Science Discovers That MMOG Players Are Jerks

[PieMaker]

There isn't enough information to draw conclusions. I for one played city of heroes, villain side, and often encountered players from the Hero side that, with the excuse of being roleplaying, could get away with harassing and insulting villains, because they were in-character. This wouldn't be necessarily a bad thing if heroes and villains only met in PVP, but thing is, they also meet for joint missions against a common enemy. Quite often there were heroes that would refuse and insult villains that wished to join forces. Call it virtual racism.

There weren't many villains that reacted this way just because there weren't many villains in the game at all (at least where I played).

I am not saying that heroes are the bad guys or that this specific player was, just saying that no matter which side, roleplaying (or playing by the rules) is often used for trolling.

 

[TurkMafia]

Please excuse me if all my thoughts aren't in perfect order here, my writing teachers in grade school always commented on my less then perfect ability to put my thoughts down in a generally accepted order.

This man comes into a game and deliberately starts imposing his own idea of how a game should be played on people that pay money to play how they would like. If someone wants to comp stomp for 24/7 of their 15 dollars/pounds/euros or whatever a month, who is this man to come in and tell them no? Even if what he is doing isn't against any coded game rule if you and I are in a small waiting room I'm at least going to try to not let out a massive fart. And he comes out with a study saying the MMO community are jerks?

This is like going to three dance clubs in a single country and running around punching people in the mouths that aren't dancing or dancing correctly. Then later writing a paper on how everyone that goes to dance clubs are jerks because they don't very much like getting punched in the mouth and often punch back.

By jerk move he or I never mean something that is inherently against the rules put in place by the game developers but rather like I stated before with the fart example, things that put a damper on others days.

Reading his paper linked in the article, this Myers guy was a real jerk himself. Starting on page 6 he starts to list three mega jerk moves that he begins to get into detail with the first being what CoH fans call Droning. In this tactic he maxes out his teleport foe ability, sits in the safe zone of a PvP area (where foes actually can't attack him) and teleports enemies into the NPC guards where they are promptly dispatched by the guards.

He gets into his second jerk move (which personally i don't consider a jerk move but i can see where it would cause conflict) by page 8. The Pvp zone dubbed RV had mobs which are very beneficial to farming xp and or money for alt chars. The servers he played on often had cease fires where both sides would stay in their respective corners and farm to their hearts consent. Myers finding this infuriating made it his duty to harass any players of the opposing faction honoring the cease fire. Now I don't typically condone fraternizing with the enemy, especially in a zone specifically designated for PvP combat. I can however see how Myer's actions would piss some people off. On this same page and in this same style he described how he broke up events that the servers dubbed "fight clubs" (this is why i said i typically don't condone) Groups of people would organize over the forums days and times where they would meet on the battlefield and have one on one duels with bystanders. This i feel is very constructive toward the community and is normally a damn good time in my experience. Our friend Myers describes how he trolled forums for dates and times and and sacked them for personal gain whenever he could.

His last jerk move was described in page 9. While playing his char Twixt he always refused any attempts of his fellow players to group. Always playing solo and never helping the team. Anyone who's ever played an MMO in PvP especially in scenarios where the amount of players is limited a solo player that refuses to work with the team is not only a hindrance to the chance of success but also robs team players of xp or whatever there is to gain because that solo players actions aren't shared equally with the group often even if the group is aiding in the objective.

After explaining what he did he goes on to list peoples reactions to his actions and criticizes these people. At this point Myers lost all credibility with me and I stopped reading after pg 11. In games or any aspect of life, if you treat people like garbage they respond in kind.

I would honestly be embarrassed to have one of this mans classes over at Loyola.

 

[Caimekaze]

On some level, yes, the people were jerks to treat him like that.

On the other hand... he built a character very explicitly around griefing people, and did so in a very nasty way. I haven't really played CoH, but from my experience in WoW, I can tell you I'd rather be killed in-zone than be somehow teleported to a different zone. Yes, he was using game mechanics, but at the same time it seems as though he would move into high-value zones, park there, and lock the other faction out.

Also, I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of the players asked him politely to stop, and were ignored. He was playing the game pretty explicitly to piss people off, and while the level of response he received was inappropriate, he shouldn't really have been surprised that he'd be treated as a dick when he was acting like one.

Finally, his actions probably had direct, negative repurcussions on his own side, as well... again, using WoW PvP realms as a baseline, a lot of people who get ganked by a high-level character will respond by hunting down one or several lower-level characters of that faction and ganking them in turn.

Were the people online dicks? Yes. Did he perhaps go out of his way to draw their ire? Definitely.

This may have already been said to you, but he would only do this in the end-game PvP zones. The high-level players could "gank" the lower ones due to the lower ones not being high enough level to PvP.

Essentially, this man killed people in what was effectively an arena, then people got angry and started threatening him because they'd rather the arena was more of a place to mingle.

Admittedly, I should also probably read the entire paper rather than the abridged version before I make such claims.

 

[NeutralDrow]

I've never played City of Heroes so I have no idea what the environment is actually like and with only Myers' side of the story to go on it's impossible to know if, in spite of his credentials, he may have glossed over some less-than-attractive aspects of his own gameplay style.

Glossed over? To someone who plays City of Heroes, his entire paper is a neon green sign 50 feet high reading

"I play like a colossal asshole."

 

[NeutralDrow]

This may have already been said to you, but he would only do this in the end-game PvP zones. The high-level players could "gank" the lower ones due to the lower ones not being high enough level to PvP.

You don't play City of Heroes, I take it.

In City of Heroes PvP zones, you have to be a certain level to get in, and everyone is set to a certain level upon entering. The only advantage a "higher level" player could have is a couple extra powers, which isn't a huge advantage.

The only way to gank someone in a PvP zone is to outnumber them at least 4 to 1. A commonly accepted tactic, and the first thing anyone entering a zone is warned about.[/quote]

Essentially, this man killed people in what was effectively an arena, then people got angry and started threatening him because they'd rather the arena was more of a place to mingle.

No. City of Heroes already has an arena. The PvP zones are just that: zones. And he wasn't just attacking people who didn't want to PvP. That's normal (if questionable) behavior that already takes place in the game. He went out of his way to act like an antisocial griefer.

 

[Octorok]

If I could, I'd buy CoH/CoV and grind up a hero just to be this chaps sidekick.

Same. I have an interesting story. My cousin plays CoH and stopped a few months back, and he told me about Twixt once. He was talking about a user who played well, if a little cheaply, and got a load of grief for it. He showed me one of the conversations about this chap, and I was astounded. My cousin said that he would have been on Twixt's side, but he'd be lynched by his crew of Heroes, and persecuted by the Villains. He typed that he had no issue with the user - never before have I seen flame travel at the speed of light

 

[zoharknight]

You know i was planing to play coh/v someday, but after reading this article and the play and punishment, i am never gonna play either game. Abuncha morons who place a fake "social" system over following the game rules and playing the game the way it was ment to be played in that area (a pvp area made by the creators of the game being used as it was designed to.. my god how scandalous *voice drips with sarcasm*) are not the kidda idiots i want to be around let alone play with. Ok maybe to some his tping ppl into the npcs mighta been cheap yes, but not rule breaking, and besides what did they expect him to do? His chars a teleporter, what was he supposed to run up and tickle ppl to death. He was just playing to his chars strenghs. Not only that but ppl acualy gave him death threats!? I meen geez get a life you morons that did that.

 

[domicius]

I find this article misleading. The original paper's purposes are misrepresented, the conculsions are mistated, and finally the title of the article is, to be charitable, pure conjecture.

The purpose of the article: "How do social groups create and maintain social order?"


The method: Repeatedly teleport "enemy" players into areas where they are instantly killed. Cheer when this happens. See what occurs next.

Reasoning: In PvP zones, this behaviour is within the goals of the game as written by the developers. Since players use the PvP zones for non-PvP activity, according to social convention though, you have the conflict between the "online society's" rules and the game's rules. What happens?

The article is an interesting read, and it is true that as time went by the community tried to find ways to suppress Twixt's behaviour that were initially educational, but increasingly aggressive. Ergo, societies find aggressive ways to maintain social order.

But what's so interesting about this? I believe the experiment only went on as long as it did because the developers protected Twixt from overt aggression.

There is an interesting parallel here between people who engage in antisocial behaviour in the "real" world, and who despite society's disapproval have their rights protected by governments regardless of how offensive society finds these actions. The research did not go into this, however, which is a shame.

 

[DaxStrife]

Right, there's something about City Of Heroes that you need to know first. A couple of things for instance.

Now, with Twixt having TP Other, he has hold of one of the most infuriating powers in the game, apart from perhaps Stalker's Invis or Electric's Energy Zap.

What TP Other basically does it teleport you from where you are, right into the range of one of the base defences, which instakills you, bringing debt and not resetting any timed powers.

Using it in a Hero/Villain match is on the same lines as spawn camping or team killing, guaranteed to mark you as a douche. And TP Other, in game, is a lousy power anyway - so I get the feeling that Twixt was designed to be a twat, or if he wasn't, then he's biased the results by what he's been doing.

Don't often say this, but Quoted For Truth.
Speaking as a long-time CoH/CoV player, I've seen a lot of jerkish behavior in regards to pvp zones. For example:
Each pvp zone has a base for heroes and villains respectively, and the immediate loading area is protected by Drones, who one-hit any enemies who try to spawn-camp people just zoning-in or stepped away from the computer during the loading. I encountered a Hero who had designed their character to have maximum range to their attacks, allowing them to Fly above the spawn point and hit me while staying outside the range of the Drones. Thankfully my powers were ranged and had a Knockback effect; with one solid blast I knocked her out of the sky and she plummeted to the ground... right in front of a Drone, who proceeded to zap her back to the hospital. ;-)

The "Teleport Other" power was designed for PvE, before PvP was brought into the game; its function was to grab escaping villains, or to pull a minion away from a larger mob of enemies. When PvP was introduced they brought down the accuracy a bit when targeting other players but kept it in-play. Teleporting someone into deadly NPCs and Drones like Twixt was is considered a major dick-move, since the offender rarely benefits from the tactic and the victim always suffers for it. I'd like to think someone explained this to him eventually, but clearly he kept doing it. I don't see how that can be "scientific," it's basically saying "annoying someone will make them annoyed." If you punch a bear, of course it's going to get mad and attack you!
Still, the reaction he got from other players was pretty extreme, but I never saw it on the forums myself... I'd bet he just chose to highlight the most aggressive comments for his report.

 

[Treblaine]

This is NOT a "Study" just because it was conducted by an academic. It is research and can be used as a basis for a wider investigation but a REAL study would follow hundreds if not thousands of players in many different MMO games and conducted for a very long period of time with absolutely minimal interference. It would also have clearly set out goals to quantify rather than just "lets find out how much they are jerks". It would have to follow standard models already established by sociologists and psychologists to be valid.

Not that this is useless but it is not science. You can't make many rock solid conclusions from this.

 

[Lyri]

Same. I have an interesting story. My cousin plays CoH and stopped a few months back, and he told me about Twixt once. He was talking about a user who played well, if a little cheaply, and got a load of grief for it. He showed me one of the conversations about this chap, and I was astounded. My cousin said that he would have been on Twixt's side, but he'd be lynched by his crew of Heroes, and persecuted by the Villains. He typed that he had no issue with the user - never before have I seen flame travel at the speed of light

He may have played a little on the cheap side, but then again who in MMO's has played entirely legit and "Fair", and gotten to the top?
If you're going to win, you're going to use Op combos, items, stats, whatever to push you further.
It's a shame really that game could be really epic, it's one of the few pay to plays I'm interested in.
If you can't gank the shit out of someone without people gettin' all pissy about it because "Superhero's don't stop Villians on our server" well screw that.

Although as I said, I am compelled to give it a try. I'd love to have some fanboys rage.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

TBF, as long as you stay well clear of the PVP zones, CoH/V is a remarkably good game (despite them ubernerfing Lusca).

Just in the PvP zones there is a whole slew of really bad ideas/game philosophies/balance issues and "exploits".

Now dear old Twixt plays a scrapper, so he can used Focussed Accuracy so his attack can't be dodged, hit Moment of Glory so he can't be hit, then use TP Other (an extra power that only some people can get) with LOS to instakill people (something which doesn't actually help him/his side).

I thought I'd mention this again : Droning doesn't actually do anything apart from give the other person debt and a bad time. The Droner doesn't get anything apart from smug.

That's the real point, if Twixt wanted to beat up people using the CoH rules, he'd be in one of the other PvP Zones which has a working PvE backdrop. Not Recluse's Victory which is so broken that people only go in there to play with the bots.

If you want to push this to other games, imagine having a button which makes someone autoquit the server. Yeah, you might gain something for it, but explaining it as "I have autoquitting powers" makes you an auto-douche.

You can't make many rock solid conclusions from this.

Only one, never play with a professor.

 

[Cid Silverwing]

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 are so wrong it's not funny. This so-called "professor" ruined the game for the other players by pancaking the competition with his teleport-enemies-away superpower. Then he gets away with it by trolling them in articles after that. Also he only played ONE MMO. A real professor tests MULTIPLE theories and not just ONE. So his conclusions are null.

It's heretics like him who deserve to be added to the government de-population list.

 

[brodie21]

really, i figured that out years ago

 

[FinalHeart95]

I played Guild Wars, and the community was awesome. I quit before I played PvP, so I don't know how that is, but the PvE community was fantastic.

 

[Combined]

Obvious SCIENCE strikes again!

 

[Lyri]

He may have played a little on the cheap side

Not true. He definitely played as cheap as it's possible to get. No "maybe" or "a little" - he went full out trolling and cheapshotting.

but then again who in MMO's has played entirely legit and "Fair", and gotten to the top?

Nothing he did helped him "get to the top" - his character gains no benefit from getting people killed the way he did.

And I've played several characters to lvl 50 in CoH/CoV through "entirely fair and legit" ways - it's not a hardship.

Fair enough, I won't argue because I don't know the full story or the mechanics of the game. I didn't know ganking folks gave you bonus's.
Still, define one of these cheapshots and cheap style of play for me, I'm curious.

 

[Gaderael]

"After years of intense study, a Loyola University professor playing City of Heroes has used the power of science to prove that MMOG players are jerks.

Wow. That's some generalization. It's like going to /b/ and saying that all forum posters are trolls.