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MMO Communities Best vs. Worst

jester3993jester3993 Member Posts: 0 Arc User
edited May 2013 in General Discussion (PC)
We as an MMO community will make or break a game for many players. It doesn't matter what game you're playing, the people you interact with are what will make you leave or stay.

I've been playing MMOs for longer than I care to admit, and I have seen you all at your best and worst. I would love to know what has been the best and worst case encounters for you.



One example for me is this morning with this particular game. I queued up for two dungeons, back to back.

First one, we were telling jokes, communicating strategies, passing around potions (no cleric), politely sharing kit nodes and playing our classes well. Fun was had by all, and I'd group again with those guys again any day.

Second one, people were rolling need on everything (even stuff they can't use), not much talking involved except to bash and harass each other, one guy went afk, another rushed ahead, and kit nodes were first come first served. I had no fun at all, and I hope I never get grouped with them again.



My point is, it's the other people you encounter within a game that will make or break a game for you. It doesn't matter if the game is grindy or has poor end-game or has boring classes, it's the community that decides your level of fun.


TL;DR
What are some of your best and worst encounters with the community in-game? (This game or any other?)
Post edited by jester3993 on
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Comments

  • maho4200maho4200 Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 526 Bounty Hunter
    edited May 2013
    MMO's without PvP usually have the best communities :)
    Neverwinter Online Open Beta is an ongoing success
  • screamingpalmscreamingpalm Member Posts: 304 Bounty Hunter
    edited May 2013
    I don't know if NWN counts, but that community was absolutely amazing (and still is). Everything from the player made modules, to bug fixing and CEP, and persistent worlds up to creating a master server list when Gamespy ended their service this year, they have been mind-blowingly awesome. And the majority of that work and effort cost the playerbase a whopping $0 (excluding premium modules sold by BioWare that were made by the community). Those were good times, and still are (I still play the game and there is still new content and running servers up).
  • maho4200maho4200 Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 526 Bounty Hunter
    edited May 2013
    I don't know if NWN counts, but that community was absolutely amazing (and still is). Everything from the player made modules, to bug fixing and CEP, and persistent worlds up to creating a master server list when Gamespy ended their service this year, they have been mind-blowingly awesome. And the majority of that work and effort cost the playerbase a whopping $0 (excluding premium modules sold by BioWare that were made by the community). Those were good times, and still are (I still play the game and there is still new content and running servers up).
    Agree, I often say that the last time I can recall a gaming community was sane was the old Bioware forum around the time of NWN, after that it faltered quick and now Biowares forum is as bad as any other forum.
    Neverwinter Online Open Beta is an ongoing success
  • robertthebardrobertthebard Member Posts: 543 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    For me, while I have run the gambit of in game encounters as laid out in the OP, my experiences also include the community on the forums. There is a specific MMO that I have never looked at, even after they added a free trial, due to their community's behavior on other forums. They got used to their developer caving in to every "make it easier to win" QQ and they carry that entitlement to every game they try out, and get really vocal about it when they're not catered to. They tend to carry this behavior into the games as well.
    Reading comprehension is essential in a medium that requires reading for communication.
  • maho4200maho4200 Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 526 Bounty Hunter
    edited May 2013
    For me, while I have run the gambit of in game encounters as laid out in the OP, my experiences also include the community on the forums. There is a specific MMO that I have never looked at, even after they added a free trial, due to their community's behavior on other forums. They got used to their developer caving in to every "make it easier to win" QQ and they carry that entitlement to every game they try out, and get really vocal about it when they're not catered to. They tend to carry this behavior into the games as well.
    Yep that's how WoW players made Bioware make a single player MMO called Dragon Age 2.
    Neverwinter Online Open Beta is an ongoing success
  • bladethornebladethorne Member Posts: 13 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    Guild Wars 1 had a fine community.

    Age of Conan was awesome if you enjoyed some heavy competitive flaming on the forums.

    The worst community by a MILE was Darkfall Online. Not only was every *****ing about the game and how **** was broken/exploitable/bugged, but people also flamed eachother for the sport of flaming. I spent about 1/3 of my time playing DFO on the forums, reading, laughing and flaming back.

    NW just has a lot of people who expected the next big thing and it turns out to be a "good distraction" for most while others completely obliterate the game by exploiting the living **** out of it. Personally i dont care, im playing the game casually and slowly with no intention (as of yet) to spend real money on anything. So all this exploiting currently benefits me as everything is getting reduced in prices because of the overflooding market (cheap gear, yes please!).
    Overhyped or extreme expectations always have a negative result on a game.
  • maho4200maho4200 Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 526 Bounty Hunter
    edited May 2013
    Guild Wars 1 had a fine community.
    For a simple reason, there was no official forum - the two major fan forums that everyone used had some of the harshest moderation seen anywhere ;)

    The ingame community was split, PvE was ok but PvP were the worst bunch of d*uches ever.
    Neverwinter Online Open Beta is an ongoing success
  • uvirith1uvirith1 Member, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 124
    edited May 2013
    The best mmo-community is in lotro, by far. and i mean faaaar.
    for example. i asked if 10 gold is to much for a lvl60-artefact weapon once. next thing i know, someone came to me and gave me 10 gold with the comment "go buy yourself your weapon, i dont need the money". i dont think Ive seen anything like that since the golden days of Dark Age of Camelot.
    The worst experiences I had in this game because of nonbound epics in dungeons. Everyone rolls need for every blue or purple, because stealing drops is the only way to make decent Astral Diamonds in this game.
  • kimberixkimberix Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    For me, the best was Everquest.

    You had to group to get anywhere in the game and, although sometimes it was hard to find one, when you did you often spent an entire night with them. It is true that the game was a grind and sometimes there was a lull between spawns (on rare mobs), but it often didn't feel like that when you just go chatting to people.

    Back then, there was very little instancing, yet camp calls were respected (mostly). No Auction House on release meant that the players formed their own trading zones where people travelled to for buying things.

    Players on forums even kept diaries scheduling which guilds were allowed to tackle the raid mobs (Vox, Nagafen).

    The worst, unfortunately is here;

    Groups commonly gear-score based, no discussion, no real team play - just a zerg through the maps.
    People NEEDing on all drops, People AFKing in PVP to farm glory

    I don't see it getting any better unfortunately, I sense a downward spiral in this genre - as soon as the moneymen move in, then it stops being a game and people out there will try and exploit it however they can.
  • agent2090agent2090 Member Posts: 40
    edited May 2013
    maho4200 wrote: »
    MMO's without PvP usually have the best communities :)

    Heh, glad you added that "usually" because Maple Story completely destroys that statement without it. That was perhaps the worst community I've ever had the pleasure of seeing in all my years of MMO gaming.
  • writerdgwriterdg Member Posts: 51
    edited May 2013
    maho4200 wrote: »
    MMO's without PvP usually have the best communities :)

    This is true.
    Kinset Drake - Lvl 60 GF - Legio Draconum Guild Leader - Mindflayer
  • screamingpalmscreamingpalm Member Posts: 304 Bounty Hunter
    edited May 2013
    uvirith1 wrote: »
    The best mmo-community is in lotro, by far. and i mean faaaar.
    for example. i asked if 10 gold is to much for a lvl60-artefact weapon once. next thing i know, someone came to me and gave me 10 gold with the comment "go buy yourself your weapon, i dont need the money". i dont think Ive seen anything like that since the golden days of Dark Age of Camelot.
    The worst experiences I had in this game because of nonbound epics in dungeons. Everyone rolls need for every blue or purple, because stealing drops is the only way to make decent Astral Diamonds in this game.

    The funny thing about LoTRO for me, was that even though I was in a guild we were all trying to level up, which meant we chatted to each other while each doing our own thing lol. Nice and helpful people for the most part (unlike the previous clan I was in). It was very much a Massively Singleplayer experience with a sort of messenger window up. I recently did a fly by on their forum and saw a thread with the exact same sentiment and experience as mine.
  • calaminthacalamintha Member, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    writerdg wrote: »
    This is true.

    It's a load of bull. GW1 and LotRO both had great communities.
  • cocksworthcocksworth Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    I'm going to have to say Final Fantasy XI at least when it first launched. It was such a niche game and during WoWs glory days too so most of the people playing it weren't hyper competitive. It was so friggin HARD that everyone sympathized with each other to a certain degree. Guilds were amazing (shells or whatever) everyone generally liked each other and guild leaders actually looked after members to almost uncomfortable levels of over protectiveness lol.

    It was a game that made or broke you based on your groups. There was no such thing as a pug, there were perma groups. If you weren't on for 4 days your group didn't level/quest for 4 days. That was just the way it was and it was good times.
  • robertthebardrobertthebard Member Posts: 543 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    calamintha wrote: »
    It's a load of bull. GW1 and LotRO both had great communities.

    ...and this affects the post he was commenting to how? Doesn't the word "usually" imply that it's not a 100% true statement, and agreeing with that = a load of bull simply because you don't comprehend the definition of "usually". I'd say, taking the quoted post in context, that your post is a load of bull.
    Reading comprehension is essential in a medium that requires reading for communication.
  • abooselolabooselol Member, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    The best : wow.
    The worst : League of legends hands down
  • calaminthacalamintha Member, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    ...and this affects the post he was commenting to how? Doesn't the word "usually" imply that it's not a 100% true statement, and agreeing with that = a load of bull simply because you don't comprehend the definition of "usually". I'd say, taking the quoted post in context, that your post is a load of bull.

    Whatever. MMOs without PVP usually* have the worst communities.




    *Accuracy of this statement is not guaranteed due to it's subjective nature and the limited number of MMO's played.
  • chintaechintae Member Posts: 110 Bounty Hunter
    edited May 2013
    Vanguard had one of the best communities I have ever met. We had such a small population that practically everyone knew everyone else. While that isn't entirely reasonable, it was as close to true as you could come. On rare occasions, you'd see someone new in region chat who'd ask a question that we 'veterans' had known for years and instead of the harsh recourse you'd expect from other games, people would flood to this person's request and not only that, but you had people willing to 'help' the new member, guilds would offer to recruit them, and people would give them free things, like bags.

    Raids were often socialable. People didn't step on each other's toes. If Guild 'A' was doing a particular boss, Guild 'B' would leave the zone. Not just the local area, but the entire zone! Courtesy at its best. If another guild was trying to raid crack a mob, a guild that had already beaten it would not tell them strats, but might offer a tid bit of info to help them if they were stuck.

    Vanguard was one of those little known games, but because of its horrible release, the game languished for years (yet is still around :) ). People didn't snark on others because there were no need to. We had to be open and friendly if we wanted new members to join and feel welcome into the game.

    While the F2P attracted some rather unsavory clientele, the community is still great. If it was for the SoE, I'd still play that game. But SoE has made too many mistakes in regards to that game and others in its stable for me to ever willingly step foot in that game ever again.
  • steppenkatsteppenkat Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    Yes, League must be the worst gaming community that has ever been born...
    Characters:
    - Titania Silverblade, the Iron Rose of Myth Drannor (Lvl 60 GWF, Destroyer)
    - Gwyneth, the Cowardly Cat Burglar Drowling (Lvl 60 TR, Saboteur)
    - Lady Rowanne Firehair, Heartwarder of Sune (Lvl 33 DC)
    - Satella, Sensate (LvL 44 CW, Renegade, Non-Active)


    Check Steppenkat's Foundry Quest Reviews!
  • maho4200maho4200 Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 526 Bounty Hunter
    edited May 2013
    chintae wrote: »
    Vanguard had one of the best communities I have ever met. We had such a small population that practically everyone knew everyone else. While that isn't entirely reasonable, it was as close to true as you could come. On rare occasions, you'd see someone new in region chat who'd ask a question that we 'veterans' had known for years and instead of the harsh recourse you'd expect from other games, people would flood to this person's request and not only that, but you had people willing to 'help' the new member, guilds would offer to recruit them, and people would give them free things, like bags..
    I played Vanguard and I found the veterans extremely elitist and rude, so what you say seems odd to me.
    Neverwinter Online Open Beta is an ongoing success
  • askopdkapokaskopdkapok Member Posts: 648 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    maho4200 wrote: »
    MMO's without PvP usually have the best communities :)

    Yea I know the warcraft generation and the pvp kids do 90% of the whining in game forums, in games, in groups.... just really miss the days before the self-centered ADD OCD kids came along.

    It doesnt matter how good a game gets released now days, they all get soiled by these type players.. The more successful games are the ones that take forum whiners with a grain of salt.

    Look at Fallen Earth... they tried to listen to the forum whiners and look where that game is.. Was actually a good game, poorly implemented.. I fear the same thing with Neverwinter.
  • majtrollxmajtrollx Member Posts: 76
    edited May 2013
    Whining about PvP whiners, good stuff you guys.

    Marketing a game to old people when you can make more money by targeting young people is probably the worst business strategy.
  • kimmurieloblodrakimmurieloblodra Member, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    Anyone ever play FFXI-pre Abbyssea? Like, in early 2000s? Where your reputation was super important, because if you were an a$$, people wouldn't party with you, and you NEED to party in order to level. You couldn't solo to max, unless you were a Beastmaster, and even then, it was slow.

    IMO that's the best way to moderate attitudes. Multiple servers, so you don't have huge numbers, and you actually remember the people you meet and get to know them. And if you were an idiot, people blisted you and you could end up waiting 3-4 hours for parties. And then when you finally got one, people could potentially be like "Oh I remember that guy, he's a do*che kick him".

    Man I loved FFXI ..... No other gaming experience will ever compare. ARR is just going to suck like FF14 did. It actually took almost a year to get to Cap back then. Now in every MMO you can just solo content to get to Cap, which I think defeats the purpose of playing an MMO ...

    Just my 2cents

    edit: thinking back, man I loved FFXI...

    If you accidentally aggroed 2 mobs instead of one = insta-wipe. Don't have the exact proper holy trinity + DPS party comp? = insta-wipe. Aggro one dude while trying to reach the camp where your party was? Insta-death. Now MMOs are made so you can just faceroll your keyboard while running around solo and get to level cap in 30 hours. Fricking bs HAMSTER games nowadays
  • horrorscope666horrorscope666 Member, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 415 Bounty Hunter
    edited May 2013
    PUG's in NWO are very quite most of the time. Even when using voice chat, many want to stay in their shell never to respon. The more mmo's move forward the more they become silent solo games. Odd, no? I haven't had a rude person in NWO, but just not so lively. The better one's I've played in CoH and DDO.
  • kimmurieloblodrakimmurieloblodra Member, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    PUG's in NWO are very quite most of the time. Even when using voice chat, many want to stay in their shell never to respon. The more mmo's move forward the more they become silent solo games. Odd, no? I haven't had a rude person in NWO, but just not so lively. The better one's I've played in CoH and DDO.

    I think voice chat is disabled ;)

    It used to be, at least.
  • robertthebardrobertthebard Member Posts: 543 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    majtrollx wrote: »
    Whining about PvP whiners, good stuff you guys.

    Marketing a game to old people when you can make more money by targeting young people is probably the worst business strategy.

    Way to roll with the generalizations there, but, to use one of my own, considering the attention span of young people, I'd say you're wrong if they're looking for a long term player base. Am I doing it right?
    Reading comprehension is essential in a medium that requires reading for communication.
  • s3pts3pt Member Posts: 177 Bounty Hunter
    edited May 2013
    UO had a pretty horrendous community, but the original game design kind of encouraged that.
    EQ's was pretty good because you pretty much had to rely on others to get anything done, so your reputation as a player was important.
  • stormdrag0nstormdrag0n Member Posts: 3,222 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    For me the very best was LOTRO, NWN,STO and FFXI
    The worst LoL WoW and....sadly to say so far Neverwinter.

    I need to clarify that last part. There are many awesome people playing this game, but it is ruined by a few bad apples that either have a hate Jones for Cryptic/PWE and are seeking revenge for whatever imaginary transgression, or they get off on greifing others. I think our community can become as awesome as Lotro or NwN, but it's going to be up to Cryptic to foster that element of the community while taking a hard line to those who are just out to spoil others fun.

    I know Turbine when they take action against your account, your not just going to create a new one to continue "your fun." On the positive side of things I will say the Mods here are trying and so are the GM's, last night one a GM was very quick to respond to some pretty gross goings on in Zone chat.

    We also can do our part, I'm trying my darnedest to not get baited by trolls, if we let these threads go to the bottom, they will get tired and go away, that's what happened in LOTRO.


    I think things can improve here it's just going to take time and the right type of actions from the CM and GM's.
    Always Looking for mature laidback players/rpers for Dungeon Delves!
  • chintaechintae Member Posts: 110 Bounty Hunter
    edited May 2013
    maho4200 wrote: »
    I played Vanguard and I found the veterans extremely elitist and rude, so what you say seems odd to me.

    I guess it depends on how recent or how long ago. Prior to the F2P model, I would have thought this odd, or that you were lying. Last time I went, even as a veteran, the 'veterans' weren't very...social.
  • beaghan1beaghan1 Member Posts: 404 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    s3pt wrote: »
    UO had a pretty horrendous community, but the original game design kind of encouraged that.
    EQ's was pretty good because you pretty much had to rely on others to get anything done, so your reputation as a player was important.

    UO depended on luck, I guess like a lot of games. I met a good group of people from the start and for a couple years we did everything together, put our houses all near each other, hunted pk's etc. It was a great time. I'd have to say EQ1 was the best for me though. I received help on hundreds of things from random strangers throughout my years there. The raids were amazing for so many to work as a team. I raided a lot through a raid website "Raids by Leo" and you wouldn't know 80% of the people on a raid because maybe it was their first or something and all were always nice and thoughtful. Never had loot issues, people would roll on stuff they could use and winner would get it, no hassles and no greed in my experiences.
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