I think in general MMOs are well served when they follow normal socialization patterns. There is no global chat in real life. But people can get onto various platforms to communicate with lots of random people (forums, bars, etc).
I think you will get less strange things like gold seller spam if you follow this sort of pattern. The fact that Aion's starting areas were completely taken over by gold sellers on release is an indication that global chat in an area really isn't designed right.
You want to talk to alot of people go use a thing (in game application) that is meant for such things. You want to talk to people in the zone about doing stuff in the zone tells work great for that and general chat actually doesn't. You want to find a team, group finder tools work better than general chat. Having genereal chat actually often makes a group finder tool not even get utilized because that is what people are used to using.
General chat is a cumbersome and in-elegant semi-solution to many things. It should be chopped up into its important parts and made into separate components that satify all these needs in ways that work well. Right now in many games its a half-ass solution to 5 things.
Really? So Twitter and Facebook wouldn't be equivalent to global channels? How about youtube? Seriously, you people need to get a grip on your impulse to control how others play games and chat within them.
Not really.
Facebook only includes friends you have invited or accepted.
Twitter - not familiar with it ... someone else could speak to that.
You tube - I surf it but don't HAVE to watch anything accept what I choose.
The difference is that Facebook, Twitter, etc are focused on chat exclusively...how about if i interrupt Facebook chat with my gameplay? It would be silly and not well appreciated.
There is local zone chat...which will enable folks to communicate with others. This makes most sense for LFG, and zone alerts anyway...and even asking for info on the particular zone you're hunting in. All zones should have a mix of levels...so you will find more experienced players in all zones for helpful advice.
Actually when I heard about the eliination of general chat, I thought of social media sites and why they are so popular. They focus chat. It's the reason they surplanted General Chat hubs like Aol and Yahoo. General chats create an aura of anonimoty that attracts the deginerates of society.
Twitter and Facebook are both focused, you only get chat or info on what you want to. IE, if I am in a dynamic event I have a twitter feed on that event or I friended that event. With people I like i have a private channel with. Even on Youtube, there is no general chat. You can leave comments for the movie you are commenting on, but that's it. There's no chat room hangout wher you talk about the news of the day.
You're not really playing the game in general chat, what you're dong can be accomplished on the forums.
I think it is ridiculous when a game does not have these, and I see no reason why it should bother people if a game does have global channels since you can simply leave the channels if you do not wish to participate in the channels.
Regardless the trolling that does occur on these channels there are those that also use them to help build a community and not having these just reinforces this new trend in companies not giving a shit if their game has one. Which is one of the many reasons so many of these games falter after a few months.
1. For god's sake mmo gamers, enough with the analogies. They're unnecessary and your comparisons are terrible, dissimilar, and illogical.
2. To posters feeling the need to state how f2p really isn't f2p: Players understand the concept. You aren't privy to some secret the rest are missing. You're embarrassing yourself.
3. Yes, Cpt. Obvious, we're not industry experts. Now run along and let the big people use the forums for their purpose.
BAsically i get a bit turned down by some of Arenanets decisions. This is one of them.
They say they want to build a community and have server pride, but then they give people no tools to do so..
Global chat is needed for...
- Getting people to join a loosing battle in WvWvW (This can be done automatically by a server broadcast)
- finding groups, since there is no LFG tool, groups for structured PvP, and groups for instances (there should be a LFG tool, I agree)
- Coordinating your whole zones attacks in WvWvW. (This should be done like a LFG tool, where there is a leader that can kick out folks that spam gold, guild invites, spout drunk gibberish...etc)
- Contacting guilds (use forum)
- Building a server wide cohesion in the WvWvW attempts. (This can be done automatically by a server broadcast)
- asking questions when there is noboddy that knows in guild chat. (use forum)
- Meeting people in the PvE zone where you are, and talking to them, since people obviously dont group anymore for DE content (you can do this via zone chat)
-and the list goes on and on.
All the game design so far makes it really neccesary to add it, otherwise the community will never grow past a bunch of individuals and people that only communicate with their guildmates.
MAybe they are the big evil, and they made this decision with only one thing in mind, selling as much as possible loudhailers through the store.
The only downside from global chat is the goldsellers. This could easilly be overcome by a banvote mechanisme.
See red.
Hmm lets see I could post in general chat and get an answer for a question I have in a matter of seconds or I could post something in a forum and get an answer for a question I have in what could take hours., let alone if I want a further explanation then I would have to repost and wait even longer.
Only a dying game gives yo ua slow answer in the forums. You are bound to get not only a better answer in the forums, but at least from more official sources.
I am glad a good many folks found friends in a chat rooms in MMOs, but there just feels like ther are better places in the world for this function. Should we add match style profiles as well? A/S/L?
Not making light of the situation, but at some point you ahve to think, what is the function of this game and what has it mutated into. Chat rooms, and Gold Shops?
If you're online playing a game, shouldn't you be playing the game. Why can't you make friends in the game? It just seems wierd. I've never made a friend in General chat when i had it on. I use to ask questions, you get 10 responses, 9 wrong, half of those vulgar and the right one you have no idea. There's no way of checking someone's authentity. Its a poor place to find answers.
Yes, the anonomous social, chat roulette like aspect of MMOs will diminish. Taking its place will be a more fulfilling social method, going out and doing things with people and making friends that way. You can stay home and troll chat rooms all night, or go out to a bar and kill some centaurs and meet friends.
Im confused with the notion that meeting someone face to face in a mmo is SO much more fufilling then meeting someone on general chat and eventually meeting them in person. Also anytime i had a question in general chat I got the right answer, sure I might get some troll answers but ide always get atleast 4 right answers from eager people who like helping out. ide much rather use general chat then having to go out of my way to post on a forum and have to take time from playing.
Like Dark Pony said, GC is an important social thingy for mmorpgs but sometimes the trollfest (not the folk metal band trollfest lol) is getting worse by the day. Last GC i experienced was in TERA and i have to say, i wont be missing anything like that for some good time.
BAsically i get a bit turned down by some of Arenanets decisions. This is one of them.
They say they want to build a community and have server pride, but then they give people no tools to do so..
Global chat is needed for...
- Getting people to join a loosing battle in WvWvW (This can be done automatically by a server broadcast)
- finding groups, since there is no LFG tool, groups for structured PvP, and groups for instances (there should be a LFG tool, I agree)
- Coordinating your whole zones attacks in WvWvW. (This should be done like a LFG tool, where there is a leader that can kick out folks that spam gold, guild invites, spout drunk gibberish...etc)
- Contacting guilds (use forum)
- Building a server wide cohesion in the WvWvW attempts. (This can be done automatically by a server broadcast)
- asking questions when there is noboddy that knows in guild chat. (use forum)
- Meeting people in the PvE zone where you are, and talking to them, since people obviously dont group anymore for DE content (you can do this via zone chat)
-and the list goes on and on.
All the game design so far makes it really neccesary to add it, otherwise the community will never grow past a bunch of individuals and people that only communicate with their guildmates.
MAybe they are the big evil, and they made this decision with only one thing in mind, selling as much as possible loudhailers through the store.
The only downside from global chat is the goldsellers. This could easilly be overcome by a banvote mechanisme.
See red.
Hmm lets see I could post in general chat and get an answer for a question I have in a matter of seconds or I could post something in a forum and get an answer for a question I have in what could take hours., let alone if I want a further explanation then I would have to repost and wait even longer.
Only a dying game gives yo ua slow answer in the forums. You are bound to get not only a better answer in the forums, but at least from more official sources.
I am glad a good many folks found friends in a chat rooms in MMOs, but there just feels like ther are better places in the world for this function. Should we add match style profiles as well? A/S/L?
Not making light of the situation, but at some point you ahve to think, what is the function of this game and what has it mutated into. Chat rooms, and Gold Shops?
If you're online playing a game, shouldn't you be playing the game. Why can't you make friends in the game? It just seems wierd. I've never made a friend in General chat when i had it on. I use to ask questions, you get 10 responses, 9 wrong, half of those vulgar and the right one you have no idea. There's no way of checking someone's authentity. Its a poor place to find answers.
Yes, the anonomous social, chat roulette like aspect of MMOs will diminish. Taking its place will be a more fulfilling social method, going out and doing things with people and making friends that way. You can stay home and troll chat rooms all night, or go out to a bar and kill some centaurs and meet friends.
Ironically, it is only through the general chat that I encounter the forum-avoiding theory crafters. I.e. the theory crafters who despise the major publicity which forum would give them but are willing to help out random people they see asking questions in a general chat.
Furthermore, I can imagine it being annoying to hit the "refresh" button for forums to see if any replies have arrived and also, in my opinion, a game should never make a player feel like they have to go outside of the game client to do stuff which pertains to the game.
I understand that some people feel like the general chat almost never serves them in any positive light, but that doesn't mean that you should advocate for the removal of such features unless the inclusion really diminishes your game experience. The ability to filter out the general chat, removes the issues for the grand majority of the people in the game.
A wiser man as myself once said to me, you can only shield yourself from experience. You can't shield yourself just from bad experience. You can isolate yourself, fearing to meet bad people. But you will remain alone as the result.
I think that is worth pondering.
I doubt that wiser man had videogames in mind when saying that.
Pretty sure he had everything in mind.
I mean its is the theme song from the frigging facts of life:
Take the good, take the bad, take it all and there you have the facts of life.
Just had to point out, that Local chat is not nearly as small as the OP implies.
It's limited to your zone, yes, but the zones are absolutely huge (so you'll be talking to 100s of people). World chat would be alright, sure... but I think I'd much rather stick w/ a guild / alliance chat like in the first game. Less spam that way.
I say we should try to put aside our preconceptions of mmo gameplay and how we've played mmos in the past and try out no general chat as part of the comprehensive design presented to us in GW2.
We want something different. We want something groundbreaking. Yet, many cling to their fond memories of using general chat to alert the population of events, trade, socialize while solo grinding, looking for guilds, or just talking smack. I believe that this decision is integrated into the entire package. The design of the game itself by the developers. Not just an afterthought to artificially force people into immersion.
I'm not sure if I will like it. I remember positive and negative aspects of general chat in other games. But if that's the way GW2 has been designed, I feel I will benefit from trying it out with an open mind to experience something new rather than judge the game non-playable because I can't imagine how I can live without it.
A wiser man as myself once said to me, you can only shield yourself from experience. You can't shield yourself just from bad experience. You can isolate yourself, fearing to meet bad people. But you will remain alone as the result.
I think that is worth pondering.
I doubt that wiser man had videogames in mind when saying that.
And I doubt Mr Emmerson had web forums in mind when he made his quote, in your sig ...... just sayin
"Gypsies, tramps, and thieves, we were called by the Admin of the site . . . "
You're nothing but a bunch of spiteful people. If you turn off the general chat channels anwyay, then why begrudge people the tools they like to use for socializing? What I find amazing is that many of you who hate general chat channels are the very same people I've seen who hate soloers and demand games that require everyone to group. There's a term for people like you. Control Freaks!
+ 10, no one can justify not having a general chat when EVERYONE has the option to turn it off, stop trying to ruin it for the people who actually enjoy general chat.
You mean the people who enjoy spamming and trolling other people in general chat? Because I see more of that, than any other form of discussion.
You also get people selling stuff, and LFG in gen chat, instead of the other channels. Or you get gen chat in LFG channels. Have you ever tried LFG when everyone is spamming?
You talk about not being fair, what about the people who are trying to find a group, in a multiplayer game!
People trying to find a group still have whatever grouping system GW2 intended to have, regardless of whether general chat exists or not. The General Chat is OPTIONAL, much like the item mall: you only use it if you choose to.
You miss my point, the gen chat channel is always abused, and used for purposes other than what it was designed for, so Anet got rid of it. AS you can see, many people here support it.
And try to stay on topic, this is not about the CS.
Language is abused.
Internet is abused.
Children are abused.
Do you want to forbid speech, internet and children as well?
Kind of extreme, and the answer is no.
But back to the gen chat channel, its being abused, Anet found another solution, sorry you didnt like it. TERA is over that way ---->
Comments
Actually when I heard about the eliination of general chat, I thought of social media sites and why they are so popular. They focus chat. It's the reason they surplanted General Chat hubs like Aol and Yahoo. General chats create an aura of anonimoty that attracts the deginerates of society.
Twitter and Facebook are both focused, you only get chat or info on what you want to. IE, if I am in a dynamic event I have a twitter feed on that event or I friended that event. With people I like i have a private channel with. Even on Youtube, there is no general chat. You can leave comments for the movie you are commenting on, but that's it. There's no chat room hangout wher you talk about the news of the day.
You're not really playing the game in general chat, what you're dong can be accomplished on the forums.
I think it is ridiculous when a game does not have these, and I see no reason why it should bother people if a game does have global channels since you can simply leave the channels if you do not wish to participate in the channels.
Regardless the trolling that does occur on these channels there are those that also use them to help build a community and not having these just reinforces this new trend in companies not giving a shit if their game has one. Which is one of the many reasons so many of these games falter after a few months.
1. For god's sake mmo gamers, enough with the analogies. They're unnecessary and your comparisons are terrible, dissimilar, and illogical.
2. To posters feeling the need to state how f2p really isn't f2p: Players understand the concept. You aren't privy to some secret the rest are missing. You're embarrassing yourself.
3. Yes, Cpt. Obvious, we're not industry experts. Now run along and let the big people use the forums for their purpose.
Good. Just at troll magnet. Nothing good has ever come from public chat channels.
Im confused with the notion that meeting someone face to face in a mmo is SO much more fufilling then meeting someone on general chat and eventually meeting them in person. Also anytime i had a question in general chat I got the right answer, sure I might get some troll answers but ide always get atleast 4 right answers from eager people who like helping out. ide much rather use general chat then having to go out of my way to post on a forum and have to take time from playing.
Like Dark Pony said, GC is an important social thingy for mmorpgs but sometimes the trollfest (not the folk metal band trollfest lol) is getting worse by the day. Last GC i experienced was in TERA and i have to say, i wont be missing anything like that for some good time.
Ironically, it is only through the general chat that I encounter the forum-avoiding theory crafters. I.e. the theory crafters who despise the major publicity which forum would give them but are willing to help out random people they see asking questions in a general chat.
Furthermore, I can imagine it being annoying to hit the "refresh" button for forums to see if any replies have arrived and also, in my opinion, a game should never make a player feel like they have to go outside of the game client to do stuff which pertains to the game.
I understand that some people feel like the general chat almost never serves them in any positive light, but that doesn't mean that you should advocate for the removal of such features unless the inclusion really diminishes your game experience. The ability to filter out the general chat, removes the issues for the grand majority of the people in the game.
Pretty sure he had everything in mind.
I mean its is the theme song from the frigging facts of life:
Take the good, take the bad, take it all and there you have the facts of life.
I mean even Ms. Garret and Trudy know it.
Just had to point out, that Local chat is not nearly as small as the OP implies.
It's limited to your zone, yes, but the zones are absolutely huge (so you'll be talking to 100s of people). World chat would be alright, sure... but I think I'd much rather stick w/ a guild / alliance chat like in the first game. Less spam that way.
I say we should try to put aside our preconceptions of mmo gameplay and how we've played mmos in the past and try out no general chat as part of the comprehensive design presented to us in GW2.
We want something different. We want something groundbreaking. Yet, many cling to their fond memories of using general chat to alert the population of events, trade, socialize while solo grinding, looking for guilds, or just talking smack. I believe that this decision is integrated into the entire package. The design of the game itself by the developers. Not just an afterthought to artificially force people into immersion.
I'm not sure if I will like it. I remember positive and negative aspects of general chat in other games. But if that's the way GW2 has been designed, I feel I will benefit from trying it out with an open mind to experience something new rather than judge the game non-playable because I can't imagine how I can live without it.
And I doubt Mr Emmerson had web forums in mind when he made his quote, in your sig ...... just sayin
"Gypsies, tramps, and thieves, we were called by the Admin of the site . . . "
Wait, does this mean there will be no gold farmer spamming?
Gold selling may be in the form of:
"Pssst hey buddy. Looks like you're having fun. Want to have MORE fun?"
Kind of extreme, and the answer is no.
But back to the gen chat channel, its being abused, Anet found another solution, sorry you didnt like it. TERA is over that way ---->