Getting the Community back to where it needs to be
As someone who has played 4 MMO's in my experience the community is what attracts new players to the game. After I quit WOW I wanted to play a game that had a great community so I could easily integrate myself into the game and learned everything I had to know to make my experience enjoyable.
When I first started looking for new games I did extensive research before picking a game. This included youtube videos, wiki's and asking around with friends to see what was a really great game. Something I also did was hit up the forums before playing said game. The general forum. After checking out some f2p games at the time I chose to play DDO. I was familiar with the DND universe (something we played as teenagers) and I wanted to come home. Even though the forum community was great the in game community was not there.
That's when I decided to play this game. Before I did I saw a great video about the difference between WOW and LOTRO that helped me make my decision. My next step was to check out the general discussion forum. This was back in the days when the Moria xpac was out going into the MW xpac. Way back then the forum community was exactly what I was looking for. The posts were basically players helping other players. Good feedback about the game and some valid complaints as well.
I'm not sure what exactly happened because mainly I used the forum to fix the game, figure out a quest, find a kin or just ask questions. Sometimes I offered some suggestions about the content. So, over the last couple weeks that I have been revisiting the general discussion forum I've seen some disturbing behavior. I've gotta tell ya if I was choosing a new MMO and using the general forum as a basis for my decision I would have avoided this game like the plague.
I know we are in a new error of the internet where some believe flaming or trolling is acceptable and makes you look cool. But I think that we all including myself need to think about what we are typing. Do we want to grow this game? Do we want it to end up like WOW, where every single thread gets trolled or flamed. I don't think we do. If anything bringing new players to the game actually helps the community. It starts right here with us the players.
The attitudes from some of the posters/thread starters is showing us in a bad light.
So folks from one Hobbit to men elf and dwarf alike please can we start using just a little personal responsibility on this forum? Seriously lets bring the community back to where it was when I started playing. The devs make the game but a lot of times we are the ones keep players and getting new ones.
I'd like to hear some responses how the community was when you got here and if you think it has changed as I do.
Why do you get logged out?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
MoonwalkIntoMordor
The community has changed. This is a result of several things that has happened since launch.
- The game is six years old. Time alone is usually enough to change the nature of such an open forum. The novelty can only last so long.
- Went Free-to-Play. Massive influx of new players means a massive change in community.
- US and EU under one roof. The merging of two very different communities.
- Changes to the community management. Different people, different moderation.
- Most importantly, the constant changes to the design mentality of the game and how it is being commercialized. For the better or worse, changes to the game changes the community. The forums are just a platform to discuss the game and related subjects. What we talk about and how we talk about it are direct results of our game experience.
I know you are just asking people to be nicer. Yet it's naive to expect the community would "get back to where it needs to be" just through a forced sense of personal responsibility. A masquerade of niceness will only cover things up for a while, and it will just crumble again to reveal how people actually feel.
Bonus: There is also the utter disgrace that is the community website itself... Not just the forums, but everything attached to it. I forgotten to mention this on my first attempt to post, but getting logged out reminded me to add it. Thanks Turbine.
http://i881.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps11e38db6.jpg
Well. That seems to sum it up. I still would like to see more elaborate posts. When I first started there seemed to be more music and player run events like concerts, artwork, and the like. That would definitely make the game more exciting an interesting to new players. On the other hand, some players that have been here a while DO seem to ostricize "Noob"s and Noops, even on the forums, which may lead to less interaction on the forums with plenty of creative people. I have not got logged out, but this has been auto-saved 4 times in the -make that 5- in the short time it took me to write this. Thank you LotRO!