Really? I agree completely playing on the beta servers and open beta servers can cause me to ignore chat, but take a grown up objective look at the forum community that actually intends to play rift, and at the non beta servers if you have that option (which most likely you don't). I haven't seen a more friedly, welcoming & mature community in ages. And a LOT of what draws me to a game is the community (Vanguard, EQ, EQ2).

You're welcome to base your opinions of the 'community' on an open beta in which we clearly see people with no intention of playing the game spew all kinds of rubbish in chat channels, but I think if you've lived as long as you say you may realise the value in taking a fair look at the actual community.

I've only seen anti-social behavior on the beta servers that everyone has access to, it's hardly indicitive of the core community, or I'd be long gone.

There are a number of criticisms one could level at this and any game, but in all honesty I just can't see how the actual community can come under fire as the friendly atmosphere is one of the larger draws for us.

I think you seriously may want to consider whether or not your experiences (which are vastly different than mine) may be due to the fact that you're playinbg on an open beta/beta server. Then re-evaluate, if you still feel the same, then I guess we just have different opinions on what equates to a mature, friendly & welcoming community.

I just find it unfortunate, as I've just seen the complete opposite.

Originally posted by popinjay

 

---

Originally posted by Teala

 Actually it was five total, two from one person.    I did contact authorities and the response I got was.   Do I know this person personally.  I said "no".    They told me that if I knew this person personally I could file a restraining order through the courts.  Well that is not an option.   They requested I forward the email and I did.   I was also told that no crime was committed.    This Lt. actually said people say crazy stuff all the time and it doesn't mean they'll follow through with it and unless I know the person personally, or he has stalked me, and I have proof of it, or has done me bodily harm, there is not really anything much they can do.  
What I find amazing is that my little critic of a "game" that pointed out only things I found in "my opinion" as short comings, or failures(which were few mind you) could garnar such vitriolic hate.  It's a game.   Nothing more...just a game.  I didn't murder somones cat, or family member, of sleep with some guys or girls SO.  It was a blog post.    A silly little blog post.    Never have I seen such behaviour as I have seen in the Rift community.  Go look at some of the responses in that one thread, and even on my own blog, --- I left them up.   It amazes me that even though I said great things about the game, and even suggested that people should give it a shot, I was bombarded with some comments that anyone else would have deleted due to their negativity.   I left them though.   I left them because it is just a blog, a blog that I enjoy writing and will continue to write and I want people to see that despite thier behaviour...I'll continue to write.  I am not a professional writer, never claimed to be.  I'm just a gamer that blogs.

---

I guess the point is that if you look at the total number of potential players in Rift, probably less than 1% has ever heard of a "Teala" or even read blogs. If you look at what they estimate to get for subs (modest estimate: 200-300k at launch) how many of them do you think know you are critical of Rift? Exactly.. probably less than 1% of 1%.

So because you got what.. 100 emails maximum (if you say you got MORE than that, your credibility here is severly gonna be tested) saying they hate you, you suck, and you don't know anything (along with the four death threats), how are you saying that's the whole Rift community? That just makes no sense based on sheer numbers.

 

Again, you know you got asshats in teeny-tiny game like Mount and Blade as well. You know there are plenty of individual jerks and entire huge corporations in EvE who do similar things (I've seen them in Perpettum's beta) who excel at douchebaggery.

 

This is not a Rift thing, it's a people thing and your favorite games have them as well.

QFT

The amazing thing to me, and as others have pointed out, is that she continually wants to only respond to the back and forth negative comments and lament on the harsh words said at her and how she was wronged yet she won't own up to the fact that she took a blanket character shot at the entire Rift community and slandered them (slander is also an item for which legal action can be taken)  and has yet to own up to her mistake, acknowledge it and apologize for it. 

I've easily, easily interacted with 3 or for times more folks than the hundred or so she mentions through my time involved testing this game that didn't act in the manner she describes. Her blanket comment, and I've refrained from using such language in hopes she'd temper her blunderbuss of slander, is a flat out lie. Pure and simple.

Of course, anyone with even an iota of perspective knows that right away. There are bad apples in every MMO community. One should expect to draw them when you put yourself out there by writing blogs and especially having those blogs highlighted and linked on the from of an MMO website. The Rift community in general has no idea who she is.

It was most likely one of her blog followers that followed her over to Rift, played the game and liked it and is now railing back against her views. They post it on the O forums and the "drop in a bucket" of people who responded to her blog, in her mind, now constitutes the entirety of the Rift community.

Hardly.

Originally posted by erictlewis

Originally posted by Emhster

Originally posted by erictlewis

 I recieved hate email in my rift account, and in my mmorpg account. Trion refused to take action to shut down that thread, that is on trion.  However you report somebody here who sends you some hatefull stuff, they get it in the chops.

heres the thread its been burried a few times

http://forums.riftgame.com/showthread.php?50689-It-s-reviews-like-this-people.-Reviews-like-this.&highlight=teala

That is the thread that got me hate, and got her hate, and the thread that was allowed to go 11 pages without moderation.

 

 

There are some nasty replies in this thread you posted. In here it would be (thankfully) removed. Did TW moderators trim it at all? There are some insightful replies. But the OP cleverly pulled a strawman by focusing on mounts to destroy her argument, as it happened here with those comments on squirrels.

Not to excuse any bad posts, but anything negative in a game's website right before release is a buzz kill to a lot of fans, and some may react in a bad way. I usually avoid those places in such times, as it becomes too difficult to discuss about anything. I suppose websites like mmorpg.com are a bit better (though sometimes it tends toward negativity) when you want to post about a video-game.

 No they did not trim it, in fact the thread is still unlocked fortunalty it got burried but still you can see what happened. It got nastly yes it did, and trion let it continue. However I will say this they do moderate things that are way negative, but in this case they let the dogpile happen.  See the double standard. 

You should fight this all the way to The Supreme Court.

Originally posted by Khalathwyr

Originally posted by popinjay

 

---

Originally posted by Teala

 Actually it was five total, two from one person.    I did contact authorities and the response I got was.   Do I know this person personally.  I said "no".    They told me that if I knew this person personally I could file a restraining order through the courts.  Well that is not an option.   They requested I forward the email and I did.   I was also told that no crime was committed.    This Lt. actually said people say crazy stuff all the time and it doesn't mean they'll follow through with it and unless I know the person personally, or he has stalked me, and I have proof of it, or has done me bodily harm, there is not really anything much they can do.  
What I find amazing is that my little critic of a "game" that pointed out only things I found in "my opinion" as short comings, or failures(which were few mind you) could garnar such vitriolic hate.  It's a game.   Nothing more...just a game.  I didn't murder somones cat, or family member, of sleep with some guys or girls SO.  It was a blog post.    A silly little blog post.    Never have I seen such behaviour as I have seen in the Rift community.  Go look at some of the responses in that one thread, and even on my own blog, --- I left them up.   It amazes me that even though I said great things about the game, and even suggested that people should give it a shot, I was bombarded with some comments that anyone else would have deleted due to their negativity.   I left them though.   I left them because it is just a blog, a blog that I enjoy writing and will continue to write and I want people to see that despite thier behaviour...I'll continue to write.  I am not a professional writer, never claimed to be.  I'm just a gamer that blogs.

---

I guess the point is that if you look at the total number of potential players in Rift, probably less than 1% has ever heard of a "Teala" or even read blogs. If you look at what they estimate to get for subs (modest estimate: 200-300k at launch) how many of them do you think know you are critical of Rift? Exactly.. probably less than 1% of 1%.

So because you got what.. 100 emails maximum (if you say you got MORE than that, your credibility here is severly gonna be tested) saying they hate you, you suck, and you don't know anything (along with the four death threats), how are you saying that's the whole Rift community? That just makes no sense based on sheer numbers.

 

Again, you know you got asshats in teeny-tiny game like Mount and Blade as well. You know there are plenty of individual jerks and entire huge corporations in EvE who do similar things (I've seen them in Perpettum's beta) who excel at douchebaggery.

 

This is not a Rift thing, it's a people thing and your favorite games have them as well.

QFT

The amazing thing to me, and as others have pointed out, is that she continually wants to only respond to the back and forth negative comments and lament on the harsh words said at her and how she was wronged yet she won't own up to the fact that she took a blanket character shot at the entire Rift community and slandered them (slander is also an item for which legal action can be taken)  and has yet to own up to her mistake, acknowledge it and apologize for it. 

I've easily, easily interacted with 3 or for times more folks than the hundred or so she mentions through my time involved testing this game that didn't act in the manner she describes. Her blanket comment, and I've refrained from using such language in hopes she'd temper her blunderbuss of slander, is a flat out lie. Pure and simple.

Of course, anyone with even an iota of perspective knows that right away. There are bad apples in every MMO community. One should expect to draw them when you put yourself out there by writing blogs and especially having those blogs highlighted and linked on the from of an MMO website. The Rift community in general has no idea who she is.

It was most likely one of her blog followers that followed her over to Rift, played the game and liked it and is now railing back against her views. They post it on the O forums and the "drop in a bucket" of people who responded to her blog, in her mind, now constitutes the entirety of the Rift community.

Hardly.

Agreed.

Problem is a lot of the flack she was getting was mostly caused by her constant egging and provoking when people didn't agree with her statements. It's like walking into a room and screaming "Everyone here is an assh@!#!" and then afterwards trying to seek sympathy because 'Everyone hates me...'.

As for the OP, I don't so much think it's a fact that he doesn't understand that beta communities =/= live communities, but more along the lines of reinforcing a personal reason to not play the game. I think he might have started to actually like the game but maybe had to convince himself not to buy it. I have seen this sort of behaviour before when people try to justify not buying something. I mean I could be wrong, but judging by his few posts it really does seem like he was making up excuses to convince himself more than to explain his feelings to the community.

All general chat channels were extremely quiet today compared to other days. No talk about other games (except for a FFA full loot sandbox person complaining about Rift PvP).

I don't understand the hatred or flaming of WoW or Rift players. Those guys take more abuse than anyone. 

You can't judge a game's community by its playerbase three months into the game, let alone when it's in public beta testing.

You'll get a much better feel for the community of the game once the shine wears off for most people, so I'd say 4-6 months after release is the best time to start gauging the maturity level of Rift's community.

Originally posted by xcutionr

I don't understand the hatred or flaming of WoW or Rift players. Those guys take more abuse than anyone. 

 Its because some people think that WoW players are only assholes online.  I came to the realization awhile ago that most humans, including myself, are douchebags in one way or another.  The internet just allows them to be that way without societies normal consequences.

It not just WoW players that suck, take look at ANY online forum or message board and you will find that between all of the advertising spam they are full of racist, sexist, homoerotic comments.

My recommendation to anyone getting upset about it is to take a deep breath and stop worrying about what all the assholes in the world have to say.

Originally posted by xcutionr

I don't understand the hatred or flaming of WoW or Rift players. Those guys take more abuse than anyone. 

WoW wouldn't be getting so much resentment from other MMO players if Blizzard didn't dumb down the whole genre to appease to the masses.

Originally posted by bastionix

Originally posted by xcutionr

I don't understand the hatred or flaming of WoW or Rift players. Those guys take more abuse than anyone. 

WoW wouldn't be getting so much resentment from other MMO players if Blizzard didn't dumb down the whole genre to appease to the masses.

You do realize they are video games, none of them are rocket science? WoW caters to a certain player, you bemoaning it's not your cup of tea is a bit silly. Also; they build office furniture out of money, so to act like you know so much better than them, well... High Score wins?

Sadly looks like I will not be playing Rift either. My graphics card is slightly below the minimum requirement and I do not have enough useage on my internet to download the beta client. So without trialing how my laptop handles (and no free trial in the foreseeable future) it looks like Ill have to skip this one. Hope you all enjoy!

Originally posted by Elikal

I am done with Rift. I really wanted to like the game, it looks great, Trion is putting great effort into it, but today is really the last nail in the coffin.

I know people say WOW has a bad community, and going into it's dungeon browser really shows you the scum of humanity. But this... no matter what little you ask or critizise, I haven't EVER seen such an amount of hate, harrasment, flaming and attack than in the Rift chat channels. Why is it so difficult to just discuss different opinions WITHOUT 30 people jumping at my throat? I just don't want to spent my limited lifetime in an environment with such amounts of hate and agression around me.

It just is the last straw on many issues. Boring "Kill 10 Goblin" quests all over, difficulty & respawn rates, recent rise of bugs and issues... but more than all this the community looks terrible to me. I was just saying my Ranger/Marksman was constantly dying in some places, and the sheer amount of mockery, hate and whatnot was just... depressing.

 

You know, I didnt want to say this, but I had my 40th birthday today, I feel it's like "ok I am officially not young anymore" and having more days behind me than ahead of me, I made one decision today: I WONT stay in places with mean and inpolite people. I am mortal, my time is limited and life is too precious to waste it in places with unfriendly people. So while in past years I was more willing to "fight over things", debate all over and taking all bad manners, I decided from today I will avoid such places.

Maybe you think about this one time.

Well, part of the problem I suspect is the extreme nature of the fan boys and the haters. Both sides have the classic "you are either with us or against us" mentality.  Seriously, both sides take it to the point of religion.  If you don't think that Rift is the One True Game(tm) then you should "go back to WoW!!". On the other hand, if you think its a good game, and enjoy it, that sets the haters off in to a foaming at the mouth rage.  You've seen the results.  Like I said, I like the game and enjoy it. Thats enough for me.

Well, if someone is that disturbed, and able to get your address, then the only protection you most likely have, is yourself.  If someone is willing to just walk up to you and shoot you, you're screwed.  Cops aren't going to put a protective detail on you for internet threats.

I am not saying things can't happen, but its probably 1 in 10,000,000 or less (given everything I read on the internet usually has someone threatening someone else anymore).  I have lost count of the times people have threatend me over something stupid, and I even egg them on once they get going and try to make them rage......Smart or not, but I figure if someone is going to get that worked up over a game or the internet, then I might as well get some entertainment out of it.  I don't look for it, and I am usually  very easy going (I can be sarcastic if someone is bring an idiot), but if someone is bat crap crazy, I can't help myself.

I guess it's just up to the individual, but I can't take the random internet tough guy very serious....and I am realistic, if someone is that crazy...not much you can do.

Originally posted by Teala

Didn't I and another say that we thought the Rift community was one of the worst we have ever encountered here on these forums?   Yes...we did.   What were we met with?   People telling us that we we haters and trolls.   I'll say it again, Rift's community is one of the worst I have ever encountered in any game and that includes WoW.

Agreed. I spent 20 minutes in the beta the other night. The community was one of the reasons why I didn't stay for longer. That said, I won't let it put me off permanently. Just to top the OP, I'm 44 and most people in these games are kids compared to that, lol! Like others on here, I prefer to play alone too, mostly because I'm old and grumpy now. But I do think the community in Rift will improve a bit once the game is out proper.

Their official forum community is horrendous as well. It's actually astounding how bad it is and the CMs condone it by carefully picking out and locking topics politely critical of the game as well as more crude and more trollish topics.

I posted there initially, made a few attempts at pointing out the flaws in the game and then surrendered, looked for another forum, and started posting (this one).

As for the notions that the community is like this because of [x game]'s playerbase. That's nonsense. These guys and waiting and ready for anyone to point out any similarity to any other game, no matter how clear the copypasta is, as a sign to attack.

Their forums are also critical of this site, but eh, I like it. The mods have a presence here; they don't let just anything slide and often post "Let's move back to the op's topic" posts before locking errant threads. They don't lock a critical thread because a game's fanboy flamed the op for a few paragraphs.

i just dont see the need for global chat systems in mmos. Not with today's community.

The fastest way to become known is to be an obnoxious asshat in global.

Games are games and chat room are chat rooms, let keep them seperated plz.

Originally posted by Elikal

I am done with Rift. I really wanted to like the game, it looks great, Trion is putting great effort into it, but today is really the last nail in the coffin.

I know people say WOW has a bad community, and going into it's dungeon browser really shows you the scum of humanity. But this... no matter what little you ask or critizise, I haven't EVER seen such an amount of hate, harrasment, flaming and attack than in the Rift chat channels. Why is it so difficult to just discuss different opinions WITHOUT 30 people jumping at my throat? I just don't want to spent my limited lifetime in an environment with such amounts of hate and agression around me.

It just is the last straw on many issues. Boring "Kill 10 Goblin" quests all over, difficulty & respawn rates, recent rise of bugs and issues... but more than all this the community looks terrible to me. I was just saying my Ranger/Marksman was constantly dying in some places, and the sheer amount of mockery, hate and whatnot was just... depressing.

 

You know, I didnt want to say this, but I had my 40th birthday today, I feel it's like "ok I am officially not young anymore" and having more days behind me than ahead of me, I made one decision today: I WONT stay in places with mean and inpolite people. I am mortal, my time is limited and life is too precious to waste it in places with unfriendly people. So while in past years I was more willing to "fight over things", debate all over and taking all bad manners, I decided from today I will avoid such places.

Maybe you think about this one time.

Dude i know where your coming from completely. Its wow's legacy to the mmo world that it has taken a game genre that used to foster a true sense of community and comraderie, and made it into a spiteful, twisted competition of one upmanship and bullying.

Where your at now was the exact crossroads i reached a couple of years ago. completely fed up with being harrased and insulted by small minded, people all giddy with the power of the anonymity of the internet. A bad group in a random pug in WOW could put me in a bad mood all day. I had the choice to give up the games that i love or just grow thicker skin. i chose the latter.

dont let them win dude. i tend to just pity them now. it helps. when you see an arrogant dick being a complete cock to everyone in general chat, i see a sad 12 year old who has no RL freinds, gets bullied at school and will probably be lonely for the rest of his life. it helps :)

Originally posted by Elikal

I am done with Rift. I really wanted to like the game, it looks great, Trion is putting great effort into it, but today is really the last nail in the coffin.

I know people say WOW has a bad community, and going into it's dungeon browser really shows you the scum of humanity. But this... no matter what little you ask or critizise, I haven't EVER seen such an amount of hate, harrasment, flaming and attack than in the Rift chat channels. Why is it so difficult to just discuss different opinions WITHOUT 30 people jumping at my throat? I just don't want to spent my limited lifetime in an environment with such amounts of hate and agression around me.

It just is the last straw on many issues. Boring "Kill 10 Goblin" quests all over, difficulty & respawn rates, recent rise of bugs and issues... but more than all this the community looks terrible to me. I was just saying my Ranger/Marksman was constantly dying in some places, and the sheer amount of mockery, hate and whatnot was just... depressing.

 

You know, I didnt want to say this, but I had my 40th birthday today, I feel it's like "ok I am officially not young anymore" and having more days behind me than ahead of me, I made one decision today: I WONT stay in places with mean and inpolite people. I am mortal, my time is limited and life is too precious to waste it in places with unfriendly people. So while in past years I was more willing to "fight over things", debate all over and taking all bad manners, I decided from today I will avoid such places.

Maybe you think about this one time.

 

They have specifically targetted WoW.  There is a TV ad calling them out.  They have bought ad space on wowhead.com, the google of wow crap.  I'd say at this point well more than half the players in Rift have at some point played WoW (myself included, although not recently).

Personally, having finally just started with beta 7, I think the game has a lot more taken from Warhammer.  I'm not really sold on it, the community does suck.  Really the only thing I've seen that has impressed me has been (and I'm a pvper generally) huge Rift invasions where hundreds of people are scrambling around trying to stop a particular faction from wiping the map, while it's pve, it was entertaining at least the couple times I've been involved although the smaller rifts do get redundant fast.

I presently can't post to the official forums, not sure why, I've only got 8 posts since joining and none were trolls and the first day I played I was booted from the server, and lost my character which was restored the next day, still not the best first impression.  I've got a lvl 12 mage and a lvl 11 warrior, defiant, none of which I had planned to play at launch.  The limitiations of the Soul System being based around having to grind out the rest of the souls to use in roles is really bothering me at the moment, I thought I would have access to all souls from the beginning not have to "earn" them.

It's probably rather telling that I'm here posting instead of playing the game, I really haven't missed it much while at work or whatever unlike some other games I've played.  The warfronts are cut and paste from Warhammer though and I do miss those and leveling via pvp although I've already experienced that you get far less from them than from grinding the nausatingly similar kill X of these quests.  Also somewhat of a disappointment after the starting zone leads you to believe you won't have to go back to the WoW/LOTRO/WAR/etc relay races is that  nearly all subsequent quests do.