Obviously saving or getting MMOs back to where I want them to be is a broad topic and has many different facets that need to be addressed but I want to address the one that seems to be the biggest concern when it comes to the gaming community as a whole. Basically one of the biggest reasons people are turned off from MMOs; and that would be the community.
Its hard to really get immersed in a game when every other minute someone is yelling at you for not playing exactly the way he wants you to play or someone is just being a general douche is general chat. Fixing this is not easy as free speech plays a large part in most games as you don't want the game to hinder you from playing the way you want. But at some point we need to draw a line of what is appropriate and what is hurting the community as a whole. And I think the way we do this is tighter GM regulation of the community.
This would be accomplished by GMs monitoring chats and complaints as much as possible and dolling out warnings and account suspensions based on the severity of the douche-baggery. By this I don't mean someone yells at a kid once for being a complete idiot but more of a repeat offender situation. And then on the other hand, GMs can hand out small rewards for anyone helping the community by offering to help new players or just being generally helpful. This would mean a greater commitment by GMs to not just address game issue but people issues as well. In the long run I think you would see a pavlov like response: less negative behavior and greater good will due to random rewards by GMs.
While many people would not like this due to a restraint on being an asshole I think it would draw a crowd that has been put off by the community found in current MMOs and be a big factor in drawing in a nice and healthy community.
Its hard to really get immersed in a game when every other minute someone is yelling at you for not playing exactly the way he wants you to play or someone is just being a general douche is general chat. Fixing this is not easy as free speech plays a large part in most games as you don't want the game to hinder you from playing the way you want. But at some point we need to draw a line of what is appropriate and what is hurting the community as a whole. And I think the way we do this is tighter GM regulation of the community.
This would be accomplished by GMs monitoring chats and complaints as much as possible and dolling out warnings and account suspensions based on the severity of the douche-baggery. By this I don't mean someone yells at a kid once for being a complete idiot but more of a repeat offender situation. And then on the other hand, GMs can hand out small rewards for anyone helping the community by offering to help new players or just being generally helpful. This would mean a greater commitment by GMs to not just address game issue but people issues as well. In the long run I think you would see a pavlov like response: less negative behavior and greater good will due to random rewards by GMs.
While many people would not like this due to a restraint on being an asshole I think it would draw a crowd that has been put off by the community found in current MMOs and be a big factor in drawing in a nice and healthy community.
