"You've ruined your own lands, you'll not ruin mine!"... (MMO)

Everybody has an opinion on game play. mechanics and classes. Some of those like to voice their opinions on forums, loudly. I have started to wonder if really "we" have become a generation of spoiled gamers. At least some of us...

I remember when I first started gaming I never went to game forums b/c I was having too much fun playing the game. It seems to be more mainstream now to go to the forums and complain about the game, what your class lacks ect ect ... It boggles me to no end how this syndrome of pitching such fits has actually seemed to worked. If you cry hard enough the developers will listen is the message.

It's come to the point where I hate going to the official WoW forums because it is such a crying fest. From anything to "Draenei need a new class" to "Blood Elves are lame". Seriously do people really have nothing better to do? Are "we" the reason that classes change like the weather in games such as WoW? All the crying, whining and moaning? Even the Everquest forums have gotten bad about this, however not to the extent of the WoW forums.

On top of this, the atmosphere on the forums is vicious. People insulting each others gear, arena ratings and so on. Name calling, insults, overall rude behavior to anything that they disagree with in the most outrageous behavior. In all honesty I think many forums are too lenient and lax when it comes to this behavior. There is no repercussions for acting this way, which carries over to game.

I even notice in chat channels of many games the most irritating people who spam constant insulting childish dribble actually become popular, almost (boggle) respected. Is it because people don't want to be insulted publicly, like others who have spoken against said person, that they go along with it? Or are we just gaming with a bunch of "childish" people (not literally, I have seen many children act more respectively to others than adults in games), who have no fear of saying every little mean thought that pops into their heads?

I for one am sick of this behavior. It ruins communities in games. But really when games have so many players there seems to be no consequences for acting like this. It begins to be the norm. Nobody is scared of being cast out of groups for disrespecting others because they can just grab another group in games where groups are a dime a dozen.

I remember in Everquest there was the sh!t list. This was a place where players were listed for obscene behavior, if you were on it people were wary of grouping with you or even inviting you to a guild. People then built up respected reputations and that was something to be proud of, much unlike how it is today.

In my newest game Aion this seems to have carried over, no I am not surprised in the least bit. Saddened if anything. The new fad I seem to see is "STFU and go back to WoW".

Is this a problem of the players or the game companies who run the games? I suppose we could try and act more respectable, but you can't make others act such way, then again the game companies could make punishment for actions more severe. But alas they want to make the "monies".. banning people for bad behavior cuts into their wallets. So where does it end? Will it ever end?

Toughen up right? I have grown to learn that I shouldn't listen to much garbage, using ignore or turn off channels. However it still is there, when you group with people you still see it. When you visit the forums to find out some information, you still see it.

Just an observation I have made over the years how the quality of gamers attitudes... has drastically gone down.

"You've ruined your own lands, you'll not ruin mine!"...
My favorite Everquest quote seems fitting for this topic.
-kaozz