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General: 5 Forum Archetypes
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
Many of us here at MMORPG.com are forum-addicted. We love to read, to post and to argue for and against our favorite games. We have identified five archetypes of forumites in The List today. Which type are you? Read on to find out!
Internet forums are a strange beast. We both love and hate them yet are strangely and inexplicably attracted to them much the way our eyes stray to the accident on the side of the road even when we promise ourselves we aren’t going to look. We just can’t help ourselves. But what makes any internet forum in general and gaming forums in particular so interesting is the wide variety of fauna that can be encountered on them. All sorts of fascinating characters inhabit gaming forums here at MMORPG.com and across the web.
Read more of Suzie Ford's The List: 5 Forum Archetypes.
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Comments
I'm more of a Productive Troll.
I'll make serious and productive posts, comments, and feedback, while at the same time act upon my complete distaste for this new trend of Co'op RPG features and games, e.g., Battlegrounds, Instanced PvP, SWTOR, STO, etc...
This is the best site in the world but this is the worst article I have ever seen in my life from birth until this very morning. Keep up the good work.
I think I will go back to lurking.
What persona would you think I am?
http://redwing.hutman.net/~mreed/
Self-pity imprisons us in the walls of our own self-absorption. The whole world shrinks down to the size of our problem, and the more we dwell on it, the smaller we are and the larger the problem seems to grow.
"So who did we miss?"
THE FORUM PONY
The forum pony successfully embodies all described categories and assumes the role that seems the most appropriate to him on each individual occasion. Always with remarkable wit and style, occasionaly with blazing sarcasm or stone-cold factual information, grasping the essence of a subject in just a few sentences and often leaving his fellow forum posters breathless in his wake.
My brand new bloggity blog.
#6. The Schnozz: Biggest forum moderator / dev brown-nosers and NDA police.
Funny how the meaning of Troll changed over the years.
Check out this game,they have had Battlegrounds and Instanced PvP for a while.
www.worldofwarcraft.com
Kokotewa's above reply just made me think of another archetype.
The Fail Troll.
"Oh you used to play Vanilla WoW? Yeah I was in beta"
"Oh you got to lvl 50 in 4 days in Swtor? Yeah I hit it in 3 and watched all cutscenes."
"Oh youve been playing MMOs since EQ? Yeah I played Meridian 59"
Flame Warriors
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
What category does the "Actually..." guy fit under? The guy that always has an answer to the question nobody asked.
Example:
Poster: I like this new game. I like how it does a double slash motion with the sword.
That guy: Actually, that "sword" is a katana blade and was popular in Japan but can date its origins even further back to blah blah blah. IMO it was the most efficient design.
Hahaha! Yeah. I can't stand that guy.
"Question: Which side should I be? Good or Evil?
Poster: Actually, good or evil is just a point of view."
------
Another one:
The Special Snowflake: This person tries to be identified and heard only by typing in a special color, as if he or she has anything important to say.
and who can overlook the "English isn't my primary language" guy
always fun deciphering those posts
So who did we miss? Which archetype do you identify with most? C’mon now. Be honest! Let us know in the comments.
The Thread Derailer. He's passionate, he's got an axe to grind, he can sometimes be quite erudite and lucid, just not on the actual subject at hand.
"Wait, you are actually profiling and sticking blanket labels on posters? You know there was another group of people that liked to hang labels on people, the NAZIS!!"
"Gypsies, tramps, and thieves, we were called by the Admin of the site . . . "
I think you missed out hater.
Trolls are people that post inane things just to elicit a response, or stir up an argument, and the post can be about anything.
Haters are the ones that will jump on any thread at all about a game they dont like and post negatively. Even if the discussion is perfectly civil until they arrive, they will post something such as "This game sucks donkey balls, i dont know why anyone would play it, its not even an mmo" and then the eternal battle between fanboys and haters begins...
Cluck Cluck, Gibber Gibber, My Old Mans A Mushroom
The Sarcastic One. Knows only how to respond to other posts in a sarcastic manner. Very condescending person to boot.
The "I've had too much wine" poster lol. I've identified a female one.
These are AWESOME inclusions! We should make The Definitive List of Forum Denizens.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Yeah, I thought that; haters and fanboys are two sides of the same coin and trolls are generally posters setting the two opposing camps off, then standing back to laugh.
Here's one to work from http://redwing.hutman.net/~mreed/
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
The Fact Checker?
I can not remember winning or losing a single debate on the internet.
How about the rationalist, who criticizes and praises where he sees fit. He admits flaws in games he loves and is capable of pointing out positive features in games he hates. Because of the dominant traditional troll/fanboy dichotomy, however, he may occasionally be mistaken for one or the other if he does not clarify his stance in his language.
Ah yes... that sounds like someone I know quite well... Would this "derailer" also tend to explain things via analogies that would also tend to derail discussions?
"They essentially want to say 'Correlation proves Causation' when it's just not true." - Sovrath
I'm a mild troll. Sometimes a peacemaker if I'm in a good mood but that doesn't happen all that often.
I loathe fanboys vigourously.
There's another dominant category of forumites that doesn't really fit in any of the 5: The forum whiner, the one that comes on game forums to vent his frustration and anger.
I can be that one too at times