Originally posted by mgilbrtsn Which MMO are you talking about. I play various games and have done so for a rather long time. I haven't seen a global trend of mass issues with harassement. What is your metric?
I can bare testimony. I've witnessed it more often then not on global chat. In my experience it's actually rarer for global chat not to have it and I've seen my share of within guilds too and forums, don't get me started. I considered if it was too strong a word but a quick search bought up this definition which I am happy with.
Harassment (/h??ræsm?nt/ or /?hær?sm?nt/) covers a wide range of behaviours of an offensive nature. It is commonly understood as behaviour intended to disturb or upset, and it is characteristically repetitive. In the legal sense, it is intentional behaviour which is found threatening or disturbing.
Now when I say I've witnessed it more often then not I am not refering to what it describes as in "the legal sense". By this definition everytime you see someone repeatedly insult another person intentionally and with malaise you are seeing harassment. Hell, by this definition everytime you see what most people call a troll, you are seeing harassment. Now I think this liberal definition of harassment actually takes away from the more serious forms of it but it is still anti social and undesirable behaviour.
Originally posted by Ortwig /ignore features are there for a reason. Use them.
Its far worse than that these days.
Cant attack them and kill them and make them die since theres no PvP these days allowed ,only intance and most likely i should be helping those random weirdos because they are now in same team with me.
Cant ignore them in game because when im hunting monsters game forces us to team like we were friends in love doing somekind of weird hearts etc.
and its getting worse.
nah
1) you can always hit the "quit" button if there is any little thing you do not like in a group.
2) you can always solo.
Like the op stated "people GETTING harassed are actually the ones leaving the game."
So, did ESO have a successful launch? Yes, yes it did.By Ryan Getchell on April 02, 2014. **On the radar: http://www.cyberpunk.net/ **
Originally posted by ArtificeVenatus Originally posted by Foomerang Originally posted by Hrimnir Originally posted by Kiyoris If players harass others, the atmosphere becomes toxic and unfun. Compared to when I played EQ, harassment is much much more pronounced. Players no longer need each other, all the content has become solo friendly and cash shop oriented, so your reputation is meaningless. Being a jerk in an MMO no longer has a consequence. This allows people who would have otherwise been tapped on their shoulder by a Guild officer, the community itself, or a GM, to thrive. In fact, players care so little about others, that instead of the harassers being forced to leave the game because their repuation was so bad, the people GETTING harassed are actually the ones leaving the game. Just terrible.
Thats what happens when companies target console gamers and ultra casuals, and more specifically the younger markets by making art style like WoW and Wildstar, etc. The only harassment I see are the constant generalized attacks on groups of gamers by people like the op and this person.And that is what happens when the other MMO gamers decide that "MMORPG" has no meaning distinguished from "MMO." So you brought such on yourself. Cope. Step the **** off "MMORPG." Or STFU.
You dont know me. I dont know you. Is this really how you want to treat others and represent yourself? Or are you so far removed while on the internet that the thought of me as a real human being is completely gone. Don't talk to me like that. I don't talk to you that way.
Originally posted by Ortwig /ignore features are there for a reason. Use them.
Its far worse than that these days.
Cant attack them and kill them and make them die since theres no PvP these days allowed ,only intance and most likely i should be helping those random weirdos because they are now in same team with me.
Cant ignore them in game because when im hunting monsters game forces us to team like we were friends in love doing somekind of weird hearts etc.
and its getting worse.
nah
1) you can always hit the "quit" button if there is any little thing you do not like in a group.
2) you can always solo.
Like the op stated "people GETTING harassed are actually the ones leaving the game."
hmm ... but in today's game, harassment is almost impossible. How are you going to harass me if I am in an instance playing by myself or friends?
Or if you are in my group, i just quit (or kick you) the moment I am not happy with anything?
And why would I leave a game when the other players cannot interact with me (if i choose to)?
Originally posted by Ortwig /ignore features are there for a reason. Use them.
Its far worse than that these days.
Cant attack them and kill them and make them die since theres no PvP these days allowed ,only intance and most likely i should be helping those random weirdos because they are now in same team with me.
Cant ignore them in game because when im hunting monsters game forces us to team like we were friends in love doing somekind of weird hearts etc.
and its getting worse.
nah
1) you can always hit the "quit" button if there is any little thing you do not like in a group.
2) you can always solo.
Like the op stated "people GETTING harassed are actually the ones leaving the game."
hmm ... but in today's game, harassment is almost impossible. How are you going to harass me if I am in an instance playing by myself or friends?
Or if you are in my group, i just quit (or kick you) the moment I am not happy with anything?
And why would I leave a game when the other players cannot interact with me (if i choose to)?
Sounds like you are in jail ,if that does not sound like sentence then what does?
So, did ESO have a successful launch? Yes, yes it did.By Ryan Getchell on April 02, 2014. **On the radar: http://www.cyberpunk.net/ **
Originally posted by Ortwig /ignore features are there for a reason. Use them.
Its far worse than that these days.
Cant attack them and kill them and make them die since theres no PvP these days allowed ,only intance and most likely i should be helping those random weirdos because they are now in same team with me.
Cant ignore them in game because when im hunting monsters game forces us to team like we were friends in love doing somekind of weird hearts etc.
and its getting worse.
nah
1) you can always hit the "quit" button if there is any little thing you do not like in a group.
2) you can always solo.
Like the op stated "people GETTING harassed are actually the ones leaving the game."
hmm ... but in today's game, harassment is almost impossible. How are you going to harass me if I am in an instance playing by myself or friends?
Or if you are in my group, i just quit (or kick you) the moment I am not happy with anything?
And why would I leave a game when the other players cannot interact with me (if i choose to)?
Sounds like you are in jail ,if that does not sound like sentence then what does?
uh .. you have the freedom to play games as you wish, and ignore anyone you don't like ... how is it like jail?
In fact, in jail you cannot escape harassment .. you can in games.
I really don't get these completely irrelevant analogy. I assume since you have no counter argument, you agree that harassment is almost impossible in modern games.
That is the basic discussion of this topic .. not that I want to police what people want to bring up.
If /ignore worked account wide rather than per character it my be a valid choice to /ignore, but when you are being harassed and do ignore them they will just relog to a level one character and continue their torrent of abuse. As you know you are being harrased, not just /ignoring a "noob" tell.
In EQ if you were a jerk then the server generally knew and you would have a hard time finding groups, getting into guilds or getting any kind of help(ports/CR etc). The Zek servers had a larger % of special snowflakes because PVP brings out that something "special" in people.
If /ignore worked account wide rather than per character it my be a valid choice to /ignore, but when you are being harassed and do ignore them they will just relog to a level one character and continue their torrent of abuse. As you know you are being harrased, not just /ignoring a "noob" tell.
In EQ if you were a jerk then the server generally knew and you would have a hard time finding groups, getting into guilds or getting any kind of help(ports/CR etc). The Zek servers had a larger % of special snowflakes because PVP brings out that something "special" in people.
wait .. what abuse?
If you kick them in an instance, or you quit, you will never see them again, right? So all you will suffer is like 5 second.
If you are in the open world (assuming there is one, not all MMO has one), just queue an instance and go in ... so how are they going to bother you again?
And how are they going to harass you in tell when you can just click & ignore anyone who say even ONE sentence that you do not like? Not that they have infinite number of accounts anyway.
Originally posted by Ortwig /ignore features are there for a reason. Use them.
Its far worse than that these days.
Cant attack them and kill them and make them die since theres no PvP these days allowed ,only intance and most likely i should be helping those random weirdos because they are now in same team with me.
Cant ignore them in game because when im hunting monsters game forces us to team like we were friends in love doing somekind of weird hearts etc.
and its getting worse.
nah
1) you can always hit the "quit" button if there is any little thing you do not like in a group.
2) you can always solo.
Like the op stated "people GETTING harassed are actually the ones leaving the game."
hmm ... but in today's game, harassment is almost impossible. How are you going to harass me if I am in an instance playing by myself or friends?
Or if you are in my group, i just quit (or kick you) the moment I am not happy with anything?
And why would I leave a game when the other players cannot interact with me (if i choose to)?
Sounds like you are in jail ,if that does not sound like sentence then what does?
uh .. you have the freedom to play games as you wish, and ignore anyone you don't like ... how is it like jail?
In fact, in jail you cannot escape harassment .. you can in games.
I really don't get these completely irrelevant analogy. I assume since you have no counter argument, you agree that harassment is almost impossible in modern games.
That is the basic discussion of this topic .. not that I want to police what people want to bring up.
Press that quit button then and solo in your instance ? if that does not sound like a punishment to you,it is really ok ,believe me,that is your dream come true MMO so enjoy.
So, did ESO have a successful launch? Yes, yes it did.By Ryan Getchell on April 02, 2014. **On the radar: http://www.cyberpunk.net/ **
Originally posted by Ortwig /ignore features are there for a reason. Use them.
Its far worse than that these days.
Cant attack them and kill them and make them die since theres no PvP these days allowed ,only intance and most likely i should be helping those random weirdos because they are now in same team with me.
Cant ignore them in game because when im hunting monsters game forces us to team like we were friends in love doing somekind of weird hearts etc.
and its getting worse.
nah
1) you can always hit the "quit" button if there is any little thing you do not like in a group.
2) you can always solo.
Like the op stated "people GETTING harassed are actually the ones leaving the game."
hmm ... but in today's game, harassment is almost impossible. How are you going to harass me if I am in an instance playing by myself or friends?
Or if you are in my group, i just quit (or kick you) the moment I am not happy with anything?
And why would I leave a game when the other players cannot interact with me (if i choose to)?
Sounds like you are in jail ,if that does not sound like sentence then what does?
uh .. you have the freedom to play games as you wish, and ignore anyone you don't like ... how is it like jail?
In fact, in jail you cannot escape harassment .. you can in games.
I really don't get these completely irrelevant analogy. I assume since you have no counter argument, you agree that harassment is almost impossible in modern games.
That is the basic discussion of this topic .. not that I want to police what people want to bring up.
Have to agree with Narius here, its only possible to be harassed in games if the person being harassed allows it, escape is easy, i have not yet played a game that did not have tools embedded that allowed you to block someone else out, or did not allow you to report their behaviour, having said that, i don't currently play in any games where harassment seems in any way prevalent, even Eve Online where PVP is a central aspect of the game.
I totally disagree with the OP's premise that Harassment is even a significant factor in todays MMO's, and its the kind of accusation where they really need to provide some degree of evidence to back up their claim that there is, its the kind of unsubstantiated accusations that depicted the worst outbursts from the so called SJW's in another, hopefully now long dead accusation levelled at Gamers in general.
Press that quit button then and solo in your instance ? if that does not sound like a punishment to you,it is really ok ,believe me,that is your dream come true MMO so enjoy.
MMOs are not dreams .. they are just entertainment .. but yeah .. I solo in instances all the time. In fact, i often ignore group request. And yes, not only it does not sound like a punishment .. it is great .. i do enjoy that often. In fact, I just had a solo instanced dungeon in D3 today .. loads of fun .. tweak a build and try new things (also because of a new gear drop).
And given by that group and solo poll on the other topic, I am not the only one .. may even be in the majority.
And back to harassment .. i would love to see how one can harass me or another in an instanced game like that. I have grouped before too .. but again, if there is anything i don't like for 5 seconds, i will quit and find another group (which takes just 5 seconds). In fact, other players are no different than intelligent NPCs that you can discard at will .. so how can they harass anyone?
Press that quit button then and solo in your instance ? if that does not sound like a punishment to you,it is really ok ,believe me,that is your dream come true MMO so enjoy.
MMOs are not dreams .. they are just entertainment .. but yeah .. I solo in instances all the time. In fact, i often ignore group request. And yes, not only it does not sound like a punishment .. it is great .. i do enjoy that often. In fact, I just had a solo instanced dungeon in D3 today .. loads of fun .. tweak a build and try new things (also because of a new gear drop).
And given by that group and solo poll on the other topic, I am not the only one .. may even be in the majority.
And back to harassment .. i would love to see how one can harass me or another in an instanced game like that. I have grouped before too .. but again, if there is anything i don't like for 5 seconds, i will quit and find another group (which takes just 5 seconds). In fact, other players are no different than intelligent NPCs that you can discard at will .. so how can they harass anyone?
You just nailed the whole thread just there. That's the problem. No players are NOT the same as NPCs. They are human beings with emotions. The idea that they do not exist beyond yourself is the problem with the internet, you don't see the damage you are doing. Most people have a conscience and some form of morality but when they think of human being as pieces of code that don't exist beyond their computer screen they can treat them with immunity to their conscience and morality.
Now I'm not saying ignoring someone asking to group you is harassment or hell even necessarily wrong in the slightest way but your still describing the attitude problem people have on the internet.
Originally posted by OhhPaigey Yeah, I've had to deal with some creepy stuff lmao.
By creepy, do you mean guys playing female characters sending you whispers of sweet nothings to your male characters?
Like people finding out my address, stalking me, getting my phone number, finding my characters on like every game, my Facebook, people sending me mail IRL, following me around different games, trying to send me money, trying to get me to quit my job to live with them, ect. And that's mainly just from WoW.
You wouldn't believe half the stories some of my guildys know/have been a part of rofl.
Heck, even some of the messages I've gotten on this forum would probably make you say 'wtf". XD
Do you want to know why you have been dealing with creepy stuff? Because you are the only one in this thread using an actual photo as your avatar.
Let's check: Female sounding username, picture of female teenager as avatar, post about perceived online harassment. That's attention whoring 101.
It's people like you who give female gamers a bad reputation.
Originally posted by OhhPaigey Yeah, I've had to deal with some creepy stuff lmao.
By creepy, do you mean guys playing female characters sending you whispers of sweet nothings to your male characters?
Like people finding out my address, stalking me, getting my phone number, finding my characters on like every game, my Facebook, people sending me mail IRL, following me around different games, trying to send me money, trying to get me to quit my job to live with them, ect. And that's mainly just from WoW.
You wouldn't believe half the stories some of my guildys know/have been a part of rofl.
Heck, even some of the messages I've gotten on this forum would probably make you say 'wtf". XD
Do you want to know why you have been dealing with creepy stuff? Because you are the only one in this thread using an actual photo as your avatar.
Let's check: Female sounding username, picture of female teenager as avatar, post about perceived online harassment. That's attention whoring 101.
It's people like you who give female gamers a bad reputation.
Hmmm, do we have to have the whole "asking for it" debate here now? I'll start by repeating what I've said and keeping it small. "The point is we shouldn't be blaming the victim of getting [harassed] because we told them how to avoid it after the incident happened, especially since it's often youth involved."
If players harass others, the atmosphere becomes toxic and unfun.
Compared to when I played EQ, harassment is much much more pronounced.
Players no longer need each other, all the content has become solo friendly and cash shop oriented, so your reputation is meaningless.
Being a jerk in an MMO no longer has a consequence.
This allows people who would have otherwise been tapped on their shoulder by a Guild officer, the community itself, or a GM, to thrive.
In fact, players care so little about others, that instead of the harassers being forced to leave the game because their repuation was so bad, the people GETTING harassed are actually the ones leaving the game.
Just terrible.
Even though I don't completely disagree with you..... where is your proof? Based on your title I was expecting some facts and reference.
I do not believe this is a rampant flood of change to a toxic and uncontrolled environment. I have personally seen GMs in MMOs I play respond to harassment reports. I have also seen many players in guild and regional chat channels stick up for the person being harassed.
Some MMos seem to attract a more toxic community and in exchange you see more of it, but I believe it is not all doom and gloom. I have seen just as much good from the gaming community over my 20+ years playing MMOs.
If players harass others, the atmosphere becomes toxic and unfun.
Compared to when I played EQ, harassment is much much more pronounced.
Players no longer need each other, all the content has become solo friendly and cash shop oriented, so your reputation is meaningless.
Being a jerk in an MMO no longer has a consequence.
This allows people who would have otherwise been tapped on their shoulder by a Guild officer, the community itself, or a GM, to thrive.
In fact, players care so little about others, that instead of the harassers being forced to leave the game because their repuation was so bad, the people GETTING harassed are actually the ones leaving the game.
Just terrible.
You sought the wrong community then.
But back in the old days of the MMO's with 'good' communities you had guildleaders who were a fail IRL who projected their frustrations by using guild power abuse on normal players.
These days players can just stick up a middle finger to those leaders with 'power' who demand normal members to kiss their behinds every 5 minutes, threaten to kick them, exclude them from content on servers, badmouth and get them blacklisted with other guilds.
"going into arguments with idiots is a lost cause, it requires you to stoop down to their level and you can't win"
Originally posted by Octagon7711 People feel they don't have to be accountable for what they do over the internet,
I understand this thread is specific to MMO harassment but I think the above holds true. There are a lot of potential factors for why net based activities can, because they don't always do, harbor "bad apples." I mean, if someone wants to express negative emotions and/or expressions, whether as a past time or is part of their character, but doesn't want the uncomfortable situation of doing it to someone's face, where would they go?
The reach is much further than one medium or another.
I started playing Everquest in 1999 and I love that game but it was in Everquest that I got harassed more than I have ever been harassed in any other game. I had some guy who stalked me and kept making alts and sending me tells and I had to get a GM involved before he would stop. He even found some way to crash my client which involved an emote from an ignored player. After a few crashes I finally found out what he was doing and a GM stealthed and caught him at it. Banned him for a bit and he finally stopped.
I also faced harassment from players who trained us to get our camp spot and abuse us with tells to get us to move. No siree much as I loved Everquest I would not say that that game had less abusers. In fact given the population of the server in Everquest and the population of megaservers now I would say far more abusers and harassers were present in Everquest.
That's it .People love to romanticize Everquest but they forget the warts really easily in their hurry to do so and attribute so many things that were present in Everquest too as never having been there.
I don't think its been much worse since 2004. That's when all repercussions and any form of having a meaningful reputation in game went away. Everything was made easy just like the majority of what you guys asked for. You all got what you want, and because you couldn't see past your own selfish wants you destroyed your own genre of games.
You can do whatever you want cause you can't be left out of anything. Everything is solo. All classes are equal. No death penalties. Almost all games have no penalty for harassment as the worlds no longer have proper open pvp. You just can't do anything about it anymore.
But with all that said, I don't think its changed much in 10 years at least.
Comments
I can bare testimony. I've witnessed it more often then not on global chat. In my experience it's actually rarer for global chat not to have it and I've seen my share of within guilds too and forums, don't get me started. I considered if it was too strong a word but a quick search bought up this definition which I am happy with.
Harassment (/h??ræsm?nt/ or /?hær?sm?nt/) covers a wide range of behaviours of an offensive nature. It is commonly understood as behaviour intended to disturb or upset, and it is characteristically repetitive. In the legal sense, it is intentional behaviour which is found threatening or disturbing.
Now when I say I've witnessed it more often then not I am not refering to what it describes as in "the legal sense". By this definition everytime you see someone repeatedly insult another person intentionally and with malaise you are seeing harassment. Hell, by this definition everytime you see what most people call a troll, you are seeing harassment. Now I think this liberal definition of harassment actually takes away from the more serious forms of it but it is still anti social and undesirable behaviour.
Like the op stated "people GETTING harassed are actually the ones leaving the game."
So, did ESO have a successful launch? Yes, yes it did.By Ryan Getchell on April 02, 2014.
**On the radar: http://www.cyberpunk.net/ **
The only harassment I see are the constant generalized attacks on groups of gamers by people like the op and this person.
And that is what happens when the other MMO gamers decide that "MMORPG" has no meaning distinguished from "MMO." So you brought such on yourself. Cope. Step the **** off "MMORPG." Or STFU.
You dont know me. I dont know you. Is this really how you want to treat others and represent yourself? Or are you so far removed while on the internet that the thought of me as a real human being is completely gone. Don't talk to me like that. I don't talk to you that way.
hmm ... but in today's game, harassment is almost impossible. How are you going to harass me if I am in an instance playing by myself or friends?
Or if you are in my group, i just quit (or kick you) the moment I am not happy with anything?
And why would I leave a game when the other players cannot interact with me (if i choose to)?
When risk don't equal with reward , things will turn bad .
Player harass other because there aren't enough risk to make them think again before action.
uh? What does that have to do with risks?
EQ has a lot more harassment than WoW (like training, which is not possible in WoW), and yet WOW has the lower risks.
It is about programmed away the interactions that let harassment happens.
Sounds like you are in jail ,if that does not sound like sentence then what does?
So, did ESO have a successful launch? Yes, yes it did.By Ryan Getchell on April 02, 2014.
**On the radar: http://www.cyberpunk.net/ **
uh .. you have the freedom to play games as you wish, and ignore anyone you don't like ... how is it like jail?
In fact, in jail you cannot escape harassment .. you can in games.
I really don't get these completely irrelevant analogy. I assume since you have no counter argument, you agree that harassment is almost impossible in modern games.
That is the basic discussion of this topic .. not that I want to police what people want to bring up.
If /ignore worked account wide rather than per character it my be a valid choice to /ignore, but when you are being harassed and do ignore them they will just relog to a level one character and continue their torrent of abuse. As you know you are being harrased, not just /ignoring a "noob" tell.
In EQ if you were a jerk then the server generally knew and you would have a hard time finding groups, getting into guilds or getting any kind of help(ports/CR etc). The Zek servers had a larger % of special snowflakes because PVP brings out that something "special" in people.
wait .. what abuse?
If you kick them in an instance, or you quit, you will never see them again, right? So all you will suffer is like 5 second.
If you are in the open world (assuming there is one, not all MMO has one), just queue an instance and go in ... so how are they going to bother you again?
And how are they going to harass you in tell when you can just click & ignore anyone who say even ONE sentence that you do not like? Not that they have infinite number of accounts anyway.
Press that quit button then and solo in your instance ? if that does not sound like a punishment to you,it is really ok ,believe me,that is your dream come true MMO so enjoy.
So, did ESO have a successful launch? Yes, yes it did.By Ryan Getchell on April 02, 2014.
**On the radar: http://www.cyberpunk.net/ **
Have to agree with Narius here, its only possible to be harassed in games if the person being harassed allows it, escape is easy, i have not yet played a game that did not have tools embedded that allowed you to block someone else out, or did not allow you to report their behaviour, having said that, i don't currently play in any games where harassment seems in any way prevalent, even Eve Online where PVP is a central aspect of the game.
I totally disagree with the OP's premise that Harassment is even a significant factor in todays MMO's, and its the kind of accusation where they really need to provide some degree of evidence to back up their claim that there is, its the kind of unsubstantiated accusations that depicted the worst outbursts from the so called SJW's in another, hopefully now long dead accusation levelled at Gamers in general.
MMOs are not dreams .. they are just entertainment .. but yeah .. I solo in instances all the time. In fact, i often ignore group request. And yes, not only it does not sound like a punishment .. it is great .. i do enjoy that often. In fact, I just had a solo instanced dungeon in D3 today .. loads of fun .. tweak a build and try new things (also because of a new gear drop).
And given by that group and solo poll on the other topic, I am not the only one .. may even be in the majority.
And back to harassment .. i would love to see how one can harass me or another in an instanced game like that. I have grouped before too .. but again, if there is anything i don't like for 5 seconds, i will quit and find another group (which takes just 5 seconds). In fact, other players are no different than intelligent NPCs that you can discard at will .. so how can they harass anyone?
You just nailed the whole thread just there. That's the problem. No players are NOT the same as NPCs. They are human beings with emotions. The idea that they do not exist beyond yourself is the problem with the internet, you don't see the damage you are doing. Most people have a conscience and some form of morality but when they think of human being as pieces of code that don't exist beyond their computer screen they can treat them with immunity to their conscience and morality.
Now I'm not saying ignoring someone asking to group you is harassment or hell even necessarily wrong in the slightest way but your still describing the attitude problem people have on the internet.
After the full loot PK and griefing in UO, nothing anyone did in other MMOs bothered me. Some people are just extremely sensitive.
Do you want to know why you have been dealing with creepy stuff? Because you are the only one in this thread using an actual photo as your avatar.
Let's check: Female sounding username, picture of female teenager as avatar, post about perceived online harassment. That's attention whoring 101.
It's people like you who give female gamers a bad reputation.
Hmmm, do we have to have the whole "asking for it" debate here now? I'll start by repeating what I've said and keeping it small. "The point is we shouldn't be blaming the victim of getting [harassed] because we told them how to avoid it after the incident happened, especially since it's often youth involved."
all MMOs have an ignore feature.
use it, don't be such a crybaby.
Even though I don't completely disagree with you..... where is your proof? Based on your title I was expecting some facts and reference.
I do not believe this is a rampant flood of change to a toxic and uncontrolled environment. I have personally seen GMs in MMOs I play respond to harassment reports. I have also seen many players in guild and regional chat channels stick up for the person being harassed.
Some MMos seem to attract a more toxic community and in exchange you see more of it, but I believe it is not all doom and gloom. I have seen just as much good from the gaming community over my 20+ years playing MMOs.
You sought the wrong community then.
But back in the old days of the MMO's with 'good' communities you had guildleaders who were a fail IRL who projected their frustrations by using guild power abuse on normal players.
These days players can just stick up a middle finger to those leaders with 'power' who demand normal members to kiss their behinds every 5 minutes, threaten to kick them, exclude them from content on servers, badmouth and get them blacklisted with other guilds.
"going into arguments with idiots is a lost cause, it requires you to stoop down to their level and you can't win"
I understand this thread is specific to MMO harassment but I think the above holds true. There are a lot of potential factors for why net based activities can, because they don't always do, harbor "bad apples." I mean, if someone wants to express negative emotions and/or expressions, whether as a past time or is part of their character, but doesn't want the uncomfortable situation of doing it to someone's face, where would they go?
The reach is much further than one medium or another.
I started playing Everquest in 1999 and I love that game but it was in Everquest that I got harassed more than I have ever been harassed in any other game. I had some guy who stalked me and kept making alts and sending me tells and I had to get a GM involved before he would stop. He even found some way to crash my client which involved an emote from an ignored player. After a few crashes I finally found out what he was doing and a GM stealthed and caught him at it. Banned him for a bit and he finally stopped.
I also faced harassment from players who trained us to get our camp spot and abuse us with tells to get us to move. No siree much as I loved Everquest I would not say that that game had less abusers. In fact given the population of the server in Everquest and the population of megaservers now I would say far more abusers and harassers were present in Everquest.
That's it .People love to romanticize Everquest but they forget the warts really easily in their hurry to do so and attribute so many things that were present in Everquest too as never having been there.
I don't think its been much worse since 2004. That's when all repercussions and any form of having a meaningful reputation in game went away. Everything was made easy just like the majority of what you guys asked for. You all got what you want, and because you couldn't see past your own selfish wants you destroyed your own genre of games.
You can do whatever you want cause you can't be left out of anything. Everything is solo. All classes are equal. No death penalties. Almost all games have no penalty for harassment as the worlds no longer have proper open pvp. You just can't do anything about it anymore.
But with all that said, I don't think its changed much in 10 years at least.