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Most antisocial MMO I've ever seen... getting scientific.
Meridion
Member UncommonPosts: 1,495
So well, after getting some nods and a lot of FLAK for claiming GW2 to be the most antisocial game (in a sense of making online-friends I should add) I've ever played and flaming me as "being a loner" and "not really trying" I went full field-out and just did this the old fashioned way. Less speculation, more science, in a sense at least.
I know its a non-representative, very naturalistic and tiny sample, but well, let's still do it shall we:
Aim
The goal of this mini-study is to indicate, NOT prove, that Guild Wars 2 provides a hostile environment if you play MMORPGs to get in contact with random strangers and make online friends via random contacts. It does not try to prove any point or make any assumptions on how to easy it is to get into a guild or make friends in guilds or via WvW/PvP.
Method
I logged on into GW2 and LotRO on primetime evening Thursday and Friday and asked complete strangers in the PvE gameworld in endgame zones (GW2 70-80, LotRO Riders of Rohan Expansion zones) if they were questing and, if they responded, if they wanted to form a group and quest with me. I did not control the test subjects for Guild/Guildless, class, race or gear. All chat partners were in visual range close enough so the probability of them not seeing me were minimized. I sent private messages to all subjects and presented only the standardized questions, no emotes, no jumping whatsoever. My character in GW2 was a level 76 female human Ranger, my character in LotRO was a level 79 female elven Hunter.
Chat Logs
Series 1 - Guild Wars 2. Start time 7:34 pm, Thursday
me: "Hey, are you doing hearts or skillpoints around here?" (standard question #1)
Randomguy1: No response
7:39 pm
me: Standard question #1
Randomguy2: No response
7:44 pm
me Standard question #1
Randomguy3: no
me: "Wanna team up and quest together?" (standard question #2)
Randomguy3: No response
7:56 pm
Standard question #1
Randomguy4: No response
7:57 pm
Standard question #1
Randomguy5: No response
8:16 pm
Standard question #1
Randomguy6: no just chillin dude xD.
Standard question #2
Randomguy6: No thx, cy
8:31 pm
Standard question #1
Randomguy7: hy... no sry. 
Standard question #2
Randomguy7: No response
8:31 pm
Standard question #1
Randomguy8: No response
8:37 pm
Standard question #1
Randomguy9: Ya, why?
Standard question #2
Randomguy9: Nah sry, already in a group.
8:40 pm (roughly one hour in)
Standard question #1
Randomguy10: No response.
Series 2 - Lord of the Ringe Online, Thursday 8:44 pm
me: "Hey, are you doing quests around here?" (Standard question #3)
Randomguy11: Nope, I'm just farming ore for my blacky, u need help?
me: "Wanna team up and quest together?" (Standard question #4)
Randomguy11: Well not really, sry
8:56 pm
Standard question #3
Randomguy12: Ya, trying to find skirmishers atm (and failing) xD
Standard question #4
Randomguy12: Sure, sec. (felloweship invite)
9:07 pm
Standard question #3
Randomguy 13: yep, sec, i can share... (fellowship invite)
9:22 pm
Standard question #3
Randomguy14: No response
9:40 pm
Standard question #3
Randomguy15: No response
Next day, Friday, 7:15 pm
Standard question #3
Randomguy16: well, just exploring the new xpac tbh 
Standard question #4
Randomguy16: Sure, why not (fellowship invite)
7:35 pm
Standard question #3
Randomguy17: Yea, why?
Standard question #4
Randomguy18: We gotta have FS neways if we want to share quests n stuff (fellowship invite)
7:41 pm
Standard question #3
Randomguy18: Nope, jus gathering ^^
Standard question #4
Randomguy18: Sorry, no.
7:50 pm
Standard question #3
Randomguy19: No response
8:04 pm
Standard question #3
Randomguy20: Nope.
Standard question #4
Randomguy20: still nope man xD.
Results:
All in all, I got 4 out of 10 fellowship invites and consecutive fellowships in the LotRO sample compared to 0 out of 10 party invites in GW2.
Looking at overall response quantity I provoked 3 out ot of 10 "no response" reactions in LotRO compared to 6 out of 10 in GW2. When including non-responders after an initial response, it's 8 out of 10 non responders in GW2 while staying 3 out of 10 in LotRO.
On a sidenote, I asked all people that I formed a group with if I may add them to my buddylist before disbanding the groud. This got me 0 new buddies in GW2 and 3 new buddies in LotRO.
Limitations and Implications:
The limitiations of this mini-study are practically endless and you may complain all you like. If you do however, I urge you to repeat the study with a larger sample size and get different results. I'm pretty sure if I took the time and asked 200 or 300 people the standardized questions, I'd get highly significant results in support of my earlier assessment that Guild Wars 2 is in fact a bad game (compared to LotRO) if you wanna make new friends while on the road.
Dr. M
Comments
Well I got back on after some days and the thread had exploded with me not being able to reply to seventy somewhat posts, so I just read them all and did THIS instead
And well, you know, it's science baby =D
M
If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe. - Carl Sagan
"LOL"? Why? Why don't you go get some facts, data and or evidece to counter the argument if you think GW2 is a very social game? When someone presents hard evidence, a "LOL" response is not going to win the argument. Granted, it's this evidence could have been fabricated, though I doubt it was, the post was still well thought out and presented to back up the OP's opinion. You came with nothing.
Sorry - not very scientific (I am a scientist in RL BTW). This is more like the Dems or Repubs taking quotes out of context to make a point.
If you wanted to be scientific, you should randomly switch servers to see if you get the same response.
RIght now, doesn't mean anything.
Pretty sure it means the OP had a lot easier time making new social contacts in LotRO than GW2. While his experience may not hold true for everyone, coupled with my experience in GW2, I find his results at least plausible. They may not be a true science experiment with all variables controlled, but it's enough to foster confidence in his point in a forum discussion.
I agree with the "Good work OP" sentiment. It's better than the standard "I have xyz opinion because that's how I feel".
This is not a game.
If City of Heroes was still around I would blow this test up scientifically.
That is all.
Ok Mr. science. What about using different questions? Do you really think people play gw2 because of doing hearts and skillpoints? Every single thread about gw2 I've ever read said "hearts are evil I hate them". And why would you even group to do hearts .... why? To be honest if you asked me, I'd probably think "what a weirdo" and shy away.
Try the same approach with questions like:
Heya, I found mini dungeon over there, wanna try to do it together?
People don't mind be social in gw2. You only need to do it differently... not forcing them "Let's do this together". Treat them as strangers... You don't go to random guy in the street and say "Hey, wanna go to that pub over there?". Instead you go and say "Heya, got a cigar?" And eventually you may go to that pub together
From my experience just running around and having fun and commenting it in /say makes reaction of other players very often. It maybe just "lol" or "haha", but that's cool. Quite often we go for a quick chat.
The last part of my rant... so you say social = party? I've been in so many pug parties where we kept silent the whole 1 hour long dungeon and it was astonishing when we got "thanks for party /leave" at the end at least...
Maybe you should rethink title of your thread to "GW2 - the most anti-group game ever", there I would definitely agree with you.
I know that, I'm a doctor too, I already said it has a bazillion limitations, is extremely naturalistic, tiny sample, not randomized, not blinded, only controlled for level, time and setting...
I just wanted to go that extra mile and cross the border from pure speculation to at least something in the direction of science.
M
GW2 is a social game, I completely refute this entire thread.
Last night I wanted to do some runs of CoF to finish buying the armor set.
Ported to the entrance, didn't even have time to type LFG in the Map chat, immediately got an invite. Nobody even bothers to ask for specs/classes/etc, you want something more social and equal than that? Don't think you'll find it.
Did my run, wanted to do 1 more... party disbanded because ppl had to go... got in the chat "LFG CoF exp p2/p3"
*ding*, within 5 seconds had half a dozen invites flowing in... not social at all (sarcasm)
Formed a party after that run, why the hell not do all 3 paths since I'm already here, needed 1 more, got in the chat "LF1M CoF exp p3"
*ding*, my chat turned all pink in seconds... so many whispers asking to join in. Damn these anti-social players (again... sarcasm)
After this wanted me some sugary goodies, so decided to go run Mad Kings labyrinth or maybe the Lunatic Inquisition... Got in the labyrinth... Went to the center to check for the big boss, nothing there, got in the chat to ask if someone had any doors nearby, "Hey guys, any doors popping up? Center is clear for now"
Again within seconds got replies from several players "Hey, SE Champion Skel is up".... "NE wave door has spawned"
So... again, so many anti-social behaviour going on... damn, I really wished people were friendlier and replied to me.
Oh wait... they did!!!
So there's 2 possible explanations:
a) Your sample is far too small to constitute "science"
b) You're just a well known douche that no one wants to put up with so they don't bother replying
Choose one
Playing:
RIFT, EU Blightweald Server
Waiting to see:
ToR, TERA, GW2
Had to share this; from my friend a GW2 player without an account: (in my defense to see his whole tirade in person was pretty amusing)
As a science researcher, I find your data and the use of the word scientific in the title of this thread offensive. Its very misleading with many, many flaws. By defintion; a branch of knowledge or study dealing with a body of facts or truths systematically arranged and showing the operation of general laws. The use of scientific is more fraudulent than accurate.
Nice work OP!
This doesn't necessarily prove anything, but it does lend credence to what many (including myself) have been saying for a while now. In GW2 you play around people, not with them (with the rare exception being dungeons, of course. But then who wants to do them when they give about the same satisfaction as water boarding).
Played: Lineage 2,Guild Wars 1 and 2, Age of Conan, Ragnarok Online, LOTRO, World of Warcraft, League of Legends, EvE online
Tried: KAL Online, Face of Mankind, ROSE online
Playing: CS:GO
That's the problem with beliefs, they're not based in facts but on speculation.
People are "defensive" because they can see that what's being here described as "science" doesn't actually correspond to the in-game truth so they counter it with actual facts and in-game experience.
It's not being defensive, it's being truthful. People that believe in things that have no actual facts behind them are the dangerous ones...
Playing:
RIFT, EU Blightweald Server
Waiting to see:
ToR, TERA, GW2
see my reply above, I know, I won't try to get it into the review batch for "Nature", the intention is to move away from "babbling out your opinion and presenting it as fact"
M
ANet's design promotes helping one another without having to talk or group. I find that anytime I've died during a DE, multiple players will come to rez me. I realize that in most cases this is because they get XP and can use the extra warm body to complete the event but nevertheless, it's definitely nice to see compared to "randomguy spits on your corpse"
If you enjoy chatting and meeting people in game, guilds seem to be the best way to go. I was in a small guild for a bit and started missing some of the social aspects of MMO's but then found a large, very active guild which has made the overall game experience much better.
Give me a break. This is an amateur's attempt (no offense intended OP) at being a little more scientific in his/her approach. This isn't being presented to some journal.
If you find this offensive, I recommend removing your account and stop viewing public forums.
You are reaching here...
Why does GW2 have to be perfect in every way? Can't it have just one fault? Or does that shatter the image?
Then as a scientist, I suggest you do your own to counter it. Otherwise, you are adding nothing.