average age of an Eve player is near 30, the same for PotBS i believe.
I'd recommend eve highly, any youger player who can get past the first couple weeks of eve is very mature for their age.
Itch
RIP Ribbitribbitt you are missed, kid.
Currently Playing EVE, ESO
Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed.
WWII Online is a game for mature players. Most of the younger crowd hate this game for the fact that there is not any instant gratification. And you can tell who they are they will start to complain about how long it takes to get into the fight. Those players get bored fast and bail on the game for Shoe box shooters. I have been in a few squads and most of those people where age 20 and up I am 39. It seemes like there are a lot of military vets that play the game as well. The new Patch for WWII should be out soon and that would be a good time to give it a try.
Your concern appears legitimate to me, but in my personal view - I could be wrong - some statements miss balance.
NOTE: I never, ever try to flame anyone. Also I will try to keep the quoting to a minimum.
>The problem with online games is that they are anonymous,
First observation. When I am playing (have played well over 60) such a game with a person, I do not know their religion. Age. Color of their skin. Possible handicap. I do think anonymity on the web is more and more abused and I would state that in an MMORPG, all you really *have* in the end is not loot, gold, levels, mounts or virtual real estate. It is your reputation.
Personally, I think in games and quite probably on the whole net itself, it would be wonderful if your anonimity could be *coupled* with your reputation. If I would be handle@city-I-live-in (ceci n'est pas un link ), and I would keep this handle all my life everywhere, nobody would know my personal 'stats', and my privacy would remain. Yet if I started to insult people, my reputation would suffer, forever. As in...dare I say it? Real Life.
I am 50. I have played and (p)reviewed computer games since the Atari ST. I always judge people by their behavior. This may aggravate the 'Level 80 uber gear fiend' who gets no insta-respect, but while in general the % of adolescents and their high-testosteron misbehavior does indeed make me agree with you when it comes to 'estrangement' from MMORPG', I would hate to say 'let me play with old folks only' because some of the *worst* behavior I have seen was from really socially handicapped elder people, and some of the most fun I have ever had was with 18 or 25 or 30 year olds who just really enjoyed having someone around to show them the ropes, explain the game, give some WIKI URL's etc Half the fun I get in MMORPG is helping people, and young people are not exactly *less* stubborn than old ones, I think...
On a side not, near the end of your post you state
> A middle aged man with a majority of his friends being children is suspect for a reason.
If by 'children' you mean 'younger people' - say under 25 - then Forgive me for being blunt:but in that case this is a dangerous accusation. To distinguish a person because she or he likes to talk to a variable age group - probably simply because they find more people there that think similarly - is as wrong as distinguishing them for having other 'traits'. It reeks of profiling (nicest word I could find ). My respectful suggestion: talk to any teacher...or look up Jean Piaget 8-)
> but there are just some things I don't like saying in front of children. I just act and talk, as should everyone, different when I am with a child than I would with someone my own age.
Agreed, but I think that's easy? Do not publicaly say the things you would usually say only near adults. Take the safe way. I have been in several 'family' guilds, where father (actually I am in one now, in AC) and daughter(s)/son(s) play on same or different accounts. Personally I do not think it is too much to ask to restrict the f-bombs to private rather than public chat. Do you?
> Also even if I would find a guild that in fact only had true adults in it, I still am playing in a massive multiplayer environment and secluding myself within said guild would remove much from the fun mmo's bring.
Hmm hey Fyen? I think you just made my point for me - being around *all* age groups makes for a much more varied experience.
> popular mmo's and find one that may attract a more mature audience.
Someone said 'Ryzom' - good one. Repeatedly voted 'most mature/helpful MMORPG community'.
> Do you just swallow the annoyance? Do you embrace your inner child and act childish as well? Do you turn off all public channels and seclude yourselves from the masses? What do you do?
Personally, I very rarely squelch/ignore people. I think I have not had to do it for some time - until I went to a title I will not even mention (despicable PR tactics) and now in Asheron's Call (revisit) since the sheer *volume* of rude nonsense otherwise makes me miss valuable contributions. Fortunately, I can /squelch a person's *account* so they do not bother me ever again (say Turbine, how about using that squelchlist for all my chars hmm?).
In most games, although I confess that many newer games lack this aspect, the foulmouth youngsters are quickly reported/banned or siimply 'told' off' by the prevalent majority of social, friendly players who want to keep a friendly immersive world and not become a playground for the anti-social. I would lie if I said that short-term prospects look good in this respect. I think at some point in the near future more devs and PR people will (re-)realize that ultimately their retention rates suffer most of all not because of the 'no endgame content' tirades of the rage-quittters, but because the feeling of having fun with your friends is getting lost in the vicious spectator sport of flaming-the-newbie. In Warhammer, I lasted only a few days, because there was not a friendly word that got through the garbage. I am not alone.
Ever since my first MMORPG I have made a point of keeping track of my online friends, always renewing this list. We are moving from game to game, informing players in the previous game(s) of our server selection and toon names in the new world. My friends and I always stay longest in those games that have a good community.
I hope you don't give up. Every time a reasonably person quits, the foul-mouth minority's % goes up. Can't have that, Fyen! We need you
Good luck,
Lucas
PS Added in Edit - whoops I missed some replies. Notion: keep in mind that game-hopping (smart) will put you largely amongst the new players. Notoriously the lower levels are *far* less 'community' oriented (% wise) than the higher levels. At least that is my impression. The muckups tend to leave...not all of them...but in most any game I think the higher levels offer a better community *on average*.
* I say, there is no * darkness but ignorance. - * Twelfth-night; or, What You Will
WWII Online is a game for mature players. Most of the younger crowd hate this game for the fact that there is not any instant gratification. And you can tell who they are they will start to complain about how long it takes to get into the fight. Those players get bored fast and bail on the game for Shoe box shooters. I have been in a few squads and most of those people where age 20 and up I am 39. It seemes like there are a lot of military vets that play the game as well. The new Patch for WWII should be out soon and that would be a good time to give it a try.
Nice reply. I'll even look up WWII online. I prefer more engaging mmo's that I have to engage and game within rather than the game placing my character on a leash and leading me through a linear maze of quests that shower me with blue gear for just about showing up, and in which the entitlements are fairly easy and instantaneous.
One of the reasons why Im following Xsyon and will look into WWII online as well.
Striving for Silver Stars since Gold is so effeminate.
Well, there will always be some childish persons around but try one of the games with more mature communities. EQ2 and LOTRO are the best ones here if you don't count really old games like UO and EQ.
Do a free trial for both of them and see which game and community you prefer.
Not that i look for them (HONESTLY!) but ive found pre teens have more manners . Its the god awfull 15-19 year olds that shoot there interweb mouth off .
And I would also say a good number of the younger 20 somethings, and even a fair amount of immature 30 and 40 somethings! There is no age range that has the absolute corner of the market on annoying, if you ask me! But yes...pretty much what you say here...I've also found to be the case.
If your after a mature crowd i would sudgest Fallen Earth. They made a game for adults thats complex and deep and its still fairly new.
My experience has also been thus. As a matter of fact, one of my first "friends" in WoW (just using it as an example since it constantly gets dogged about community immaturity), was 14 years old when the game released. I was 41. He was VERY bright. As a matter of fact, I didn't know his AGE for probably the first six months I was playing. Over the course of a couple of years, and being in the same guild, we actually became very good friends, and remain friends to this day. He has since gone on to college, traveled to China with some group of college kids on a research project, sent me videos and pictures, we still email every now and again, and he's grown into a very fine young man. He also talked with my youngest son, and I got to talk to his family on the phone, and it was just a really nice (and rare) gaming friendship. So...you can't just write off anyone that is young as immature and stupid by default.
Right now in EQ2, one of the raiders on our server has an 11 year old son that is playing. He's a really sweet kid, very polite and a very good player as well. The biggest problem I have with him, is that every time he sees me log in, or if he logs in and I'm on....he messages me and wants to go do something. LOL That's not really a problem, because he also is very polite and understanding if I tell him I need to do some other things, like craft, or whatever. But the "tag along" thing....is really the only "issue" I've had with him. Very mature and polite, for the most part.
Then last night...I asked a question about the stat changes in EQ2 when I was on my baby level 11 alt, and some lovely person in general chat, (my guild mates were not on, it was 3 am and I had insomnia), called me an IDIOT, typing in all caps, of course, and went on to deride me for not knowing that I could make a level 1 armor set that didn't have int on it (my class doesn't use int and I was bemoaning the fact that there was no plate that I could find...without int). He calls me an idiot, but he tells me to make level 1 armor for a level 11 character. *sigh* Needless to say, Mr. Goofballl met my ignore list rather quickly. It is unlikely that someone who SCREAMS at you for asking a question about plate armor without int....is going to miraculously change into a decent human being. I have no idea how old this person was....it didn't matter...he was socially inept. That is all I needed to know. /ignore
Even LotRO and EQ2 are not "perfect" communities, but....most of the annoying people, DO get weeded out in those communities, because people do NOT appreciate that behavior in those games and will tell those people AND....use the ignore feature if they must. I have had FAR less issues with EQ2 over the past 4 years than I had accumulative issues in WoW, and for the six months I played LotRO...I never had ONE bad experience.
I've also played with adults that I would NOT invite to my home in RL, for sure, nor relish spending ANY time with in game OR out.
Probably my best experiences in MMOs have been in LotRO and EQ2, where the population does TEND to be a bit older, but I have still used my ignore list once or twice. And....after my experiences with the WoW community hit a SHARP decline about year 3....I came to believe that adult guilds were the best way to go for me. There never seemed to be a need for that back in the days of UO, but today....MMOs just draw a much broader player base, many of whom, both adult and child alike...that I don't enjoy sharing my game time with.
Join an adult guild (or make one), make liberal use of the ignore list if you see constant "infractions," turn OFF general and/or trade chat, unless you're looking for something to purchase or selling something, and just decide to enjoy WHATEVER game you play. The most pro-active way to take charge of your own game enjoyment, imo....is just to make use of the tools provided to weed out the bad eggs.
Originally posted by SEANMCAD As it turns out the average age of a gamer is 34 and rising. Sorry I dont have link handy. So, depending on what game you are playing more than likely people are above 30
1) gamer 2) 'average'
Points being gamer comprises of a very large number of people(from people playing games in their large hours, to consoles, to the sims, to a mmorpg.
Average also means that there will be a significant number of people below this age as well as above.
As an older gamer (older than the OP), I understand where you are coming from and I feel your pain. All you can do is to look for people you enjoy playing with and hang out with them as much as possible.
Years ago I would have told you how age doesn't matter. But that was back when people spoke to one another in writing. Now that things are done in vent for most organized play, oh my. I feel like I am in a junior high school locker room and I can't stand it. Hell I didn't like it when I was in junior high.
There is also a multi-game guild called The Old Timers Guild, or something like that (I am not a member), that you might enjoy.
I have been a member of The Old Timers guild in games before....VERY very nice group of people. There is also a great guild on Tanaris server in WoW (should you make the choice to play WoW) called Get Off My Lawn. I would also recommend THEM, for that game, but they are not a multiple game guild, so....that would defeat the purpose if you were not looking to play WoW. I also think they might have a level requirement now since they're raiding. Old Timers guild is multi-game and has no level requirement for your characters.
There are guilds LIKE these...on most servers, I would imagine.
Why haven't you found a niche group of people, who are like you, who you can call your "mature friends", and form a guild with them? Like you said, people of your age stick with your own, so what's the problem?
2)
Or is the problem really with you, maybe you just don't fit in well, maybe you're too picky, too uptight? I know I'm assuming here, but apparently there are so many "mature" adults that want to play with other mature adults. You see those complaints on the forums all the time, you see them complain about people ingame, etc.. Yet they never seem to find each other, they never seem to be able to form a guild of Mature Adults and just be happy.
3)
Or better yet, I think I know what the problem is. You've tried forming a guild with mature adults, but you realized mature adults can be more childish than real kids. You realized the drama you have to endure with mature adults are unbearable, it's like having to deal with your wives & g/f's 24/7. Ever seen a grown 40 year old male try to argue with you about loot? My gosh it's horrible.
4)
IMO, try to play these games as....games, rather than a social outting or a groupie pow wow at starbucks. You'll bump into nice, decent folks, but you will also bump into immature people. It's all part of a MMO, because remember, it's a massive multiplayer online game. Whenever you put massive amounts of people together, you're bound to find people you dislike. Just like in rl with a group of friends, there's always 1-2 people you can't stand. But you can't do anything about it because they're friends of friends. Kinda like in a guild, you can't do anything about people you can't stand because they're friends of friends.
1) This works. But those with high emotional and behavioural IQs (the 'mature' in actions) are never the norm, never the majority, and also find it easier to leave games and find other hobbies that satisfy them; thus through dilution, low population and attrition, they have a somewhat harder time finding each other. Also, the jerks are much easier to spot.
2) The ones who have found each other are not publicising their contentment with their guilds for a variety of reasons. One prime reason is because jerks in games will go out of their way to be jerks to those who advertise their happiness. You say "never seem" either out of not paying attention or not knowing any mature guilds, I fear. If you are an outsider to that kind of organisation, your view of them is bound to be at least uninformed, is probably skeptical, and may possibly be ignorant.
3) "(Y)ou realised mature adults can be more childish than real kids" is a Straw Man argument, since by definition adults of any age who act in a childish way are immature, not mature. That grown 40 year old male person (man, for short) who tries to argue with you about loot? So horribly? He's immature. You cannot argue against maturity by using him as an example, as he is no such example.
4) Given a realistic and meaningful definition of the term "friend", the result is that in real life, with a group of friends, there are no people I cannot stand. (If I had to describe a group that had people in it for whom I did not care, I would describe it as "some friends and a few other acquaintances".)
I like my friends, and if I cannot stand someone he is not my friend. "Friends of friends" are not friends on that basis alone. Friendship to me has more meaning than to apply to 'some people I'm forced to hang out with'. To people I cannot stand, I am polite; I may behave in a friendly way; but I do not mistake them for friends nor myself for their friend. To call them friends would render calling the people with whom I have genuinely warm interpersonal relations "friends" meaningless.
Possibly once one is out of a threatening environment (like the average high school), it becomes easier to distinguish friend from jerk. There is truth in the assertion that one doesn't have to be friends with someone in order to team up with them for a game, but there is nothing wrong in choosing one teammate over another on the basis of like or dislike. And in a guild, depending upon why one cannot stand another person, there are things that can be done, up to and including removing them from the association. Tolerance is not an unmitigated virtue. I do not join mobs that will retain absolutely anyone for the sake of numbers, nor would it improve my gaming experience to do so.
Casilda Tametomo, Priestess of Soldeus | AKA Lepida Aegis-Imperium.com
«Si oblitus fuero usque ad finem omnia opera eorum»
As has been said, there's The Old Timers and The Older Gamers if you're looking for cross-game guilds with age restrictions.
However (and this is not a comment on either of the above guilds) as has also been said age =/= maturity.
The daft l33t kiddies tend to irritate me too, but I don't get exposed to many of them because FE has no global chat channel (unless you count the GM-moderated Help channel), and the refusal of the game to hand out phat lewts/level ups every 2 seconds makes them bore easily, and EQ2 just doesn't seem to attract them (possibly for similar reasons, possibly due to the age of the game itself).
When I played WoW, I disabled both the general and trade channels, and that filtered out a lot of it. Couldn't do much about the duel-spamming ingrates that follow you around and jump up and down on your fishing bobber (because that's oh-so-hilarious) in an effort to make you relog. And that was on a RP server....I can only assume many of these people were role-playing attention-seeking children on a sugar rush (oh, wait......)
To be honest, community doesn't make or break a game for me, but a good community is definitely a bonus. Where there are a lot of mouthy epeen idiots about (this is a percentage that will remain constant, but will always seem higher in a game with more players) it's wiser to proactively protect yourself. Disable all the game-wide chat channels, find a guild/clan/legion that suits your needs, and socialise happily.
There will always be younger players in any game who will surprise you, some of them being far more mature than players twice their age. There's a risk that the more you insulate yourself, the less likely you are to come across them, but they do exist.
I just turned 36 this year and can definitely relate. Any game I play almots always involves turning off any region or world chat. Those channels are intended to gain the most viewers and therefore attract the biggest mouths. As others have suggested check the games forums for older more mature guilds. Once you pay more attention to guild and friend chat compared to local or region chat your angst will subside :-)
Our spirit was here long before you
Long before us
And long will it be after your pride brings you to your end
Like the others said, you need to find 18+ guilds. there are many of them.
the best organised guilds in the world are mostly like this from my experience. its communities of people who share the passion of online gaming, who goes to individual games.
being annonymous makes almost everybody acting like an idiot sometimes.
I think your(or our) best bet would be to look at the more complex games such as eve or ryzom that are out atm or more likely loook to the ones that are coming to offer something to the more mature audience
I tried Ryzom a few weeks back and was greeted with childish banter in the chat window.
There is no way to escape it I am afraid. Join a guild with like minded people, like the Old Timer's Guild or the like. They accept 25 an older applicants and cover tons of online games, even FPS. They were a great fit for me and make playing a game much more enjoyable.
Other than that, we just have to hope that parents actually start to do their job as a parent rather then letting their kids run free on the internet.
really, I'm trying it out now and haven't noticed anything like that and is why i mentioned the game. Guess they either moved or or just not playing when i do
Had a lokk at their website(thnx) and will defintely keep them in mind if i find an mmo i enjoy
Do you honestly see that happening anytime soon?:)
Comments
average age of an Eve player is near 30, the same for PotBS i believe.
I'd recommend eve highly, any youger player who can get past the first couple weeks of eve is very mature for their age.
Itch
RIP Ribbitribbitt you are missed, kid.
Currently Playing EVE, ESO
Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed.
Dwight D Eisenhower
My optimism wears heavy boots and is loud.
Henry Rollins
WWII Online is a game for mature players. Most of the younger crowd hate this game for the fact that there is not any instant gratification. And you can tell who they are they will start to complain about how long it takes to get into the fight. Those players get bored fast and bail on the game for Shoe box shooters. I have been in a few squads and most of those people where age 20 and up I am 39. It seemes like there are a lot of military vets that play the game as well. The new Patch for WWII should be out soon and that would be a good time to give it a try.
Hi folks,
Fyendiar,
Your concern appears legitimate to me, but in my personal view - I could be wrong - some statements miss balance.
NOTE: I never, ever try to flame anyone. Also I will try to keep the quoting to a minimum.
>The problem with online games is that they are anonymous,
First observation. When I am playing (have played well over 60) such a game with a person, I do not know their religion. Age. Color of their skin. Possible handicap. I do think anonymity on the web is more and more abused and I would state that in an MMORPG, all you really *have* in the end is not loot, gold, levels, mounts or virtual real estate. It is your reputation.
Personally, I think in games and quite probably on the whole net itself, it would be wonderful if your anonimity could be *coupled* with your reputation. If I would be handle@city-I-live-in (ceci n'est pas un link
), and I would keep this handle all my life everywhere, nobody would know my personal 'stats', and my privacy would remain. Yet if I started to insult people, my reputation would suffer, forever. As in...dare I say it? Real Life.
I am 50. I have played and (p)reviewed computer games since the Atari ST. I always judge people by their behavior. This may aggravate the 'Level 80 uber gear fiend' who gets no insta-respect, but while in general the % of adolescents and their high-testosteron misbehavior does indeed make me agree with you when it comes to 'estrangement' from MMORPG', I would hate to say 'let me play with old folks only' because some of the *worst* behavior I have seen was from really socially handicapped elder people, and some of the most fun I have ever had was with 18 or 25 or 30 year olds who just really enjoyed having someone around to show them the ropes, explain the game, give some WIKI URL's etc Half the fun I get in MMORPG is helping people, and young people are not exactly *less* stubborn than old ones, I think...
On a side not, near the end of your post you state
> A middle aged man with a majority of his friends being children is suspect for a reason.
If by 'children' you mean 'younger people' - say under 25 - then Forgive me for being blunt:but in that case this is a dangerous accusation. To distinguish a person because she or he likes to talk to a variable age group - probably simply because they find more people there that think similarly - is as wrong as distinguishing them for having other 'traits'. It reeks of profiling (nicest word I could find ). My respectful suggestion: talk to any teacher...or look up Jean Piaget 8-)
> but there are just some things I don't like saying in front of children. I just act and talk, as should everyone, different when I am with a child than I would with someone my own age.
Agreed, but I think that's easy? Do not publicaly say the things you would usually say only near adults. Take the safe way. I have been in several 'family' guilds, where father (actually I am in one now, in AC) and daughter(s)/son(s) play on same or different accounts. Personally I do not think it is too much to ask to restrict the f-bombs to private rather than public chat. Do you?
> Also even if I would find a guild that in fact only had true adults in it, I still am playing in a massive multiplayer environment and secluding myself within said guild would remove much from the fun mmo's bring.
Hmm hey Fyen? I think you just made my point for me
- being around *all* age groups makes for a much more varied experience.
> popular mmo's and find one that may attract a more mature audience.
Someone said 'Ryzom' - good one. Repeatedly voted 'most mature/helpful MMORPG community'.
> Do you just swallow the annoyance? Do you embrace your inner child and act childish as well? Do you turn off all public channels and seclude yourselves from the masses? What do you do?
Personally, I very rarely squelch/ignore people. I think I have not had to do it for some time - until I went to a title I will not even mention (despicable PR tactics) and now in Asheron's Call (revisit) since the sheer *volume* of rude nonsense otherwise makes me miss valuable contributions. Fortunately, I can /squelch a person's *account* so they do not bother me ever again (say Turbine, how about using that squelchlist for all my chars hmm?).
In most games, although I confess that many newer games lack this aspect, the foulmouth youngsters are quickly reported/banned or siimply 'told' off' by the prevalent majority of social, friendly players who want to keep a friendly immersive world and not become a playground for the anti-social. I would lie if I said that short-term prospects look good in this respect. I think at some point in the near future more devs and PR people will (re-)realize that ultimately their retention rates suffer most of all not because of the 'no endgame content' tirades of the rage-quittters, but because the feeling of having fun with your friends is getting lost in the vicious spectator sport of flaming-the-newbie. In Warhammer, I lasted only a few days, because there was not a friendly word that got through the garbage. I am not alone.
Ever since my first MMORPG I have made a point of keeping track of my online friends, always renewing this list. We are moving from game to game, informing players in the previous game(s) of our server selection and toon names in the new world. My friends and I always stay longest in those games that have a good community.
I hope you don't give up. Every time a reasonably person quits, the foul-mouth minority's % goes up. Can't have that, Fyen! We need you
Good luck,
Lucas
PS Added in Edit - whoops I missed some replies. Notion: keep in mind that game-hopping (smart) will put you largely amongst the new players. Notoriously the lower levels are *far* less 'community' oriented (% wise) than the higher levels. At least that is my impression. The muckups tend to leave...not all of them...but in most any game I think the higher levels offer a better community *on average*.
* I say, there is no
* darkness but ignorance.
-
* Twelfth-night; or, What You Will
Nice reply. I'll even look up WWII online. I prefer more engaging mmo's that I have to engage and game within rather than the game placing my character on a leash and leading me through a linear maze of quests that shower me with blue gear for just about showing up, and in which the entitlements are fairly easy and instantaneous.
One of the reasons why Im following Xsyon and will look into WWII online as well.
Striving for Silver Stars since Gold is so effeminate.
Well, there will always be some childish persons around but try one of the games with more mature communities. EQ2 and LOTRO are the best ones here if you don't count really old games like UO and EQ.
Do a free trial for both of them and see which game and community you prefer.
My experience has also been thus. As a matter of fact, one of my first "friends" in WoW (just using it as an example since it constantly gets dogged about community immaturity), was 14 years old when the game released. I was 41. He was VERY bright. As a matter of fact, I didn't know his AGE for probably the first six months I was playing. Over the course of a couple of years, and being in the same guild, we actually became very good friends, and remain friends to this day. He has since gone on to college, traveled to China with some group of college kids on a research project, sent me videos and pictures, we still email every now and again, and he's grown into a very fine young man. He also talked with my youngest son, and I got to talk to his family on the phone, and it was just a really nice (and rare) gaming friendship. So...you can't just write off anyone that is young as immature and stupid by default.
Right now in EQ2, one of the raiders on our server has an 11 year old son that is playing. He's a really sweet kid, very polite and a very good player as well. The biggest problem I have with him, is that every time he sees me log in, or if he logs in and I'm on....he messages me and wants to go do something. LOL That's not really a problem, because he also is very polite and understanding if I tell him I need to do some other things, like craft, or whatever. But the "tag along" thing....is really the only "issue" I've had with him. Very mature and polite, for the most part.
Then last night...I asked a question about the stat changes in EQ2 when I was on my baby level 11 alt, and some lovely person in general chat, (my guild mates were not on, it was 3 am and I had insomnia), called me an IDIOT, typing in all caps, of course, and went on to deride me for not knowing that I could make a level 1 armor set that didn't have int on it (my class doesn't use int and I was bemoaning the fact that there was no plate that I could find...without int). He calls me an idiot, but he tells me to make level 1 armor for a level 11 character. *sigh* Needless to say, Mr. Goofballl met my ignore list rather quickly. It is unlikely that someone who SCREAMS at you for asking a question about plate armor without int....is going to miraculously change into a decent human being. I have no idea how old this person was....it didn't matter...he was socially inept. That is all I needed to know. /ignore
Even LotRO and EQ2 are not "perfect" communities, but....most of the annoying people, DO get weeded out in those communities, because people do NOT appreciate that behavior in those games and will tell those people AND....use the ignore feature if they must. I have had FAR less issues with EQ2 over the past 4 years than I had accumulative issues in WoW, and for the six months I played LotRO...I never had ONE bad experience.
I've also played with adults that I would NOT invite to my home in RL, for sure, nor relish spending ANY time with in game OR out.
Probably my best experiences in MMOs have been in LotRO and EQ2, where the population does TEND to be a bit older, but I have still used my ignore list once or twice. And....after my experiences with the WoW community hit a SHARP decline about year 3....I came to believe that adult guilds were the best way to go for me. There never seemed to be a need for that back in the days of UO, but today....MMOs just draw a much broader player base, many of whom, both adult and child alike...that I don't enjoy sharing my game time with.
Join an adult guild (or make one), make liberal use of the ignore list if you see constant "infractions," turn OFF general and/or trade chat, unless you're looking for something to purchase or selling something, and just decide to enjoy WHATEVER game you play. The most pro-active way to take charge of your own game enjoyment, imo....is just to make use of the tools provided to weed out the bad eggs.
President of The Marvelously Meowhead Fan Club
1) gamer
2) 'average'
Points being gamer comprises of a very large number of people(from people playing games in their large hours, to consoles, to the sims, to a mmorpg.
Average also means that there will be a significant number of people below this age as well as above.
I have been a member of The Old Timers guild in games before....VERY very nice group of people. There is also a great guild on Tanaris server in WoW (should you make the choice to play WoW) called Get Off My Lawn. I would also recommend THEM, for that game, but they are not a multiple game guild, so....that would defeat the purpose if you were not looking to play WoW. I also think they might have a level requirement now since they're raiding. Old Timers guild is multi-game and has no level requirement for your characters.
There are guilds LIKE these...on most servers, I would imagine.
President of The Marvelously Meowhead Fan Club
1) This works. But those with high emotional and behavioural IQs (the 'mature' in actions) are never the norm, never the majority, and also find it easier to leave games and find other hobbies that satisfy them; thus through dilution, low population and attrition, they have a somewhat harder time finding each other. Also, the jerks are much easier to spot.
2) The ones who have found each other are not publicising their contentment with their guilds for a variety of reasons. One prime reason is because jerks in games will go out of their way to be jerks to those who advertise their happiness. You say "never seem" either out of not paying attention or not knowing any mature guilds, I fear. If you are an outsider to that kind of organisation, your view of them is bound to be at least uninformed, is probably skeptical, and may possibly be ignorant.
3) "(Y)ou realised mature adults can be more childish than real kids" is a Straw Man argument, since by definition adults of any age who act in a childish way are immature, not mature. That grown 40 year old male person (man, for short) who tries to argue with you about loot? So horribly? He's immature. You cannot argue against maturity by using him as an example, as he is no such example.
4) Given a realistic and meaningful definition of the term "friend", the result is that in real life, with a group of friends, there are no people I cannot stand. (If I had to describe a group that had people in it for whom I did not care, I would describe it as "some friends and a few other acquaintances".)
I like my friends, and if I cannot stand someone he is not my friend. "Friends of friends" are not friends on that basis alone. Friendship to me has more meaning than to apply to 'some people I'm forced to hang out with'. To people I cannot stand, I am polite; I may behave in a friendly way; but I do not mistake them for friends nor myself for their friend. To call them friends would render calling the people with whom I have genuinely warm interpersonal relations "friends" meaningless.
Possibly once one is out of a threatening environment (like the average high school), it becomes easier to distinguish friend from jerk. There is truth in the assertion that one doesn't have to be friends with someone in order to team up with them for a game, but there is nothing wrong in choosing one teammate over another on the basis of like or dislike. And in a guild, depending upon why one cannot stand another person, there are things that can be done, up to and including removing them from the association. Tolerance is not an unmitigated virtue. I do not join mobs that will retain absolutely anyone for the sake of numbers, nor would it improve my gaming experience to do so.
«Si oblitus fuero usque ad finem omnia opera eorum»
I just join 21+ guilds,clans or alliances.
I have no problem with children in global chats or pugs since im quick with the leave group and block buttons.
Playing: Rift, LotRO
Waiting on: GW2, BP
As has been said, there's The Old Timers and The Older Gamers if you're looking for cross-game guilds with age restrictions.
However (and this is not a comment on either of the above guilds) as has also been said age =/= maturity.
The daft l33t kiddies tend to irritate me too, but I don't get exposed to many of them because FE has no global chat channel (unless you count the GM-moderated Help channel), and the refusal of the game to hand out phat lewts/level ups every 2 seconds makes them bore easily, and EQ2 just doesn't seem to attract them (possibly for similar reasons, possibly due to the age of the game itself).
When I played WoW, I disabled both the general and trade channels, and that filtered out a lot of it. Couldn't do much about the duel-spamming ingrates that follow you around and jump up and down on your fishing bobber (because that's oh-so-hilarious) in an effort to make you relog. And that was on a RP server....I can only assume many of these people were role-playing attention-seeking children on a sugar rush (oh, wait......)
To be honest, community doesn't make or break a game for me, but a good community is definitely a bonus. Where there are a lot of mouthy epeen idiots about (this is a percentage that will remain constant, but will always seem higher in a game with more players) it's wiser to proactively protect yourself. Disable all the game-wide chat channels, find a guild/clan/legion that suits your needs, and socialise happily.
There will always be younger players in any game who will surprise you, some of them being far more mature than players twice their age. There's a risk that the more you insulate yourself, the less likely you are to come across them, but they do exist.
Just my 2c
I just turned 36 this year and can definitely relate. Any game I play almots always involves turning off any region or world chat. Those channels are intended to gain the most viewers and therefore attract the biggest mouths. As others have suggested check the games forums for older more mature guilds. Once you pay more attention to guild and friend chat compared to local or region chat your angst will subside :-)
Our spirit was here long before you
Long before us
And long will it be after your pride brings you to your end
If your game has it, Role-Playing servers are FTW
Like the others said, you need to find 18+ guilds. there are many of them.
the best organised guilds in the world are mostly like this from my experience. its communities of people who share the passion of online gaming, who goes to individual games.
being annonymous makes almost everybody acting like an idiot sometimes.
really, I'm trying it out now and haven't noticed anything like that and is why i mentioned the game. Guess they either moved or or just not playing when i do
Had a lokk at their website(thnx) and will defintely keep them in mind if i find an mmo i enjoy
Do you honestly see that happening anytime soon?:)