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Thanks once again to the Devs: The antisocial is the new social.
0effort
Member Posts: 103
Edit: Final version.
Are we becoming less social? That is a question I have been trying to answer.
"Thanks once again to the Devs: The antisocial is the new social"
It feels we have lost something. There is this feeling of isolation that has been infiltrating our system as MMOrpgs progressed and evolved. MMO veterans know it, they can feel it, but they have kept their silence in sake of adapting, of dealing with it. We used to have a server and that server was our community, every letter of it. Not quasi or semi, not something you had to reach endgame to enjoy, not something you had to experience after a certain amount of leveling. It was there, it was real, it was phenomenal.
Everyone knew everyone. That's right. We had no strangers or randoms. We had no invasion of other servers. That virtual world was our place just like in real life; our neighborhood where we lived and breathed for years. You had the good, the bad and the ugly apples. If you were a "ninja" or even "ninjaed" something, if you were a "hacker", a "cheater", an "exploiter" God help you and may have mercy on you. Public chat would be a burning hand; it would search you and alienate you from the rest of the community until you admitted your apology, one that had to be genuine not mere words of impression and public speech. Yes we were assholes, yes we had an ego but we were proud; proud of our server and its achievements. We had a place to belong to. It was real not "virtual".
Everything had a cost because every action had a consequence. There was no sugar-coating about it. If you couldn't do your job at low level instances and dungeons, players would avoid you. MMOrpgs used to scale up in a way that there was no excuse of not have had your skills sharpened. There were grindy as fuck but the beauty of it was that fights and patterns were hard-wired to your brain. Finger memory was achievable because practice makes perfect, and oh boy practice was an action that would be repeated through out the entire game.
Every class had a role, and a specific one. You chose a class and had to stick with it so class selection was extremely important. You just couldn't fuck around with a tank or a healer. The tanks words and the healer's suggestion were law. The tank back then was the leader, the king of the group and you had to follow his commands and his marks. Yes tanks used to mark all the time. If tanks didn't make for whatever reason that would get allot of complains and bitching and rightfully so. It wouldn't matter if they had done it multiple times, a mark guaranteed that everyone had to pay attention to the order of numbers because mistakes can happen and better be safe than sorry.
However if you did say you didn't know that fight everybody would be jumping on you to help you out. There was no other option. You were one with the server. Not just a "stranger" or a "random"; you were a valuable person and if you had a good personality with good skills people would congratulate you, add you to their list. People were willing to show you, were willing to "role play" the fight and move from one spot to the next to share their point across. The last thing was a link or a visual representation of the fight. People had to learn together, no exceptions. And you learned by practicing.
There were no speedruns. Each instance or dungeon had a set which you were required to acquire until the next and the next. So if you were wearing a specific year it automatically meant you were good enough to proceed to the next one because it would be mathematically impossible to have it without actually doing a good job about it; there were no shortcuts or easy way outs. Your name was your identity just like in real life. You had a persona, a character with strengths and weaknesses. If you were the asshole of the assholes it didn't matter if you were the best player in the world. Players would refuse to group with you and they would prefer to accept a rookie to their inner circle who was respectable and willing to learn the fight with the rest.
Grouping was not just an process of gathering the best players with the best gear. It was more than that. It was a social gathering. It was enjoyable and not a pain in the ass. You would see players talking about everything they can think off; anime, television series, sports, games, anything. We were social agents, we were social beings and albeit naked in the sense of always vulnerable to our strengths and weaknesses, we were humans. Friendships and rivalry were formed since the beginning. If another played enjoyed your company or generally your character or perspective on things you were most likely befriended it so you can both go together to the next adventure and take with you more minded souls of people. Bonds were never an illusion or a virtual toolbox.
There was history between players. If all was lost, players would use different means of voice applications; Team Speak when it arrived was the real deal. Players would jump on it for every type of occasion; from small talk, to social conversations and gaming. You were expected to be sociable because MMOrpgs were MMOrpgs; Massive Multiplayer Online Games. Even the most antisocial of the antisocials was duoing his PVP or PVE needs with a close partner; everyone was inside a group of minded-like-players. Everyone had his soulmate.
The server was the only option. You had to interact with it. You had to be sociable. You had to be a human being to survive. You couldn't just dismiss everything and do your own thing because if you did you would be left out. In that sense server communities had unwritten laws of social conduct and expectation. Gaming and socialness were interlinked constantly. It is extremely hard to put it into words, it really is but a server was a living organism. Even if you were stuck a mass of players would offer there hand because it didn't matter who or what you were, it was enough you were on their server and it was important that you join them at max level and enjoy the game type of game they enjoy as well. Players would be contacting other players from their list and often higher levels would show up and help you through. There was a social anxiety of finding particular players for particular occasions. We weren't just sitting praying. We weren't afking so someone could find for us the rest of their roles. We would go through all the means necessary to get things done.
MMOrpgs were grindy as fuck but they were fair.
And things changed. I don't think for the better but who knows.
"Who needs them?"
Since post-World of Wacraft era, there has been this uneasy feeling that modern MMOrpgs are starting or have started to cater more to the I, to the me, to "myself", to the solo experience, the solo attitude, and the solo indulgence. From Guild Wars 2 to Final Fantasy XIV, public chat has become a pain in the ass, a real pain in the ass. Individuals barely talk about anything because what is there to talk to? We do not have communities or servers anymore; they were replaced in the form of "Reddit", "Official forums", and "Fansites". The server or the community were eradicated and the net became just that; that living social organism of everyone.
There is no sense of pride of belonging to a server. It is just another server. There is no need to communicate, interact and socialize with that community. It is just another collection of strangers and randoms. Anyone barely knows anyone. There is barely history of players between eachother, there are barely any significant social memories apart from gaming e-peen achievements and have done dos. The solo career became the dogma of contemporary gaming. Everything is achievable and attainable now days by "soloing" your way through without making friends and acquaintances.
"Who needs them?"
When you have a system that randomly selects you with others for every single obstacle that you encounter and the forthcoming one?
"Who needs them?"
When with enough patience and balls of steel, randoms again can help you to meet your aims and goals in game?
"Who needs them?"
When you can behave as you like and do whatever the fuck you want be from being the asshole of the assholes, the "ninja" of the "ninjas"? No one needs anyone. And that is exactly the issue. You are playing again MMOrpg. Not a single-player experience. This is not genre were you finish the main story and you are done or this should have never been case. Duty finders, Megaservers, fuck knows what; you name it.
"The players lost the ability to police its own playerbase with the advent of cross server queues, name changes, server switching, and lack of interdependence".
People barely even talk in groups anymore. Apart from "Hi/Hello" or "So who is doing what?" you will not find anyone who will write "So how is everybody?" and "How was your weekend?". Why would they? We do not have servers or communities, we are merely party of a random probability, merely a fraction of sociality who is there to speedrun as fast as possible until we reach the end game of all the end games. Who cares what you are? Who cares how good or bad you are? Just get things done, finish your instance or dungeon and get on with it.
Because right now it does not matter. Everyone, and I mean everyone is replaceable. Apart from PvPvE orentiented MMOrpgs where e-peen flows eternally, friendly trolling is non-stopable, and teasing can be as good or as bad as you want it to be, the rest of the PVP or PVE is stuck in a wall of getting shit done. Players get stuck. You are a bad or inexperienced player? Tough shit. You want someone to practice? Pray. You want a group to actually sit down with you and explain you everything? Better to end your life.
"We are soloing speedruns at whatever we do and there is always no time to socialize".
Players get stuck in old content for days, weeks and months being randomized with other randoms that don't know the fights as well and everybody seems so hopeless and ignorant, so lost. And you have to sign in 24/7 and beg to miss fortune/luck that a blessing group comes on this ridiculous and most anti-social mechanism called automated player finder, wasting hours, suns and moons for it to start no matter what you description you put. Scaling up difficulty has become so stupified that it is mathematically calculated that by the time you do need to social and actually find proper groups from your server, you are bound to be stuck there for ages; "ice ice baby" as the song tells.
Every time you party with strangers, you would be a liar or a hypocrite to deny this feeling; this feeling of a guarantee fail with strangers from across all servers, this inner feeling of defeatism while the rest, the ones who were playing that MMOrpg since day one are light years ahead of you. In every attempt, in every wipe, one player leaves and then the rest follow, rage and drama and bitterness dominating the interaction between players. The experience of being hopeless at its finest performance.
And on top of that like we said everyone can be everyone they want to be. Server transfers, name changes, rerolls and whatever else convenience the Devs come up to, are all per-determined factors to allow you to succeed through a massive length of pain and frustration. With that convenience, it came down to the degradation of the community. There is no such thing as a server nor a community. Those words are empty space just like every social aspect.
What happened to the fact where everybody knew each other, out-geared people who would come forward to your call for help, many players would sit with you, teach you, train you and make you understand the fight or the pattern of extremely challenging content and guide you through it all successfully?
What happened to the scaling up difficulty in MMOrpgs that would ensure you that if you were successful you were good enough for the next challenge?
What happened to the times where having an achievement was truly an achievement and not some fancy-ass-perk?
What happened to the social aspects of MMOrpgs?
Now all is left is a dust from speeding like being on a super bad ass bike on a high open road. MMOrpgs these days primary role and focus is to train you by yourself, speak to yourself and gratify yourself as much as possible. We used to have so many true, sincere and unique memories of our server, good, bad and ugly ones. Fierce enemies but also respected friends. We would interact with our whole server, add players on our list, interact with them on the daily basis, have them as real friends, had a bond with them.
Everything has become a "read a guide" or "watch youtube" and "just find people" and "get on with it". We add people just so we can whisper them every once in a blue moon about helping us with a content because no one else will.
Such a sad, mad and antisocial world inside a Massive Online Multiplayer Role Playing game.
So thanks once again to Developers who catered to us.
Comments
If Furcadia, Asheron's Call, SWG, UO, EVE, Planet Entropia, There, Second Life and Toontown never existed then I'd say your rant had some basis in reality. However...
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
Did any of these release recently?
If you are interested in making a MMO maybe visit my page to get a free open source engine.
I feel I'd have to agree somewhat with Oeffort.
There are many games now that tout a "classless" system where, "You can be anything you want to be!"
In reality, these systems are designed so that you will -or must by reason of the game's mechanics- train every available skill the game has to offer. This is merely a poorly concealed way of keeping players paying and playing for as long as possible.
The end result is predictable; high-level characters that are "experts" in everything. You don't need help from anyone because you can do it all.
A classless system is diametrically opposed to community building, thus players feel lonely and alienated. A player that feels alone in a crowded world (truth be told, which is almost everybody) won't stay in that world long.
That's why I read a lot of posts from people who play a game for a few months, and then quit. The unspoken reason they quit is often because of a lack of community.
How many posts are there where the OP fondly reminisces about a bygone game that had COMMUNITY.
And THAT'S what makes a good game great.
My computer beats me in Strip Poker, but doesn't stand a chance against my Kick Boxing! >: D 3
All my best friends are forced to play with me. That's how you make them in real life right ?
The option to group is there in every mmo and I always choose to take it. I never play these games alone. Maybe for once people should look at how they play the games instead of trying to blame someone else.
I feel the complete opposite. While many MMOs do allow solo players to get most of the things they need, almost every single situation I find it's impossible to do it efficiently or simply flat out impossible.
Most MMOs now focus heavily on group content like instanced dungeons and large raids, even if you wanted to try it solo you are usually barred out of it if you're not in a group.
Leveling yeah, sure, that can usually be done solo but again I find it's typically no where near as fast as with a group, especially when there is content geared specifically towards groups and not solo players like dungeons and raids.
M'lord, with all due respect, not every game has a "group" option.
The game I played in for over 3 years forced you to do quests alone. And the quests were designed so that you had to train every skill in the game.
I am glad the game you play allows you to group with friends. It must be fun.
How's the community in your game?
My computer beats me in Strip Poker, but doesn't stand a chance against my Kick Boxing! >: D 3
Add in Darkfall and ArcheAge.
Disagree, FF XI is still to this day the best MMO I've ever played with the best community I've ever seen. Everything the OP misses and wishes current MMOs had could be found in Vana'Diel. You needed groups to level. The combat wasn't breakneck speed so you had time to chat and not lose dps or miss a heal. You learned and recognized who was good at their job and who was an idiot that would get you killed. You knew that x guy was a 100 Woodworker and could make you that staff you needed and y Girl could make you a hauby if you got the O Ingot.
FF XI allowed you to have one character that could be any Job/Sub Job combo. It's not the class system that prevents good communities. It's the content that doesn't force players together and the toxic players that make us not want to be forced to play together.
Point your hate in the right direction.
I don't believe this to be true. More precisely I think saying "diametrically opposed" is almost as harsh as saying that a classes system and at least a decent community are mutually exclusive. I think it is just like with any feature. And, what I mean is a feature implemented poorly, can be directly at odds with another feature or a desired effect.
That isn't to say that I think a classless system can't be the direct cause of poor community. Just that we need to be much more specific about the ways in which it sometimes does and sometimes doesn't.
I think when it does do this, is when the games level of difficulty is relatively low. Meaning it's easy to earn experience. And, there is not that much experience to earn until cap. Also, there are no stoppers in place when this happens. Like things you must do with a party or you will get crushed regardless of your level and wide skill set.
If done right, a classless system can actually be highly beneficial. For instance in some MMORPG it can be difficult to pull together a party for certain things (lower level dungeons, quest finales etc.) In a game where any player can potentially step into a role as necessary. You don't need to wait until you have a healer, or your high dps class, or a tank specifically. You just need any player to supplement. And, sometimes even two players managing roles of their own, can work together to cover an additional role in such a game.
And in general, just because every player can be a jack of all trades doesn't mean they will. Many players will have rather strong play preferences. And, only be geared toward 1-2 things. And, bank space allotments also mean that many players won't have all the gear and items needed to step into every role. People tend to specialize at least a little even when given complete freedom to do other wise.
I once read somewhere "A stranger is a friend you just haven't met yet". In my many years of playing 'City of Heroes' I have both been, and encountered, the people you mention: lost, in-need, desperate, without friends. After several years of play I saw myself when I looked at the newbies that just started playing and I decided to do something about it.
With my worn strategy guide by my side and experience with the "ins and outs" of most of the missions and story arcs I started inviting the newbs to join me and my teams and sometimes I offered myself and my collection of archetypes to their "teams in-need" when they were having trouble or needed a filler for a task force or trial. I shared tips on missions, enemies, ambush triggers and monster vulnerabilities. I helped people get badges through grinding even when I had other things I could have been doing and I didn't need the badge/s they were going for. I joined in costume contests just for fun and even held a couple of my own. Twice I even donated prizes for contests when I could have used them for myself or sold them for tons of money. I had my own global chat channel for event team recruiting and I frequently invited others to join so that they could make use of what became a very valuable resource for my server. I even partnered the channel with another popular channel and we engaged in a friendly recruiting war to see who could top the other in total members. I showed up to assist in monster fights, I gave away money, I provided teleports, I brought inspirations to friends who were on other teams, I provided resurrections and healing to those in need and enemy debuffs when I could safely do so without stealing XP.
I did all of that and more and by the game's closure I had a lot of casual friends who were grateful for the good times they had and the community they became part of. So now I must ask you . . . what have you done for your fellow players? What have you done for your communities?
I've got a feevah, and the only prescription... is more cowbell.
High-player games will inevitably suffer this problem because they appeal to more than a niche group. All you're seeing is the result of MMO's going mainstream beyond hardcore TTRPG'ers and showing what happens when you dilute a concentrated fanbase.
Number of toxic people increases based on the number of people overall. This results in a cascading problem though, as it eventually wears other not-as-toxic players down until they join the ranks of the toxic and the cycle continues anew. Add in that the pre-formed friendships (I play with mah RL friends!) remove the need to meet anyone that you don't know even if the content 'forces' you to group and add a dash of 'its not my responsibility to teach new players' and you'll find a perfect recipe for exactly what you're complaining about. When you look at the list of games that have 'good communities' and so on, you'll notice its invariably a tiny niche game. That's not an accident.
This was pretty much a preordained outcome the moment the number of new players outnumbered the old 2E D&D fans (and it is no accident that the trends of the TTRPG universe are a model for how MMO's have gone, just as the wargaming hobby was a model for what happened in the TTRPG universe even recently), and will remain so for a while longer still (although I do think the very first signs of a backlash are beginning to appear, but its very very faint at the moment). Just enjoy the ride for the novelty it offers and know that the pendulum always swings back eventually.
True there is group content, but I offend find that even that some how feels less social then the games of old. I'm not saying it objectively is. It just feels that way. I am a lot more social playing a older mmo then I am playing a new mmo. I would muse it's just my quirk, but I see this topic creep up quite a lot. My guess as to why this is. We simply have too much game now. In the old days, you tended to resort to talking to people when you ran out of game to play. It's just now you always have more game to play.
Now a days I think the most common social interaction I get is a random uninvited friend request. If you can find a way to keep me from instantly clicking deny, I think you might have a something.
Of course not. They were all before WOW and all both supported and encouraged solo play.
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
UO, EVE, Puzzle Pirates, ATITD... pretty much all the MMOs without class restrictions have very engaged communities.
If a game-enforced tethering system is required in order for you to not feel alone or alienated, then maybe the problem is you and not the game mechanics.
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
As easy as it is to argue for strict class restrictions, it would be to argue that the trend lead to decreased communication and artificial grouping requirements as players expected to know each others' roles. Hard to do it differently as people are so used to it, I guess.
Exactly what i came to say. Lets all blame the Devs for the social problems within the player base. Lets all not to try to be social inside a MMO unless forced by the Devs.
Yikes. Whats with all these threads like these lately? Have we degraded as a society to the point that we don't take responsibility for our own ability to talk to each other? You're not social in mmos anymore? Holy shit it must be the developers fault. They must have stripped away your ability to hit enter and say hi to someone, right?
right.
You really think it was some magical game design that no longer exists? That somehow, some game back in the late 90s made you a social person? And now the games make you antisocial? Just typing that, I had to read it twice because thats what some people around here actually think...lol jesus
"overgeared players helping undergeared players"?
The experience most ppl had were elitist guilds only looking at the gear someone brought, not the social atmosphere in the guild.
Only progression mattered, everything else had to step backwards.
playing MMOs since old EQ1 and UO, but the times I have encountered a overgeared player helping newbs, I can count them on 1 hand.
Most ppl will recall the "gtfo of our group, you are not geared enough and slowing progression" or the infamous comms emorages when a social undergeared player wipes a raid and gets the wrath of the helpful overgeared players unleashed on them.
Helpful overgeared players....."we are at 11/12, we are looking for a tank to raid mo-tue-thu-sat-sun from 1900-2400, do not contact us if you can not meet our criteria".
Yes, those were the days.
"going into arguments with idiots is a lost cause, it requires you to stoop down to their level and you can't win"
wait what? So if classless systems are to blame, but most of the great old school mmos were classless... I think you may be contradicting yourself there.
It occurs to me that a community is a dynamic relationship (in any setting). What it is comprised of and how positive or negative it can be seen as, is dependent on multiple factors. How many players there are, their distribution globally, how many players per instance of the game on average (population density I guess?), how involved the moderation is, how the mechanics and features effect player interaction, how concerned the development team is with feedback.... So, many things taken all together make up the "community". Its' people and circumstances. Decisions and consequences. Attitudes and actions.
And, because of this I find it hard to believe that any single factor effects the community as a whole, to such a degree that it can be pointed to as the main cause; Yet alone, the sole cause of issues within a community. I would suspect that a dynamic system needs dynamic interference, for great and visible change to be seen. That both butterfly and domino effects don't play out as fully or irreparably in such small tightly controlled circumstances.
It doesn't seem reasonable to me that it is toxic players, bad features, crushing competition, or negligent management. Not any one of those or other potential factors by themselves any way. It seems to me like wheel spinning, to even try to identify a worst offender. Especially since every MMORPG tries to get its piece of the pie. And, they target different kinds of people in doing so. And so, they attract different personality types to them. Someone new to an MMORPG might see terrible community. Or Community that is nice in certain places (if your in with "the right crowd" or meet some of "the good people"). But, to many there. For all the outsider/newcomer knows. They may view the community to be just fine in some cases.
I think unless we are simply identifying potential factors and how they can effect a community. Then all that can really be said is that several things factor into quality of community. And, what these are and which factors are more responsible for what we can agree (if we can agree) on what to call a bad community, can only be fairly determined on a case-by-case basis.
Well said Oeffort.. Welcome to the instant gratification selfish generation.. I'm not speaking gaming either, but this attitude is growing in real society changes as well.. People want to believe that technology is opening up more social doors like your Facebooks, but they really aren't.. That is fake social BS.. IMO Kids are growing up to be anti-social more and more, and are losing the art of playing face to face with "REAL" friends..
As adults we are being forced to work longer hours, socialize less.. /shrug.. Today's generation is nothing like the 70/80's and I don't believe it's for the best.. I fear what my kids and grand kids are going to grow up in..
To the OP, why don't you look for the problem within yourself? Maybe you were social, once. Then some chick dumped you and you went emo and sit on your ass and wait for commands.
If you use public transport, which side of the seat you take, the inside or the outside? If its the outside then you have your answer. You are freaking anti-social.
Every recently released game gives you the option to group and unlike older games, it doesn't punish you for it, except TESO.
People love to claim that Gw2 is solo game but I'll give you whatever amount of money you want if you go on and solo tequatl or any other world boss. The requirement is doing it solo.
See I don't mind having the option of doing shit solo. Sometimes people just annoy the crap out of me. There are those times that I don't give a fuck and just join a group and do things in Guild Wars 2.
Recently I'm also playing SWTOR. Im getting spammed with party invitations for heroic dungeons and whatnot. And I'm just walking around in the cities, im not using the zone chat. So yeah. MMOs didn't change, you did. And you blame the devs. Bad call OP.
Kids are talking to people in other countries and from other cultures more then they ever have been (often in real time). As well as participating in discussion on social norms at a younger age. And they have quicker access to more information then they ever have before. And, tend to be interested in self education as well as entertainment. Which makes for some scarily well informed children.
There is a positive side to what may from an older persons perspective seem like it is only negative because it is different. And, their online interactions cannot be fairly considered to be anti-social. Superficially social...maybe. Because, in a lot of cases they are not forming real world bonds and long lasting connections that will help them advance. But, where their interactions are not so shallow. They tend to be almost super-social.
Physical activity and getting out there is one of the least social of social activities to begin with. What do people do when they really want to try and establish bonds? They stay in or have dinner. They do something that is still. Not something that is active (or at least something that keeps them in one place with someone else for a prolonged period of time). And, when people want to have fun and not be so serious about their social connections they do more active things. They go to events, or exercise...and while these may establish other kinds of bonds and help them make connections. Those interactions are by default more shallow, then the kind they do when they are minimizing activity.
It is a different mode. But, it is not so different in principal or execution. If there is any problem with it. It's that it is not very inclusive to those surrounding the activity. A person goes on their face book. Families don't typically use one big screen and multiple cursors to go on a family page and update it together. Because, of the idea that your online life is fundamentally personal or private in how you interface with it (not necessarily a correct or beneficial idea). A parent who grumbles at their child being on the computer a lot, is the one being anti social. They are excluding themselves from something they could easily be a part of. And, complaining that social interaction isn't happening on their terms. Instead of maybe...Sending their kid a funny video they have not seen yet. Or linking their child to a website they want them to look at.
From what I have seen the most anti social behavior (truly anti social behavior) tends to come from the people who complain about how others are acting anti-socialy. When all they are doing is changing the mode and often being rather considerate in not forcing others into things they have no interest in.
Oh look, yet another poster blaming devs for something that is really the fault of the players. The fact that GW2 is even used as an example illustrates this. Though few will admit that maybe they are at fault. Because we are all secretly experts in game design, and are never wrong about anything.
While it is true that some games have a greater quantity of features that make socializing easier, or more forced; it is still the players that determine whether a game is social or anti-social. To use GW2 as an example, while you can solo your way through most of the game, the game also removes barriers that hinder communication and teamwork, and even rewards players for helping each other out and coordinating. And yet, people still continue to label that game antisocial, because they don't feel the need to talk with other people, or get mad if every person they come across doesn't drop everything to start up a conversation with them. And while that is anti-social behavior, it's not on the part of the game. If you were to act the same way in real life, people would label you as antisocial, or socially awkward. And yet, in the game it's now automatically the game's (and thus the developer's) responsibility to do that FOR us. Which is insane.
It should be no big secret by now that the games that get made, get made the way they are because it's what people are playing / buying. Developers don't want to create games at a loss, ever. So if a project has a huge budget (which all AAA projects do) they are going to minimize risks, by making games they are fairly certain will sell. Because it's what any sane person would do. Games allow for the option to be anti-social, because it's what most players want. People don't want to be forced to talk to people they don't want to, anymore than you'd enjoy being forced to talk to a creepy guy on the subway / metroline.
It doesn't mean you don't talk to anyone. And yet, many players act like it does. But hey, it's never their responsibility. So it's gotta be someone else's.