Those days are over. Most realms are too small for that anymore and for those that aren’t the players are too busy playing the game to be wasting time memeing in trade chat. Now those types of chats happen else where, and out of game more often than not.
Times have changed both the game and it’s playerbase but make no mistake. People talking means they aren’t playing. The reason this used to happen in the past was there was so little to do in the game that people would just sit there for hours chatting with others. Now they go to the forums or Reddit for that.
If you are in game, you are more likely doing activities now and never in one zone or area long enough to have a conversation like that.
Small Servers even became a thing due to corporate greed, a new way to milk customers by charging players to transfer off of servers that were once big, and once enough people leave everyone else makes alts elsewhere.
Probably the most fiscally unethical thing Blizzard has ever done.
And Crossrealm/Sharding was when “playerbase toxicity” became a thing, once it came to the point that you never saw the same players twice in open world there was no need to maintain a personal reputation, no reason to not ninja, in fact being and behaving toxic became the most progression-rewarding way to play, and still is to this day.
You can even change your name if you somehow become famously toxic despite all this. World of Warcraft is Pay2Grief.
Except it was the players who wanted the feature, not Blizzard. They were opposed to the idea of server and faction transfers.
Reputation didn’t mean a thing during Classic/BC. Especially after everyone started accusing others of ninjing when someone dared win a loot roll against them.
All you had to do was find one of the many guilds that didn’t care about what you did outside the guild. There were even several guilds that went out of their way to troll/grief pugs. They were able to keep trolling because the they could and most of those players played roles that were in high demand like tanks or healers, or they had an item that was in high demand (ubrs key for example)
What the heck does this even mean?.. chat has always been a cesspool.
“Community” died with the iPhone and social media. People socialize with real friends… not in-game acquaintances much anymore.
Nothing is going to change this… it is a social change… people don’t write letters anymore, people don’t read magazines anymore, people don’t read newspapers anymore… and people don’t socialize in video games anymore (the message real-life friends and family while they play). Computers and mobile phones have killed all of these means of communication.
In the end, when Classic launches, we will see what “community” looks like when it is forced . It is my assertion that societal norms have changed and classic community be no different than the retail community. Time will tell.