Community obersvation over the years.

[alazar14]

I have sat by not participating in this community or the psu official website community since December of 2006. I observed the community on both sides. The major differences and the similarities. I have enough notes now and actual information/link and proof to make this claim.

I find the community in the psu official forums is not helping the game at all. Why? I see that every time a player has a problem with the game and lets people know about it, instead of them trying to help him/her figure out why they are having this problem they are very quick to be rude, tell him to #### off or just say the classic psu community line "gib rars" Or the useful people who post "Inb4lock" and stuff. This is a great example of the community at its finest. Why kind of message do you think they are sending the players who are considering to play psu? Obviously they don't seem to see a happy, peaceful together community like in a lot of mmorpgs. Many people who start mmorpg games like to look at the community forums before they actually join and the official forums are not a very positive example of what a good part of the psu community really is. I do understand sometimes people do get annoying and some of these people really should have most of their topics locked, but when it becomes as over used as it is now, when they community is as rude with so many players..that can't be all the poster's fault.

I have played about 12 MMORPG games in my life, I am 20 years old College student Living in Mexico, and I don't think that I have in real life or online profiles found a community as rude and seemingly unreasonable as the psu official forums. It honestly feels that when I am reading this its simply an argument over peoples online pride more so than the reason they started to discuss. Sometimes the original argument gets lost in all the cussing and disrespecting that people act upon each other. Its quite sad to see especially in a game where the community really needs to work together to pull it out of the hole.

I find the forums here to be quite better than the official forums. From what I have seen there is a lot less flaming for no reason, cyber pride arguments and less people offer "Gib rars" as a solution to a person's problem. It could be better but it seems like this community is much more like normal game communities.

So what do you guys think? Have you noticed this in the past? Do you have opinions on why this may be happening on the official forums, but this community is quite more calm and logical and accepting about most people's opinions?

(By the way I am using this study for a human theory class) So yes a lot of your posts will probaby been seen by professors. This is going along with my "Internet egos" study of how people act differently over the internet than real life.

Sorry If I miss spell a few words Spanish is my first language.

[Arada]

Well, it's true that PSO-World's forum tend to be a lot more calm than the official forum.

The main reason, well the reason I find the most sensitive, is that this site is actually a Phantasy Star Online site to begin with.

The game was originally released around 2000 (maybe 1999), so that's quite a long time ago and many of the younger players (who make the biggest part of the rude people on the official forum) weren't in video games.

This site has most of its population come from former PSO players which, on average, are older and also usually veterans in online communities and have leanrt to behave.

Also, I guess the place is a lot better moderated, I think. That's also why there seems to be a lot less rude language and such.

[TecherRamen]

I agree with Arada. Age is a serious factor, and I can always tell when some one with whom I am speaking is younger than me. I am 22, and most of the people to whom I feel closest are out of high school. I think if you are looking at this online community you should also hold it against society at large. As you could, in a limited scope, view our community as a microcosm of society. You could even go so far as to look at our PSO generation in comparison to older MMOs, Diablo 2 (diablo 1 was very limited) and Ever Quest for example, to see if needless flaming has inflated over the years.

[Cracka_J]

This thread should likely be in rants, but I'll throw in my .02¢'s anyway.

Both forums have their issues, some are easier identified then others.
I tend to post here more for the simple fact that I can usually disagree with people here without having it turn into a flame. People have different opinions and should be able to express/debate them with reasoning rather then flinging names around. On the main boards, nearly all the decent arguments/debates eventually turn into flames, where here people sometimes have the tendency to compromise with reasoning. But hey, like I said, just my opinion.

[KiiLoo]

i know why everyone is @$$, cause most them are fat kids who are mad at everyone. ha. well really its cause thats pretty much the definition of a forum. there never all nice.

[Sekani]

The official forums for any game have a tendency to showcase the worst aspects of the playerbase, for various reasons. First, they attract the majority of complaints about the game, since people want their displeasure to be heard by the powers that be. Secondly, the people who aren't complaining tend to tire of those who do, creating more conflict and forum trolling nonsense. Thirdly, some people are just not that smart, and they gravitate towards official forums because they're not aware of any other place existing.

Smaller fan sites thrive off of a sense of community amongst their users. You frequently see more mature behavior between smaller groups of people that feel like they know each other; they don't have to show off or act a fool for anybody.

PSO-World kind of falls in between the two, since it's pretty large for a fan site.

[SpikeOtacon]

Very interesting first post. Welcome to PSOW...officially!

I have only gone to the PSU forums once, and I never found a reason to go back there. PSOW's all I need, forum wise. Tag team PSOW and PSUpedia and you'll have everything you need to know. The official forums kind of feel like they aren't really sure why they're there, so they act out like a spoiled brat.

But they hate us anyways, so I'm sure they'll have a topic about how stupid we are, plenty of flaming and cursing shall ensue and in the end they will achieve nothing.

[Sylpheed]

On 2008-04-28 06:50, alazar14 wrote:
I have sat by not participating in this community or the psu official website community since December of 2006. I observed the community on both sides. The major differences and the similarities. I have enough notes now and actual information/link and proof to make this claim.

I find the community in the psu official forums is not helping the game at all. Why? I see that every time a player has a problem with the game and lets people know about it, instead of them trying to help him/her figure out why they are having this problem they are very quick to be rude, tell him to #### off or just say the classic psu community line "gib rars" Or the useful people who post "Inb4lock" and stuff. This is a great example of the community at its finest. Why kind of message do you think they are sending the players who are considering to play psu? Obviously they don't seem to see a happy, peaceful together community like in a lot of mmorpgs. Many people who start mmorpg games like to look at the community forums before they actually join and the official forums are not a very positive example of what a good part of the psu community really is. I do understand sometimes people do get annoying and some of these people really should have most of their topics locked, but when it becomes as over used as it is now, when they community is as rude with so many players..that can't be all the poster's fault.

I have played about 12 MMORPG games in my life, I am 20 years old College student Living in Mexico, and I don't think that I have in real life or online profiles found a community as rude and seemingly unreasonable as the psu official forums. It honestly feels that when I am reading this its simply an argument over peoples online pride more so than the reason they started to discuss. Sometimes the original argument gets lost in all the cussing and disrespecting that people act upon each other. Its quite sad to see especially in a game where the community really needs to work together to pull it out of the hole.

I find the forums here to be quite better than the official forums. From what I have seen there is a lot less flaming for no reason, cyber pride arguments and less people offer "Gib rars" as a solution to a person's problem. It could be better but it seems like this community is much more like normal game communities.

So what do you guys think? Have you noticed this in the past? Do you have opinions on why this may be happening on the official forums, but this community is quite more calm and logical and accepting about most people's opinions?

(By the way I am using this study for a human theory class) So yes a lot of your posts will probaby been seen by professors. This is going along with my "Internet egos" study of how people act differently over the internet than real life.

Sorry If I miss spell a few words Spanish is my first language.




Sorry but, it's taken you this long to figure this out? The forums on PSU are but one of the many thousands if not millions of forums on the internet where people are purposefully ignorant, unhelpful, insulting and outwright rude.

You can't make assumptions based on one MMO forum. If so, then your theory won't get very far. Taking a bigger sample of the online community of MMO's would give your claims much more credibility.

Being able to say whatever they want to whoever they want will always be an allure to young kids and rejects. Being able to talk smack on the internet brings no consequence or punishment hence more or less everyone with any ounce of child in them will do it.

[AlMcFly]

Lol, that's funny you're using this as a study for human nature in a class. It would probably be a great example of "unrestricted personalities". A real person's nature tends to come out full-blast when they feel they will have no consequences for what they say. Thus a lot of pr*cks. I agree with the fact that the MAJORITY is much older here and of a more "calm" personality. I guess I'll give my point of view on the way I act on these forums.

I am an a@@hole. I've been labeled a troll a few times. I have been banned from the official PSU Sega forums for basically being a meanie to a guy my age (25) still acting like he is 6 years old. People who know me in-game and partied with me know that I am sarcastic but a very decent and fair guy. I have a few VERY huge forum pet peeves though. Sometimes when I comment on them I get myself into trouble.

1. People who ask a question that is LITERALLY answered in the next 2-3 threads directly under their newly created thread. I seriously can't stand this. I've heard people say "come on, you are a d*ck, someone asks a question and you flame them, people don't want to read though pages of text to get a question answered". You are the same people that say "Oh he's just being a teenager and he'll grow out of it" as a response regarding your kid who just stabbed the tires out of another kid's car b/c he didn't like him. Now that's a little extreme I admit but when you ENCOURAGE laziness and apathy, it manifests itself in every decision a person makes.

2. People are way way WAY too touchy and defensive. It's so funny. I purposely start arguments with people when I notice they are the "need to defend my honor at all costs" type. People like this are dumb. Now I don't like to lose an argument much like the next guy but come on. For every little comment you post, like 15 people will take it as a personal shot against them and retaliate with something like "who are you to judge, I blah blah blah and then blah blah". It's the same story over and over.

3. People are competitive in the stupidest ways. I was in a party last night and I am a melee who got killed by the dumb Bil de Vear spin. I just wrote a comment saying "stupid eva stat lol". Party asked me to elaborate. I said "well, instead of rolling away, my evade stat makes me stand and block in the middle of the spin until I am pummeled to death". A high level acrotecher in the party then says without any provocation "well, what's your eva stat?" i thought, oh here it comes. I say 425 or something like that. He says, "well mine is 925" or something, "and I am not finding it hard to stay alive". Ugh. I said "ok 1. Did I ask what your evade was? In fact, did i ask your input at all? 2. You are the farthest away from that Vear at all times spamming techs. When are you in the spin? 3. Where in my talking did I say that I have awesome super duper best evade in the game? I didn't. Not even close." You are not "blessing" anyone by giving your d*ckhead two cents. I can be a hypocrite of that sometimes, but usually if it is without reason, I am in a bad mood and looking to vent.

All I can say is that most people on a forum act out far above how they ever would in real life probably b/c they have no restrictions or can experience any repercussions for doing so. Most of the young ones see "bad@sses" in their animes and immediately attribute being rude with being a a bad@ss. No matter what, you will never ever ever ever be Cloud, Vash or Itachi so knock that wannabe bad@ss talking off. The difference between them and myself is that I am a cocky pr*ck in real life as well. Try not to consider me in the same category as these idiots. if you do, whatev, I won't lose sleep over it. ;P

[ArcImpulse]

People who know me in-game and partied with me know that I am sarcastic but a very decent and fair guy.

Stop lying you are a horrible person. http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_lol.gif

[AlMcFly]

On 2008-04-28 10:18, ArcImpulse wrote:

People who know me in-game and partied with me know that I am sarcastic but a very decent and fair guy.

Stop lying you are a horrible person. http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_lol.gif

Ok maybe I am, haha. At least I'm a sexxy bish while doing so! http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_confused.gif

[Zorafim]

The official forums are, for all intents and purposes, trash. It's the classic example of people with too much pride and too little power. Each person believes their word to be a fact, and everyone else to be wrong, no matter the circumstance. PSOW has its problems, but it is nowhere near as blatant as the official forums.
Also, PSOW seems somewhat better over the months. Perhaps all the aforementioned pridebags skipped out, leaving the forum with a better overall community.


Erm, do you mind if we see your paper when you're done? I'd love to see your results.

[Kerry157]

College sux! dont go!

[Honeypot]

If you think the PSU official forums are bad, you should see the Diablo 2 or World of Warcraft communities. Hell, those actually spill over into the game itself. If you ever want some good lulz, check out the gamefaqs.com boards for Diablo 2 or World of Warcraft.

[Zorafim]

Hell, while you're at it, check out the ego trips on the FFXI gamefaqs forum. Those guys actually believe they're perfect.

[Honeypot]

I forgot all about the FFXI forums there. Those are some truly epic lulz there. If you don't have a certain piece of gear, you are gimped and should quit or farm until you get it before exping again.

[Zorafim]

On 2008-04-28 10:33, Honeypot wrote:
If you don't have a certain piece of gear, you are gimped and should have to quit or farm until you get it before exping again.

[AlMcFly]

FFXI was probably THE most leetist game I have ever played. I got to lvl 54 and was already getting pissed off at the elite mentality.

[The_Gio]

I blame Xbox live,alot of kids don't have the time to get a computer to run PSU or go back to a ps2 to play PSU,Xbox live has gone down the drain in terms of people since halo 2 came out,thats my opinion at least,pre halo 2,every game I would go in, everyone would welcome me and be glad to help me out if i was new to the game,but ever since,its just been stupid rascism,sore losers. Now to get back on topic,it doesn't really seem like you've observed both sides,I only saw negativity and when people are being stupid, I personally(since I have helped people on here)know thats not always the case,also,sure its mostly pride that gets in the way of things,but its the same thing with living in a bad town,if you know how to deal with things,you'll get what you want or you wont be affected at all. For the most part though, this community sucks period on both sides, its sad when first thing that comes to mind is people who to avoid when talking to new players. Still though I dont think anyone has the right to really make a statement about our community and compare it to other games,unless you created both >.>;,an opinion yes,but not a statement

EDIT:Well I do think no one has the right to comment on anything(or anyone in that matter)if you had nothing to do with it.If you do,its just considered rude,free speech?sure everyone can say their opinion,but making a statement is crossing the line of free speech. Making a statement means its what the truth is,and everyone has their own opinion of the truth,so technically,we can all talk,just no one is ever right. Theres a thin line between statement and opinion,and peoples sight of it have become jaded.Only person who CAN make a statement about something is who or what created it,then they have all the power to do so. And I dont mean to get defensive,it just comes naturally >.<

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: The_Gio on 2008-04-28 11:08 ]</font>


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: The_Gio on 2008-04-28 11:10 ]</font>

[AlMcFly]

On 2008-04-28 10:44, The_Gio wrote:
Still though I dont think anyone has the right to really make a statement about our community and compare it to other games,unless you created both >.>;


ANOTHER pet peeve right there! I agree with every other thing you have said.

If you have any kind of intelligence though, PLEASE alter your wording here. People have the right to make any assumption they want actually. It's just as much their world as it is yours.

A better choice of words might be: "I don't think anyone can logically come to those kinds of assumptions unless you do much more research into this and other forums."

Edit:

P.S. By your reasoning, nobody can comment on ANYTHING unless they created it. That eliminates the constitutional right of free speech buddy. Frankly that just doesn't make much sense at all.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: McFlyVII on 2008-04-28 10:58 ]</font>

[Darkly]

PSU/PSO consists of mainly a small cult type community. to offer another perspective on this consider that PSU was and still is an average game with wasted potential. You could say this game has left a sour taste in everybodies mouth's and it shows through the community.

In addition points made above me are correct aswell. A fansite and an official website are different and attract different people etc. The whole internet theory: normal guy + internet + anonymous = total asshole, applies a bit also.

[Mewnie]

The official forums are a cesspool of frothing stupid. Add in volunteer mods from that same pool and we have epic lulz.

Although PSOW can hardly be better at times... But just when things start getting too serious business, that's when folks like easy post
to brighten everyone's day!

[Kylie]

And that's why I post here instead of the "official board." I tried the other one, and no one there takes anything seriously (expect on rare occasions). PSOW isn't perfect by any means, but at least you can have a meaningful discussion about the game going at most times. I think the reasons the other board is so bad are caused by a lot of different things (I agree with a lot of the stuff posted in this thread so far).

[Zorafim]

According to the official forums, I didn't graduate from elementary ; ;

[CelestialBlade]

Every place on the internet is going to have its idiots because *anyone* can use the internet. But this place seems to have a better ratio of good, intelligent people that I'm fortunate to have made acquaintance with.

[enoch]

lol pso GC had some of the nices tpeople ever @)

[Seority]

I agree the official boards don't help the whole community very well, and that we are more sociable here. I would love to see our people and others like us to improve the PSU commiunities as much as possible. I'd love for something like that to happen. The sad truth is that games are run by their players. If the majority of those players are young/ignorant/jealous/selfish/etc. that's how the games gonna go and become known as. Now PSU, as far as pc/ps2 server goes, is stuggling to survive. Because of MAG, lots of people came back, but who can say they will stay if the reasons they left in the first place are still there?

I know you are comparing this forums to the official ones, and I do agree with you. I really do hope others can reconize the bigger problem here and do something about it.
Maybe the people here can start a group that's dedicated to improving the community of PSU. That doesn't mean we kick off those who are disrespectful or anything like that. I say we just be respectful gamers and help out those who do need help and give off a good rep. to others. Maybe displaying such actions, others will begin to reconize them and follow our lead. I know we all do indiviual work in this feild, but maybe something organized could help things.
Ah this is probably just me thinking of dumb ideas http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_rolleyes.gif but if anything like that were to exist, I'd love to help.

[Danny_Dark]

I know what You mean...(Sigh)...

[Ffuzzy-Logik]

I like the official forum much more, because you can troll and flame and spam, and no one really cares. At the worst, the topic might get locked. Often times, it is more entertaining than PSU itself.

Also, there seems to be much fewer people infatuated with PSO still over there, compared to here.


But that's just my opinion.

[Kanore]

All PS communities seem to be the same. Depends on a person's perspective.

Given the right mention of a little item or quest can unleash the beasts that are the 'regular posters' upon you.

[SonicTMP]

As far as I've seen, pretty much every game is more or less the same. Offical forums suck, random fourms tend to be better but still have problems. Bad population always outranks the good population no matter what. No game community is perfect. You will run into assholes and idiots everywhere.

[Zarode]

I'm the worst of both worlds. http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_wacko.gif

[Katrina]

PSO World is definitely one of the better communities I've seen. You will always have a broad mix of people, attitudes, personality, maturity, etc on any gaming site, or message board, but PSO World's community overall is solid, knowledgeable, and fairly mature compared to other sites I've seen.

You have your gaming forums (PSU, PSO, etc), trading, tech help, as well as the other standard sites dedicated to the Phantasy Star community.

The off topic, rants, and FKL are some of the things that set PSO World apart from other communities I've seen.

A lot of times official sites tend to be restrictive concerning open discussion of things not relating to their corporation or product. I've seen everything from UFO's to Philosophy discussed in off topic.

FKL is a bizarre mismash of randomness with a cult following where wacko's http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_wacko.gif and oddities rule the day.

The rants section provides an outlet to discuss problems not only with the games, but every day life.

I've actually referred and recommended this site to moderators and site mappers from other online communities.

[Iredore]

TL;DR

Skimmed through it.

Many points you've got wrong. Every MMORPG is different, and comparing any is like comparing apples and oranges.

Maplestory is a very popular game, with a crap-ton of spewing idiots flying all over the place. Its population is probably 100x larger than PSU will ever be. Yes, i tmay be free, but the majority of players who do play spend at LEAST 30 bucks the first month to buy cash shop items. Why would you want to spend 30 bucks to play a game with jerks and immature people? It's not JUST BECAUSE OF COMMUNITY. It's the game play too.

WoW is dominating the market for MMORPGs, and I've played that game for a good 3 years. The community overall of WoW is very very overdramatic about everything they do not like. They will whine and complain to no end. Go to their forums, and off the bat you'll see a group of people whining and complaining about something. But why does it do so good regardless? Because of gameplay.

This is what PSU doesn't have. This is what PSU needs to be focusing on, not on the community. The community will fix itself if PSU can fix itself.

By the way, I've been very hypocritical in this post. I just compared apples and oranges. Go me!

[GaNksTa]

I have noticed a lot more flaming on the PSU Forums; mostly because people ask obvious questions or are too lazy to type in "www.psupedia.info".

Laziness and obvious questions do annoy me, but not enough to go in there and tell them to go f**k themselves or anything like that; I sometimes insult their intelligence or laziness but I do still provide a link to what they were looking for...

[DavidNel]

I for one have never been on the official forums to post. Actually, I've only looked at it a few times. People seem to say a lot of nothing over there. Here, it's another story. I've been a member of these forums for quite some time now, and I can tell you that most of the people here are quite helpful.

The problem, I think, with the official forums is the "money see monkey do" thing. One person was an ass on that forum, and everyone followed. Eventually, it just spiraled out of control. Also, the forum monitors probably aren't doing much to stop all the flaiming.

On PSOW, however, we have great monitors, and they activly patrol many topics. Things usually don't get out of control, at least not for long.

PS: If you use e-peen in your paper, you will forever be my hero!

[AlMcFly]

On 2008-04-28 14:48, Iredore wrote:
This is what PSU doesn't have. This is what PSU needs to be focusing on, not on the community. The community will fix itself if PSU can fix itself.


I don't get how you came to this conjecture. In your examples (MapleStory and WoW), you say both have great gameplay yet their communities are still crappy and rude? Then you say PSU doesn't have very good gameplay but doesn't have a good community? Finally you say fix the gameplay of PSU and the community will improve (even though your examples clearly state that even though MS and WoW have great gameplay, their communities are still crappy)?

I'm not agreeing or disagreeing. I'm just bringing to attention that your reasoning makes absolutely no sense. Sorry. http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_confused.gif

[Mewnie]

I find PSU's gameplay to be perfectly fine. It's frenetic button-mashing good times.

WoW's gameplay is okay. One can only do DIKU-style autoattacking for so long before it gets boring. And raiding is less about skill, and
more about good listening skills and not being a fucking retard.

Maple Story? KMMO GRIND GRIND GRIND KEKEKEKEKEKEKEKE

[Miyoko]

On 2008-04-28 16:02, Mewnie wrote:
I find PSU's gameplay to be perfectly fine. It's frenetic button-mashing good times.

WoW's gameplay is okay. One can only do DIKU-style autoattacking for so long before it gets boring. And raiding is less about skill, and
more about good listening skills and not being a fucking retard.

Maple Story? KMMO GRIND GRIND GRIND KEKEKEKEKEKEKEKE



I love you so much. http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_frown.gif

[TecherRamen]

On 2008-04-28 16:47, Miyoko wrote:

On 2008-04-28 16:02, Mewnie wrote:
I find PSU's gameplay to be perfectly fine. It's frenetic button-mashing good times.

WoW's gameplay is okay. One can only do DIKU-style autoattacking for so long before it gets boring. And raiding is less about skill, and
more about good listening skills and not being a fucking retard.

Maple Story? KMMO GRIND GRIND GRIND KEKEKEKEKEKEKEKE



I love you so much. http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_frown.gif



Threesome?