GW2 Community - Making it and keeping it

[Pickynerd]

It's not going to be easy, to be a dick in GW2, it's going to take a real effort from those who enjoy ruining others time.

I think they will be even easier to find in the forums.

[grandpab]

It can be pretty hit or miss when it comes to giving others advice. Some people believe they know everything and don't need any extra suggestions, other people know they have plenty of room for improvement and seek advice.

I use to have a few people in my guild that were always asking me advice on how to play elemental or discipline, and I could sit there and talk to them for an hour or 2 if I had to. When it comes to stuff like giving advice or teaching others on a subject I know I want to do it, it's something I like to do. Especially after you see them take that knowledge and improve.

I remember a specific dungeon run, it was Grim Batol during the start of the expansion, and the tank was having trouble with a mechanic that caused a wipe once or twice. I noticed this, and instead of just calling the dude a baddie I told him what he needed to do. He thanked me and we killed it the next attempt with no problems. What happened isn't a big deal and what I did was very simple, but unfortunately the typical scenario that would have happened is that tank would have been yelled at and voted to be kicked without any discussion and most people wouldn't give it a second thought, they'd just click kick.

I just find it easier and more rewarding to help somebody like that instead of yelling at them and kicking them out of the group.

[Zilong]

I think that one of the biggest things for me, or I mean US , in the game is how little you can do, or maybe not be doing much at all and still be helping people.

I miss those days when I was questing around Shadowfang Keep and I would throw some "Anyone here to run the dungeon?" and sometimes get a positive answer and just group until we had enough of us to go. You simply dont see that anymore and I will tell you why: Tools like LFR, LFD and all those randomized tools of making group together with no bigger effort than one button while somehow (Not really sure what word to put here) necessary? demanding? I dont know if any of those applies but...you get what Im saying? Putting a group together "just because" is doing quite the opposite of putting a group together (Which is probably why guild raids are the best way to go around).

The LFR and LFD ended up being a "must" usage of tools putting people that dont really want to be there together somewhat killing the community sense (Of course there are cases where it doenst apply). In the past if you are someone who just doesn't feel like doing the content with random people, you waited to have fun with friends/guild, while if you didn't mind it you would go search it. Now if you are that someone that doesn't like you still use it because in the end you feel obligated (somehow).

And I feel on gw2 that is back to old times again. People that doesnt want to "interact" can do their own thing without caring, while those who want can do just the same without going over the border, not coming out as the annoying guy that is just trying to be nice.

I think thats what is missing in most mmos games nowadays, because even with factions (horde and alliance, sith and jedi, and so on) you still feel alone because your own faction might not want to be with you (even pvp bgs come to mind), and the games seems to keep giving tools for everyone to do just that.

I think my arguments are good to understand, please if you have any questions just let me know.

[Badpaladin]

You've had a very different experience in MMOG's than I have. Outside of some of the smaller games (with tight knit communities of helpful players, the kind that draw like-minded individuals), I've experienced the exact opposite sadly. I do my best to treat everyone with respect and be as helpful as possible without trying to "force" them to play a certain way (when we are playing together in the same group), but the amount of resistance I've had to friendly suggestions is insane

Really? That's bizarre. I know it must seem other-worldly (especially as most Ret and sometimes Holy), but I've very rarely experienced bad people outside of guild play.

[Rooflesstoofless]

Demonstrate good character.

[barackopala]

One of the suggestions for the game to be a bit more "community oriented" is to not have dungeon finder system, sure it might be handy but most of the time that little evil eye going left to right and then getting you with some apes (most of the time) would get you to a headache.

The whole community should be organized to have a nice reddit/forum (just like Teamliquid), the bad point of it is that most of the time your opinion/rant can get you punished, so you can't go posting on every forum your random trolling, that way you'll know you'll have bad consecuenses.

[summourn]

One of my biggest worries in particular is about the roleplaying community.

There are, of course, no dedicated RP servers, despite much debate. A lot of people liked this, believing that the community will sustain itself and will find a way to gather, but I can't help but fear the game will turn out like Aion did, which has the same mentality of player-created RP societies and such, but in reality, the game is entirely devoid of any kind of RP whatsoever. It just died out.

I'm so scared this is going to happen because of no designated servers.


As far as the general community goes, I think it will be a much nicer one than most other games. Of course, there will always be trolls, fanbois, haters, etc. But given the very inherent nature of GW2 and that it promotes working together and aiding each other to survive and win, it might actually begin to foster a different mentality than previous MMOs which pitted you against each other via factionism, node stealing, kill stealing, dps charts, etc.

And I think that is wonderful.

[Deleted]

It's important to keep an open mind. I have an opinion, you have an opinion, the guy over there has an opinion. And when we share them, that's called a discussion. With an open mind, you can leave a discussion with a revised opinion - sometimes slightly, sometimes entirely. And that is the beauty of the Internet and free exchange of opinions.

[Saiyata]

One of my biggest worries in particular is about the roleplaying community.

There are, of course, no dedicated RP servers, despite much debate. A lot of people liked this, believing that the community will sustain itself and will find a way to gather, but I can't help but fear the game will turn out like Aion did, which has the same mentality of player-created RP societies and such, but in reality, the game is entirely devoid of any kind of RP whatsoever. It just died out.

I'm so scared this is going to happen because of no designated servers.

Don't worry too much, I say. Even if there isn't a designated roleplay server, there's a dedicated and cohesive community that's going to pick one to congregate on, and I'm fairly confident that said community will do a fine job of keeping things lively in the RP department. City of Heroes provides a good example of a roleplay community that remains strong, despite choosing a server to be the 'unofficial' RP hangout. I'm not sure if you're familiar with it, but you'll want to do a search for a site called guildwars2roleplayers.

On topic, remaining calm and respectful, and reminding yourself that there are human beings behind every character can help with maintaining a civil and healthy community. Giving positive, helpful feedback where needed not only makes you feel good, but it (hopefully) improves the experience of the recipient. With less words: Just be nice. :P

[MrSerious]

Same here, though I only had that issue during the latter half of WoW's lifespan. Back when there wasn't a dungeon finder, most players I encountered were very open to suggestions and often more laid back and relaxed whilst ensuring they carried their own weight. Then again, most people tended to keep their mouth shut and tolerate each other when it took more effort to create a group for a specific dungeon.

This is what my friends used to say about WoW's golden years. You couldn't xfer, the community was tight, people knew each other or at least knew about each other. No dungeon or raid finders so i've you acted like a dick you would be remembered and black listed. People normally treated others with respect because if you didn't you had something to lose.

To be honest I really don't think we needed this thread, from what I've seen in the guild wars section everyone already seems to be decent enough, smart enough and helpful enough.

perhaps tempers flare up when someone posts something like "GW2 sucks, they don't have flying mounts" without stating why that would be a problem and just want to cause an argument. You can normally spot these types quickly enough.

---------- Post added 2012-07-04 at 10:15 PM ----------

One of my biggest worries in particular is about the roleplaying community.

I hear this a lot, what exactly is wrong with them? I thought they would stick to themselves as anyone who isn't roleplaying would ruin their experrience.

[Squirrelbanes]

One of my biggest worries in particular is about the roleplaying community.

There are, of course, no dedicated RP servers, despite much debate. A lot of people liked this, believing that the community will sustain itself and will find a way to gather, but I can't help but fear the game will turn out like Aion did, which has the same mentality of player-created RP societies and such, but in reality, the game is entirely devoid of any kind of RP whatsoever. It just died out.

I'm so scared this is going to happen because of no designated servers.


As far as the general community goes, I think it will be a much nicer one than most other games. Of course, there will always be trolls, fanbois, haters, etc. But given the very inherent nature of GW2 and that it promotes working together and aiding each other to survive and win, it might actually begin to foster a different mentality than previous MMOs which pitted you against each other via factionism, node stealing, kill stealing, dps charts, etc.

And I think that is wonderful.

I've stumbled across quite a few RPs in GW1. Done a bit in it here and there. I'm sure they'll survive in GW2 just fine.

[Quanille]

Well for me the first sign of a community in decline is when a fellow player asks a question, maybe in a public channel, is met with "OMFG NUBZOR FAAAIL" instead of an answer to his question simply because some jerk finds him/her self superior because the answer seems obvious to them.

Either answer og say nothing, just throwing shit at the poor guy trying to find his way round in a new game needing abit of help isn't a way to build a nice community.

Ultimately i've given up on a few mmos because people are acting like elitists whenever they find someone less experienced than themselves, usually this isn't a problem in the early stages of an MMOs life but creeps in slowly... just look at WoW.. 8 years of arsehole production.

[Vlad Morbius]

I believe that the best way to keep the community from spiraling downhill is by having a community that will not tolerate that style of behavior, as others have stated police ourselves. We also need to take comfort in the fact that while this game will be popular it does not require a monthly subscription therefore Anet can be a little more rigid in their control of that kind of behaviour in game, and if I’m not mistaken Mif had posted a conversation from the beta showing just that.

[ragnarokvr1]

Some things that ruined the WoW community:

1. Damage meters
2. Armory and gear fanaticism (thankfully gear plays a much lesser role in GW)
3. Player abuse on the forums completely unmoderated by admins, who were more busy closing down constructive criticism threads
4. Ratings and raid achievements
5. Blizzard's choice to alienate more and more core Warcraft players with each expansion by never listening to suggestions
6. Allowing people with no lives to represent the "best" players on many servers, even though their personalities were rancid
7. Complete detachment from compassion by most players - if someone can be hated on, let's hate on

As grim as it sounds, that's the world of warcraft that I played starting halfway through TBC. Arena ratings were the first things that truly started it all.

[Neotokyo]

I have high hopes for GW2, seeing as we have a fairly strong community here already, having a decent sized guild in game can only help that. Too many games in the past have very quickly lost all sense of community and there is no sense of need to help anyone else.. But I beleive that the WvWvW pvp will give us something that no other MMO has managed to do successfully so far.

[Deleted]

I love the positive energy and feedback in this thread. :]
I feel like in gaming communities, unless you have opposing factions like in wow, there tends to be a good solid community where people help each other ( take "pre-cross server- dungeon WoW for example, when you knew the people on your server.)
So far in my beta experience I haven't come across a non nice player. Usually everyone rezes you, helps defeat monsters, or just keeps to themselves. I think the design of the game promotes people to care for their fellow player.

Very much this. And I've been waiting for a game like this for soooo long. The design of the game does promote to care. Not having to drop everyting and sprint towards an ore deposit as soon as you see one feels good.

Allthough I have seen people run past me while I was fighting and beeing very close to death and I have seen people not resurrecting even though they were standing right beside me. Oh well maybe they were not paying enough attention or just didn't know. But there will also be some that will do this just because they love beeing an a....! A few at least. We all know they will be there.

[Deleted]

Help the game grow and develop. Call our the bad aspects as well as the good, and hope they listen to community feedback.

Some things that ruined the WoW community:

1. Damage meters
2. Armory and gear fanaticism (thankfully gear plays a much lesser role in GW)
3. Player abuse on the forums completely unmoderated by admins, who were more busy closing down constructive criticism threads
4. Ratings and raid achievements
5. Blizzard's choice to alienate more and more core Warcraft players with each expansion by never listening to suggestions
6. Allowing people with no lives to represent the "best" players on many servers, even though their personalities were rancid
7. Complete detachment from compassion by most players - if someone can be hated on, let's hate on

As grim as it sounds, that's the world of warcraft that I played starting halfway through TBC. Arena ratings were the first things that truly started it all.

Pretty damn grim outlook you have there bro. I loved those competitive elements of WoW, probably why I played so long. It's not that, it's certain personalities!

[Zilong]

Very much this. And I've been waiting for a game like this for soooo long. The design of the game does promote to care. Not having to drop everyting and sprint towards an ore deposit as soon as you see one feels good.

Allthough I have seen people run past me while I was fighting and beeing very close to death and I have seen people not resurrecting even though they were standing right beside me. Oh well maybe they were not paying enough attention or just didn't know. But there will also be some that will do this just because they love beeing an a....! A few at least. We all know they will be there.

Yep, I found a nice hidden rich copper node and I instantly said in zone if anyone near the place I was wanted to know where was the location, a funny feeling because you would never do that in any other game pretty much lol.

Well, people still like to keep to themselves, I suppose we have to respect that. But we can pretty much show them and all the others that its a good way to feel good, rez people around, start a conversation, then some questing and so on. Thats what I expect/want anyways. Have to remember that coming from other games, usually people tend to have a more "competitive" mind, could take a while to "sink" the new community feeling.

---

Help the game grow and develop. Call our the bad aspects as well as the good, and hope they listen to community feedback.

Pretty damn grim outlook you have there bro. I loved those competitive elements of WoW, probably why I played so long. It's not that, it's certain personalities!

I dont believe thats all true (regarding the list ragnarok posted), but I can see where some stuff might be there...In my previous post in this very page I try to explain what did it for me. While probably a necessary tool, thats where I got "detached" from it as well.

[Arewn]

Don't respond to flaming with flaming, step down and walk away. If they are spreading misinformation or being downright mean, correct it without confrontation. No need to feed the trolls

[Deleted]

Showing respect for people in a game is all that is needed and helping them by being polite and not being elitist is another needed part. These are all parts that in a real world would happen but in the end you will get some jerks in a game that ruins the game for others.