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Is the Guild Wars community really that bad?
BattleFelon
Member UncommonPosts: 483
So I just wanted to get a reality check because I play in a very mature guild and have for the most part encountered quite a few great players in GW. Yes, I've seen my share of idiots but this game doesn't seem that much worse than say WOW - which is amazing considering it's one global server. And with instancing you can spend more time with people you actually like than have to put up with the Crossroads teenage locker room chatter.
I would like to see ANet crack down on some of the really flagrant haters like the neo-nazis who spam racial slurs. A desertion marker would also be nice for those who love to rage quit in PVP. But otherwise I really don't think Guild Wars deserves such a low rep when it comes to community.
Comments
Depends on what your view upon "bad" is.
I don't like:
- People spamming sales everywhere.
- People dancing naked in groups everywhere.
- People spitting sexual quotes at eachother in open crowds.
- People screaming "OMG" and "NOOB" in PvP all the time.
But I do like:
- That most people are kind when doing missions.
- That there are MANY people.
$OE lies list
http://www.rlmmo.com/viewtopic.php?t=424&start=0
"
And I don't want to hear anything about "I don't believe in vampires" because *I* don't believe in vampires, but I believe in my own two eyes, and what *I* saw is ******* vampires! "
Just to add to Durahell's list of things I hate about the community (and something that definitely breaks up the RP'ing aspect of the game for me):
Certain player names that are sexist, vulagr, racist, or offensive in other ways. For instance, among some I've seen:
"Wipemyass Withu"
"Fell A Tio"
"Suc It N C"
"Poopin Aint Easy"
"Colonel Lingus"
"Suck My Ballsac"
The other kind of name is one that's clearly misogynistic (purposefully hateful or disrespectful of women). Too many to count there. When you see a name like that on a female character, you can bet it's a male with the mindset of a 10 year-old that hates women.
The spelling on such names is usually designed to defeat the chat censors. It's always amazed me how some people will put more time, thought, and "creative" energy into beating a censor than they would in creating a distinctive name that advances the best RP'ing elements of the game.
For instance, when I got Factions, I did some research online to find a name that would fit my new female ritualist. I chose the name "Jia Li Lau". "Jia" means "pretty". "Li" means "strong". "Lau" means "to kill." (One who is pretty and strong for killing).
My Factions mesmer took the name "Jia Li Long": "A dragon who is pretty and strong".
The one thing I really liked about City of Heroes was the way the GMs stayed on top of the situation by quickly removing offensive or vulgar names ("Connie Lingus" was one such name there that comes to mind that was removed). It made the game something I could invite my kids to play.
A-Net seems to take less interest in that aspect of the player community. When I see players with the types of offensive or vulgar names I've mentioned above, I generally assume them to be grossly immature people who aren't worth spending the next 30 to 90 minutes of my time with. They're not the kind of people I'd hang with in real life.
IMHO.
We can't say that the community is bad but some players are!!
But I like a lot of players who are generous
Once you turn open chat off then the game is fine. Find yourself a mature guild and you'd never know.
Serling:
Is there a reporting system in GW? I haven't seen any.
If there is you could report these people's names to the authorities.
That worked fine in some other games I played and they were forced to change their names.
$OE lies list
http://www.rlmmo.com/viewtopic.php?t=424&start=0
"
And I don't want to hear anything about "I don't believe in vampires" because *I* don't believe in vampires, but I believe in my own two eyes, and what *I* saw is ******* vampires! "
I'm not aware of an in-game reporting system. Unfortunately, this is something we probably have to accept as a trade-off for no subscription fee.
The community in gw isn't better or worse than that of any other game. The reason that you see more immaturity in chat in this game is because of the lack of multiple servers and the free online gaming. Every idiot online can be found in ra dist 1. This also accounts for all the trash talking that goes on in the random arenas. The very worst people on the planet are only a button click away from being able to express their every pervese thought.
As far as trade spamming goes you see it in the major game centers droknars, kaineng and la. And again that's EVERYONE in the game trying to sell stuff. But there isn't much else in the way of quests to do out of these towns and even if you do want to do some of the high end stuff out of droknars or la you can usually find some help if you are patient.
The names in pvp are sadly unavoidable with the pvp char creation system. Being able to instantly create pretty much any template from scratch (if you have the faction) is one of the strongest selling points in this game, but it does allow for characters with offensive names to compete in all the arenas. You can run through the pve aspect of gw in a weekend if you are motivated enough, so you'll run into Your Mom Is Ugly or some such in the high end pve areas as well. I personally get very offended when I run into anyone with a nazi themed name and I would like to see some improvement in keeping things in good taste, although I'm honestly not a fan of censorship of anykind. It's certainley a tricky subject.
yeah, I ALWAYS notice bad community in the randoms arena area (where you have to wait)
I liked the game but basically 40% of GW=Kids who werent allowed to play WoW because of monthly fees
The double edged sword of a shardless MMO has a big impact on the sense of community.
On a sharded game, your server population is usually small enough that you come to recognize people by name that you run across frequently. Guilds are familiar, because there are only so many popular guilds at any one time.
In Guild Wars, it's rare to randomly bump into the same people with any frequency. Most people you see around you, you may never bump into again. There are thousands of guilds, hundreds of populous ones, so you don't really get to know them through daily play either.
On the plus side, the idiot spamming chat one night is someone you may never have to see again. It prevents the build up of personal conflcts and makes use of an ignore list for the most part unnecassary. On the minus side, there is no sense of "community" unless you find and join a good guild, or participate in online forum based communities.
As for the random chat spam idiots, I have found GW to be a lot better than the sub level 20 zones in WoW, but about on par with (or actually better than) what you might find later in the game with WoW. One might think that the greater anonymity would create more chat spam idiots, but it seems that being such a tiny grain of sand on a vast beach ruins the "fun" for the chat griefers.
The largest grouping of such idiots, like in WoW, are in the "newb" zones, but most are left behind as you progress.
I think what's "bad" about the GW community is a lot less about bad apples in the populous, than it is about the lack of intimacy and familiarity the shardless, instanced world creates. Where as a sharded world produces communities more like a small town, GW is more like a large, impersonal city. You can still build your own social networks and friendships, but 99% of the people you see in the course of the day are totally anonymous creatures and it's easy to feel lost in such a sea of impersonality.
Want to know more about GW2 and why there is so much buzz? Start here: Guild Wars 2 Mass Info for the Uninitiated
