The most social game ever was everquest. Yeah it was a pain to get a group and getting killed and not having any equipment and needing to find your body was a pain. But in EQ back in the day you were forced from the beginning pretty much to socialize from the earliest moment, with "has anyone seen my corpse..." You died pulling mobs and wiped your group. You died running trough a zone... You were screwed. You had to get help. And you know what if someone needed help you helped them cause you knew that you would need help sometime.
I played EQ at launch and yes waiting to get in a camp for some obscenely rare loot was a pain and I almost never got the loot rotation since I just couldn't play for long periods of time. But I have friends today that I met in eq and I have countless memories or epic deaths, corpse recoveries, and thrilling victories! that no game comes close to. Most other games have sorta blured together over time.
I wish that a game came out that kept some of what made EQ great while removing some of it's biggest negatives. I think games today have gone too far to the babying players and never make them sad approach. The thril of victory only stands in contrast to the agony of defeat.
Originally posted by rodingo At least in real life, most people don't blame the particular night club or bar they choose to go to on wether they were able to meet someone or socialize. Well,... at least I feel sorry for those that blame the establishment and not themselves. Those are usually the people that stay lonely.
lol :P
i will admit there are a few things developers can do to encourage more social interaction. Even in most older games outside raiding for basic PVE you did not need much social interaction at all. But games that had no auction houses and a more community ran crafting system really help in the interaction department. I remember in SWG standing the lines waiting for buffs people would strike up conversations a lot.. Then obviously having things like player ran cities and such would help this along even more.
I do feel gw2 and Rift did a better job than many other recent themeparks on actually getting players together more and actually wanting other people around.
I angered the clerk in a clothing shop today. She asked me what size I was and I said actual, because I am not to scale. I like vending machines 'cause snacks are better when they fall. If I buy a candy bar at a store, oftentimes, I will drop it... so that it achieves its maximum flavor potential. --Mitch Hedberg
The funny thing is, the most social feature in Rift by a rather enormous margin is the one thing that takes you out of the game world: its housing. Combat isnt social at all in Rift but the housing in.
But I said it before, but Ill repeat that its the players more than anything.
Its sad how people are these days too. OOC chat in EQ was rarely trollish, but now in Rift the in thing to do apparently is troll general chat channels talking about how Zelda saves princesses just in the hopes that someone will correct you. Oh and talk about bacon all day. And if you are especially lucky they will talk politics and "Murica". And then there is WoW bashing. In a game modeled after WoW no less. I cant blame people for not socializing when you are dealing with such rampant immaturity. I know general chat is toxic in most games, but it didnt used to be that way.
I dont know if many people played , but EQOA was my first MMO and it was played on the PS2...IT doesnt sound like it would be very social, but it was probobly the most social game I have ever played.
You literally needed a group of atleat 5 people to do anything, It was a blast! sometimes it would take 30 miutes to get a group but usually you would play together for hours and really get to know them becuase eqoa was a rediculous grindfest haha...
Anyways, I miss that. I miss when games would almost force you to interact....hell even when WoW first came out for a lot of quests you needed help and doing instances was hard! but it was fun and you felt like you did something... Games nowadays are missing that spark, that... magical pull that took you somewhere, and wouldnt let you go for years....seems games are happy being played for a few months these days, and leveling from 1 to 60 takes a month and you can do it in your sleep. Sorry not for me.
I really miss longer downtimes (recovering hp and mana from combat used to take 1 full minute, which was enough time to talk to someone, nowdays your ready to pull the next mob in 5-10 seconds. No time to talk to the guy next to you because it costs you xp/loot)
I really miss large interactive mechanics (Dancers/doctors/musicians from SWG, heavy buffs from DAOC, EQ and more)
I miss games where leveling as a group was faster than solo.
I miss mechanics like AC allegiance system which made players WANT to find new players and HELP them.....because everyone benefited.
The newer MMOs offer nothing but incentives for pulling the next mob faster and sooner. Just leads to a hollow experience.
I agree that MMORPGs of all games should be more focused on the social aspect, but a lot of people apparently think that "being social" translates to "stop whatever you're doing and write a paragraph of text so I know you're paying attention to me". A lot of problems these days regarding the social nature are derived from the fact that MMOs aspire to remove all downtime in an effort to get you right back into the action. Socializing simply doesn't factor into that instantaneous gratification formula.
Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing.
I always play with friends in a MMO and this doesn't define if a MMO is social for me. Because I can still do this in a MMO that doesn't even have a chat channel for example.
But if a MMO has cities or activities that promote spontaneous gathering and socialising, then it is a social MMO for me. I don't mean forced grouping for that. There is nothing spontaneous about that.
With some MMO's it can be a help chat channel with a lot of helpful players in it that makes a MMO feel social. This often leads to meeting new ppl just because of that chat. Another MMO can have a lot of activities in (playermade) cities that draws players who spontaneously start chatting with other players.
Forced grouping or a lot of hard quests that demand certain group compositions is the wrong way to do it imo. That just leads to players grouping for the quest and disbanding straight after. It is nothing more social then a busride.
My main problem with GW2 in this , is playerculling in cities. It makes a city like Lions Arch very unattractive to me. I don't know if this has been improved by now though, but this is one big reason why I don't see GW2 as a social MMO. It destroyed the events for me. Another reason is that most chat in Lions Arch is fractures grouping spam.
Read each post in this thread, in conclusion, if not [forced] to socialize then the game isn't social.
Instead if it's up to you the player then the game will not be social because it's up to you to be social or not.
Somehow you play with players yet we will just say around because it makes sense. As if we don't just wait and ask to group and then un group at the end with out saying a word.
Though it's interesting what if you, decided to be social for once because you the player is actually social and you just wanted to meet people, so instead of acting like a game with no forced grouping to get the job done you...the player say "Hey I'm just going to be social myself instead of having the game make my wanna be social ass...well, SOCIAL!" So you group up with people and actually communicate but not cause you [need] to but because you [want] to and is actually social.
In fact games like Rift and GW2 bring out the "Reality check" in most people and they don't even notice it, most people are not as social as they think, you can tell it's apparent, because alll games that are not forcing you to communicate, and you all of a sudden say they game has the least or no social aspects period, that in itself is very sad lmao, but okay I'll give you guys the benefit of the doubt and just say you try.
I mean that's just common sense being applied to what's going on especially with the remarks of both GW2 and Rift but yea let's keep pretending being forced to communicate is you the player actually being a social person.
I'd be lying if I said I was sorry for not beating around the bush.
What about playing around or soloing with others?
Oh oh and then let's blame the game mechanics shall we???????????????????????????????????????????
Cause then it'll end up being a rinse repeat of what I just said, just worded differently.
Maybe if we are all fighting against each other for xp and loot we'd communicate more, you damn skippy we would, but then again that's a game mechanic forcing you to group to avoid that nonsense.
Actual social people are not having these issues being social in video games...MMORPGs.
I'm also not saying games like WoW are anti social as there are actual social people in those games as well, and you damn sure won't see them state games like GW2, Rift, and etc are anti social because those people [themselves] are indeed social and communicate even when not forced.
GW2 events and Rift...rifts can be social but again it's up to the players to talk or not. I haven't even seen an alternative to social aspects only statements of playing around players, soloing with large group of players and etc as if that bullshit makes any sense.
I'll say it again and I doubt it's the last time I need to sa it, being social is not what a game should force, it is up to YOU in order to be social at the end of the day. I do not care about any more claims and bullshit just to bash games and etc, it all comes down to the player for a game to be social to him/her or not. Some people in this thread seriousely need to get their priorities check first before stating they are soloing around large group of players and zerging solo, that figure of speech is played out till death and doesn't even make sense it's all because you guys have the inability to /say [insert Hey] here in speech and then if you don't get a response you go say a game is not social, not that is the player(s) you are talking to that have no social skills or just don't feel like it.
In fact atleast from experience in GW2 the social aspects for me come from the gameplay, I.E the dark asuran boss fight before opening up the dungeon.
Tl;dr or Too long never learn - It is up to you
I might get banned for this. - Rizel Star.
I'm not afraid to tell trolls what they [need] to hear, even if that means for me to have an forced absence afterwards.
P2P LOGIC = If it's P2P it means longevity, overall better game, and THE BEST SUPPORT EVER!!!!!(Which has been rinsed and repeated about a thousand times)
Common Sense Logic = P2P logic is no better than F2P Logic.
It's a different age now with all these social sites. People tend to visit those to socialize with their friends. The MMO avatar next to you is some anonymous player, nothing more. Back in the day, those people you met online became your friends because there really wasnt anywhere else online to meet others.
That being said, you can't expect the player next to you to change just like you can't expect anyone around you to suddenly change.
That's why its really up to the game designers to change their systems to reflect the times. If the designers really wanted to encourage communication in-game, they need to find better ways to do so I applaud GW2 for at least trying to move in that direction. In a genre now dictated by mostly corporate mentality, these things will take time. Hopefully the next major item to be addressed is the social dialogue. Maybe TESO or one of the future ones will find the system that works; we can only hope.
It's a different age now with all these social sites. People tend to visit those to socialize with their friends. The MMO avatar next to you is some anonymous player, nothing more. Back in the day, those people you met online became your friends because there really wasnt anywhere else online to meet others.
That being said, you can't expect the player next to you to change just like you can't expect anyone around you to suddenly change.
That's why its really up to the game designers to change their systems to reflect the times. If the designers really wanted to encourage communication in-game, they need to find better ways to do so I applaud GW2 for at least trying to move in that direction. In a genre now dictated by mostly corporate mentality, these things will take time. Hopefully the next major item to be addressed is the social dialogue. Maybe TESO or one of the future ones will find the system that works; we can only hope.
i also agree it has a lot to do with the times and social media and all that.. back when MMOs started it was a main form of social media, people used MMOs as their social media outlet.. nowadays you have facebook, twitter, ect you don't need a game for that stuff, you just play the game. But like I have said above their are ways to make a game a more community focused and social game overall if they want.
I angered the clerk in a clothing shop today. She asked me what size I was and I said actual, because I am not to scale. I like vending machines 'cause snacks are better when they fall. If I buy a candy bar at a store, oftentimes, I will drop it... so that it achieves its maximum flavor potential. --Mitch Hedberg
I truly feel the game is only as social as you are in it. When you enjoy the game more, you will most likely seek companions to share in your adventures. If you are not having somuch fun, maybe you solo more until you figure out if this is the game for you. Just my 2 cents. Obviously not fact.
Hero Evermore Guild Master of Dragonspine since 1982. Playing Path of Exile and deeply in love with it.
Rifts, invasions, and IAs are soloing with people around you. You see them, they are in your group, but they dont interact with you even if you try and are basically NPCs.
However, this isnt all Rifts fault, a lot of it is the players. You can try to strike up a conversation but good luck getting a reply.
The trend towards games where you are constantly in motion or hitting an ability or dodging an attack has really crippled socilaizing. you cant afford to chat. Since downtime is long gone so is most socializing among strangers.
Why exactly do I want to chat it up with you? Why is there this unwritten expectation that we need to try and form some sort of BFF thing? We're there to kill things (since 99% of the content is about killing stuff) and get loot.
Do you walk into your local coffee house, sit down at a strangers table, and start chatting them? I don't. I also don't appreciate when strangers come up and try that. Why would I do that in a game?
And what about at least a simple "hi" when you join a party or a "cya" when you leave.
I understand that most of the people dont go around chatting each others, but you greet other when you go to an office or when you go with others in the elevator
Originally posted by Eir_S Great post. I agree that one of the big bonuses of new systems is how they allow for newer players to join the fun, and isn't that what it's about? Too many people act like MMOs are their personal property or the plaything of elitist jerks who only care who yells the loudest on Vent. The fact that there is no mob-tagging does not cancel out the ability to group up, just the need to. I've been in plenty of world map groups in GW2 just because it's fun to have a goal and meet that goal, but whenI felt like playing alone, I could do it just as fluidly and without sacrificing xp or fun.
Content has changed. The way we consume it has changed. Death penalties changed too. There is no more downtime, which makes people more mobile instead of being in a static position, where socialization takes place. The only places to really socialize now are in towns and hubs, which is ironic. Open-world adventuring, and questing, is where solo content reigns supreme. The only socialization in these zones are the chat channels now. Bring back the required group-content, with some form of downtime and penalties, and you'll bring back more socialization.
Dungeons are another place where there is less socialization, because they are designed to be linear and fast-paced. Gone are the days of camping dungeons, as in EQ, where people would literally spend hours waiting for bosses. This is when the socialization took place, because people wasted their time waiting for spawns, so they chatted about anything, including their real life, or real life topics, or in-game topics, etc.
When I see other players and mobs in GW2 I help them without a thought. When I see other players in Tera, for example, I think, "Hey, I better be careful not to tap first." Or "Should I send them a group invite? If I do that will I end up having to follow their quest chain. Will they be one of those needy people that latches onto someone."
I think exactly those things. TERA players will get angry at you if you attack something, in GW2 I have never had that problem unless they were a newbie and didn't understand that GW2's tapping system differs from the traditional "me first" mentality. I've actually had to explain it to a few people as they shouted obscenities at me... in the end they were thankful and hopefully realize how old mechanics can make you a bit irritable.
Originally posted by Eir_S Great post. I agree that one of the big bonuses of new systems is how they allow for newer players to join the fun, and isn't that what it's about? Too many people act like MMOs are their personal property or the plaything of elitist jerks who only care who yells the loudest on Vent. The fact that there is no mob-tagging does not cancel out the ability to group up, just the need to. I've been in plenty of world map groups in GW2 just because it's fun to have a goal and meet that goal, but whenI felt like playing alone, I could do it just as fluidly and without sacrificing xp or fun.
agreed, also just because i join a small group doesnt mean i became more social. If we can enjoy the shared content and still communicate with people next to me without being in a group thats totally fine. The main purpose of grouping is not socializing, is going through small group content. And if we can easily share that content and rewards without groping up and be rewarded and still be social then theres no need to group up unless i have a speficic group of friends i want to group up with. I accept content sharing without grouping. I like what GW2 did in that aspect.
I played Asheron's Call and Anarchy Online back when they were released, so I know exactly what you're talking about.
Interestingly enough I found Diablo 3 on hardcore (right after the game was released) to be the sort of social experience newer games don't tend to provide. I am sure that sounds crazy to anyone who started later, anyone who played softcore, or anyone who died early on in hardcore. We didn't know the content ahead of us, we didn't want to die, and since we were the first there were no upgrades whatsoever available in the auction house. It became extremely important to make friends to trade equipment and progress/grind together.
I had a blast, but as the game got easier with patches and people beat the game on inferno, and more gear started flooding the auction house, it became much less social.
Originally posted by Eir_S Great post. I agree that one of the big bonuses of new systems is how they allow for newer players to join the fun, and isn't that what it's about? Too many people act like MMOs are their personal property or the plaything of elitist jerks who only care who yells the loudest on Vent. The fact that there is no mob-tagging does not cancel out the ability to group up, just the need to. I've been in plenty of world map groups in GW2 just because it's fun to have a goal and meet that goal, but whenI felt like playing alone, I could do it just as fluidly and without sacrificing xp or fun.
agreed, also just because i join a small group doesnt mean i became more social. If we can enjoy the shared content and still communicate with people next to me without being in a group thats totally fine. The main purpose of grouping is not socializing, is going through small group content. And if we can easily share that content and rewards without groping up and be rewarded and still be social then theres no need to group up unless i have a speficic group of friends i want to group up with. I accept content sharing without grouping. I like what GW2 did in that aspect.
Agreed. Even with games that have forced grouping, there is no such thing as forced socializing. All you end up with is people in groups not talking to each other. And that doesn't make it a social game just because people are in groups.
I think the best an MMO can hope to do is to encourage people to work together to accomplish things in game, and create an environment where it is easy to socialize if the players want to. There are times when people feel like talking and times when you they don't, but working together towards a goal, grouped or not, I think most people want to say "thank you" or comment on something that happened. From those simple phrases, full blown conversations can be born, and from those friendships.
Note that when I say encourage, I mean the carrot not the stick. Things should be doable solo, but people should not be penalized for helping or receiving help, and even incentives could be rewarded for helping people.
feeling of social community IMO, comes from group/chat, dedicated game or server with lot of known people, animated chatting and easy grouping.
Rift felt more social at beta test I guess, well can't confirm as I don't play it.
GW2 is not social as I saw like many "generations" of players past 5 months + as game have nothing much to offer, "social life" is limited by asking "Any events?" or "Shatter/balth/Mela up?" , but also happend sometime to see people chatting like that in map chat (about anything). I would tell it depends on server and time of the day, but it far from being dedicated social life.
I feel much more "homy" at some small and may be crap games where people chat easily and a lot. Is it not why we play MMO for? cuz single game can be as fun or even better as playstyle.
try before buy, even if it's a game to avoid bad surprises. Worst surprises for me: Aion, GW2
Rifts, invasions, and IAs are soloing with people around you. You see them, they are in your group, but they dont interact with you even if you try and are basically NPCs.
However, this isnt all Rifts fault, a lot of it is the players. You can try to strike up a conversation but good luck getting a reply.
The trend towards games where you are constantly in motion or hitting an ability or dodging an attack has really crippled socilaizing. you cant afford to chat. Since downtime is long gone so is most socializing among strangers.
Why exactly do I want to chat it up with you? Why is there this unwritten expectation that we need to try and form some sort of BFF thing? We're there to kill things (since 99% of the content is about killing stuff) and get loot.
Do you walk into your local coffee house, sit down at a strangers table, and start chatting them? I don't. I also don't appreciate when strangers come up and try that. Why would I do that in a game?
And what about at least a simple "hi" when you join a party or a "cya" when you leave.
I understand that most of the people dont go around chatting each others, but you greet other when you go to an office or when you go with others in the elevator
and people say that the MMos are un social the red lines realy made me lol.........................................
coffe house not that much since there is always a seat for you, but bars on the other habd (near the bar tender) when you sit near someone you say hi at least (wired haaa being nice to people.
well how about people you work with you at least have to say hi Atleast, (and in mmo you are kind of working with other players) plus how would you like to be social (fourcing you to group {yup great idea being fourced in game, like real life isnt enough already})
"Games like Guild Wars 2 are not necessarily more social, but they’re differently social. They attempt to make things easier to play, accessible, and fun, but also bridge the gap in an age of voice chat and lightning-fast leveling speed"
I think the OP is too in love with the MMO flavour of the year GW2. There has been a decline in players interacting let alone social activity on MMO's since they first came out.
Players selling goods and creating an immense amount of social interation turned into Auction houses. One AH which at least created a social hub turned into mutliple ones all over the game. In GW2 you do not have to even be near a trading post to trade unless picking up items. So GW2 turned trading into an activity where you do not even having to be somewhere where other players are when you trade. For GW3 the AH will just be a UI panel, no trading post, zero player interaction. Thats just one example of how MMO's are becoming so designed for solo players calling it a MMO is a joke.
"Games like Guild Wars 2 are not necessarily more social, but they’re differently social. They attempt to make things easier to play, accessible, and fun, but also bridge the gap in an age of voice chat and lightning-fast leveling speed"
I think the OP is too in love with the MMO flavour of the year GW2. There has been a decline in players interacting let alone social activity on MMO's since they first came out.
Players selling goods and creating an immense amount of social interation turned into Auction houses. One AH which at least created a social hub turned into mutliple ones all over the game. In GW2 you do not have to even be near a trading post to trade unless picking up items. So GW2 turned trading into an activity where you do not even having to be somewhere where other players are when you trade. For GW3 the AH will just be a UI panel, no trading post, zero player interaction. Thats just one example of how MMO's are becoming so designed for solo players calling it a MMO is a joke.
Again you dont get it, Adding or not Adding AH wont make a diffrence (in WoW you have to go to AH to post things and that didnt make any diffrence). see the comment above yours and you will get the idae of why this is happening.
If you want to be socail nothing will stop you, because its as simple as saying HI
By not needing to group it actually offers more to the anti-social. Especially in the case of GW2. In Rifts case it was the exact opposite. We had to party up for the end game rifts to be able to beat them so we were always grouped up.
Hero Evermore Guild Master of Dragonspine since 1982. Playing Path of Exile and deeply in love with it.
Comments
The most social game ever was everquest. Yeah it was a pain to get a group and getting killed and not having any equipment and needing to find your body was a pain. But in EQ back in the day you were forced from the beginning pretty much to socialize from the earliest moment, with "has anyone seen my corpse..." You died pulling mobs and wiped your group. You died running trough a zone... You were screwed. You had to get help. And you know what if someone needed help you helped them cause you knew that you would need help sometime.
I played EQ at launch and yes waiting to get in a camp for some obscenely rare loot was a pain and I almost never got the loot rotation since I just couldn't play for long periods of time. But I have friends today that I met in eq and I have countless memories or epic deaths, corpse recoveries, and thrilling victories! that no game comes close to. Most other games have sorta blured together over time.
I wish that a game came out that kept some of what made EQ great while removing some of it's biggest negatives. I think games today have gone too far to the babying players and never make them sad approach. The thril of victory only stands in contrast to the agony of defeat.
---
Ethion
lol :P
i will admit there are a few things developers can do to encourage more social interaction. Even in most older games outside raiding for basic PVE you did not need much social interaction at all. But games that had no auction houses and a more community ran crafting system really help in the interaction department. I remember in SWG standing the lines waiting for buffs people would strike up conversations a lot.. Then obviously having things like player ran cities and such would help this along even more.
I do feel gw2 and Rift did a better job than many other recent themeparks on actually getting players together more and actually wanting other people around.
I angered the clerk in a clothing shop today. She asked me what size I was and I said actual, because I am not to scale. I like vending machines 'cause snacks are better when they fall. If I buy a candy bar at a store, oftentimes, I will drop it... so that it achieves its maximum flavor potential. --Mitch Hedberg
The funny thing is, the most social feature in Rift by a rather enormous margin is the one thing that takes you out of the game world: its housing. Combat isnt social at all in Rift but the housing in.
But I said it before, but Ill repeat that its the players more than anything.
Its sad how people are these days too. OOC chat in EQ was rarely trollish, but now in Rift the in thing to do apparently is troll general chat channels talking about how Zelda saves princesses just in the hopes that someone will correct you. Oh and talk about bacon all day. And if you are especially lucky they will talk politics and "Murica". And then there is WoW bashing. In a game modeled after WoW no less. I cant blame people for not socializing when you are dealing with such rampant immaturity. I know general chat is toxic in most games, but it didnt used to be that way.
I dont know if many people played , but EQOA was my first MMO and it was played on the PS2...IT doesnt sound like it would be very social, but it was probobly the most social game I have ever played.
You literally needed a group of atleat 5 people to do anything, It was a blast! sometimes it would take 30 miutes to get a group but usually you would play together for hours and really get to know them becuase eqoa was a rediculous grindfest haha...
Anyways, I miss that. I miss when games would almost force you to interact....hell even when WoW first came out for a lot of quests you needed help and doing instances was hard! but it was fun and you felt like you did something... Games nowadays are missing that spark, that... magical pull that took you somewhere, and wouldnt let you go for years....seems games are happy being played for a few months these days, and leveling from 1 to 60 takes a month and you can do it in your sleep. Sorry not for me.
GW2 is the most antisocial MMO i played.
I was in 500 man guild, than switched to smaller 400 man guild. Yet I never read a word not related to game itself. And even than it was brief.
In map chat I read 100 words all together since the game launched.
I really miss longer downtimes (recovering hp and mana from combat used to take 1 full minute, which was enough time to talk to someone, nowdays your ready to pull the next mob in 5-10 seconds. No time to talk to the guy next to you because it costs you xp/loot)
I really miss large interactive mechanics (Dancers/doctors/musicians from SWG, heavy buffs from DAOC, EQ and more)
I miss games where leveling as a group was faster than solo.
I miss mechanics like AC allegiance system which made players WANT to find new players and HELP them.....because everyone benefited.
The newer MMOs offer nothing but incentives for pulling the next mob faster and sooner. Just leads to a hollow experience.
I always play with friends in a MMO and this doesn't define if a MMO is social for me. Because I can still do this in a MMO that doesn't even have a chat channel for example.
But if a MMO has cities or activities that promote spontaneous gathering and socialising, then it is a social MMO for me. I don't mean forced grouping for that. There is nothing spontaneous about that.
With some MMO's it can be a help chat channel with a lot of helpful players in it that makes a MMO feel social. This often leads to meeting new ppl just because of that chat. Another MMO can have a lot of activities in (playermade) cities that draws players who spontaneously start chatting with other players.
Forced grouping or a lot of hard quests that demand certain group compositions is the wrong way to do it imo. That just leads to players grouping for the quest and disbanding straight after. It is nothing more social then a busride.
My main problem with GW2 in this , is playerculling in cities. It makes a city like Lions Arch very unattractive to me. I don't know if this has been improved by now though, but this is one big reason why I don't see GW2 as a social MMO. It destroyed the events for me. Another reason is that most chat in Lions Arch is fractures grouping spam.
Read each post in this thread, in conclusion, if not [forced] to socialize then the game isn't social.
Instead if it's up to you the player then the game will not be social because it's up to you to be social or not.
Somehow you play with players yet we will just say around because it makes sense. As if we don't just wait and ask to group and then un group at the end with out saying a word.
Though it's interesting what if you, decided to be social for once because you the player is actually social and you just wanted to meet people, so instead of acting like a game with no forced grouping to get the job done you...the player say "Hey I'm just going to be social myself instead of having the game make my wanna be social ass...well, SOCIAL!" So you group up with people and actually communicate but not cause you [need] to but because you [want] to and is actually social.
In fact games like Rift and GW2 bring out the "Reality check" in most people and they don't even notice it, most people are not as social as they think, you can tell it's apparent, because alll games that are not forcing you to communicate, and you all of a sudden say they game has the least or no social aspects period, that in itself is very sad lmao, but okay I'll give you guys the benefit of the doubt and just say you try.
I mean that's just common sense being applied to what's going on especially with the remarks of both GW2 and Rift but yea let's keep pretending being forced to communicate is you the player actually being a social person.
I'd be lying if I said I was sorry for not beating around the bush.
What about playing around or soloing with others?
Oh oh and then let's blame the game mechanics shall we???????????????????????????????????????????
Cause then it'll end up being a rinse repeat of what I just said, just worded differently.
Maybe if we are all fighting against each other for xp and loot we'd communicate more, you damn skippy we would, but then again that's a game mechanic forcing you to group to avoid that nonsense.
Actual social people are not having these issues being social in video games...MMORPGs.
I'm also not saying games like WoW are anti social as there are actual social people in those games as well, and you damn sure won't see them state games like GW2, Rift, and etc are anti social because those people [themselves] are indeed social and communicate even when not forced.
GW2 events and Rift...rifts can be social but again it's up to the players to talk or not. I haven't even seen an alternative to social aspects only statements of playing around players, soloing with large group of players and etc as if that bullshit makes any sense.
I'll say it again and I doubt it's the last time I need to sa it, being social is not what a game should force, it is up to YOU in order to be social at the end of the day. I do not care about any more claims and bullshit just to bash games and etc, it all comes down to the player for a game to be social to him/her or not. Some people in this thread seriousely need to get their priorities check first before stating they are soloing around large group of players and zerging solo, that figure of speech is played out till death and doesn't even make sense it's all because you guys have the inability to /say [insert Hey] here in speech and then if you don't get a response you go say a game is not social, not that is the player(s) you are talking to that have no social skills or just don't feel like it.
In fact atleast from experience in GW2 the social aspects for me come from the gameplay, I.E the dark asuran boss fight before opening up the dungeon.
Tl;dr or Too long never learn - It is up to you
I might get banned for this. - Rizel Star.
I'm not afraid to tell trolls what they [need] to hear, even if that means for me to have an forced absence afterwards.
P2P LOGIC = If it's P2P it means longevity, overall better game, and THE BEST SUPPORT EVER!!!!!(Which has been rinsed and repeated about a thousand times)
Common Sense Logic = P2P logic is no better than F2P Logic.
It's a different age now with all these social sites. People tend to visit those to socialize with their friends. The MMO avatar next to you is some anonymous player, nothing more. Back in the day, those people you met online became your friends because there really wasnt anywhere else online to meet others.
That being said, you can't expect the player next to you to change just like you can't expect anyone around you to suddenly change.
That's why its really up to the game designers to change their systems to reflect the times. If the designers really wanted to encourage communication in-game, they need to find better ways to do so I applaud GW2 for at least trying to move in that direction. In a genre now dictated by mostly corporate mentality, these things will take time. Hopefully the next major item to be addressed is the social dialogue. Maybe TESO or one of the future ones will find the system that works; we can only hope.
i also agree it has a lot to do with the times and social media and all that.. back when MMOs started it was a main form of social media, people used MMOs as their social media outlet.. nowadays you have facebook, twitter, ect you don't need a game for that stuff, you just play the game. But like I have said above their are ways to make a game a more community focused and social game overall if they want.
I angered the clerk in a clothing shop today. She asked me what size I was and I said actual, because I am not to scale. I like vending machines 'cause snacks are better when they fall. If I buy a candy bar at a store, oftentimes, I will drop it... so that it achieves its maximum flavor potential. --Mitch Hedberg
Hero Evermore
Guild Master of Dragonspine since 1982.
Playing Path of Exile and deeply in love with it.
And what about at least a simple "hi" when you join a party or a "cya" when you leave.
I understand that most of the people dont go around chatting each others, but you greet other when you go to an office or when you go with others in the elevator
Exactly, wow i dont have to type anything really.
Content has changed. The way we consume it has changed. Death penalties changed too. There is no more downtime, which makes people more mobile instead of being in a static position, where socialization takes place. The only places to really socialize now are in towns and hubs, which is ironic. Open-world adventuring, and questing, is where solo content reigns supreme. The only socialization in these zones are the chat channels now. Bring back the required group-content, with some form of downtime and penalties, and you'll bring back more socialization.
Dungeons are another place where there is less socialization, because they are designed to be linear and fast-paced. Gone are the days of camping dungeons, as in EQ, where people would literally spend hours waiting for bosses. This is when the socialization took place, because people wasted their time waiting for spawns, so they chatted about anything, including their real life, or real life topics, or in-game topics, etc.
I think exactly those things. TERA players will get angry at you if you attack something, in GW2 I have never had that problem unless they were a newbie and didn't understand that GW2's tapping system differs from the traditional "me first" mentality. I've actually had to explain it to a few people as they shouted obscenities at me... in the end they were thankful and hopefully realize how old mechanics can make you a bit irritable.
agreed, also just because i join a small group doesnt mean i became more social. If we can enjoy the shared content and still communicate with people next to me without being in a group thats totally fine. The main purpose of grouping is not socializing, is going through small group content. And if we can easily share that content and rewards without groping up and be rewarded and still be social then theres no need to group up unless i have a speficic group of friends i want to group up with. I accept content sharing without grouping. I like what GW2 did in that aspect.
I played Asheron's Call and Anarchy Online back when they were released, so I know exactly what you're talking about.
Interestingly enough I found Diablo 3 on hardcore (right after the game was released) to be the sort of social experience newer games don't tend to provide. I am sure that sounds crazy to anyone who started later, anyone who played softcore, or anyone who died early on in hardcore. We didn't know the content ahead of us, we didn't want to die, and since we were the first there were no upgrades whatsoever available in the auction house. It became extremely important to make friends to trade equipment and progress/grind together.
I had a blast, but as the game got easier with patches and people beat the game on inferno, and more gear started flooding the auction house, it became much less social.
Agreed. Even with games that have forced grouping, there is no such thing as forced socializing. All you end up with is people in groups not talking to each other. And that doesn't make it a social game just because people are in groups.
I think the best an MMO can hope to do is to encourage people to work together to accomplish things in game, and create an environment where it is easy to socialize if the players want to. There are times when people feel like talking and times when you they don't, but working together towards a goal, grouped or not, I think most people want to say "thank you" or comment on something that happened. From those simple phrases, full blown conversations can be born, and from those friendships.
Note that when I say encourage, I mean the carrot not the stick. Things should be doable solo, but people should not be penalized for helping or receiving help, and even incentives could be rewarded for helping people.
feeling of social community IMO, comes from group/chat, dedicated game or server with lot of known people, animated chatting and easy grouping.
Rift felt more social at beta test I guess, well can't confirm as I don't play it.
GW2 is not social as I saw like many "generations" of players past 5 months + as game have nothing much to offer, "social life" is limited by asking "Any events?" or "Shatter/balth/Mela up?" , but also happend sometime to see people chatting like that in map chat (about anything). I would tell it depends on server and time of the day, but it far from being dedicated social life.
I feel much more "homy" at some small and may be crap games where people chat easily and a lot. Is it not why we play MMO for? cuz single game can be as fun or even better as playstyle.
try before buy, even if it's a game to avoid bad surprises.
Worst surprises for me: Aion, GW2
and people say that the MMos are un social the red lines realy made me lol.........................................
coffe house not that much since there is always a seat for you, but bars on the other habd (near the bar tender) when you sit near someone you say hi at least (wired haaa being nice to people.
well how about people you work with you at least have to say hi Atleast, (and in mmo you are kind of working with other players) plus how would you like to be social (fourcing you to group {yup great idea being fourced in game, like real life isnt enough already})
"Games like Guild Wars 2 are not necessarily more social, but they’re differently social. They attempt to make things easier to play, accessible, and fun, but also bridge the gap in an age of voice chat and lightning-fast leveling speed"
I think the OP is too in love with the MMO flavour of the year GW2. There has been a decline in players interacting let alone social activity on MMO's since they first came out.
Players selling goods and creating an immense amount of social interation turned into Auction houses. One AH which at least created a social hub turned into mutliple ones all over the game. In GW2 you do not have to even be near a trading post to trade unless picking up items. So GW2 turned trading into an activity where you do not even having to be somewhere where other players are when you trade. For GW3 the AH will just be a UI panel, no trading post, zero player interaction. Thats just one example of how MMO's are becoming so designed for solo players calling it a MMO is a joke.
Again you dont get it, Adding or not Adding AH wont make a diffrence (in WoW you have to go to AH to post things and that didnt make any diffrence). see the comment above yours and you will get the idae of why this is happening.
If you want to be socail nothing will stop you, because its as simple as saying HI
Hero Evermore
Guild Master of Dragonspine since 1982.
Playing Path of Exile and deeply in love with it.