3 ms·

> Anything that depersonalizes is going to be toxic and that is inherent in the online space. In the smaller communities you can actually get to know people and

by mannanj 4mo ago

> Anything that depersonalizes is going to be toxic and that is inherent in the online space. In the smaller communities you can actually get to know people and have some kind of reputation but as the community size grows, the consequences of bad behavior fade because nobody can remember. Do you think or have noticed that bad behavior is less likely to occur in smaller communities, or is simply swept under the rug or ignored due to some other dynamics at play?

parineum 4mo ago
Two main examples came into my mind when I was writing that. I used to play a lot of counterstrike on private servers and I played some ultima online as well. With counter strike, I frequented one server and got to know the players on it a bit. You'd chat a bit after you died but, mostly, I'd just see the same names most of the time. There was usually an admin online and bad behavior (mostly not game related but social behavior) would be banned eventually. In UO, there was a lot of player interaction where I would actually make friends and aquatintes with people I interacted with a lot. You end up building a community within a community of people you like to play with. Both of those groups had different ways of filtering bad behavior but, I think the key difference is that they both had a pretty significant social interact component. CS seem semi-accidental but the post death chatting gave it a little something I never got from other fps games. MMOs have really gone completely away from social gaming. They've streamlined so many processes that actual relationships aren't really that important.
- mannanj 4mo ago
  seems like an example of change of game design rewarding play time over community or socializing. or might be hard to connect those two together. for me, to relate to your experience, I played a army shooter sim called Americas Army in the 2000's and its community also allowed me a similar community effect + positive behavior incentives, and we had open chat too.
  - parineum 4mo ago
    > seems like an example of change of game design rewarding play time over community or socializing. I agree completely but I'd also add that those changes weren't always intentional, I think. MMO changes, in particular, have greatly stifled the social aspect of their games, not intentionally, but through adding convenience. The advent of fast travel across the world (for cost), auction houses, mailing items at no or little cost, etc. In UO, you'd walk into a town and find a blacksmith to repair your gear because they were just pasting in an advertisement over and over. Each hub would have different prices based on who was on because travel wasn't painless. I remember making a deal with someone to buy ore I mined at a specific price. It was below market value but it took away the burden of finding buyers all the time so I did it. And just like that, a casual friendship was formed. Now, an mmo without a global (or even cross server!) auction house would be unthinkable. Giving into the conveniences that players ask for ruins the social aspect of the game. It's cool that I can jump online and queue for an instance with a bunch of randoms in 10 minutes but it's at the expense of me actually communicating with the people and that's a shame.

by mannanj 4mo ago

parineum 4mo ago

Two main examples came into my mind when I was writing that. I used to play a lot of counterstrike on private servers and I played some ultima online as well. With counter strike, I frequented one server and got to know the players on it a bit. You'd chat a bit after you died but, mostly, I'd just see the same names most of the time. There was usually an admin online and bad behavior (mostly not game related but social behavior) would be banned eventually. In UO, there was a lot of player interaction where I would actually make friends and aquatintes with people I interacted with a lot. You end up building a community within a community of people you like to play with. Both of those groups had different ways of filtering bad behavior but, I think the key difference is that they both had a pretty significant social interact component. CS seem semi-accidental but the post death chatting gave it a little something I never got from other fps games. MMOs have really gone completely away from social gaming. They've streamlined so many processes that actual relationships aren't really that important.

mannanj 4mo ago
seems like an example of change of game design rewarding play time over community or socializing. or might be hard to connect those two together. for me, to relate to your experience, I played a army shooter sim called Americas Army in the 2000's and its community also allowed me a similar community effect + positive behavior incentives, and we had open chat too.
- parineum 4mo ago
  > seems like an example of change of game design rewarding play time over community or socializing. I agree completely but I'd also add that those changes weren't always intentional, I think. MMO changes, in particular, have greatly stifled the social aspect of their games, not intentionally, but through adding convenience. The advent of fast travel across the world (for cost), auction houses, mailing items at no or little cost, etc. In UO, you'd walk into a town and find a blacksmith to repair your gear because they were just pasting in an advertisement over and over. Each hub would have different prices based on who was on because travel wasn't painless. I remember making a deal with someone to buy ore I mined at a specific price. It was below market value but it took away the burden of finding buyers all the time so I did it. And just like that, a casual friendship was formed. Now, an mmo without a global (or even cross server!) auction house would be unthinkable. Giving into the conveniences that players ask for ruins the social aspect of the game. It's cool that I can jump online and queue for an instance with a bunch of randoms in 10 minutes but it's at the expense of me actually communicating with the people and that's a shame.