Science Discovers That MMOG Players Are Jerks

[CakeDragon]

I just read that document, and it seems to me that Twixt was a grind character, that used teleportation techniques constantly to remove and kill his enemies in battle, all the time. While the guy makes a good point about people being harsh towards him, I suppose they're justified in what they say because he made them miserable by owning them every time.
Maybe I'm sympathising for the other players, but I suppose it must be hard for them to get anywhere or do anything against a character that uses magic that just teleports other players out of battle. It kinda seems a bit cowardly.

On the other hand, why didn't anyone Silence him? Or just do the same to him..?

I don't think this study proves that all players are jerks, seeming as he only played one MMOG. I play Guild Wars and the majority fo the people on there are friendly, helpful, and can spell

 

[ScarlettRage]

godforbid you acually play the game correctly....

 

[Flunk]

I'll admit that I've done this sort of thing before in MMOs. I used to take Ragnarok Online far too seriously (No idea why, it's probably the stupidest MMO to take seriously) and roll through the PvP arena with a few friends killing everyone in there (who mostly sit around and talk for some reason).

I still don't understand why people don't play the game properly and just sit around talking... Maybe I'll set up a City of Heros account. I doubt I'm as good as this guy but it sounds like it could be great fun trolling nubs.

 

[esperandote]

how is that scientific with only one subject sample?

 

[Rednog]

So the basic story here is that his scientific discovery is that if you piss people off and they try to get back at you they're the jerks...uh huh...great science...


Also FYI to those who are saying things like "hes only playing the game" or something along those lines in his defense. City of Heroes/ Villains PVP wasn't really a big part of the game for a good period, hell even when players did get to fight each other it was boring and many people didn't even bother. This was partly due to the nature of Heroes being out first (no Villians to mow down) for a while and people tailored characters to PVE. PVP really came out of no where and characters that could actually be successful in PVP had to be specifically tailored for PVP, this often led to a single person completely rolling every other player in sight. While he was technically "playing" the part of Heroes vs Villians, the community (at least when I last played) was not really geared around PVP, instead people played for the PVE.
Thus his acts really aren't that justifiable, its like saying hey I'm gonna start a bunch of shit with people and then see what happens, and keep fucking with people until they decide to do something about it, then I'm gonna play victim and cry foul.

 

[Jandau]

Before you go decrying the sad state of MMO community, try reading the article linked in the OP. While I understand that it was for purposes of experiment, the behaviour of "Twixt" can be best described as griefing, minor exploiting and generally being a douche. If you enter a social group and then not only ignore its rules, but rather do your best to piss people off, then of course there'll be backlash...

Also, this backlash was brought on by a long-term pattern of behaviour and was initially not nearly as bad, with the other players fairly politely asking Twixt to play nice. These requests were ignored (for sake of experimentation) and lo and behold, people were pissed. Gee, what a suprise...

 

[IrrelevantTangent]

That's a goddam tragedy right there. Being tracked down and hunted and abused for playing the game the way it was supposed to be played

You took the words right out of my mouth. I'm almost glad my computer's too damn slow to play any newfangled MMOs these days.

 

[bug_chaser]

Sociologists have been studying this for years. Think about it-we never cut in line at the drugstore, but plenty of people drive up as far as they can in a merging lane and then cut in front of everyone else just before getting to where the construction or accident or whatever is blocking traffic is.

People allowed to be anonymous in any activity often turn into jerks. Not that surprising.

 

[Tiamat666]

The problem with "research" or publications like these is that the findings have to be spectacular or controversial for anyone to take interest and the research to be justified.

If the result of his year long study had been "Been there, played that, everyone treated me nicely", nobody would give a shit and everyone would be very sceptical of his "research".

He knew what he needed and his playing style was geared towards the results he desired. I'm very doubtful of the significance or the point of this "research".

 

[Rednog]

So the basic story here is that his scientific discovery is that if you piss people off and they try to get back at you they're the jerks...uh huh...great science...

I piss people off just by standing there not paying them any attention, Oh man high school with all the drunk assholes and the sluts sitting down talking and all I did was buy a slice of pizza and lean against a wall. they wasted an entire lunchtime shouting at me to leave and it was the study center.

I loved it really, you can tell who has the explosive personalities that way.

Also i'm a firm believer in "If you can do it go ahead" even if I don't do it myself. I don't mind if it's a universal rule to the battle but christ it's laughable how serious some people take it.

Regardless it WAS abuse, when it leaks from the game onto message boards and then REAL LIFE it's abuse.

In your example the CoH community is you and the "drunks and sluts" is the researcher, I fail to see the point.
People in the game were minding their own business, then the researcher fucks with them like the other people fucked with you.

 

[Flunk]

So the basic story here is that his scientific discovery is that if you piss people off and they try to get back at you they're the jerks...uh huh...great science...


Also FYI to those who are saying things like "hes only playing the game" or something along those lines in his defense. City of Heroes/ Villains PVP wasn't really a big part of the game for a good period, hell even when players did get to fight each other it was boring and many people didn't even bother. This was partly due to the nature of Heroes being out first (no Villians to mow down) for a while and people tailored characters to PVE. PVP really came out of no where and characters that could actually be successful in PVP had to be specifically tailored for PVP, this often led to a single person completely rolling every other player in sight. While he was technically "playing" the part of Heroes vs Villians, the community (at least when I last played) was not really geared around PVP, instead people played for the PVE.
Thus his acts really aren't that justifiable, its like saying hey I'm gonna start a bunch of shit with people and then see what happens, and keep fucking with people until they decide to do something about it, then I'm gonna play victim and cry foul.

You never have to enter the PvP maps in CoH/V so your argument holds no water. If you want to fight, go into PvP. Otherwise don't.

 

[Eric the Orange]

And people ask me why I don't play online games...

 

[DarkRyter]

Why is it all mmo players are either asshole trolls or 7 year old koreans who never talk?

 

[Sparrow]

He sounds like a badass Doc. Hope never gets real superpowers.

 

[Rednog]

So the basic story here is that his scientific discovery is that if you piss people off and they try to get back at you they're the jerks...uh huh...great science...


Also FYI to those who are saying things like "hes only playing the game" or something along those lines in his defense. City of Heroes/ Villains PVP wasn't really a big part of the game for a good period, hell even when players did get to fight each other it was boring and many people didn't even bother. This was partly due to the nature of Heroes being out first (no Villians to mow down) for a while and people tailored characters to PVE. PVP really came out of no where and characters that could actually be successful in PVP had to be specifically tailored for PVP, this often led to a single person completely rolling every other player in sight. While he was technically "playing" the part of Heroes vs Villians, the community (at least when I last played) was not really geared around PVP, instead people played for the PVE.
Thus his acts really aren't that justifiable, its like saying hey I'm gonna start a bunch of shit with people and then see what happens, and keep fucking with people until they decide to do something about it, then I'm gonna play victim and cry foul.

You never have to enter the PvP maps in CoH/V so your argument holds no water. If you want to fight, go into PvP. Otherwise don't.

When I played CoV I'm pretty sure there was no neutral ground for villains to go and chat with friends on the heroes side unless you were in a PVP area. People didn't go to fight they went to chill with their friends, thus my argument still holds true (which is not really an argument of a statement of the events that I experienced during my playtime.)

 

[Amarsir]

how is that scientific with only one subject sample?

Not very, but that's hardly the problem. It's clear from his own writeup that he's intentionally griefing people, and there's no game on earth with a population that would go "thank you for messing with us, please Sir can I have another?"

City of Heroes actually has a good reputation for a friendly and welcoming player base, which developed because the game is cooperative and accomodating to pick-up groups. But yes like all people they get annoyed when you intentionally mess with them. This guy proved that there are a-holes in MMORPGs by becoming one himself, and he strikes me as the kind of jerk who would walk through someone's picnic, kick over their egg salad, and say "what, it's a park! I'm supposed to run around!"

 

[Flunk]

So the basic story here is that his scientific discovery is that if you piss people off and they try to get back at you they're the jerks...uh huh...great science...


Also FYI to those who are saying things like "hes only playing the game" or something along those lines in his defense. City of Heroes/ Villains PVP wasn't really a big part of the game for a good period, hell even when players did get to fight each other it was boring and many people didn't even bother. This was partly due to the nature of Heroes being out first (no Villians to mow down) for a while and people tailored characters to PVE. PVP really came out of no where and characters that could actually be successful in PVP had to be specifically tailored for PVP, this often led to a single person completely rolling every other player in sight. While he was technically "playing" the part of Heroes vs Villians, the community (at least when I last played) was not really geared around PVP, instead people played for the PVE.
Thus his acts really aren't that justifiable, its like saying hey I'm gonna start a bunch of shit with people and then see what happens, and keep fucking with people until they decide to do something about it, then I'm gonna play victim and cry foul.

You never have to enter the PvP maps in CoH/V so your argument holds no water. If you want to fight, go into PvP. Otherwise don't.

When I played CoV I'm pretty sure there was no neutral ground for villains to go and chat with friends on the heroes side unless you were in a PVP area. People didn't go to fight they went to chill with their friends, thus my argument still holds true (which is not really an argument of a statement of the events that I experienced during my playtime.)

Then play on the same side, Hero's and Villains shouldn't be friends. That's against the whole point of the game.

 

[Charli]

Oh cool I can have an official 'jerk' stamp now? Yay!

PA's Internet annonimity Fuckwad theory was very sound back when they wrote it, I don't know why we need a whole study for it now, it's a little obvious! If you're a sensitive little soul, just remove yourself from those situations or be an equally unbarable jerk back. Fraid it is currently the only cure for this cancerous behaviour, I just do my best to deter it by acting as nicely as I can manage to who I can, sometimes however countering Jerk-dom, has to be done with Jerk-dom.

 

[scotth266]

There's not enough information in the article to draw a conclusion, so I'll read the report.

...Ok, after reading 90% of the report:

1) The man was playing in a PvP zone. If you are in a PvP zone, you should EXPECT other players to try and kill you, using whatever methods available to them.

2) The morals of his methods may be questionable, but said methods were not against the rules, and play not specifically prohibited will always be used. See Gunz: The Duel's K-Style method of play: it relies on exploiting various glitches within the game but is a widely used combat style that is (begrudgingly) accepted due to it's effectiveness.

3) Farming/dual faction groups in a PvP zone is a TERRIBLE idea...