsub and leave Blizzard games, because the players you draw in with a fully functional in-game community will more than compensate for any losses. But if they allow people to appear offline, then you shoot the app in the foot.

That whole notion where if you don't like it, its not meant for you....or you can't force players to play the way you want...its all invalid. You cannot allow players to be antisocial. It kills the games. Its the reason we dropped from 12 million to 3 million subs. It is not negotiable.

TL;DR "Since my waifu can 'appear offline', I'm having a hard time checking up on her every minute."

[Low Hanging Fruit]

Doubt I will ever use it much. But being able to just log in and say fuck the friends list for a 20 minutes check the mission table thing or something might be alright.

[Harry Botter]

What kind of a dullard finds what you're doing funny?

It kinda made me smile....so at least one person does.

[Hotsforyou]

if people dont wanna be seen, let em, dont get why it bothers you unless youre a creepy stalker



blizzard app is not just for wow

Ty for correcting me. They should make it not usable for WoW.

[huth]

Ty for correcting me. They should make it not usable for WoW.

Read the actual announcement. You clearly didn't.

Besides, i disagree. Many play the game essentially solo anyway. Attempting to force people to socialise when they don't want to will only succeed in driving them away.

[Deleted]

seriously just stop with this bullshit. you can be offline anytime you want just quit the game and play a solo game.....
if you cant tell your friends "no" the problem is you not the game.

I seriously am thinking your problem is that once people appear offline, you are not going to have anyone online on your friends list ever again.....

[Stormspellz]

This is satire, right?

sadly I don't think it is.