Boosting and anti boosting flame wars, PVP gatekeepers, AFKers and toxic BG throwers, trolls on forums, LFG and trade chat, parsing and difficulty elitists… I could go on and on. Nevermind all the toxicity on the forums towards people who just emotionally get upset at others because of differences in opinion - which happens on any forum to be fair but taken as a whole is more egregious in Wow forums & in game.
I thought this was just apart of video games/MMOs for a long time but after playing New World and trying FFXIV’s free trial I don’t get that vibe at all, at least not on the same level as WoW.
Personally, I think the issue is more complex that people who simplify it saying “well wow players are just toxic gamers” not only is that an insufficient explanation but it doesn’t help discuss the problem or solve the solution, even if it’s true if you are looking at outcomes only.
What I know for sure is the common anti-casual mindset and elitism/gatekeeping expressed in hardcore circles (which permeates all through the game) has a negative effect on new players joining the game and new player retention.
So, what are some solutions for wow to clean up its image? Personally I think more GMs and mods are necessary but perhaps the more perfect solution goes beyond “hire more people”
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Because most other MMO RPGs especially FF online offer some kind of incentive to help others. I could only imagine if we had some kind of system like this.
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FF is just as toxic, except they don’t have pvp.
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Perhaps that’s true, but all I can say I haven’t experienced toxicity yet. Perhaps I will as I am only level 62 in the game and thus the differences in play time and the law of large numbers may be confounding my variables.
The next step in gathering data would obviously be to reflect community opinion, as biased as it may be considering the home page of wow players is the forums, but it will serve as a check of self-awareness (or lack thereof) for a consensus of wow players to determine if this problem is exclusive to their game or not, and if so, to what extent.
Swear i’ve seen more political battles in trade chat than the news
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Issue is retail and FF are very similar, they are both basically single player games unless you do high end raiding or high mythic+.
FF doesn’t have a mythic+ version so the only real end game in FF is Savage raids and even then those aren’t farmed like wow raids as they all have bad luck protection and you’re basically fully done with getting the gear by like week 6-8.
The point in making is that the toxic behavior really shines at the high end. Also FF Savage raids are 8 man.
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Constantly posting in the forums is a form of toxicity for sure. Narcissism I believe is the word.
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With your higher post count than mine, I think you should be more concerned with that than I.
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Posting in a Lemon thread.
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I doubt your concerned much about anything outside of your opinioned troll posts and truthfully your one of those toxic players complaining about blizzard and other players not catering to your preconceived notion of how the game should work, heaven forbid you unsub and go do something that you enjoy rather than posting endless vitriol
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FFXIV did it by banning all boosting and making it so that there isn’t really a gear gap between the top and bottom for each content cycle. People can do the content they want and are rewarded appropriately. They don’t allow the community to gatekeep.
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This is a thread about toxicity in MMOs, you may want to post your daily emotional lemonhate rants elsewhere.
Thanks!
EDIT: On second thought, your reply is good example of the toxicity in the wow community I was discussing in the original post, so I think it’s useful as a reference.
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Gamers are largely toxic wherever they show up in relatively large numbers and are made to interface with each other. WoW is just a really good example.
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I have an even simpler explanation: the internet is toxic and brings out the worst in people regardless of the format.
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Dear Karen, while my post is blunt and opinioned, I don’t think it is toxic, please take the honest criticism and try some anti depressants, I’ve met plenty of wonderful wow players and personally I make it a point in game to be generous with others especially new players. Toxic is a buzzword that fits your posting profile to a Tee, and I believe others would agree. Also note that there is a difference between toxic and s#%t talking in “Barrens chat”. You gonna get called out for serving lemons when the trolls want strawberries.
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FF14 was the most toxic experience I ever had in a MMO. I think the biggest difference is people in WoW accept that the internet is a toxic place and somehow FF14 players and the OP have convinced themselves that in their magical realm the internet is no longer a toxic place.
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Maybe not having someone voice every tiny little inconvenience on the forums the moment they feel slighted… would reduce that.
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For reference, your posts are a large aspect of the toxicity lately, and a post criticizing toxicity, by the person generating much of the issues, and acting as a lightning rod for complaint, doesn’t help.
None of us are free of blame, but post like “Mages not providing water caused our BG loss” are a significantly toxic example.
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every MMO has toxicity dude…lol. Every one I’ve played has had issues.
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