274 replies to this topic

[Yellonet]

Well, I've been here a while now, and I have to say that the MWO forums are like most other game forums I've been on, i.e. too often filled with negativity and hostility.

I'm certainly no shining beacon of light when it comes to being a good forumite, but I try to be civil as much as I can, however some people seem to go out of their way to tell people how stupid they are for having a different opinion on something.
Many discussions going on here would never take place face to face, because you just don't behave like that in real life.
If people had a bit more consideration that on the other side is another human just trying to enjoy a game and that for the most part would like to be able to take part in civil and constructive discussions about that game, this would be a much better place.

Recently I started to think about what will become of this place once the steam-release has been realised. What kind of attitude do we want to convey to new players coming here?
If the kind of behaviour with flaming and trolling and just being unkind for no reason is allowed to go on, that's what we'll get, but worse, once the new influx of players happens.
New players will take their attitude from other games such as CS, BF and so on to this game, and believe me, that would not be good.

I want these forums to become a better place, one where people can have mature and proper discussions about MWO without them getting derailed by off-topic stuff, ridicule, flaming or trolling,
If we can manage this together by setting good examples for each other we can make these forums a better place. And when the new players come they will soon get into the atmosphere as well, and their possibly bad attitude from other games will not transfer to these forums.

If these forums do change for the better, maybe we can even get some developer presence here, who knows?

I'm going to work on being a friendlier forumite.
Will you?

Edit: It's not just the attitude towards fellow gamers, but the attitude towards PGI and towards specific developers is absolutely disgusting and completely undeserved.

Edited by Yellonet, 29 August 2015 - 12:41 PM.

[DAYLEET]

These forums are exemplary when i think back to those of EA or other mmo ive played.

Here if you are truly unfortunate someone will state "you're bad at the game". Unless you want to bore me to death ur gona have to do better than that lol.

Edited by DAYLEET, 29 August 2015 - 12:26 PM.

[SkyHammyr]

Yellonet, on 29 August 2015 - 12:15 PM, said:

Well, I've been here a while now, and I have to say that the MWO forums are like most other game forums I've been on, i.e. too often filled with negativity and hostility.

And, people wonder why Russ and the Devs use Twitter more than their own Forums.
>_>

Edited by SkyHammr, 29 August 2015 - 12:35 PM.

[Kira Onime]

SkyHammr, on 29 August 2015 - 12:33 PM, said:

And, people wonder why Russ and the Devs use Twitter more than their own Forums.
>_>

You think this is something exclusive to MWO and PGI?

[Juodas Varnas]

SkyHammr, on 29 August 2015 - 12:33 PM, said:

And, people wonder why Russ and the Devs use Twitter more than their own Forums.
>_>

Show me a game's forum that isn't "filled with negativity and hostility" and i'll show you my pet unicorn

Edited by Juodas Varnas, 29 August 2015 - 12:43 PM.

[MischiefSC]

Negativity compiles. Enough frustrating things happen and frustration becomes par for the course.

These forums are pure light and sunshine compared to the Steam forums and when we do go to steam it's not going to be us surprising them.

[MechaBattler]

The state of the forums right now is actually better than it was before. There was so much vitriol being poured all over the forums, you couldn't say a positive thing without getting pounced on. It almost never made sense. It was just this stupid gang mentality because a few people kept fanning the flames. They really did turn the forums into a hellhole for a while. People get all victim complex because some of those people got banned. But eff them. Acting like a bunch of angry children and throwing a tantrum, ruining it for everyone else, which is what they wanted.

[Alistair Winter]

Yellonet, on 29 August 2015 - 12:15 PM, said:

Well, I've been here a while now, and I have to say that the MWO forums are like most other game forums I've been on, i.e. too often filled with negativity and hostility.

Agreed.

Yellonet, on 29 August 2015 - 12:15 PM, said:

Many discussions going on here would never take place face to face, because you just don't behave like that in real life.

Agreed.

Yellonet, on 29 August 2015 - 12:15 PM, said:

If these forums do change for the better, maybe we can even get some developer presence here, who knows?

Let's not get carried away.

[CrushLibs]

forums are better because the game has improved slightly vs the utter mess the game was 6 months ago.

Horrible quirks , maps that needed revamping , broken hover jets , etc etc etc.

As the game improves in a positive direction so will the forums.

[Mister Blastman]

I can't help it sometimes. I'm just... me.



I'm not gonna lie. It's who I am.

In my house growing up my parents hung up a cute ornament in our family room with a sign on it that said, "If ******** could fly, this place would be an airport!"

For the most part I try to remain pretty tame here.

[Monkey Lover]

Hopefully they give support for houses ts servers. You get a lot more respect and civil conversation on there.

Of course I have done my share the of trolling but I try not to direct at anyone one in general.

Edited by Monkey Lover, 29 August 2015 - 01:11 PM.

[Narcissistic Martyr]

To be fair... most of us post while waiting on the matchmaker to find us a game...

The rest... mostly while slacking off at work I suspect.

[Coolant]

It is a noble goal to be more civil on the forums. And, I agree with OP that since there is no face-to-face interaction people speak their mind (I know I do), knowing there is no consequence unless taken too far and then a possible ban, but that is the worse that could happen.

The issue is the subject matter - BT for some and Mechwarrior for others. There is a passion for this game/franchise that doesn't exist for other games. Mechwarrior has been around since only a little while after pc gaming started (1989? DOS version?). And BT before that.

I'm passionate because I had the most fun gaming I have ever had playing MW4. It is my favorite video game of all time. Talk about passion. Others remember fondly playing tabletop as a kid (some in my unit mention it frequently). Even just the very first Mechwarrior game has now been out over 2 decades.

Since there are extreme passionate fans not everyone is gonna agree. Everyone is bound to have an opinion. Some are heavily into the lore, but I'm not. There is a conflict right there. It's bound to cause heated discussions. I loved respawn, but purists/simulationists think 1 life is realism. There is gonna be conflict in that. I loved 3rd Person, but some despise it. More conflict. Even a very recent conversation from the upcoming Academy is an example. I have no problems with destroying mechs in the Academy, but those that hold the lore dear, have a big problem with blowing up mechs that are rare and expensive.

We will continue to butt heads, it's inevitable. It may be, that just showing a little restraint is all that can be asked. I know I have gone back and rewrote a post, or edited it to make it seem a little less brunt. I think asking more than that might temper the passion we have for this universe.

Edited by Coolant, 29 August 2015 - 01:19 PM.

[aniviron]

There was a time during beta when the forums were a stunningly pleasant place to be; I almost couldn't believe I was actually on the internet. A couple years of little to no progress on the game and a vanishing developer presence on the forums can do wonders to change things like that, though.

[Yellonet]

Kira_Onime, on 29 August 2015 - 12:39 PM, said:

You think this is something exclusive to MWO and PGI?

It isn't, but then again, some games have official forums where there is regular developer presence.

[Mazzyplz]

what has been said by crushlibs is right,

these forums are a reflection of the company's product;

can you imagine how bad the forums on a company that totally messed up would be? for example if pgi had made infestation: survival stories?

a game that was totally panned. i am sure their forums were raging non stop at the devs, do you think people sang praises of em? probably not.

mwo started off ok, then it took a few left turns and it was in a pretty bad situation before pgi bought the game from igp

what can you do? it's the way it went, history now - its how the dynamic between the people who were making desicions (pgi or igp, whoever it was) and the playerbase that led it to becoming how it was and how it is still evolving for the better

Edited by Mazzyplz, 29 August 2015 - 01:23 PM.

[Mudhutwarrior]

Been gone a few weeks but I would say the forums are a darn sight better than say a year or two ago. I think for a while we had a clique that controlled most posting I like to call the K-town bandits. Once they got rid of the bad moderators they were either banned or shamed off. Since we still have the usual "Your a Baddie" morons but as a whole its a 100% better.

Sad part is the smartest of the bunch here didn't have the staying power so we lost most of them too. That's sad because I learned a lot from them.

Edited by Mudhutwarrior, 29 August 2015 - 01:30 PM.

[Mechteric]

It's the internet's fault

[Yellonet]

Coolant, on 29 August 2015 - 01:17 PM, said:

It is a noble goal to be more civil on the forums. And, I agree with OP that since there is no face-to-face interaction people speak their mind (I know I do), knowing there is no consequence unless taken too far and then a possible ban, but that is the worse that could happen.

The issue is the subject matter - BT for some and Mechwarrior for others. There is a passion for this game/franchise that doesn't exist for other games. Mechwarrior has been around since only a little while after pc gaming started (1989? DOS version?). And BT before that.

I'm passionate because I had the most fun gaming I have ever had playing MW4. It is my favorite video game of all time. Talk about passion. Others remember fondly playing tabletop as a kid (some in my unit mention it frequently). Even just the very first Mechwarrior game has now been out over 2 decades.

Since there are extreme passionate fans not everyone is gonna agree. Everyone is bound to have an opinion. Some are heavily into the lore, but I'm not. There is a conflict right there. It's bound to cause heated discussions. I loved respawn, but purists/simulationists think 1 life is realism. There is gonna be conflict in that. I loved 3rd Person, but some despise it. More conflict. Even a very recent conversation from the upcoming Academy is an example. I have no problems with destroying mechs in the Academy, but those that hold the lore dear, have a big problem with blowing up mechs that are rare and expensive.

We will continue to butt heads, it's inevitable. It may be, that just showing a little restraint is all that can be asked. I know I have gone back and rewrote a post, or edited it to make it seem a little less brunt. I think asking more than that might temper the passion we have for this universe.

Of course there's going to be disagreement, I'm not saying otherwise. Disagreement happens everywhere, even if there is no old history behind the game.
It's just that we should all be aware of how we behave as it reflects upon the game. Even a heated discussion can be held in a civil tone.

And to comment on BT fan vs MWO fan, there just have to be compromises for everyone:
- "Oh this sucks, it's not exactly as in TT!"
MWO is a computer game, so obviously there has to be some changes made to fit the format compared to a table top game, if you can't accept that you should go back to TT.
And on the other side of the coin:
- "Oh this suxxorz, CS/BF/yadayada is much cooler, do this PGI!"
MWO is based on BT/TT, that's why some things are as they are, deal with it or go play some other PC game, there's plenty to choose from.

[Milocinia]

Pretty much any game forum is like this when it comes to negativity. The decision to use Reddit/Twitter/Instagram is PGI's decision and, despite better communication through Tina, we still have among the most ignorant game devs I've ever known.

[Redacted]