The "Social" Aspect of WoW Story

[Deleted]

Btw, sorry if this is in the wrong forum, I wasn't sure where to put this little story of mine.

So I decided I wanted to make a Nightelf monk, I was bored and got started on questing. As soon as I got out of the first 1-5 leveling zone, I started the next. To my surprise, a Nightelf Female ( We'll call him/her X ) comes up to me and gives me a "Hi".

Why was I so surprised at this?

Surely its an MMORPG and socializing is an important aspect right? But it was strange, it felt like I haven't socialized like this in months in WoW.

So anyway, I was pretty happy, I usually just walk past other players while questing and they usually do the same.
But then I started to remember how good it is to socialize with people, like when I first joined WoW, I did the same thing , I wanted to meet new people and this reminded me a lot of my older MMORPGS ( Before WoW ) where I used to meet new friends and quest together every day.
Suddenly a burst of nostalgia hits me and I have that amazing feeling again. But I bet you're wondering, all X said was "Hi" surely thats nothing special?

Well, as I started speaking to X, I was suddenly asked to help X do kill a rare mob, and help X do a "Wanted" quest.

I was surprised again, this feeling I had neglected for so long has come back? It felt amazing, and we went and done it. Up until this point I could tell this person was a New Player, didn't know how to add friends and whisper etc. And it was great helping the person and adding them to my friends list.

I play both Guild wars 2 and WoW, and when I'm doing an Event in Gw2, it feels empty, like nobody ever speaks. No "Social" aspect at all.
Its the same with WoW dungeons, and it well, annoys me to some degree.

I feel as if I'm playing with NPC's. But me and X became friends and it was so refreshing to live that old feeling again. That was the reason i started playing MMORPG's in the first place.

So anyway, just thought I'd share this cool story

What are your opinions on this?

[ComputerNerd]

Social communities are not created by the game, but by the players themselves.
WoW and others have opted to allow for people who have rather anti-social circumstances, such as their play time being intermittent or at late hours/early morning as is the case with my own often.
Forcing interaction, forcing communication does not equal making a game social.
Talking because people want to, not because they have to.

[Deleted]

Social communities are not created by the game, but by the players themselves.
WoW and others have opted to allow for people who have rather anti-social circumstances, such as their play time being intermittent or at late hours/early morning as is the case with my own often.
Forcing interaction, forcing communication does not equal making a game social.
Talking because people want to, not because they have to.

I agree, forcing people to interact won't make it social. I'm just saying I miss the days when people were like this Person I met ( And I was also like ).
Seems WoW is becoming anti-social in some aspect

[HeedmySpeed]

Forcing interaction, forcing communication does not equal making a game social.

No one is saying they make friends with every person that happens to join a PuG.
But it creates more opportunities to make friends.

There are players who might prefer solo play but that can change and it's good for everyone else who likes socializing.

I'm a prime example of anti-social behaviour when I started WoW. I'm glad WoW forced me to group up for content.
Eventually around the launch of Mists I started appreciating that fact, I began socializing more with players in my groups.

What if Blizzard allowed for me to not play with anybody to see everything? I would probably still be anti-social. Other games provide that niche as well, WoW is one of the rare games that stounds out and shines for it's social atmosphere because it's very conducive.

[Mormolyce]

Yeah I have to say, a lot of the problem is just the attitude of players where if they don't have to talk to each other, they go out of their way not to. A dungeon run can really change its tone from little things like just saying hi at the start. Whether it turns out to be a fun run where people chat and act friendly, a shitty run where people get mad and insult each other, or a dead silent run where people don't talk at all even if you talk to them, depends completely on the people in the dungeon.

[Frozenbeef]

I find people to be more social/ talkative on less populated games. I play multiple mmos from all ranges and i still have games where i haven't played in years and i can log back in one time and people still know me and ask me how i am :P On wow people wouldn't remember me after a week unless I've been in their guild for months.

[lawow74]

It's fine if you like it. I play WoW mostly by myself and sometimes with my RL best friend. I play for my enjoyment, not to socialize. It's why I keep most chat channels muted all the time. I do group content for rewards, not to chit-chat.

[Deleted]

It's fine if you like it. I play WoW mostly by myself and sometimes with my RL best friend. I play for my enjoyment, not to socialize. It's why I keep most chat channels muted all the time. I do group content for rewards, not to chit-chat.

Complete opposite for me on why I play an MMORPG. I play to meet new people. To do stuff together and enjoy it. Not to sit around with players that act like NPC's

[Deleted]

I think the newer you are to the game the more socially open you are. I have people on my real i.d who added me purely because of the banter we had while levelling my first toon i.e me getting lost in scholomance etc whereas all new real i.d friends tend to be potential recruits, old guildies etc

The more jaded you become the less inclined you are to interact.

[Flower Milk]

One of the reasons I started to dislike the game is because of how less social it has become. You can go entire LFRs without anyone ever saying a word. At least in dungeons it was only 4 other people so it was more likely for them to respond. I really miss dungeons

[Vaelorian]

I love this story

Yeah I too recently just started chatting to someone just idling next to me. Was very fun. And yes I missed that so much. I used to talk to everyone especially in those 3/5 hour long dungeons where you pretty much HAD TO, in order to be successful. So back then I made friends plenty. Nowadays I don't anymore. The game doesn't require me to ergo it doesn't happen. Sad really. And ofcourse people say: no one is stopping you from chatting... Well if you get slapped in the face by either rude people/people who basically just ignore you when you say something enough times.... you give up after a while.

So yeah I blame the game for this. Call me ignorant for blaming others for my own faults...