March 16, 2010
World of Warcraft – Immature Players?
Liam Schembri asked:
World of Warcraft has attracted some 9 million subscribers in it’s three years of being online. To call it a success would be a massive understatement, but as with any MMORPG there are major down-points.
With a player base larger than any other MMORPG, Blizzard was bound to encounter community related issues. It’s population is larger than that of some countries, and with no overruling government in charge (unless you consider game moderators as a form of government), World of Warcraft suffers from many social issues.
A common complaint from (ironically) the game’s elder players is that Azeroth is littered with immature players. Step into any town or city and you’ll find it’s chat is being spammed endlessly by players claiming how brilliant they are or letting everyone know of their new “original” Chuck Norris joke. It’s the one reason why mature players will turn to the role-playing realms — not to actually role play (besides, who actually does that?!), but rather to get away from the nonsense seen on regular PvE and PvP servers.
This immaturity isn’t contained within the game, it’s also seen on the official World of Warcraft forums. Any webmaster will know that 9 million users having access to the forum would be a moderating nightmare, and that’s no exception for the wizards at Blizzard. It’s forums are severely under-moderated. Take a look at any recent thread and you’ll find mass amounts of racial slurs and derogatory comments.
It needs to stop. Blizzard relies on in game reports made by regular players of the game, but these calls are rarely ever answered. The only logical solution (keeping budgets in mind) is to employ player moderators. Blizzard wouldn’t need to pay them, as the elusive title of being a player moderator is enough to boost their online ego more than any epic sword ever could.
World of Warcraft has attracted some 9 million subscribers in it’s three years of being online. To call it a success would be a massive understatement, but as with any MMORPG there are major down-points.
With a player base larger than any other MMORPG, Blizzard was bound to encounter community related issues. It’s population is larger than that of some countries, and with no overruling government in charge (unless you consider game moderators as a form of government), World of Warcraft suffers from many social issues.
A common complaint from (ironically) the game’s elder players is that Azeroth is littered with immature players. Step into any town or city and you’ll find it’s chat is being spammed endlessly by players claiming how brilliant they are or letting everyone know of their new “original” Chuck Norris joke. It’s the one reason why mature players will turn to the role-playing realms — not to actually role play (besides, who actually does that?!), but rather to get away from the nonsense seen on regular PvE and PvP servers.
This immaturity isn’t contained within the game, it’s also seen on the official World of Warcraft forums. Any webmaster will know that 9 million users having access to the forum would be a moderating nightmare, and that’s no exception for the wizards at Blizzard. It’s forums are severely under-moderated. Take a look at any recent thread and you’ll find mass amounts of racial slurs and derogatory comments.
It needs to stop. Blizzard relies on in game reports made by regular players of the game, but these calls are rarely ever answered. The only logical solution (keeping budgets in mind) is to employ player moderators. Blizzard wouldn’t need to pay them, as the elusive title of being a player moderator is enough to boost their online ego more than any epic sword ever could.
Filed under Gaming by on Mar 16th, 2010. 
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