09-12-2014, 11:45 PM
A lot of the problem, I think, is how games have put on kid gloves in their treatment of players.
Like in Everquest, there were certain lines you didn't cross because ultimately you could not be an island unto yourself in that game. When your corpse was at the bottom of Guk, someone had to help you get it out and if everyone hated you, you were probably just about done playing the game.
Not to say EQ didn't have assholes, of course, but the assholes were forced to band together in discrete asshole guilds and everyone knew who they were.
In more modern games, they go out of their way to ensure that you do not rely on your community for anything. Assholes can be assholes forever with no repercussions. They don't need anyone's cooperation and these "megaservers" help them stay anonymous -- you might never see the same asshole twice.
Changing the culture of MMOs may be as simple as finding ways to make people rely on each other in a more meaningful manner.
Like in Everquest, there were certain lines you didn't cross because ultimately you could not be an island unto yourself in that game. When your corpse was at the bottom of Guk, someone had to help you get it out and if everyone hated you, you were probably just about done playing the game.
Not to say EQ didn't have assholes, of course, but the assholes were forced to band together in discrete asshole guilds and everyone knew who they were.
In more modern games, they go out of their way to ensure that you do not rely on your community for anything. Assholes can be assholes forever with no repercussions. They don't need anyone's cooperation and these "megaservers" help them stay anonymous -- you might never see the same asshole twice.
Changing the culture of MMOs may be as simple as finding ways to make people rely on each other in a more meaningful manner.