Lately, as I have been giving new MMORPGs, specifically new ones, a try I have started to notice something. People are becoming more and more hostile towards new people (newbies) than ever before. Now I’m not saying that this is a large majority of any of the MMORPG communities out there, and I am sure there are people who help out newbies in their spare time, but there always seems to be that small vocal minority who, when asked for advice, seems to become overly hostile and very degrading. It’s almost shocking.
Unfortunately, while they are a problem, the bigger problem is the passiveness of the other players around. While in WoW one time, I zoned into the Barrens to find about 3 people harrassing this one newbie simply because he couldn’t find an NPC for his quest. Nobody, not one person, had decided to help him or even try to stop the 3 players berrating him with insults. It’s enough to drive a person from the game.
My main point is: when nobody stands up to these types of players they get the notion that it is alright to continue doing so. MMORPGs are communities and while in that community we all have to live with each other. So, by you not telling these types of players to “sod off” you are passively telling them it’s ok for them to represent your community like that. New people need help, they always will. So, if you will, help them out or, at the very least, protect them from any volitile players out there. Remember, today’s newbie could be tomorrow’s guildmate you are running quests with.
Are you really citing the infamous Barrens chat as an indicator that politeness in all MMOs is gone?
I’m not sure from your posts if you play any games other than WoW… your sweeping statements about MMOs don’t seem to actually apply to many of them.
I used “Barrens chat” as an example because:
1. Most people can instantly identify with the situation.
2. Most people play WoW.
As for myself, here are the MMO’s I have dabbled in. Every single one of them, except LoTRO, I have encountered similar situations:
Lineage 2
City of Heroes
World of Warcraft
Tabula Rasa
Lord of the Rings Online
Dark Age of Camelot
and most recently: Hellgate: London.
This stuff happens in all MMORPGs, even if you don’t see it happening.
Veterans are often less than friendly to newbs. Helping the newbs out is good. But getting onto the players who give newbs a hard time doesn’t help. It usually just exagerrates the problem, because you can’t discipline them and most people aren’t open to criticism. Just ignore the troublemakers and help the newbs.