Over time, I have come to the realization that we MMORPG fans are killing the entire genre with our negativity.

Every new title is met with unfair and blatantly hostile criticism before the games are even released. No one seems to acknowledge the time and effort put into the games we are following and a large part of the community seems to act as though it is their personal mission to destroy games before they have a chance of succeeding. I know that I myself have been guilty of this in the past...

As a community, I think we all need to take a friggin' chill pill and calm down a notch. We have to remember that these are games we are talking about. Games should be SO much less serious than people seem to take them around here. Nothing is perfect and we should not expect games to be. Instead of constantly insulting developers and demanding everything, we need to support them and encourage them to do things right. The constant negativity doesn't help anyone.

I know this is nothing new, but it really seems to me that the community is becoming increasingly hostile and negative over time and this is actually degrading MMORPGs as a whole. It is resulting in developers choosing to ignore the opinions of their most devout followers simply because we are impossible to please. And who do they turn to next? The casual non-MMORPG gamers who they know they CAN please.

So I ask you all this: Please stop bashing the crap out of games you haven't played or that are nowhere near release. Give the developers a chance to make a good game. Don't insult them and make unrealistic demands. If you have positive feedback, give it... but be respectful. Even if a game isn't your cup of tea, don't make it your personal mission to destroy it on the forums. What possible purpose does that serve?

I would argue the opposite, the over enthusiasm of thinking each new game in the works is going to be the "WoW Killer" or "the best MMO ever made !!!1!1!11!11" is what kills the genre. That leads to realistic people trying to show the truth of how that next MMO will be like the other MMOs, and the "innovation" people speak of has all been done before and nothing is new and that these titles won't change the genre forever or be the next big thing.

Then those same people who got all their hopes up over a game, buying shirts/posters and finding every word spoken by a dev. Then changing their computer desktops to the newest released screenshot. They finally get into the game they hyped for a year straight and it can never meet their expectations, so their posts change from enthusiasm to screaming about how none of these companies do it right and the industry sucks.

If people would have a realistic outlook on what games will and won't be then there wouldn't be so much negativity and flame wars. AoC was not the next big thing and WoW killer. WAR was not the next big thing and WoW killer. AION will not be the next big thing/Wow killer. SW:tOR will not be the next big thing/WoW Killer.

More reality = less negativity and flaming.

While I agree with you that general air of negativity has grown in this community over the years, I think its important to realize that this community (meaning MMORPG.com and all the other mmo-focused forums on the internet) are a tiny representaton of the global mmo audience (and not the target audience either).

I seriously doubt many professional developers or executives visit this site or Massively, or any of the zillion amateur blogs that cover the genre.  PR people do, as do community managers and other low-ranking industry employees, but they're not developers.

The negativity affects all of the people on this board but it rarely, if ever, affects the people actually calling the shots on these games.

Maybe if they offer something new people will start being positive.

Devs need to learn that people are sick of cut-paste template mmos...

- Insert hotbars, healthbars, minimap

- Insert typical D&D based classes with typical skills

- Add typical kill 25 boar quests

- Add a shallow pvp system of "taking over" keeps

- Add a few dungeon instances to grind gear.

Congrats, you created a wow clone. Come collect yor 200 dollars like the hundreds of other crappy clones.

Originally posted by Netzoko

Maybe if they offer something new people will start being positive.

Devs need to learn that people are sick of cut-paste template mmos...

- Insert hotbars, healthbars, minimap

- Insert typical D&D based classes with typical skills

- Add typical kill 25 boar quests

- Add a shallow pvp system of "taking over" keeps

- Add a few dungeon instances to grind gear.

 

Congrats, you created a wow clone. Come collect yor 200 dollars like the hundreds of other crappy clones.

I would have to say that the few times recently where something new has actually been tried were met with just as much negative criticism (or more) as the games that repeat the formula.

Take the Old Republic for instance. Here is a game that sounds as though it will be very different from most on the market. Yet, I have read countless complaints about how the game is going to suck because people are worried it will not be ENOUGH like the standard MMORPG. They judge it as nothing more than a single player RPG with an internet chat room without even considering what the new storyline tier might bring to the genre. And this is not even close to the only game I have seen this in. It seems to happen on every new game's forum.

I am only saying that people always seem to have something to complain about here. Everyone is always trashing some game on these forums for reasons that are often completely baseless and unfounded and it annoys me. Its no wonder that we are not the target audience anymore...

Originally posted by Netzoko

Maybe if they offer something new people will start being positive.

Devs need to learn that people are sick of cut-paste template mmos...

- Insert hotbars, healthbars, minimap

- Insert typical D&D based classes with typical skills

- Add typical kill 25 boar quests

- Add a shallow pvp system of "taking over" keeps

- Add a few dungeon instances to grind gear.

 

Congrats, you created a wow clone. Come collect yor 200 dollars like the hundreds of other crappy clones.

This I agree with... I think it's more a clamor for reform from most people who are sick with the repetition and WoW clones. :(

Originally posted by Netzoko

Maybe if they offer something new people will start being positive.

Devs need to learn that people are sick of cut-paste template mmos...

- Insert hotbars, healthbars, minimap

- Insert typical D&D based classes with typical skills

- Add typical kill 25 boar quests

- Add a shallow pvp system of "taking over" keeps

- Add a few dungeon instances to grind gear.

 

Congrats, you created a wow clone. Come collect yor 200 dollars like the hundreds of other crappy clones.

This, thank you.

The negativity while i agree is a bit annoying i just consider the source of the posts. I really do not know if the negativity has grown or just the number of accounts a certain few creates has grown. For myself i just consider it spam pretty much like i do the Chuck Norris references and other childish things that appear in general chat of every MMO on the market. Actually i have found quite a few intellegent posts about Aion lately but im starting to see a pattern of sorts as after a beta weekend i see some posts by people that seem to be trying to give honest reviews of what they have experienced but as the week goes on the trolling seems to start.

 I don't think you can base the argument on the fact that the posters are negative- I bet 95% of MMO players don't post on any forum, and like 50% doesn't even read them. What's important is how they think, imo.

Say you go to a themepark.

Half the people in your group are there for their very first time, the other half has been there 10 times in the last month.

Who is going to be most excited?

The people who already know each ride or the new people who never saw it before.

No other genre copies as much as MMO, not even Hollywood.

People get tired of the same ride.

The addictive formula of MMOs is probably part of the reason there's so much negativity. Basically the addictive mechanics keep players shackled to gameplay a lot longer than they would've normally spent playing a game, so they may have open disdain for the game even while still playing it.

That, and like I've covered in other "cheer up, guys!" threads: criticism generates discussion. Positive comments don't generate as much discussion. So the topics you see are mostly negative ones.

Solution: don't visit forums if negativity bothers you.

Granted, it's fair if you want players to criticize and suggest improvement, rather than just criticize. "You suck" isn't as helpful as "keep a HOT on the tank at all times and use Efficient Heal VII instead of Fast Crappy Heal VIII." The same is true of customer feedback.

Originally posted by Axehilt

The addictive formula of MMOs is probably part of the reason there's so much negativity. Basically the addictive mechanics keep players shackled to gameplay a lot longer than they would've normally spent playing a game, so they may have open disdain for the game even while still playing it.

Very true.

So many people hate a game and play it, they become balls of rage.

They clammer onto new games and when the new game disappoints it adds more rage.

I kinda like console gaming right now since it relaxes me.

Originally posted by Bastioni

Say you go to a themepark.

Half the people in your group are there for their very first time, the other half has been there 10 times in the last month.

Who is going to be most excited?

The people who already know each ride or the new people who never saw it before.

No other genre copies as much as MMO, not even Hollywood.

People get tired of the same ride.

Well i guess i w ould stop going to the theme park and find a new activity other than telling all my friends that its the same crap everytime and how it sucks. Dont like the current crop of MMO's? Try another genre. Really people, if you dont enjoy something why not find something you do like instead of trying to convince the world they are stupid for doing something you have done "10 times in the last month".

Constant crappy MMOs is killing the genre.

Originally posted by altairzq

Constant crappy MMOs is killing the genre.

This.

Constant, narrow focused, shallow depth, buggy, terrible feature promised vs. feature delivered ratio. Sorry OP but this isn't going to fall back on the average gamer's shoulders. We aren't responsible for companies not taking the necessary amount of time to do a game right (testing wise) as well as those companies not delivering on the depth and scope to keep players around, playing and moderately happy.

The problem is MMO players are completely insane. You ever read a WoW forum? The players aren't happy, the never were happy. They play and they complain. When they don't play they come here and complain.

Only the sane people realize MMORPGs are not fun at the moment. They don't complain on forums they just move on. They play other kinds of game and have fun.

With MMORPGs there is an addiction/insanity factor that other types of games don't have. And yes people will try to deny it. But playing a game you don't really like for 8 hours a day for two years is not sane.

So you get a bunch of these people together and yes they will be negative, because they continue to do something they aren't happy doing.

Originally posted by altairzq

Constant crappy MMOs is killing the genre.

Hmm, either you've hit the nail right on the head or you're the negativity the OP is referring to.

No, I'm just kidding, there's no question about it, you've hit the nail on the head!

Originally posted by altairzq

Constant crappy MMOs is killing the genre.

Oh, we are supposed to ignore mediocrity?  Come now, players should be complaining about this industry.  Not one of them has designed a game that even halfway competes with Wow.  All that money spent on half assed designs.  So we end up with a bunch of poorly designed games.

I personally don't think people are complaining enough. 

Originally posted by grandpagamer

Originally posted by Bastioni

Say you go to a themepark.

Half the people in your group are there for their very first time, the other half has been there 10 times in the last month.

Who is going to be most excited?

The people who already know each ride or the new people who never saw it before.

No other genre copies as much as MMO, not even Hollywood.

People get tired of the same ride.

 

Well i guess i w ould stop going to the theme park and find a new activity other than telling all my friends that its the same crap everytime and how it sucks. Dont like the current crop of MMO's? Try another genre. Really people, if you dont enjoy something why not find something you do like instead of trying to convince the world they are stupid for doing something you have done "10 times in the last month".

It's quite amazing. I have played games over for a few times. Both games in the past and in the recent times. But not 10 times in a month, certainly not the same part of a that game 10 times. In any case other games are just the same aswell, in their genre, same same but different.

The only reason I would do this is for the people I play online with. They want to do it, and we do it and so we are having a good time. That makes those 10 times alot of fun. (10 times is your number I don't really think that I to often have been through let's say a dungeon more then 1-2 times a week.)

So why do those people continue to do that same thing, repeatedly, if they feel an urge to tell off other people. That is pretty funny actually.

Maybe it's just has to do with a new variation of the "15 minutes of fame".