Forums » General Pantheon Discussion

Are You Social?

    • 9115 posts
    February 8, 2018 4:00 AM PST

    How social are you in MMORPGs, do you keep to yourself and a handful of private family and friends or do you enjoy meeting new people and engaging with your fellow gamers? #PRF #MMORPG #MMO #communitymatters

    • 1315 posts
    February 8, 2018 4:48 AM PST

    . . . I sit at home on Saturday night eagerly playing an MMO . . . the model socialite

    That being said I think of myself as fairly social in an MMO setting, at least I tend to fill the common chat with enough drivel to strike up a few conversations as I am running about harvesting or playing wack-a-goblin.  Outside of surface conversations I tend to stick with my guild or close friends for anything that has significant risk.  Building trust is something that is a little hard and stepping outside of your comfort zone to work with new people usually requires some significant incentive.

    • 624 posts
    February 8, 2018 4:56 AM PST

    It is bard human nature to seek community - MMORPGs allow us to exercise that need while playing at being heroes and villains, sages and fools. I love gaming with my family, friends and guild... but the opportunity to meet new folk is irresistible. The number of strangers, whom I never would have met in my daily life, that have become fast friends because of MMORPGs always amazes me.

    • 724 posts
    February 8, 2018 5:03 AM PST

    I don't try very hard. I enjoy both meeting new people, and hanging out with guild mates, but I am not a "networker" who keeps extensive lists of friends, or seeks to extend those lists.

    • 1281 posts
    February 8, 2018 5:23 AM PST

    Overall I think I am pretty social.  I like meeting new people, hanging out wiht "old friends", and having a good time.  However, I have my moments of wanting to be alone too.

    • 123 posts
    February 8, 2018 5:26 AM PST

    How social am I... 

    I do not try to make new friends in MMO's.  With that said, I end up with new friends after playing a MMO.

     

    I use global/zone chat to get something accomplished (LFG or selling/buying an item as an example) not to strike up a conversation about the latest and greatest topic currently being discussed.

    While in groups I am more social and will fill the silence with conversation if needed; however, I am still not a chatty person about out of game items.

     

     

    • 557 posts
    February 8, 2018 6:43 AM PST

    EQ had great options for social interaction and I took every advantage of them to meet new players.  I made a few long-term friends simply waiting for boats to arrive and chatting up fellow passengers.   

    This was especially true in the early years of EQ when lots of people were joining their first online gaming community.  I have found that people are less social now with online strangers.  Many have an existing group of friends which they maintain from game to game.  People also seem perhaps more jaded and suspicious of strangers who send them tells.  Perhaps we've lost a bit of innocence along the way.   Many people don't talk to their RL neighbour across the street.  So many of us are wrapped up in our own little bubble

    It's somewhat of a contradiction where people get on social networks and value their "friend" and "likes" count, but "Don't expect me to actually talk to those people."

    I think many of us who have been following Pantheon for the past few years already have a social bond that will carry forward into Terminus.  

    • 37 posts
    February 8, 2018 6:47 AM PST

    i like to meet and group with new people, i can group for hours as soon as i meet new people for example when i join a group for a dungeon or for some dangerous outdoor place.

    i usually /ooc that i'm lfg in a zone i want to hunt in and then i wait for an invite, or i "randomly" tell people using /who command and tell them if they want to join me for some adventures ^^

    of course after group we can add each other to our friendlist for future things we could do together, but i never play always with the same people, for that there are guilds and raids, of course if i'm in a guild i will prefer grouping with my guildmates for group content but i will also find the time to group with new people outside of my guild.

     

    i really hope there wont be a lfg tool system in pantheon, i mean a automatic group maker and finder, i want to use the old EQ way to meet and build groups even if it takes longer.

    if there is a command like /lfg on to see who's lfg with /who command then it would be great, but no automatic group finder, people using that kind of tool barely say "hello and goodbye" in group.

     

    edit : i forgot to mention one very important thing, i have always been against vocal chat in mmorpgs and i wont change my mind with Pantheon. i like to chat but only by texts, and i will join a guild who doesnt force their members to use teamspeak or any other vocal software. 


    This post was edited by coeurdelion at February 8, 2018 11:53 AM PST
    • 89 posts
    February 8, 2018 7:42 AM PST

    I always main a support class, and I've been a guild leader/recruiter in every game I've ever played longer than a year (plus I'm an inveterate care-bear) so yeah, I'm social

    Most of that pans out as helping a bunch of people, but through that (directly and indirectly) I end up making friends that I prefer to run content with when I'm not doing solo stuff or assisting others

    I'd love a friends list that not only gave me the ability to input notes but that also had a flag system, so I could easily sort guildmates, raiders, in-game friends and stuff like that

    ...wouldn't have to have a ton of work put into it, just colored stars or something that I could legend however I wanted to in my head (or maybe apply a title to if you wanna get fancy) 

    If I spend any time at all with someone, whether a leveling group or being invited to a group that just needs a cleric, I usually get some friend requests, but that generally evolves into a huge mess without some decent methods for keeping things sorted properly

    • 1785 posts
    February 8, 2018 7:45 AM PST

    I'm weird.

    When actually *doing* things, I will tend to stick to myself as much as I can.  I'll only pull in other players if I need them, and when I do, I'll typically go with friends or guildmates first over randoms.

    At the same time though, I am totally into the bigger community.  I will happily chatter in /ooc or equivalent channels if there's a good conversation happening.  I will use my guild to organize massive server events for everyone.  And, if I see someone asking for help with something that I can do, I will generally stop to help them out.

    I'm not sure if that makes me highly social and just cautious, or antisocial and in denial :)

    • 69 posts
    February 8, 2018 7:53 AM PST
    I mainly stick to my small gaming crew, BUT - that's largely because rarely must we leave our comfort zones. Picking up some randoms to quest with is often more of a hassle than a help in MMOs these days. I don't have the time nor inclination to devote myself to guilds like I used to either... been leader/officer enough to know it's a lot of extra effort and drama for no good reason.

    But this might be the first MMO in a long time where I will need to guild up again with something bigger than my usual 5-8 man crew.
    • 626 posts
    February 8, 2018 8:05 AM PST

    I want to be friends with everyone, but still I have a few who are my core group I tend to play with nightly. I want to learn and grow in Pantheon with them so we can make memories to talk about and share later on. 

    • 696 posts
    February 8, 2018 8:41 AM PST

    I am pretty social in the beginning of a game, since I usually go into it alone. Once I have made enough friends and people to group with that I can't make time for new friends, then I usually stop. Once I get into a guild that is active with raiding and guild events, then that takes up alot of social time also.

    I remember I made the mistake of making an Aion guild with my brother and just invited all of our friends we made over the course of progression  and we ended up with like 80 active members on at once at any time and all of them wanting to group or do some boss or need help with a quest or pvp every second it felt like. So I learned from that to try to find a cap as to how much people I am willing to handle with grouping and doing stuff with.

    As for rp purposes I don't mind the random encounter or group with just chatting away with people, but that most likely means a friend request comes lol.

    • 945 posts
    February 8, 2018 8:42 AM PST

    Now that I've been presented with the question and have thought about it, I suppose my MMO life is similar (and sad) to my real life in regard to my social practices.  I use to enjoy going out with friends to bars/clubs and meeting new people, but now I prefer to grab a drink at the bar and sit and just watch other people (younger) making some of the same mistakes I use to make.  In an MMO I find myself prefering to do things solo, helping people out when someone looks like they need help or they ask for help.  I look and act much younger than my actual age and I find myself reluctant to make new friends lately because the younger crowd typically has more time to play and constantly ask me to play with them at a seemingly exhausting pace... in MMOs too ;) 

    I will obviously make new friends in PRotF, but I typically am not the one to actively seek new friendships.

    • 3852 posts
    February 8, 2018 8:56 AM PST

    I am not social at all. I far prefer going solo to being in a pick-up group where someone may be much too slow (or fast), totally incompetent or annoying, and where far too much time may be wasted with afks. Even guild groups can be plagued with afks and people that take *forever* to get to where the group is, maybe making everyone else wait while they finish one "quick" thing where they are. Patience is not one of my strongest virtues.

    So why am I here, pledging perfectly good money to support Pantheon? Was I too careless or stupid to understand that it will be a group-focused game designed for people that want to socialize more than is common these days? 

    Good question.

    Partly because I like so many other core design features that I am willing to accept the ones I don't necessarily like. Only a fool would expect a new MMO to have every feature he or she wants and no features that he or she dislikes.

    Partly because I hope for better communities than have become the norm, more focus on guilds before "endgame" levels, and therefore more congenial groups. Maybe I will get used to grouping most of the time again it is a habit I have totally lost since the early days.

    Partly because in a much more deliberate and slower game waiting 15 minutes for a group to form won't mean I have sacrificed three levels and the Godslike Codpiece of Greatness that  a trash goblin would *surely* have dropped had I stayed where I was camping goblins (let us not consider why I should expect to win a fight with a goblin so well endowed - no I meant the CODPIECE not ...< oh never mind!)


    This post was edited by dorotea at February 8, 2018 8:59 AM PST
    • 23 posts
    February 8, 2018 9:37 AM PST

    I am a social player most of the time. I like to be in a guild that is social and has the drive to move forward in the game. I will make new firends in pantheon and those firend ships may or may not last for ever. Time will tell. I will try to get my family members to play. its hard to get them all on at the same time as they have jobs and familys. With that said good gamming firends are nice to have. 

    • 25 posts
    February 8, 2018 9:49 AM PST

    What's the Terminus equivalent to a butterfly?  I would consider myself a social-what-ever-that-creature-is-in-Terminus while playing an MMO.  In EQ my favorite parts of the game were the community and doing group events with that community, be it high-end raids/mobs or even just sitting around camping in Guk for hours, grinding through lvl 40.  It's amazing what you can find out about people when you spend that much time together going through the same painful thing, :)

    Playing solo is cool and fun at times, but no where near as interesting or fun as when you depend on someone else to keep you alive and they are depending on you for the same thing.  That is the best!

    • 24 posts
    February 8, 2018 11:10 AM PST

    Personnally, i'm a bit of paradoxical. I like to take on support roles in games. I like raids and group activities. But chatting too long kills everything. I always like having small talks, i don't mind going deep into topics as long as people keep it cool, but most of the time a long vocal chat ruins my experience. Typing a few is ok, but chatting in guild for hours breaks my concentration and i often feel like i've wasted my time : i feel like not having played. And that often is really the case too. That happens to me a lot in the guilds i play with.

      Also guildmates often don't really care about what i want to do and i often end up doing things i don't want, and i often end up talking about topics i don't care about while i would like to play "for real" instead. I think most people nowadays (even outside games) don't really listen to people, they imagine that they all are an extension of themselves instead of being another human being, with its own whereabouts. So you often have to say : "okay, why not killing frogs for 3 hours with you to get these famous frog tongues" else you end up alone in the end because lots of people have binary reactions like "you've come, so you're with us" and "you're not with us, buzz off". That's what groups theory is about, eh.

    In the end i usually have a better gaming experience alone discovering the game or with strangers helping here and there over guildmates or game friends, which doesn't look logical at first sight but i can see the reasons with experience.

    On the other side, i'm interested in the social aspects of the game and i would like to try something new here. I just think that people won't make it as interesting as it sounds first because of human nature. Unless the game is well thought out. We'll see.

    Cheers,

    Gideon


    This post was edited by Gideon at February 8, 2018 11:42 AM PST
    • 769 posts
    February 8, 2018 11:16 AM PST

    I am far too social in MMO's. When in guilds, my favorite role is to be in charge of recruitment. I often times prefer PuGs over static groups. Anything that can increase the chance of social interactions in an MMO, I will vehemently advocate. Oddly enough, in the real world, I am a grumpy sonofab*tch that grunts at everyone. When the folks I work with need someone to get on the phone to yell and be mean, they hand it to me. For whatever reason, MMO's are where I feel more inclined to be social and pleasant. 

     

    Folks who play MMO's who don't like to be social boggle my mind. That is the biggest difference between MMO's and other video games out there - the Massively Multiplayer part. Why else would you play?

    Come one, come all, pals. 

    • 14 posts
    February 8, 2018 11:36 AM PST

    Kilsin said:

    How social are you in MMORPGs, do you keep to yourself and a handful of private family and friends or do you enjoy meeting new people and engaging with your fellow gamers?

    The best of two worlds: no family or IRL friends, but keeping to myself and a handful of gamers I met in-game. :D

    • 1860 posts
    February 8, 2018 11:38 AM PST

    I find I am very social at first.  I do admit, after 6 months or a year I tend to be less social.  By then I have met a group of players that I trust and tend to not group with many people who I am unfamiliar with.  I guess I am still social even then, it is just more restricted to within guild or a small group of outside guild friends.

    • 690 posts
    February 8, 2018 3:27 PM PST

    Kilsin said:

    How social are you in MMORPGs, do you keep to yourself and a handful of private family and friends or do you enjoy meeting new people and engaging with your fellow gamers? #PRF #MMORPG #MMO #communitymatters

     

    I tend to stick to the handful of private family and friends if they are available. But when I meet other people, from grouping with them, joining their guild, or soloing around them, it is fun when I get to know them. 

    • 120 posts
    February 9, 2018 8:05 AM PST

    I am social in the context of the game. If we have a shared goal, lets work together. If we work well together, lets be friends. Unfortunately personality doesn't count for much if you dont play the game well.

     

    • 173 posts
    February 9, 2018 8:26 AM PST

    While I'm very much NOT social IRL, I try to be the opposite in game.  I mean playing with other people is what MMO's are all about to me after all.  Thankfully, my wife is far more social than I am so she usually helps find new firends.

    • 108 posts
    February 9, 2018 8:50 AM PST

    I am an introvert in the real world. I live in the selkirk mountains in northern idaho. I enjoy my alone time. I hunt, fish, hike, horseback ride alone. In games i like my alone time as well which usually entails exploring, gathering and in some games a bit of crafting. In the real world i have few but true friends the kind you know and they know will drop everything to lend a helping hand even if its inconvenient. In gaming i have been part of a guild which was formed back in 2000. While i still only count a few as true friends i socialize more with them all then i normally would with aquaintences in the real world.

    Their is a crowd in MMO's that do not understand the introvert. They state why would you play a social game and solo. Why don't you play a single player game instead. Just because someone enjoys gaming alone at times doesn't mean they will not group and socialize at times. Hell i played Everquest back in 1999 and would play at certain times folks would ask me to join them i would. I would talk little and just play my class well. Every night would get invited by the same folks. Eventually they ask me to join a guild they joined i would. Still didn't change much. Still played with the same folks and guild members would join us when we had an opening.

    So to answer your question i am not very social in mmorpg's however i do enjoy helping folks just like i do in the real world. Some stranger has a flat ill stop and give them a hand. Some stranger asks for directions i have no problem helping if i can. Some stranger hitch hiking have no problem stopping and telling them to get in the back of the truck if i am heading where they want to go.