Is WoW really social anymore?

[Deleted]

With the introduction of server transfers in TBC, a lot of the sociability of the game went through the window.

All the server reputation you had, either good or bad, slowly was vanishing after its implementation. I believe it was the first dent at the social aspect of the game, as it stimulated anonymity and toxic behaviour within the community. You could be a douchebag, steal Illidan's Warglaives and move on, literally, to a new server.

LFD and faction change services, implemented during WotLK, made the situation even worse.

Cataclysm just brought Sociability to a new low, with LFR.

I am expecting Blizzard will introduce LFD with NPC's someday, like they did with Proving Grounds.
No queue times, no hassles, but also no social experience.

[Kraenen]

It's as social as you want it to be honestly.

You can't force other people to be social, so how is that statement true at all?

[Valeron]

when I left three years ago it was turning into a lobby based game, I imagine it is even more so now

[MHSmooth13]

With the introduction of server transfers in TBC, a lot of the sociability of the game went through the window.

All the server reputation you had, either good or bad, slowly was vanishing after its implementation. I believe it was the first dent at the social aspect of the game, as it stimulated anonymity and toxic behaviour within the community. You could be a douchebag, steal Illidan's Warglaives and move on, literally, to a new server.

LFD and faction change services, implemented during WotLK, made the situation even worse.

Cataclysm just brought Sociability to a new low, with LFR.

I am expecting Blizzard will introduce LFD with NPC's someday, like they did with Proving Grounds.
No queue times, no hassles, but also no social experience.

So where does this stem from? Really, it is the overall opinions of the players. Blizzard is just keeping the majority happy and making money. If they don't do this, I would be willing to bet that most of those who are unhappy about the social changes (I am included in this; I liked meeting other people from my server, working together in dungeons, and coordinating CC...yes when CC was needed) are going to stay while those in the majority are more likely to leave.

On the other hand, I think Real ID is great way to keep the close friends and keep it touch, even when they leave the game for a while and come back or try another Blizzard game.

[Vorality]

You can't force other people to be social, so how is that statement true at all?

When you talk to someone, 9 times out of 10 they are going to respond to you...

[RickJamesLich]

When you talk to someone, 9 times out of 10 they are going to respond to you...

You must not do stuff like dungeons, battle grounds, or questing lol.

- - - Updated - - -

As mentioned above there is less forced socialization, which is good. People shouldn't be forced to make goody goody with people they actually despise

Yes, I hated back in vanilla where they had that "Looking for people you despise" tool where it'd automatically pair you up with people you couldn't stand and that was the only way you could get gear. You couldn't do stuff like, you know, ignore people you didn't like and try to make friends on your own. It's way better now!

[Deleted]

Yes, I hated back in vanilla where they had that "Looking for people you despise" tool where it'd automatically pair you up with people you couldn't stand and that was the only way you could get gear. You couldn't do stuff like, you know, ignore people you didn't like and try to make friends on your own. It's way better now!

You could but it really was shooting yourself in the foot. Oh I don't like all these people, well nobody I like is online and want to run a dungeon, well shit, guess that grind for blues will have to wait till tomorrow. I can't mention the times I had to run with the most elitist douchebag dps'er, just because no one else was around.

[Revi]

You could but it really was shooting yourself in the foot. Oh I don't like all these people, well nobody I like is online and want to run a dungeon, well shit, guess that grind for blues will have to wait till tomorrow. I can't mention the times I had to run with the most elitist douchebag dps'er, just because no one else was around.

The vast majority of players are good, decent people, and finding them is really easy if you try. The reason the community seems so toxic because it's only spokespeople are a loud and obnoxious minority.
You sound like a part of that minority.

[ComputerNerd]

Forced interaction is not social.
Social is because you WANT to interact.
There are more tools than ever to communicate and interact with large parts of the community, but people don't use them.

I could go into the street and start yelling all sorts of rude names at people, and so am interacting and communicating with them.
Would not make me a social individual, in fact just the opposite. Very anti-social.

Communication or interaction alone is not making someone, or a game social.

It is how you go about those interactions or communications as a player that determines that.

Players killed the social aspect, not blizzard.

[Redasurc]

Diablo 3 is more social than wow these days

[Acidbaron]

There's nothing in there to make people play together or to aspire to something as a guild, all content is accessible to a certain level and talks between guilds for setting up events is non-existent for the largest part.

In wrath you still had pug groups forming that rarely happens now, in wrath i was part of a guild that had a hardcore and social raiding half where we mixed offnight raids between those groups as 10 and 25 was separated, you can say it has become a lot more casual friendly but due to that and removing any need of interaction on any level (even in raids to a point) this is the result you get, small guild islands where it used to be a continent.

[Kraenen]

When you talk to someone, 9 times out of 10 they are going to respond to you...

But how is that making it as social as you want while others have it as social as they want?

[Revi]

Forced interaction is not social.
Social is because you WANT to interact.
There are more tools than ever to communicate and interact with large parts of the community, but people don't use them.

I could go into the street and start yelling all sorts of rude names at people, and so am interacting and communicating with them.
Would not make me a social individual, in fact just the opposite. Very anti-social.

Communication or interaction alone is not making someone, or a game social.

It is how you go about those interactions or communications as a player that determines that.

Players killed the social aspect, not blizzard.

It's never been forced, but it used to be encouraged. Communicating with someone in order to co-operate to reach a common goal IS social, but it's not forced. Not one is forcing you to reach that goal.

The carrot is there, so you want it. If working together with other people will help you get it, then that's what most people will do.
If you have no need for other people, then you have less reason to be social. That's just how humans work.

Cultures all across the world reflects the place they originate from, from the food they eat to the way social interaction is handled, it's never random.
A community is shaped by it's environment, both in real life and in games. If the environment rewards co-operation and communication, then that's what the community will do. Saying Blizzard has nothing to do with shaping the community is just plain wrong.

[Wyldbob]

My guild transferred servers just before connected realms were announced, and I have been very disappointed by how hostile, rude and arrogant a majority of the players in trade/general have been. "LFM Flex 1 560 ilevel minimum!" My old server was very imbalanced, and it seemed like being so outnumbered by the other faction kind of made us a better community. Us versus Them. If I saw a fellow Horde out in the world that needed help, I would jump in. And countless others did the same for me. Now on my much higher population server, if my fellow Horde don't just ignore me, they are just as likely to try & get me killed, or try to steal my kill.
Community matters a lot. When there are a ton of jerks in your community, it seems that hostile attitude can spread.
And no, my old server is still not connected.

[Akaena]

Whats your definition of social? I mean has wow ever been social, I honestly don't notice feels like the same game I've been playing forever.

[Bill Jenkins]

I started playing WoW during WOTLK and I don't think i've noticed that much of a difference social wise between now and then.

[CandyCotton Marshmallows]

It's as social now as it's ever been, in the sense that there's nothing stopping people from being social if they really want to be.

It just isn't forced anymore, which is a good thing.

Yep, it is as social as YOU make it to be. If you ignore everyone, if you associate yourself with selfish people, you will find a shallow interaction with others ... as you would in life as well. If you are social, associate yourself with people who have some sense of community/helpfulness ... you'll find plenty of people to get along with and befriend, even more so now with the ability to cross server group for a lot of content; just like being social and finding friendly people to be around in real life is positive.

Life is what you make it; and so is your online interactions, including MMOs.

People who complain or say otherwise, really only have to look in the mirror for the one to blame. They'd rather blame everything else though. I'm no white knight defender of Blizz, they do a lot of shit that irks me; but the community is made by the community, not a developer. They can give you tools, but they can't stop you from being a tool.

Forced interactions is always a bad design. Choosing to interact makes the bonds you make better, when you aren't an idiot or a narcissist.

My wife and I recently reopened our guild. We went from no members but us, to two raid groups in a week. The people are social, help each other out, and the heroic progression group is running the less progressed group through Flex on off nights just to help the 2nd group gear up and progress on their raid nights. People help each other. That is the key. You just don't do random invites of newbies or people who link achievements and ilvl; you grab people with the right attitudes, both in raids, and during off raid times.

You choose to associate with anti-socials who only log on to raid and log off, who only worry about their meter humping and if they can get loot; then you choose a shallow, fleeting experience in the game as a whole, and what you get out of the social aspect as well.


Blame only yourself.

[Roadblock]

It can function as a social platform... I mean you play with thousands of people, you have chat channels and some social structures (guilds etc).
However the game has been moving towards isolation for a long time now.

Forced interaction is the basis of society real or virtual.
We band together to tackle challenges that we cannot overcome solo.
We produce and trade and interact because we are not self-sufficient beings.

So yeah forced interaction is the best way to make a game social, by providing challenges that encourage cooperation and working together.
Wow still has some of those but they're nowadays a very small part of the (end)game.

Most of it has become a solo / lobby game where the other players just provide the ambiance and often times an annoyance.
The game designers have the primary responsibility, it's their world to shape.

[Tisane]

It's the same as in the very beginning. It mostly depends on how social the person him/herself is like.

[Svifnymr]

Just about identical to as social as it's ever been. You've always need to be social to do well in real raiding.

Outside of raiding in vanilla you could get by doing basically any other content with a simple "LF xxxx" message and then never saying another word again. Not really 'social'.

All in all, nothing has really changed. You still need to communicate and socialize to raid anything relevant, and outside of that who really cares.

I think the game was on the rise during Vanilla, BC, Wrath, so more folks were coming in than were leaving. More new folks meant more folks looking for others to help and socializing was normal. It was normal for folks to ask where stuff was and get a response other than "check internet" perhaps. Patches for WoW were previewed to some extent, but not spoiled with full details of every quest before it hit live servers.

Now, the population is lower, and the internet is there to hold your hand. Gear comes easier, so folks that previously might explain how to do something, will now just be pissy that you can't bother reading one of the 10,000 guides on how to do it.

On the other hand, folks also vastly overstate how much folks socialized in previous expacs. Most folks didn't raid at all, lots didn't even do dungeons, there were big guilds with social events, yeah, but "LFG" in trade chat wasn't social, otherwise it wouldn't have taken hours sometimes to form 1 damn dungeon group.