People leaving the forums and GoW

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I have been a member of these boards for about 7 months now and when i joined this was an overall positive feeling place to come together with the community and discuss the game. In that time i have seen the uproar over GW starting with the preview threads resulting in, among other things, death threats directed at the devs.

I also witnessed the craziness over GW collusion which resulted in people quitting the game.

It has been getting progressively worse as time goes by and i am extremely troubled by this. I have seen several of my friends leave the forum (not to mention the devs) and this trend continues even this very day. Why are so many people leaving? Various reasons bit they are all able to boiled down to one thing.

These boards are becoming toxic.

I love this community and i have made clear my feelings about GoW and this troubles me. I dont want to leave these boards but if things continue to progress the way they are i am going to have to.

This has been almost every day for 2 weeks that i have been upset IRL because of things that happen here which illustrates how much i love the forums. If i didnt why would i care.

I am sorry if this thread offends anyone as that is not my intent but i must speak my mind. What i have been seeing mostly is name calling, call-outs, unnecessary flags causing threads to be closed, and veiled threats.

Just today this behavior jas caused someone else to quit the forums permanently. This person is a long time member and an excellent contributor to the community. I unfortunately forsee myself following suit as well if this nose-dive isnt corrected.

What i propose to solve the problems is this:

  1. Further clarification of the community guidelines.

I feel some people are uncertain (myself included) on exactly what some rules mean and what is considered a csll-out, threat, abusive language, ect.

  1. At least 1 more mod. Someone in Europe or the Americas who can monitor the forums while our aussie friends are asleep or otherwise unavailable .

I think that asking for some volunteers and maybe voting for the new mod could work. (And of course @Saltypatra would have veto power)

Anyway i think that is all i can say right now and hesitantly await any feedback

Vangor

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Interesting post and I think itā€™s partially true that in game frustration is boiling over onto the forum. Whether itā€™s the console players feeling belittled by the pc crowd over the ai/cascades /unity kerfuffle, or the state of the console meta and proposed ā€˜solutionsā€™ that arenā€™t going to implemented until who knows when, and then theyā€™ll probably be as popular as a follow-through in a space suit. Hell, itā€™s probably quite a few reasons, thereā€™s cheating accusations, glā€™s trying influence the gw ranksā€¦ The list goes on.
Iā€™m not saying that I think the above things are the issues, but we definitely need a euro mod AND a Yank mod imo.
I love this game and occasionally I have vented publicly and let my mood spoil my usually affable nature. I aim not to do this again and I apologise if I have pissed anyone off. (apart from mfsf1) lol.
Nice idea vā˜ŗļø
Regards
Dan
PS
Perhaps another installment of @Nimhain lair might go towards solving the stink in the proverbial space suit?

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Iā€™ll give a couple comments:

  1. There has definitely been a change in people over the last few months. Many regulars have moved on, but the ā€œDear Johnā€ posts have been around as long as I have, and probably longer. A certain amount of turnover is totally normal.
  2. I think you might be romanticizing the past a little bit. Iā€™ve been visiting these forums for about 16 months and participating actively for a little less than that. The tone has definitely changed, but there has always been an element of negativity that has come out in different ways. When I joined, meme-bombing was the anti-social outlet for some peopleā€™s frustrations and that has been cracked down on, but there have been other forms of trolling, insulting and other hurtful behavior that have come and gone with different people.
  3. My above comments discount what youā€™re saying somewhat, but I DO agree that there is something to what you say. My view is that the more recent changes in the game have polarized the playerbase more than anything that happened in my first year of play. Mainly, Iā€™m talking about Guild Wars, but there are other issues including the response to the 1 troop defence, the seeming inaction on certain cheats/exploits, the clumsy response to the ā€œnot random random gem generatorsā€, the slow response to the Justice League meta on console, and probably some other things. The devs have had good reasons for responding the way they have on every single issue, whether I or anyone else agree with their reasons or not. The game is more competitive and polarizing than it used to be and the forums reflect that.

That said, I would wholeheartedly agree with the call for at least one more mod in a different time zone. Iā€™ve said that a few times already, anyway. I donā€™t think we need a vote - Salty and/or the devs can make that decision just fine on their own.

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This is probably true and i hadnā€™t thought of that so thank you @Stan excellent post as usual brudda

I also agree to this. I was more spitballing ideas in my op than anything.

Personally i dont think there is anything wrong with venting on here (we all know i am not afraid to do it) and while your intent to abstain from it is admirable i feel it is unnecessary. You and i @Dan_ozzzy189 have had our differences and worked them out and i have absolutely no animosity towards you and i think you feel the same.

Imo if someone needs to vent on here, as long as they do so without attacking others or using abusive language it should be allowed. In fact i would even say sometimes a vent session can spark very interesting and constructive discussion

Thanks for the input @Stan and @Dan_ozzzy189

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I am quoting this because of your tendency to delete these posts before devs get to see themā€¦

Thank you for your input @KrudlerTheHorse

I am sure everyone here is glad you stopped by

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Go for it pimpin! Lets see them! Make sure you include all the ā€œmisty the cowā€ ones too! All of them!

I have no alt accounts unlike you and your barnyard personalities

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For what itā€™s worth I decided to get a my flag out. To wave the smell of horse shite away.
No need for that imo.

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I just think i cant do this anymoreā€¦

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I agree about the level of toxicity on the boards increasing. I think it is partly due to a void left when the devs left. They often surfaced in threads as moderate voices, not just to moderate. It seems like even those who disagreed would give them a certain level of respect and civility, but they donā€™t extend that to other ā€œnormalā€ players they disagree with. Hopefully this is just a learning curve thing, and the posters can learn to disagree civilly. And with that said, I do think the majority of posters actually do this already. From what Iā€™ve seen, there is a small but very vocal group that causes the majority of the toxicity around here, but unfortunately a small group can make a big stink.

I hadnā€™t really considered the guidelines unclear. But after re-reading them and some private conversations, I can see that there is a lot of vagary in them, and that personal interpretation plays a big role. So more clarity and possibly some specific examples couldnā€™t hurt.

Totally agree with this, since having somebody available at different times of day would be super helpful, if itā€™s at all possible.

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I try and do something nice and still i get treated as tho i am ā€œthe bad guyā€

Thank you to those who posted in support of my thoughts and please continue down the path this thread started!

Goodbyeā€¦

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The only person to call you a bad guy here has had his post flagged by the community. Unless thereā€™s something Iā€™m not seeing, you need to ignore that.

Back to the real topic, I see what you mean about the abuse of the flag system. The ā€œtop guilds want clarityā€ thread is locked down again for no reason that I can see. I was trying to have a reasonable discussion there, but canā€™t even try again for another 4 hours. A moderator who is awake and working in these hours could probably put a stop to whatever is happening there.

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Yet another Eika picture post got flagged and as long as itā€™s there, the thread will keep auto locking

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This thread has exactly as many flagged/hidden posts, yet it isnā€™t locked down. I guess I donā€™t understand how the system works.

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We donā€™t know how many flagged that one. Get a few more here and it could happen as well

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I always assumed that it took multiple posts being flagged to trigger the thread lock-down. That would seem like an indication of a tire-fire. One post being flagged numerous times, when it is already hidden, really shouldnā€™t do anything.

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Regular reader here, not much of a poster, but player and forum member since the very beginning.
I wonder what this thing is between you, @Vangor, and @KrudlerTheHorse. It comes back every time you two are crossing paths here. Canā€™t you both get it out of the way? I know Krudler is in the wrong since he is ā€˜calling outā€™. If he goes on, he will most likely be banned, but surely there is something to what he says, since he is so persistent about it.
And Vangor, you are likely to say ā€œI have no clueā€, but I am certain thatā€™s not true. You must have at least some idea why he has a problem with you.

EDIT: the reason Iā€™m saying this is I find both of you have something to say in the threads, now and then. Would be a shame to lose either one of you because of this.

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And on topic: like I said, been here since the beginning, and frankly I donā€™t find the tone of voice that much different throughout these years. Trolls come and go, memes come and go, and the devs get a pile of shit in front of their door every once in a while.

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Iā€™m inclined to believe another moderator in another timezone would be useful. Honestly I donā€™t that change on its own making a great deal of difference. Thereā€™s a group of individuals that are incapable of governing their own actions, they bait others into confrontation, they perpetuate conflict, derail threads and create new owns to refocus attention to themselves. This is the toxicity Iā€™ve experienced since making a forum account. These folks can take a hiatus or be forced to and it will make the overall feel more constructive and perhaps more appreciation posts might arouse attention more than the criticisms. I believe more people would be active to take thier place as far as activity goes.

So whether more babysitters or fewer babies is the better resolution, it would be an improvement.

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Ok i see your mind bruddaā€¦

Thanks for your input

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I had issues with Vangor at first too. I dont think hes a bad guy, i just think he can be gruff and blunt at times. We have since talked and have even become, dare i say, friends. To be fair, i can be gruff and blunt tok and sometimes two people like that can clash.

To the original postā€¦i agree 200% about the mods! Meaning i think we need a couple more.

Also, as long as I have been coming here there have been negative posts, and positive too. Its no different than in any community. I believe the main issue is gw. It is a great idea that was rolled out terribly. Ot has cost the game some good players and that sucks. Im not sure if the new patch will fix it, but i really hope it does. Many people, including myself are fed up with it. I dont mind losing at all. But when that loss affects an entire guild that really tends to dishearten people. Many of us are proud of our guilds and letting them down because of a broken system just makes you want to say screw it and move on.

I too love this game, i just dont know if i can make it another 2 or 3 patches hoping they fix it.

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