Forums are really useful for getting the feel of the game and having newbie questions answered.

However, I agree that they often ruin the game experience.  The cynicism of the veteran players is really disenchanting to a newbie.  When I start a new game, I'll be really excited about all the new content that's unlocked at higher levels.  Then I look at the forums and see nothing but complaining or optimization strategies that sound really boring and stupid.  In almost every game I've played, reading the forums makes the game sound critically broken.

Originally posted by Jemcrystal
free speach is unheard of

How on earth did you come to the conclusion that free speech is a right you should have on private forums. You are free create your own forum where you can practice free speech all you like. That doesn't extend to privately owned forums you may come across on the internet, nor should it

Originally posted by Jemcrystal
Each game has it's own forum.  When signed on to a game I would like to hang out there but it doesn't take long to see unforgivable faults.  Clicks have formed, moderators are spiteful and rude, certain trolls are lotted privileges, free speach is unheard of, and newbs are shot on site.  It really makes me ill.  A good portion of my gaming experience is the game's forums.  Why don't the client owners check in and see how badly their forums are doing?

Ignorance is Bliss.

If there is something negative to be talked about, wouldn't you value knowing over not knowning?  People using forums love to exchange ideas, expose flaws, and promote change.  The more successful a game is, the more it is discussed.  It is to every fans benefit that "stuff" get ironed out and addressed.  Whether it is for your game of choice, or for future games yet to be released.

But if you want to close your mind, then put your fingers in your ears and go "LALALALA" and you will have complete bliss, in your own world :-)

Originally posted by solarine

Originally posted by Kyleran

Forums are used to "win" the Internet.

...

 

I can't see why anybody would want to win the internet.

What're you gonna do with it? It's not like you can eat it! :)

 

Sale it on Ebay!

Originally posted by Starpower

Originally posted by Jemcrystal
free speach is unheard of

How on earth did you come to the conclusion that free speech is a right you should have on private forums. You are free create your own forum where you can practice free speech all you like. That doesn't extend to privately owned forums you may come across on the internet, nor should it

He never said that forum owners should be legally obligated to allow free speech.  Property owners can make the rules on their own property, yes, but outside their property people are free to express their opinion about those rules.

Originally posted by Jemcrystal

I think when a company hires forum workers they should check up on them to see if the forum employees are harassing the gamers.

 

Here is a post I made today and note the moderator's treatment.  Also note that this subject is not disallowed so that was not the reason for bad treatment.  The moderators need moderated.

 

Link if that is to hard to read here.

I see nothing wrong with the Moderator's post. 

To the OP:

Considering the absolute shaet state of the so-called "gaming press" (which largely opperates outside of what are considered good journalistic practices and ethics, this site included) forums are absolutely essential.

Otherwise, all you have is the "hype machine" churning out postive opinion pieces forever and no one calling them on it. This site pumps out as much or more hype than anyone, but at least in the forums "regular people" can counter this somewhat.

If the gaming press were correct, then TOR would be the biggest, best and most successful MMO of all time, considering the number of massively positive supporting articles, "features", previews, reveals, exclusive videos and all the rest. And not the most expensive mediocre MMO of all time going F2P inside the first year.

When the press is not even honest, open forums are the last place left to get any decent information at all.

Originally posted by Jemcrystal
Each game has it's own forum.  When signed on to a game I would like to hang out there but it doesn't take long to see unforgivable faults.  Clicks have formed, moderators are spiteful and rude, certain trolls are lotted privileges, free speach is unheard of, and newbs are shot on site.  It really makes me ill.  A good portion of my gaming experience is the game's forums.  Why don't the client owners check in and see how badly their forums are doing?

You lost me at the yellow text.

Really? Free speech is unheard of? Can you be prosectuted or thrown into prison for what you say? I highly doubt it. Or are you just upset that you can't go to a private area and say whatever the heck you want to say?

Originally posted by Sovrath

Originally posted by Jemcrystal
Each game has it's own forum.  When signed on to a game I would like to hang out there but it doesn't take long to see unforgivable faults.  Clicks have formed, moderators are spiteful and rude, certain trolls are lotted privileges, free speach is unheard of, and newbs are shot on site.  It really makes me ill.  A good portion of my gaming experience is the game's forums.  Why don't the client owners check in and see how badly their forums are doing?

You lost me at the yellow text.

Really? Free speech is unheard of? Can you be prosectuted or thrown into prison for what you say? I highly doubt it. Or are you just upset that you can't go to a private area and say whatever the heck you want to say?

So what if he is?  Is that any different from being upset about trolls, cliques, rude moderators and newbie hate in that same private area?

I don't understand why people keep seeing the need to point out that the first amendment doesn't prevent forum mods from banning you from their property.  What it DOES do is protect your right to disagree with their decision to do so.

Originally posted by Impacatus

Originally posted by Sovrath

Originally posted by Jemcrystal
Each game has it's own forum.  When signed on to a game I would like to hang out there but it doesn't take long to see unforgivable faults.  Clicks have formed, moderators are spiteful and rude, certain trolls are lotted privileges, free speach is unheard of, and newbs are shot on site.  It really makes me ill.  A good portion of my gaming experience is the game's forums.  Why don't the client owners check in and see how badly their forums are doing?

You lost me at the yellow text.

Really? Free speech is unheard of? Can you be prosectuted or thrown into prison for what you say? I highly doubt it. Or are you just upset that you can't go to a private area and say whatever the heck you want to say?

So what if he is?  Is that any different from being upset about trolls, cliques, rude moderators and newbie hate in that same private area?

I don't understand why people keep seeing the need to point out that the first amendment doesn't prevent forum mods from banning you from their property.  What it DOES do is protect your right to disagree with their decision to do so.

You can be as upset as you want and you can express your displeasure. But of all my years on forums what I've seen is that people just want to "act out" say whatever the heck they want to say and not be oonstructive; essentially throwing out any sense of common courtesy.

Are rude moderators, cliques and trolls bad? You betcha! And any commercial forum worth its salt should address that. But that's no excuse to open up your emotional veins and act out like some entitled bratty kid.

First ammendment doesn't protect you from disagreeing. But for some reason the schools or the parents have failed miserably and people think that first amendment has to do with people not being able to express yourself. You can can express yourself all you want and our lovely first amendment will keep you out of jail. What it doesn't protect, and what I agree with, are people being able to shout out everything they want to as if they are the center of the universe.

Sorry to break it to you but the world has rules and you either follow them or you are asked to leave. This happens "in real life" and it happens on forums.

if a forum has cliques, bad moderators, etc, then it's a bad forum  and I would think anyone with any sense would come to the conclusion that it's "a crap forum" and leave.

I don't know what he was trying to say that the mods didn't like, and I don't assume you do either.

 I've seen forums about controversial political issues where the mods surpress opinions that oppose their own, webcomic forums where honest opinion and speculation about comic elements or the creator is restricted, and ones where certain individuals are transparently favored by the mods and allowed to say anything they want about others but are protected themselves.

They have every legal right to do these things, but I definitely consider those forums "crap forums".

I quit posting on game-specific forums years ago because of the nastiness factor. Just because we enjoy freedom of speech does not compel us to exercise that freedom without a degree of restraint.

I played SWTOR for several months after it launched. Mostly, I liked the game till I'd simply done everything and got bored with it. In my opinion, negativism on the "official" SWTOR forums killed that game every bit as effectively as anything else about the game itself. Too many people are unable to utter anything positive; I suppose criticism makes them feel empowered.

I find forums are a good source of information, but not really socializing.

Class boards for example I find are usually decent. At worst there's just people complaining about how something is under/overpowered or something.