Serious question. I have been away from seriously playing MMOs since 2006 or so. I came back for some later expansions, but just casually. I am older (35) so maybe that’s part of the problem. Of course there were always jerks, but I dont remember anything like this. I dont remember there being any prestige about who can make the fiercest personal attack. Every single discussion didnt devolve into “alliance suck too badly to _______” or “just like all horde players to whine about ________.” Terms like “autism” and other offensive, homophobic, or racist slurs weren’t commonly thrown around like they are now.
There has always been a smaller top-tier and a much larger lower-tier (casual) players. But I dont remember the top tier actively degrading and hating on casual players. Because back then (before private servers) maybe it was understood that the casual players are the ones actually keeping the game running. Their subscriptions keep the game going. They’re the ones buying the stuff you farm off the auction house. They’re the ones paying you to run them through Maraudon. And now it seems like the vocal and hateful “top tier” are trying their hardest to make them want to quit.
So I am asking honestly… when did it become commonplace to treat other players like this? Is it the social media aspect of the game (discord, streaming, etc)? Was it a gradual change? Are new/younger players just less mature? Because if this is how the community treats itself, I don’t think it’s going to make it. Which is a shame for all of us. Playful banter and competitive, friendly trashtalking is fine. But what I see happening on discord and in game is a whole new level. And honestly its just embarrassing and sad. I joined the Incendius discord and all I can say is “yikes.” If you havent joined your server discord communities… be thankful. And stay far away. Which, again, is a shame because community should be something we promote.
Sorry for the long post… I didnt intend it to ramble so much. <3
Nope I missed that. I quit shortly after black temple was released. Cleared it twice and hung it up. So I guess my dates were wrong, that was 2007 not 2006.
Most of the complaining I see is about the game. And the whole “you think you want Classic, but you don’t” problem. But the game is EXACTLY how I remember it. I love it, and i love all of its flaws. I want warlock fear to be OP. I want warriors to be top dps. I am fine with herbalism spawn rates. The game itself is what I wanted.
What I hate is the community of players. This is not the vanilla community. All this talk about #nochanges… if you want to start somewhere with improvement ideas then we need a total (and sadly unrealistic) change in the player base.
@Glinda It is entirely possible, but i don’t think so. I remember a guy making a rape joke in a dungeon group once. We talked to his GM, who promptly booted him after seeing the chat screenshot. I can’t see that happening today. That’s pretty much a typical conversation on discord.
People aren’t hateful. Just some people take offense at every word. All that was always normal.
I’m not sure when it became cool to whine about words and call people “homophobic, toxic, racist,…”. I find this part of today’s culture rather laughable.
Yeah maybe that’s just it. Maybe I grew up and matured and got “more sensitive.” This was more intended to be an open discussion and not a chastising - apologies if I got off track a bit.
The problem is that most things people decry as xxxxxphobic or xxxxxist usually are not. If there was a 100% accuracy rating for the use of those terms then we wouldn’t have an issue lol. It’s closer to probably 0.5% though.
What happened is some of those casuals have delusions of being top tier hardcore players in a casual game.
With twitch streaming and content creation on YouTube. Everyone can play like the pros! They can also have that pro diva attitude and treat everyone else like garbage. Welcome to blizzard’s doughnut.
Oh they did. It just wasn’t as wide spread because the metas weren’t as well known. This also provided a much more apparent gap. That gap has shrunk significantly because the knowledge is more widely known. Resulting in more hardcore casual diva pros.