Official Forums are .... official

[Pud'n]

I, for one, am glad about the forums. I loved how ANet did the forums for Aion (though the moderation could of been a little better). I love having official forums for a game, but that's just me. I just hope their forums will be a little more inventive and intuitive then what Aion had, and won't be as lack luster and just overall lacking as the SWToR (no realm forums?)

Aion forums had a post count. We might get that with GW2. As for what they think, probably just see us as unintelligent rabble.

Meh, I still prefer MMOC over most other forums. So i'll be staying regardless.

[BlairPhoenix]

Meh, I still prefer MMOC over most other forums. So i'll be staying regardless.

Same. I like the Caithe avatar btw, very nice.

[Pud'n]

Same. I like the Caithe avatar btw, very nice.

Ty! Though it's suppose to be some random Sylvari Ranger >.<. I'll probably be changing it soon with photoshop, since this isn't as "big" as I would like it to be.

[Arkenaw]

We want to set a new standard and make the Guild Wars 2 community a mature, friendly, helpful and inclusive one that is recognized throughout the industry as being so.

This made me laugh, I love you Anet, but you are in for a rude awakening.

[Mif]

This made me laugh, I love you Anet, but you are in for a rude awakening.

I think the assholes in the community are the ones that should be worried.

[Harry Botter]

This makes me happy. There was a thread about this a while back, and I answered then that it is not a have to have and I was indifferent on the topic. But now I can say I'm glad they finally decided to make one.

---------- Post added 2012-03-15 at 10:19 PM ----------

I think the assholes in the community are the ones that should be worried.

I hope this is true. I used to be a rather large dick on these forums, but I realized it's pointless and stupid to try and piss people off online for no reason. I have better things to do than that. Now ganking and friendly trash talking I'm all in but the forum troll is one thing that makes me weep for humanity. lol

[DrakeWurrum]

I think the assholes in the community are the ones that should be worried.

To be fair, sometimes you just need to really lay into a person for them to actually wake up. ._.

[Fencers]

I feel the type of design in an MMO dictates the culture that surrounds it ultimately.

[Allanon the Mystic]

I feel the type of design in an MMO dictates the culture that surrounds it ultimately.

A game designed so that there would be the least amount of griefing, everything is fair game, made for everyone to cooperate with each other means that the community will be the same? Let's hope so.

[Squirrelbanes]

Exactly what Mif and Fencers just said.

Anet haven't let me down yet.
Rather than saying it's bound to fail because most official forums fail, imma just sit back and watch their ethos spread into just one more facet of their world.
Have fun proving everyone wrong once again Anet

[Fencers]

A game designed so that there would be the least amount of griefing, everything is fair game, made for everyone to cooperate with each other means that the community will be the same? Let's hope so.

Pretty much. There is also the level of appeal the game strives for. Games like SWTOR and WOW are very, very broad. Thus they attract a broad audience [natch] in interest and volume.

There may be negativity on the forums of say, Fallen Earth or Vanguard. However the smaller profile and nature of those games sees a very different community attached. To greater & lesser degree this has been generally so going as far back as Galaxies, Asheron's Call and DAOC.

6-8 months in most of the dabblers fall off in an MMO and the core audience is revealed. The majority of MMOs find their equilibrium in time.

[Edge-]

I feel the type of design in an MMO dictates the culture that surrounds it ultimately.

I agree to a certain extent, but IMO the biggest factor is which market they are going for. The best communities generally exist within niche markets and are small compared to todays standards (though they can also be extremely closed off and hostile towards newcomers from time). Communities like those in EQ2 or CoH are good examples of the former, I guess you could say DoTA/HoN would be examples of the latter (although both are still relatively large. The broader the appeal of a game (i.e. the more people playing it), the more like the community is to turn toxic. WoW, CoD, and LoL are all great examples of the community turning nasty as it grows.

[Fencers]

I agree to a certain extent, but IMO the biggest factor is which market they are going for. The best communities generally exist within niche markets and are small compared to todays standards (though they can also be extremely closed off and hostile towards newcomers from time). Communities like those in EQ2 or CoH are good examples of the former, I guess you could say DoTA/HoN would be examples of the latter (although both are still relatively large. The broader the appeal of a game (i.e. the more people playing it), the more like the community is to turn toxic. WoW, CoD, and LoL are all great examples of the community turning nasty as it grows.

Well, this is essentially what I was driving at in post #71. However, I would disagree on the underlined part here. In that the elements which are "toxic" in an MMO community are relatively the same regardless of game; 10k trolls out of 100k posts for WoW is about equal to 10 trolls out of 100 posts for Vanguard, or what-have-you.

The perception of this toxicity is partly psychological due to sheer volume we see on COD/WOW/LOL forums. Hugely popular games w/ a rep for horrible communities. Yet also highly successful games- some so successful they dominate their genre &/or market in the absolute.

[Edge-]

In that the elements which are "toxic" in an MMO community are relatively the same regardless of game; 10k trolls out of 100k posts for WoW is about equal to 10 trolls out of 100 posts for Vanguard, or what-have-you.

I agree that for legitimate trolls, you're going to see a somewhat similar numbers, but from my experience (and the experiences of plenty of others I've talked to), the bigger the game, the higher percentage of trolls you encounter. In smaller games it's much more common for people to know a large part of the playerbase and be able to easily identify and ignore trolls (think when WoW servers couldn't interact with each other), sure they can always create new characters but it's frequently more effort than it's worth. With larger games though (your CoD's and modern day WoW), the sheer size of the playerbase means that you will frequently be playing with people you just don't know. Since there isn't a reputation to maintain, some of the trolls that were held in check can enjoy the freedom to annoy the heck out of other people for a bit, and then never see them again.

[Fencers]

I agree that for legitimate trolls, you're going to see a somewhat similar numbers, but from my experience (and the experiences of plenty of others I've talked to), the bigger the game, the higher percentage of trolls you encounter. In smaller games it's much more common for people to know a large part of the playerbase and be able to easily identify and ignore trolls (think when WoW servers couldn't interact with each other), sure they can always create new characters but it's frequently more effort than it's worth. With larger games though (your CoD's and modern day WoW), the sheer size of the playerbase means that you will frequently be playing with people you just don't know. Since there isn't a reputation to maintain, some of the trolls that were held in check can enjoy the freedom to annoy the heck out of other people for a bit, and then never see them again.

I don't disagree too strongly on this overall. I simply believe the magnitude of WOW or COD are a larger factor as well as the psychological effect that has as an observer.

That's an unwieldy sentence. Gah.

[Midnight Man]

I agree that for legitimate trolls, you're going to see a somewhat similar numbers, but from my experience (and the experiences of plenty of others I've talked to), the bigger the game, the higher percentage of trolls you encounter. In smaller games it's much more common for people to know a large part of the playerbase and be able to easily identify and ignore trolls (think when WoW servers couldn't interact with each other), sure they can always create new characters but it's frequently more effort than it's worth. With larger games though (your CoD's and modern day WoW), the sheer size of the playerbase means that you will frequently be playing with people you just don't know. Since there isn't a reputation to maintain, some of the trolls that were held in check can enjoy the freedom to annoy the heck out of other people for a bit, and then never see them again.

I think you've just about nailed it Edgecrusher. In a large community, such as WoW, it's very easy for folks to "hide" behind a character - and if their current name gets known too much, easy for them to realm transfer and change name - often times, their reputation doesn't follow them.

It seems to me - quite apart from the size of the GW2 community being smaller (and thus one will get known, for good or bad, much more quickly in a small community than a large one) - there are incentives in game to cooperate with others, and whilst one may realm change, I don't know if name change exists.

Add to that the fact that this game incentivises building of a realm community by folks working together to achieve goals unattainable solo (WvWvW bonuses, large high level DE's, resource nodes not being exclusive to "first come first served" just to name a few), and - whilst I think it may take some folks some time to adjust to the new paradigm, it will happen fairly shortly.

Everything in the game screams to me "Relax, take your time, share experiences with others and enjoy". In an environment like that, I don't see elitists or otherwise unsavoury folk lasting terribly long - and the in-game community together with their attitudes and values extends very quickly to that games online forums.

[DrakeWurrum]

I think you've just about nailed it Edgecrusher. In a large community, such as WoW, it's very easy for folks to "hide" behind a character - and if their current name gets known too much, easy for them to realm transfer and change name - often times, their reputation doesn't follow them.

I think it's more the case that people in WoW don't care about reputation to begin with.

http://www.cad-comic.com/cad/20100707

[Exerionx]

I hope ANet don't kneel before the many tards that can't grasp the new concept of MMO's.

[Squirrelbanes]

I agree that for legitimate trolls, you're going to see a somewhat similar numbers, but from my experience (and the experiences of plenty of others I've talked to), the bigger the game, the higher percentage of trolls you encounter. In smaller games it's much more common for people to know a large part of the playerbase and be able to easily identify and ignore trolls (think when WoW servers couldn't interact with each other), sure they can always create new characters but it's frequently more effort than it's worth. With larger games though (your CoD's and modern day WoW), the sheer size of the playerbase means that you will frequently be playing with people you just don't know. Since there isn't a reputation to maintain, some of the trolls that were held in check can enjoy the freedom to annoy the heck out of other people for a bit, and then never see them again.

Although I do agree, I think the playerbase is also influenced by the game style.
I'm going to take wow as the example...because....wow.
Wow is about quick gratification and competition, and this competition stretches across virtually every facet of the game due to its design. This promotes an environment of absolute egotistical bitchiness, which becomes very prominent on forums due to such things as psychological prestige factors on the forum itself and increased anonymity as people are not on the same servers.
Now, my point is that GW2 does not promote a competitive playstyle. It is largely cooperative. I believe this will influence how people interact. I think a friendly atmosphere will be fostered by the game itself.
There will still be complete idiots. Nothing but sterilization can remove that from the population.
But I do believe the game will be nicer in general.
As evidence I'd like to point to how this forum generally polices itself, better than other places I've visited. We don't want people to ruin the cooperative experience that we will have in game...and I think we're pretty quick to discourage behaviour that goes against negative impacts...in a intelligent way.

My 2 cents.

[Deleted]

I like it. Official forums are needed