Too “Nice” - Is GW2’s Community REALLY That Great?

[Tsakhi.8124]

> @"Linken.6345" said:

> > @"Jack Redline.5379" said:

> > > @"ProverbsofHell.2307" said:

> > > Its because GW2 isn't a competitive game. In PvE there are players who don't want to go kitten swinging so they may be mostly female or older gamers. This tends to breed a pretty friendly community of non competitive types.

> > >

> > > If you step into WvW or PvP, thats more likely where you'll find the 15-30 male age range. This is generalising, but younger men tend to enjoy game modes with a more competitive edge. My girlfriend for example finds this stressful, so she's much more likely to be drawn to completionist or cooperative activities.

> > >

> > > Whereas for me, this doesn't satisfy my particular gaming itch because I want to compete.

> >

> > girls play games as well

> > just sayin

> > and no it is not like in each state on earth there is just one girl playing games

> > up to 40 % of gamers are FEMALEs

> > just sayin

>

> We are not talking candy crush here mate 40% of gw2 population for sure aint female.

 

I think they were speaking of gaming in general, opposed to the populace of the game. Also, Candy Crush sucks. Like a peppermint stick. That I eat. As an aside, I'm not an overly aggressive person unless I'm protecting someone/something. But, now I'm curious about the male to female ratio in Guild Wars 2.

[ewenness.6482]

> @"Tsakhi.8124" said:

> > @"Linken.6345" said:

> > > @"Jack Redline.5379" said:

> > > > @"ProverbsofHell.2307" said:

> > > > Its because GW2 isn't a competitive game. In PvE there are players who don't want to go kitten swinging so they may be mostly female or older gamers. This tends to breed a pretty friendly community of non competitive types.

> > > >

> > > > If you step into WvW or PvP, thats more likely where you'll find the 15-30 male age range. This is generalising, but younger men tend to enjoy game modes with a more competitive edge. My girlfriend for example finds this stressful, so she's much more likely to be drawn to completionist or cooperative activities.

> > > >

> > > > Whereas for me, this doesn't satisfy my particular gaming itch because I want to compete.

> > >

> > > girls play games as well

> > > just sayin

> > > and no it is not like in each state on earth there is just one girl playing games

> > > up to 40 % of gamers are FEMALEs

> > > just sayin

> >

> > We are not talking candy crush here mate 40% of gw2 population for sure aint female.

>

> I think they were speaking of gaming in general, opposed to the populace of the game. Also, Candy Crush sucks. Like a peppermint stick. That I eat. As an aside, I'm not an overly aggressive person unless I'm protecting someone/something. But, now I'm curious about the male to female ratio in Guild Wars 2.

 

In my experience it's far higher than the standard for this genre. The only other MMORPG where I encountered so many women was FF XIV. Many books have been written on the subject but it boils down to the basic difference between men and women when it comes to social interaction. Men in general tend to be more competitive and women in general tend to be more cooperative. So I'd say it's not surprising that games emphasizing cooperation while providing little to no opportunity for competition are popular with the ladies.

[Arton Leirra.9760]

> @"Mortifera.6138" said:

> Yes, everyone is “nice.” But it’s the niceness that comes from being so distant from each other. You don’t act mean to people you don’t know that well. And no one on Guild Wars 2 really knows each other that well, it’s a solo effort done in groups you don’t have any real interaction with.

 

This is a very simple way of explaining what I like so much about this game. I like that I don't have to make forced relationships with people so I can get a group going or do a fractal here and there. I like just running into a random people and been able to chat to them for the 10 minutes we are together and not have to put effort into building a relationship because in reality I know I'll not speak to them again until I possible might randomly bump into them next time in open world.

 

This is a perfect structure for me, I like solo gaming and I like small interactions. I see guild chat reems and reems of text of people saying yeah how's it going, top of the morning to you and all that. It's just not for me. Appreciate that's something that's massively to a lot of people in mmo's but to me it suits me just fine :)

 

I'm not saying I don't have any 'online friends' but, I for the years I have spent gaming; I don't have many.

 

[Lunia.2736]

If you think people in this community are nice do Octovine and kill your lane before the others kill theirs.

[TheQuickFox.3826]

As long as you avoid PvP, the community is generally very kind.Generally, the WvW community has been very nice as well.

But there are always some exceptions because that is how humans are.

[TheQuickFox.3826]

> @"sigur.9453" said:

> Nah, community is nice because ther is almost no "conflict potential".

> Metaevents hardly fail (i remember times when chack, ds, etc. where not a 100% win, there was a lot of salt going on, still is on serpents ;) )

> There is no mob/kill stealing.

> Nodes are also shared.

> Everyone gets the same rewards.

>

> If you add a single fail status like in wvw/raids/fracs/pvp "nicest community" isn´t so nice anymore.

> So "we" are nice be design.

> i´ve seen this in a lot of other games as well. everyone is everyones best friend until someone messes up/gets loot you do not get now anymore.

> We are the best in praising ourself though, never seen that before.

 

That's why we need nice design. :)

It's not bad to give good behavior a helping hand.

[sigur.9453]

> @"TheQuickFox.3826" said:

> > @"sigur.9453" said:

> > Nah, community is nice because ther is almost no "conflict potential".

> > Metaevents hardly fail (i remember times when chack, ds, etc. where not a 100% win, there was a lot of salt going on, still is on serpents ;) )

> > There is no mob/kill stealing.

> > Nodes are also shared.

> > Everyone gets the same rewards.

> >

> > If you add a single fail status like in wvw/raids/fracs/pvp "nicest community" isn´t so nice anymore.

> > So "we" are nice be design.

> > i´ve seen this in a lot of other games as well. everyone is everyones best friend until someone messes up/gets loot you do not get now anymore.

> > We are the best in praising ourself though, never seen that before.

>

> That's why we need nice design. :)

> It's not bad to give good behavior a helping hand.

 

I also like some of these design aspects, but If it comes with the cost of no challenging content/possibility of failing/whatsoever I have to disagree. At some point "we" stop(ped) playing the content and start(ed) consuming it. But this is just me personally, and some people I used to play with.

[DreamyAbaddon.3265]

> @"MithranArkanere.8957" said:

> You are wrong. This niceness comes from preventing bad behaviors. For example:

>

> * You cannot PK in open world, because combat between players has strictly delimited areas. So players do not have to worry about that.

> * You cannot easily troll or insult enemy players in WvW, since chat is separate per world.

> * You cannot kill steal, because players have individual rewards from kills.

> * You cannot ninja-steal nodes, since nodes are accessed separately per account.

> * The gearing system and horizontal progression system makes helping others the best way to show off. Since your stats are not what make you complete content, but your knowledge, and the best way to show off your knowledge is sharing it and helping other players.

>

> The best way to prevent a bad behavior is making it impossible. And that's what make a 'nice community'.

>

> This is why most of the toxic behavior in the game is concentrated in places where other player's failure determines one's own failure, as that creates frustration because it's not possible to control other player's skill as much as one's own.

 

You know, you are making valid points here. I just thought I'd say that. This MMO is truly amazing how it created the community we all love and adore.

[Drecien.4508]

How dare you assume our nature!

[Weindrasi.3805]

> @"Linken.6345" said:

> > @"Jack Redline.5379" said:

> > > @"ProverbsofHell.2307" said:

> > > Its because GW2 isn't a competitive game. In PvE there are players who don't want to go kitten swinging so they may be mostly female or older gamers. This tends to breed a pretty friendly community of non competitive types.

> > >

> > > If you step into WvW or PvP, thats more likely where you'll find the 15-30 male age range. This is generalising, but younger men tend to enjoy game modes with a more competitive edge. My girlfriend for example finds this stressful, so she's much more likely to be drawn to completionist or cooperative activities.

> > >

> > > Whereas for me, this doesn't satisfy my particular gaming itch because I want to compete.

> >

> > girls play games as well

> > just sayin

> > and no it is not like in each state on earth there is just one girl playing games

> > up to 40 % of gamers are FEMALEs

> > just sayin

>

> We are not talking candy crush here mate 40% of gw2 population for sure aint female.

 

FALSE! This report https://quanticfoundry.com/2017/01/19/female-gamers-by-genre/ found that 36% of High Fantasy MMO players are female.

Unless you ask every single player you encounter what their gender is, and every single one answers truthfully, you cannot tell.

[grouchybhaal.4275]

I have always found the gw2 community to be alot nicer and not much toxicity compared to other mmos out there.

 

In saying that gw2 has a fair bit of content to keep people busy rather than having a go at eachother.

[Warkind.6745]

I feel like the GW2 community has a reputation for being nice in general because of their welcoming nature towards new players.

 

A quick visit to WvW or the forums will show you how short most of us are with other seasoned players though. I don't think we're all that different from other online communities, to be honest.

[holodoc.5748]

Every community wants to believe that they are somehow different. The truth is on average they are all the same. Full of people that don't know how to behave like (censored) and those that make it their life goal to do exactly that. GW2 is no exception.

[SilentRage.3572]

> @"Warkind.6745" said:

> I feel like the GW2 community has a reputation for being nice in general because of their welcoming nature towards new players.

>

> A quick visit to WvW or the forums will show you how short most of us are with other seasoned players though. I don't think we're all that different from other online communities, to be honest.

 

Exactly, I thought the community was nice at first. Then I tried PvP. I've been solo PvE since then apart from random group event.

Don't plan on doing raid either or any part of the game where a defeat could be my fault. Y'know, being insulted kinda sucks out the fun.

[Hesione.9412]

> @"Lunia.2736" said:

> If you think people in this community are nice do Octovine and kill your lane before the others kill theirs.

 

If you think people in this community are nice do Octovine and kill your lane before the others kill theirs **even though others in map chat are calling out asking you to stop the dps**.

 

FTFY

[Rauderi.8706]

> @"Hesione.9412" said:

> > @"Lunia.2736" said:

> > If you think people in this community are nice do Octovine and kill your lane before the others kill theirs.

>

> If you think people in this community are nice do Octovine and kill your lane before the others kill theirs **even though others in map chat are calling out asking you to stop the dps**.

>

> FTFY

 

For all the effort the original design of GW2 went through to make it so you "don't regret seeing another player," they really made a mess of it with Romeo/Juliet kills like Triple Trouble and Octovine . . .

[Hashberry.4510]

I often regret seeing anyone at Pagga's, BFF, or anywhere folks can dump their aggro on you as they run away. I am still surprised Anet allows that sort of aggro dump.

[SkyShroud.2865]

People like to exaggerate things, more often than one think. Not only that, people often like to use bias examples like a few "awesome" cases to portray the entire community as awesome even if statistically such case is considered rare. Also, on the internet, popular opinion is a thing, even if the opinion is questionable or wrong. Lastly, the internet masses are followers such that their "individually" or "thoughts" are nothing but influenced by the comments of others therefore tend to follow whatever opinions that become popular.

[dusanyu.4057]

GW2 gives you no reason to dislike seeing other players around. Nodes don't vanish everbody gets loot. because of this there is no reason reason to be a rude jerk unless you just are one naturally.

[gimo.3281]

Be yourself and the people around you can tell what you are really and from that, you can tell what people around you are really.

[Cobrakon.3108]

The game has made it less stressful to interact with others compared to other games. Imagine you wanted an item from a boss, you organize your guild and friends, then unbeknownst to you someone had been laying in wait to strike that boss first and therefore get all the loot. That would build a lot of stress and anxiety around a community. The loot system is a major reason that the community seems to be less toxic than in other games.

 

Another reason I think there is another sense of community is the ability to help others in the game, like porting people for JPs. Part of me hates to say this but another reason the community might be less toxic is the lack of a dueling system.

 

Oh and pvp is an entirely different animal.

 

 

[grouchybhaal.4275]

> @"Cobrakon.3108" said:

> The game has made it less stressful to interact with others compared to other games. Imagine you wanted an item from a boss, you organize your guild and friends, then unbeknownst to you someone had been laying in wait to strike that boss first and therefore get all the loot. That would build a lot of stress and anxiety around a community. The loot system is a major reason that the community seems to be less toxic than in other games.

>

> Another reason I think there is another sense of community is the ability to help others in the game, like porting people for JPs. Part of me hates to say this but another reason the community might be less toxic is the lack of a dueling system.

>

> Oh and pvp is an entirely different animal.

>

>

 

I dont agree with the duelling apart as that also can be great diverse way to compete.. But the rest is 100% spot on, its the differents between a well designed game and a poor one. So i believe why gw2 is less toxic is that it has heaps of tangible content to complete for a diverse range of players. Compare to, for example, eso where there is just rubbish recycle content with minimal end game.. Their community is one of the most toxic ive come across.