Why are Video Game Forums so negative.

NukeGamer

I've been playing mmos for a long time and today's forums or so toxic. Take this one for examples you have a single poster make multiple threads (usually a new one once the previous gets off the 1st page) on the F2P, B2p, P2p topic. His post are identical filled with bias , uneducated , baseless , post supported by zero facts. One thread he claims games like Swtor, ffxiv, and Wow will be dead in 2016 two days later he moves the goal post to 2017.

These exact threads are littered with the same people complaining about a topic they don't have any knowledge on.

 Then you have threads about "whales" who one poster determined equals any player who spends $47/month on a hobby they enjoy? Why do people care what others spend their money on? Who are these people to tell others they are right or wrong. Another group usually the same people as above complain games aren't hard enough. And if somebody states they are they are met with you weren't around during x game or you don't know what a challenge is. Again who are you people to tell another person what they find challenging or not?

 If all you have to say about a hobby is 100% negative and it's clear the hobby is not changing for you let me ask this simple question? Why are you spending so much time and energy on something that is negative in your life? Why don't you focus instead on something positive or something you enjoy?

 There is no shame in accepting you out grew a hobby or a hobby changed and left you in the dust. Wouldn't it be great if you could come to a site like this or a specific game forum and it wasn't filled with doom and gloom, I'm quitting, old days garbage, copy//pasting some fanatics irrational links, complaining about how millions and millions enjoy the direction but you don't, some poster changing dates as he spams the same threads? Instead imagine a forum filled with productive discussion, excitement for a hobby you enjoy.

 If all you do is complain and pretend to think you an expert on the video game industry it's time to move on. You are on mmorpg and your name isn't blue, you aren't an expert no matter how much you copy/paste.

Nanfoodle

LOL, read my sig =-) Game bashers are a special bread. Im not talking about someone who says they dislike a game and move on. Im talking about peoples accounts when you look at all their posts and all they do is bash games. IMO accounts like that should be closed.

NukeGamer

Nanfoodle said:

LOL, read my sig =-) Game bashers are a special bread. Im not talking about someone who says they dislike a game and move on. Im talking about peoples accounts when you look at all their posts and all they do is bash games. IMO accounts like that should be closed.

I agree I'm sure I'll get the typical response of oh look someone complaining about complainers garbage but I ask specific questions to understand why the video game community in general allows their negative behavior to continue, and why they don't move on.

Agent_Joseph

games what I playing are better than yours ... LOL

mmoguy43

It's because people give into the toxicity instead of fighting it.
All this steams from:

Anonymity

Narcissism

Elitism

Schadenfreude

No care or consideration for what it takes to make a game, all that matters is that they are entertained.

Either are uneducated or perhaps, worse, partially educated so they feel more entitled to a wrong opinion.

Sovrath

mmoguy43 said:

It's because people give into the toxicity instead of fighting it.
All this steams from:

Anonymity

Narcissism

Elitism

Schadenfreude

No care or consideration for what it takes to make a game, all that matters is that they are entertained.

Either are uneducated or perhaps, worse, partially educated so they feel more entitled to a wrong opinion.

I think there is something to this. It closely mirrors some of my thoughts. There are all these angry disenfranchised people out there who are probably a bit bitter in their own lives.

They are either "not that bright" or extremely bright in that "I have problems relating to people AND putting on my clothes/bathing" way.

They lash out because that's all they have in their bitterness. They could just rebut in an intelligent calm manner but they tie up their opinions very much with their self worth. I feel they give gamers a bad name and help perpetuate bad stereotypes.

LacedOpium

@NukeGamer - You do realize that you are doing the same in your OP that you accuse others of doing on this forum, do you not?

It's a public forum open to people of all ages, experience, education level, opinion, etc.  There is no reason to take any of it to heart.

NukeGamer

LacedOpium said:

@NukeGamer - You do realize that you are doing the same in your OP that you accuse others of doing on this forum, do you not?

It's a public forum open to people of all ages, experience, education level, opinion, etc.  There is no reason to take any of it to heart.

No I'm not I'm asking the question as why this is acceptable in video games.  I don't take anything in these forums to heart it that doesn't me I can't ask why their behavior is so accepted.

When I go to a forum for my truck it's filled with people of all ages, experiences, education level and opinions but is 99% positive and filled with productive discussions. 

sketocafe

There aren't any good games out there to distract people from their forum posting.

laxie

NukeGamer said:

These exact threads are littered with the same people complaining about a topic they don't have any knowledge on.

When it comes to my "whales" thread, I am genuinely interested in the various payment models. The original goal of that thread was to get some sense of how much people at the top of the spectrum are paying. Not because it is "good" or "bad", or because it would make a person a certain category. I just like to read about how the various payment models work.

I think video-game forums in general are quite dodgy. If you are a gamer and have 2 hours of your time to spend on a computer, you spend it playing the games you like. The main reason you would go to a video-game forum is when you are unhappy enough to not play your games.

Combine that with the psychological factors @mmoguy43 mentioned above, it is no wonder a large part of forum visitors are pissed off and explosive in nature.

NukeGamer

sketocafe said:

There aren't any good games out there to distract people from their forum posting.

Oh except 99.9% of gamers are actually playing these games you and the others don't think are any good.  

The forum community on sites like this and specific games are a tiny fraction of the actual population.   

So because you don't think there are any good games you feel it's productive to complain on forums about what 99% of the community is enjoying? 

Dont you think finding a new hobby would suit you better?

*you* isn't direct at you it's an example and direct at all who I'm asking the questio to.

Distopia

sketocafe said:

There aren't any good games out there to distract people from their forum posting.

Most negativity goes hand in hand with this type of rational, basically hubris, only these types know what a good game is...

zaberfangx

Is just people not happy what they got they stress out well most of them, so they let out there stress on forums or other places. Like some people there not happy if you don't play how they see you playing even if not there place where you spend your money or how to play people don't like that some other people have some type of freedom. So they share there sometime just hateful or toxic post but is not going away in how some game are made for hateful and toxic talk and even big ego aloud to play a role in a game.

Drisdane

Not everyone in those posts you mentioned are negative. In the whales topic, some people mentioned what they saw in their experiences in order to answer the original question. In the other threads, many of us claimed that we found difficulty in MMO's lacking, but we stated it as our own opinion, and, in my case, even responded with a list of things that would make the perfect game for us. 

I am not saying that there isn't rampant negativity, nay-saying, and vitriol being spilled all over the forums. I am just saying that it isn't everyone that responds to those threads.

mmoguy43

LacedOpium said:

@NukeGamer - You do realize that you are doing the same in your OP that you accuse others of doing on this forum, do you not?

It's a public forum open to people of all ages, experience, education level, opinion, etc.  There is no reason to take any of it to heart.

Absolutely not. And do take your own advice when I say this- ALL THE TIME People try to turn anyone's unhappy observation into an "ironic" attack back at the OP to null anything valid they have to say.
You can't fight toxicity by being toxic yourself.
Here is an extreme example. http://i.imgur.com/LkpPkes.png

AngryElf

Because nerds

NukeGamer

Drisdane said:

Not everyone in those posts you mentioned are negative. In the whales topic, some people mentioned what they saw in their experiences in order to answer the original question. In the other threads, many of us claimed that we found difficulty in MMO's lacking, but we stated it as our own opinion, and, in my case, even responded with a list of things that would make the perfect game for us. 

I am not saying that there isn't rampant negativity, nay-saying, and vitriol being spilled all over the forums. I am just saying that it isn't everyone that responds to those threads.

I agree 100% and my intention wasn't to single out everyone in every thread that's negative.  

Drisdane

Even in the toxic posts, you sometimes get a nugget of good info. I'd rather everyone post civilly, instead of being douchebags when expressing their opinions, but because everyone's e-peen is HUGE when cloaked in internet anonymity.... you get the idea.

Honestly, I just take the venomous posts with a grain of salt and still read them. As I said, you can sometimes still get something worthwhile out of them (even if it is just a quick laugh), so long as you don't let them bother you.

SavageHorizon

This forum never used to be as bad as this, perhaps when they had a political forum but before that it was ok. I'm going back ten years, i never used to post because i was enjoying mmo's at the time but i used to read threads.

Panserbjorne39

NukeGamer said:

Nanfoodle said:

LOL, read my sig =-) Game bashers are a special bread. Im not talking about someone who says they dislike a game and move on. Im talking about peoples accounts when you look at all their posts and all they do is bash games. IMO accounts like that should be closed.

I agree I'm sure I'll get the typical response of oh look someone complaining about complainers garbage but I ask specific questions to understand why the video game community in general allows their negative behavior to continue, and why they don't move on.NukeGamer said:

Nanfoodle said:

LOL, read my sig =-) Game bashers are a special bread. Im not talking about someone who says they dislike a game and move on. Im talking about peoples accounts when you look at all their posts and all they do is bash games. IMO accounts like that should be closed.

I agree I'm sure I'll get the typical response of oh look someone complaining about complainers garbage but I ask specific questions to understand why the video game community in general allows their negative behavior to continue, and why they don't move on.

I think it comes down to poor forum moderation. At this site in particular but I've seen the same thing in other MMO forums as well. Forum moderation varies wildly as to what is acceptable and what isn't. And it will vary depending on the moderator as well. MMORPG in particular seems to attract the bittervet crowd more than others so there's that. 
Like any other job, it's hard to find good people to do it let alone unpaid volunteers. We can also look at who these people are. Stereo types are based in truth and I truly think behind most of the trolls and complainers there is a lonely, bitter, angry dude that just needs to get laid. Really really needs to get laid. And probably get some sunshine too.  

Jonnyp2

But I mean it's hard when devs are just out for money and CEOs are micromanaging every aspect of development. Each game made these days, particularly MMOs, are analyzed by a shadowy cult of faceless executives who scour every system in order to best exploit it for maximum profits.  There is absolutely no passion involved, only the desire for more money.  Much unlike the glory days when games were actually fun and developers lived out of their parents basements.   

Obviously the only way we can counter this is by posting extremely negative comments in every single thread about these games.  If we eliminate any trace of enjoyment for other players then maybe the devs will finally listen and do their damn jobs better!  It's just too bad all these whales are spending thousands of dollars a month to keep them afloat.

Cyrael

Well, as a general rule of thumb...

When people are enjoying something they want to continue doing that something.

When they are not enjoying that something they want to complain about it.

Sovrath

Jonnyp2 said:

But I mean it's hard when devs are just out for money and CEOs are micromanaging every aspect of development. Each game made these days, particularly MMOs, are analyzed by a shadowy cult of faceless executives who scour every system in order to best exploit it for maximum profits.  There is absolutely no passion involved, only the desire for more money.  Much unlike the glory days when games were actually fun and developers lived out of their parents basements.   

Obviously the only way we can counter this is by posting extremely negative comments in every single thread about these games.  If we eliminate any trace of enjoyment for other players then maybe the devs will finally listen and do their damn jobs better!  It's just too bad all these whales are spending thousands of dollars a month to keep them afloat.

I don't think I buy that.

I would say that if developers and executives wanted to make "so much money" then they would probably be in a different business. What person would attach themselves to a product that is so iffy from start to finish, where they are expected to actually converse with their clientele who have a vested interest and want their voices heard and who think that, given very little information, they can make assertions about the product and even expect that "all" their voices be heard.

only for the product to launch and it "might" be one of the few successful examples.

Developers can find better business to work in, have at least a little more job security and executives can work in business that make far better money.

Really, other than having a passion for the video game genre, would anyone actually invest a lot of money expecting a good return? I wouldn't.

zuzia123

people are just bad.

makasouleater69

Why, because the gaming industry is disgusting now a days. You got the most shady business model ever, kick start ha. Hey guys give me millions, and maybe ill do something, maybe not. Then you got "Early Access" Which is basically the same thing. Then you got f2p, which is just trying to get people addicted to something, like a drug dealer. This is what happens when you let a bunch of shady shit happen, with no laws. 

Its strange, when you go to forums, where the game is a non shady business model, and tells its people to the t whats it doing, you don't get this kind of thing...... Who would of thought... haha. 

NukeGamer

makasouleater69 said:

Why, because the gaming industry is disgusting now a days. You got the most shady business model ever, kick start ha. Hey guys give me millions, and maybe ill do something, maybe not. Then you got "Early Access" Which is basically the same thing. Then you got f2p, which is just trying to get people addicted to something, like a drug dealer. This is what happens when you let a bunch of shady shit happen, with no laws. 

Its strange, when you go to forums, where the game is a non shady business model, and tells its people to the t whats it doing, you don't get this kind of thing...... Who would of thought... haha. 

WoW has none of the things you mentioned and regarded as one of the worst communities...

So much for that theory hmm?