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I personally think that anything other than PMs and broadcast/area chat takes more from the game than it adds to it. I beleive that cities, towns, crossroads etc, add an immense amount of rpg flavor to any game, and general, guild, lfg or regional chat is one of the big factors in burnout rate and lack of immersion. I mean, I think that if a game is designed where you are supposed to "explore" a dungeon, then you shouldn't be able to type "/gc hey do i go right or left at the creepy skeleton to find the Vorpal Sword of Chuck Norris Goodness?"
what do you think?
Comments
In most games I end up filtering general and/or shout channels due to the massive amount of name calling and stupidity between people I can not abide.
Barrens chat: Um ya, that is when I learned how to leave a channel in WoW
Lower Jeuno: First time I filtered a channel in FFXI
GW: filtered the area chat since day 1
EvE: I only keep local chat up in low sec space for security reasons, any other time I ignore it do to people ego building in high sec
Ya, list goes on, but overall I don't even use most "general" channels anymore do to stupid people.
Having to stand around for hours in some place to get people together to do anything would kill my interest in the game entirely. If someome told me there was an MMORPG with only local-area speech, it would definately help the burnout rate for me since I wouldn't burnout on the game, I just wouldn't play it.
I strongly think that withouth GLOBAL chat channels - MMORPG is just a multiplayer rpg.
When i play MMO i do this for community ,otherwise I would just play TES IV Oblivion - right ?
I enjoy chatting with newbs , guildies , roleplaying and whatever ...
and when i dont feel like it, i just turn off the global chat - simple as that.
So all the "MMOS" without global chat (Guildwars, DDO come to mind) are seriously hampered , and not really MMOs in my oppinion
"Before this battle is over all the world will know that few...stood against many." - King Leonidas
Interesting. I wonder how to approach these statements. I do believe we have fundamentally different ideas of what an mmorpg is.
To me, an mmorpg is another world, with its own rules. It may be as like or different the real world of any era and location as it will. To me, a world with global chat is a strange world, and not one I enjoy roleplaying in. It is much more useful as a chatroom with toys (toons and mobs).
I don't have to meet everybody, or hear everybody, or interact directly with everybody, to experience an mmorpg. No more than I have to interact with everybody to experience the real world.
"My" difference between RPG and MMORPG isn't that I can communicate with everybody, but that everybody is somebody - not just a script. That potentially makes gameplay and storyline far less predictable, but such would fall under my definition of an entertaining and engaging mmorpg.
I figure most mmorpgs do/should allow all users to interact - but not by such easy means as a global chat (that probably doesn't have a realistic incharacter reason to exist). Whatever means available to the world you're in should be used. (At worst, that means going on foot to whomever you wish to communicate with, at best, it is a button on your little WorldwideTalkPad) This is for immersiveness, not for mmorpg definition. Very much fits under the mmorpg definition, and I am interested in only a few of those titles.
The future: Adellion
Common flaw in MMORPGs: The ability to die casually
Advantages of Adellion: Dynamic world (affected by its inhabitants)
Player-driven world (beasts won't be an endless supply of mighty swords, gold will come from mines, not dragonly dens)
Player-driven world (Leadership is the privilege of a player, not an npc)
Interesting. I wonder how to approach these statements. I do believe we have fundamentally different ideas of what an mmorpg is.
To me, an mmorpg is another world, with its own rules. It may be as like or different the real world of any era and location as it will. To me, a world with global chat is a strange world, and not one I enjoy roleplaying in. It is much more useful as a chatroom with toys (toons and mobs).
I don't have to meet everybody, or hear everybody, or interact directly with everybody, to experience an mmorpg. No more than I have to interact with everybody to experience the real world.
"My" difference between RPG and MMORPG isn't that I can communicate with everybody, but that everybody is somebody - not just a script. That potentially makes gameplay and storyline far less predictable, but such would fall under my definition of an entertaining and engaging mmorpg.
I figure most mmorpgs do/should allow all users to interact - but not by such easy means as a global chat (that probably doesn't have a realistic incharacter reason to exist). Whatever means available to the world you're in should be used. (At worst, that means going on foot to whomever you wish to communicate with, at best, it is a button on your little WorldwideTalkPad) This is for immersiveness, not for mmorpg definition. Very much fits under the mmorpg definition, and I am interested in only a few of those titles.
Hmm for me I prefer MMO's that have a global chat. As long as I can turn it off whenever I like it's a nice tool to have when I want it. Remember that most people who play MMORPG's are not hard-core (or even moderate in most cases) Roleplayers. They're out for the fun of seeing and experiencing a fantasy environment. They're probably NOT that into the idea of having to travel to talk to people.
Global chat makes it easier to get in touch with the community in an MMORPG. And, once you've played an of the MMO's on the market for a few months the community is really all that's going to keep you coming back. Global chat helps to be the cement in that glue. Without it we're just a bunch of individuals that bump into each other once in a while. Global chat, much like global communications today, is what ties people together and makes them feel like a part of something larger than themselves.
Currently Playing: Dungeons and Dragons Online.
Sig image Pending
Still in: A couple Betas
I like global guild chat, raid chat (where applicable), group chat, and user configurable global chat channels. If you don't include guild chat, people just work around it anyway, via ICQ, Ventrilo, etc. It's just a necessity for coordinating guild efforts.
I am less crazy about "General" channels that you have to opt out of. EQ added serverwide general and regional chat channels while I was gone, and I turned that off. It just got on my nerves. Sometimes WoW general (regional) chat was amusing to watch, sometimes I turned that off too.
Where people are talking in "say", there's a lot of chat spam that isn't particularly RP friendly, most of the time. If a group of people are going to be standing around talking about how that last fight parsed out, I'd be just as happy to have them go away and do it in guildchat.
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This is where I draw the line: __________________.
Currently Playing: Dungeons and Dragons Online.
Sig image Pending
Still in: A couple Betas
A tell should be a spell that costs an easily accesible component (like a copper coin) and a small amount of mana. Guilds should have to quest for their guild channel communication item. They should need to obtain an amulet of communing to be able to communicate telepathically and new members of the guild should need to obtain this useful item to become communicating members.
Otherwise, communications of this type could be done by hiring messangers, carrier pigeons, town criers, etc....anything but shouts, auctions, and tells.
They added a new chat system that allowed user made channels some time ago. Those are serverwide. They are useful for guild alliance chat, etc. Darn... They weren't released with an expansion, but between expansions, and now I can't seem to think of when. It had to be a good long while ago, since we used those channels for an old guild alliance... There are newer chat channels that you autojoin now unless you opt out... THOSE were added sometime between the release of Gates of Discord and Depths of Darkhollow, when I wasn't playing. They can be turned off with the alt-O options menu, thank goodness. I can't speak for all servers, but serverwide general chat seemed to consist mainly of people trying to prove how uber they are, and newbies asking questions and then being made fun of for it.
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This is where I draw the line: __________________.
They added a new chat system that allowed user made channels some time ago. Those are serverwide. They are useful for guild alliance chat, etc. Darn... They weren't released with an expansion, but between expansions, and now I can't seem to think of when. It had to be a good long while ago, since we used those channels for an old guild alliance... There are newer chat channels that you autojoin now unless you opt out... THOSE were added sometime between the release of Gates of Discord and Depths of Darkhollow, when I wasn't playing. They can be turned off with the alt-O options menu, thank goodness. I can't speak for all servers, but serverwide general chat seemed to consist mainly of people trying to prove how uber they are, and newbies asking questions and then being made fun of for it.
AHH, see there's the key. Those aren't really "Server wide" channels but rather "user configured server-wide channels" Basically small groups. I thought you meant chat rooms with the entire server jabbering away at each other (which would be nightmarish). I don't see a problem with player configurable chat rooms that span the server.
The later ones you list would have driven me nuts... and I agree with you there.
Currently Playing: Dungeons and Dragons Online.
Sig image Pending
Still in: A couple Betas
The new general auto-join channels are NOT usermade. They are actually the entire server jabbering away at each other. SOE added them.
I feel bad for newbies who don't realize you can turn them off.
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This is where I draw the line: __________________.
Man... Chuck Norris has invaded almost every MMO on the planet... he must be a virus. The newb guilds in DAOC even had huge chuck norris discussions... it was sick.
Thankfully I haven't heard anything about him in DDO's free trial yet..... maybe they have an immunity....
Currently Playing: Dungeons and Dragons Online.
Sig image Pending
Still in: A couple Betas
those are damn good ideas.
either way, in my original post I was saying that regional general chat channels are the ones that I think should get the boot. Guild channels and PMs (while not realistic in a fantasy setting) definitly help a game, but zone chats usually are filled with flame wars or other BS that just kills the game. That's NOT the community that keeps people coming back to the game. Of course, MMORPGs are all on easy mode right now, so chat channels won't be going anywhere for most games.
Which FF Character Are You?
Instant Global Carrier Pigeons FTW!