lord of the rings online  has very mature and helpfull community.

In order I'd say Eve Online, Vanguard, then EQ2 for helpfulness and maturity of a community. Somethings that contribute to a better community I think is to have a game that's somewhat difficult and has been around for a while. Vets that love the game and stay with it help shape a good community.

I played Dream of Mirrors Online for like half a year just for the community, meet a lot of great people. Even though it was a completely boring games, friends and such made it impossible to leave. Of course it has some not so great players as well, you'll often be able to strike up a conversation with lots of random people on the spot. 

Asherons Call hands down. People would spend hours just hanging out in towns or at life stones or guild mansions just chatting away with each other, sitting down in circles and enjoying one anothers company through the game. People were always helpful, everyone was very mature and people tended to actually act in character.

OP...

Define what makes a great community in your opinion?

Maybe It's just the American servers where people are dicks then because on the EU servers In WoW I've never had a problem. Come to think of it in EVE all the people being dicks were American Teens on Local.

Originally posted by Varny

Maybe It's just the American servers where people are dicks then because on the EU servers In WoW I've never had a problem. Come to think of it in EVE all the people being dicks were American Teens on Local.

Yes I was gonna mention this, games like EvE that only have 1 server for everybody or games like FFXI that have servers shared by players internationally generally have a better community.

It's games that have straight up US only  servers that then to be horrible.  I can say this because I'm also from the US, and played many different MMOs to come to this conclusion.

I can't speak for WoW personally as I haven't been on their EU servers, but I don't think Age of Conan's community can be helped either way.

Best currently LOTRO. Old DAOC and AO gave it a run for its money.

Out of all the games I have played, I have to say that the best community I have encounted was in Dream of Mirror Online, followed closely by Destiny Online. I particularly loved the community in DOMO because a lot of people were very friendly, and it was extremely easy to be invited into parties. You didn't even have to be a doctor in order to be invited into a party; you were just accepted. Plus, the guilds were extremely welcoming as well; I remember we chatted so much the last time I was in a guild, I really felt a sense of belonging there. I had more than fifteen people on my friends list in fact. Of  course, there were still some bad eggs, but all games have them anyway. They just weren't as memoriable as some of the other idiots I've met in other games.

But then again, I haven't played DOMO for quite a while, so I have no idea whether the community is still as good.

As for Destiny Online, people would literally be chatting serverwide... a constant stream of chat in fact. The people there were extremely friendly as well... though it would have been much better if everyone had actually followed the "Only English in Global Chat" rule.

Originally posted by SonikFlash

Not that anybody here will second me lol but,

vanguards community is pretty amazing.

I agree with you:-)

I have played most mmorpg from UO to Eq1 ,Ryzom,daoc plus all the usual suspects from Eq2 to wow and aoc plus war and Vanguard and lotro.

I would say that EQ1 was a great community but for mmorpg of today,it has to be Vanguard and lotro.

I never played EVE.

My experience is...

BEST community is ...  Whatever new game is out there.. I say this because when a new game is released and many of the subs are adventuring, and are in the same boat, the community in general are helpful.. I saw this in EQ when EQ was new, same with SWG, LoTR, CoX.. and even WoW..  Whenever everyone or most of the subs are "newbies" the community is good, however..

WORST community is .. Games that have been out for awhile where most of the subs are end game..  At this point it appears that the community changes into a mutant monster of , "you suck noob".   I have witness this change on every game I've played, most recently WoW..  It appears that once people are comfortable in end game, they stop helping anyone, and often become rude to new subs to the game..  Everyone was new at one point.. I find that most mature games will harvest elitism in the general community..  Everyone becomes country club snobs...

This was my observation.. 

Currently best community is LoTR but that is subject to change next year..

I would have to say that the friendliest communities would be in the following order:

#1 Vanguard
#2 LOTRO
#3 EVE
#4 EQ2
#5 DDO

For the older games:
#1 DAOC
#2 FFXI
#3 EQ1
#4 SWG
#5 UO

When I rate the communities, I also take into account their forum behavior as well as ingame behavior.

I know WoW gets a bad rap, but the server I was on was great. I got lucky I guess.

My top 5:

#1 - EVE-Online
Not always the friendliest but it’s also the most mature community since 2003. The community is very nice to new comers as long as you’re willing to properly learn how to play. EVE community is very short on patience and you’ll be sent back to WOW pretty if you don’t fit. Specially if you start crying about dying and losing everything…

#2 – World of Warcraft
Hate it, love it… the fact is that, a huge portion of planet is playing that game. This also means that a bigger amount of people of every kind are present in WOW. When I played, I was surrounded by great people and didn’t accepted any douche in my guild. We had a great time until we found the game boring. The issue here is that you really need to filter the folks.

#3 – Mabinogi
I had a blast on that game and I’m still having a blast on it. The community does have a lot of kids but due to the nature of the game, people tend to be really social and very nice. Because of skills like music, cooking, fire making and such, people tend to gather around and play music (composed by a player) and we tend to just chitchat. Also, because of the day and night jobs and quests, you’re usually back in town resting at night so this interaction becomes a second nature. A very fun game for everyone.

#4 – Earth and Beyond
If this game was still up today, I think it would be among the best communities all around. Westwood Studio really took care of their players during the beta and that grew an incredible community filled with great players. I was lucky enough to be part of a little guild of explorers and man, I had a lot of fun. The game was built to be interactive with the players, zones were destroyed and replaced according to the storyline while game world discoveries effected the entire storyline. On the forums, many players kept exchanging theories and information until we all discovered the true secret behind an anomalie… yep.. good times.

#5 – Star Wars: Galaxy
When the game was in good shape, people were pretty nice and even today, my friends and I have fond memories of those times. When NGE came out, then things turned really sour and we ended with the crap of today. However, for seing people of the old community openly cheering that one of the devs suicided is really sad so no, I’m not proud of the vets at all but back in 2004, it was great.
 

You can check my profile to see how many games i have played. I've played tons, and the best community hands down for me is/was Atlantica Online.

Originally posted by Ponico

My top 5:

#1 - EVE-Online
Not always the friendliest AGREE 110%.. it was the reason why I left after the free trial period.. the community was just plain rude to anyone asking a question..but it’s also the most mature community since 2003. The community is very nice to new comers as long as you’re willing to properly learn how to play. EVE community is very short on patience and you’ll be sent back to WOW pretty if you don’t fit. Specially if you start crying about dying and losing everything…

#2 – World of Warcraft
Hate it, love it… the fact is that, a huge portion of planet is playing that game. This also means that a bigger amount of people of every kind are present in WOW. When I played, I was surrounded by great people and didn’t accepted any douche in my guild. We had a great time until we found the game boring. The issue here is that you really need to filter the folks. used to be this way.. but anymore WoW has become a competition.. guilds and groups find WAYS to excuse NOT helping people in the game.. GEAR check this.. great check that.. This game promotes a "I or wee are better then you" atmosphere and to me that leads to a shitty community.. 

#3 – Mabinogi
I had a blast on that game and I’m still having a blast on it. The community does have a lot of kids but due to the nature of the game, people tend to be really social and very nice. Because of skills like music, cooking, fire making and such, people tend to gather around and play music (composed by a player) and we tend to just chitchat. Also, because of the day and night jobs and quests, you’re usually back in town resting at night so this interaction becomes a second nature. A very fun game for everyone.

#4 – Earth and Beyond
If this game was still up today, I think it would be among the best communities all around. Westwood Studio really took care of their players during the beta and that grew an incredible community filled with great players. I was lucky enough to be part of a little guild of explorers and man, I had a lot of fun. The game was built to be interactive with the players, zones were destroyed and replaced according to the storyline while game world discoveries effected the entire storyline. On the forums, many players kept exchanging theories and information until we all discovered the true secret behind an anomalie… yep.. good times. For the short time I played this, it was ok.. The community seems mature and understanding, but the game itself was just too much to overcome to enjoy the players.. 

#5 – Star Wars: Galaxy
When the game was in good shape, people were pretty nice and even today, my friends and I have fond memories of those times. When NGE came out, then things turned really sour and we ended with the crap of today. However, for seing people of the old community openly cheering that one of the devs suicided is really sad so no, I’m not proud of the vets at all but back in 2004, it was great. This was one of the BEST communities, until SOE screwed things up well before NGE.. The game mechanics turned a helping community into a frustrated ganking community..  Tis a shame, because the game had so much potential..  oh well..
 

The best non-English community would be FFXI when it just released. There were 80% players speaks only Japanese on my server. They have ingame translator to translate your English into Japanese and they can type in Japanese and translated to English. But the translator was worse than Babelfish.

Sayotoshi Guild is a helpful guild recruiting new member: Japanese is a must.

AoC EU PvE server. By far my best experience with MMO online community. Unfortunately I don't play the game anymore.

Originally posted by Larry2298

The best non-English community would be FFXI when it just released. There were 80% players speaks only Japanese on my server. They have ingame translator to translate your English into Japanese and they can type in Japanese and translated to English. But the translator was worse than Babelfish.

Sayotoshi Guild is a helpful guild recruiting new member: Japanese is a must.

 

I remember the odd japanese guilds in EverQuest; there was no way we could communicate with them so eventually they disappeared. They were a quiet bunch and usually left the area when invaded by loud-talking americans trying to talk to them.

As for communities i certainly didn't play enough MMO to compare many of them.

As for WoW... if you are under 20 i guess you'll probably love the community which is made of people your age, but if you are above, you'll often loose patience with the constant spamming of crap, unfun jokes, and complaints, on public channels and official forums by unsecure teenagers trying to make a name of themselves.

The community alone eventually made me realize that i'm too old for mainstream MMOs.

Of all the MMOs I've played FFXI had, by far, the best community. When it was first released in NA it was already out for a year in.. Japan was it? Anyway they were extremely friendly and even though we couldn't communicate well.. they would help you with a quest or invite you into their party. It was one of the coolest experiences I've ever had in a game. And it wasn't a one shot thing... and it wasn't just me. The entire server at least, was extremely friendly and worked together ect.. It was the best

Originally posted by Rydeson

Originally posted by Ponico

My top 5:

#1 - EVE-Online
Not always the friendliest AGREE 110%.. it was the reason why I left after the free trial period.. the community was just plain rude to anyone asking a question..but it’s also the most mature community since 2003. The community is very nice to new comers as long as you’re willing to properly learn how to play. EVE community is very short on patience and you’ll be sent back to WOW pretty if you don’t fit. Specially if you start crying about dying and losing everything…

 

 

The failure was yours I'm afraid, you didn't ask in the right place, nor in the right way.  Both are very important, (consider it your first lesson in EVE Diplomacy) and if done correctly you'll find people willing to send you millions of ISK and get you started on your way.

But it is very important to appear like you have tried to learn some of the basics on your own first, and done some research, so really inane questions will sometimes get slapped to the ground.

I've never had a problem with the EVE community, but I learned the right approach quickly. (patience is another good thing to have, never demand people answer you, a common mistake always met with derision)

But to stay on topic, for older games I always felt DAOC had a great community back in the early days, not so much any more.

ATLANTICA ONLINE

Originally posted by natuxatu

Of all the MMOs I've played FFXI had, by far, the best community. When it was first released in NA it was already out for a year in.. Japan was it? Anyway they were extremely friendly and even though we couldn't communicate well.. they would help you with a quest or invite you into their party. It was one of the coolest experiences I've ever had in a game. And it wasn't a one shot thing... and it wasn't just me. The entire server at least, was extremely friendly and worked together ect.. It was the best

I have to agree, FFXI had the best community I have ever seen in a game.

If you were rude or really elitist you would be known throughout the server and no body would invite you to do something. Since you can't play the game solo and you have to have other people to help you get anywhere, everyone kept themselves in check and were friendly and helpful to one another. The community also didn't have that "I have to 1 up everyone" mentality because it didn't really contain any PvP

I think it also has something to do with the servers not being pure NA player based, every game I play that is NA player based has a rotten/rude community.

Wait let me blow the dust off this... UO by far had one of the best communities.  No global chat - guild chat - needed to talk with peeps head on

Originally posted by metalhead980

Ryzom, These guys and gals are the most helpful people I've ever seen in a mmo.

Definitely true.  I steer people who are looking for a mature community towards Ryzom.

 DAoC was/still has good people on various servers.  AC still has good people.  UO not so much, SB never. Don't  care for WOW.  Original EQ, yes. Don't know or care about EQ2.