#1 - Feb. 16, 2011, 1:03 a.m.
'This community' can be split into two phases (which are extremely different from one another) .
The Forums
Filled with four types of individuals,
1. Fun-loving, respectful people who provide well thought-out information and are generally a joy to be around. These are the least vocal of the four.
2. People who love to complain about anything and everything. (Some examples, in case you're new: my class was nerfed, a class I don't play was buffed, AB favors the Horde, cataclysm is too hard, someone ninja'd my gear, etc. I tried adding my own complaint to this list to make people laugh, but no one got the joke, so I've since edited it out.)
3. Blue posters. Form your own opinion.
4. Extremely jaded individuals who are generally very snarky and disrespectful. There is a high probability that members of this group will show up here, read half of the OP, and proceed to tell me that I'm stupid and I'm not allowed to think this way.
The type of people that have been banned in the past confuses me, provided I can believe their stories, while people I feel should have been banned seem to receive light sentances.
Currently, it is possible for a user to be permanately banned from the retail forums without an explanation. (Instead, they will be presented with the original post in a thread that had caused them to be baned, which may or may not actually contain the infraction.)
I think that a clearer code of conduct is in order (for example, are we allowed to swear? Are we allowed to swear a little? Are there specific off-limits words? http://us.battle.net/en/community/conduct#language their code of conduct is vague, in my opinion.)
Meanwhile, the general, PVP, and DPS forums are struggling to function underneith a heavy, heavy load of unabashed QQ that is neither a joy to read or at all productive.
The Game Itself
The trade spam block (you must wait a few seconds before you are allowed to post in trade) was one of the greatest things the developers have ever added to the game, in my opinion. It's unfortunate that it took years after the problem became evident to implement it.
However, after the second incident where someone informed my fiancee that she is a dumb #@!!% in /bg (because I know you're curious, let me assure you that she is not), I'm a little annoyed. It's difficult enough to remember their name and server inside of a heated BG, it's especially difficult to remember every stupid umlauted or accented letter they cutely threw into their name.
There needs to be a far simpler and less time-consuming way to report someone within the game. I rarely see these types of comments in PVE, however I've seen the C word about a hundred times more than I've wanted to in BGs. And don't get me started on the way people are allowed to name their toons / pets / etc. I could list examples, but I'd be removed from the forums for sure.
Unfortunately, any time I see a blue post in response to one of these types of posts (and I am not necessarily looking for one myself--I'd simply like this topic read) it always seems to say something similar to "Well, some people are jerks, but I've also met some wonderful people here!" which may be true, but I feel doesn't acknowledge the vastness of this issue.
IN SHORT;
1. The World of Warcraft community is extremely over-grown with rudeness. There needs to be a simpler way to weed out the individuals who are dragging it down; I propose some kind of "right-click to report this comment" type of system.
2. The Forums code of conduct needs to be clearer, and I think that people would be less likely to commit second and third infractions if their first was explained to them more clearly.
3. Unhelpful, wall-of-text, QQ posts should be classified as spam. "I'm quitting" posts, too.
PS: I'm not really concerned with "internet culture" or "general gaming culture" or "FPS culture" or anything like that. "Everyone else is doing it" isn't a justification for behaving this way, or allowing people to behave this way.
