Which Gaming Forums Do You Now Refuse to Use?

[MechaKingGhidra]

Everyone is new to things at some point. Everyone needs to learn how people operate a given community. However, sometimes, just merely dipping your toe into the pool can make someone feel like they're in an Amazon river and you just gave the pirahnas a free taste.

I have been a member of the 'Shakes & Fidget - The Game' as a player for a couple months now, maybe three. I registered to use the forums just only tonight as I had a question on a topic that the forums simply did not cover in any FAQs or player-made topics.

I scoured the forum rules in case even a simple *reference link* of all things could be found to answer my question, all the while taking in what I can and can not post about. I could not find anything relevant to my question and I made my post in the correct section of the forums, making sure that I was clear, concise, and didn't post any information that would go against the rules.

Within literally 3 minutes of having posted my thread, my topic was removed and I had a private message from one of the moderators issuing a warning about posting inappropriate content. :smallconfused:

While they *did* answer my question in addition to giving me this lecture, I was quite taken aback by this. I double-checked the forum rules, went over every part of my post and found NOTHING WHATSOEVER that could even vaguely be misconstrued as inappropriate.

Like I said, I was clear, concise, asked a question no rules could have touched within miles of my question. Heck, I was even quite polite and humble (very saddening whenever one's acts of humility fail, they want to immediately smack someone, eh? :smallfrown:), but not so much that it would have looked like borderline 'kissing their rump'.

I know text alone can be quite open to manipulation and as such, if I had not known better, I would have thought that the moderator was trying to be outright hostile towards me.

Either way, I am so off-put by this that I am not even going to play the game anymore. I replied to the moderator's message with an explantion of my intentions behind asking the question, as innocent as it was, apologized if I had perhaps missed something (even though I know dang well I *didn't*, but it never hurts to be polite, right?), thanking them for their time and wishing them a pleasant evening.

How about you guys? Any gaming forums give you the anti-welcome wagon and you just couldn't cope?

[Eakin]

GameFAQs. 99% of the forum topics are completely useless, or worse.

I haven't been to very many other gaming-specific forums though.

[Winterwind]

The Blizzard forums. Pretty much regardless of what you post, you'll have to wade through a dozen of posts like:
"lol" (yes, that's the entire post)
"u suck"
"close pls"
"u are so stupd pls roll over & die"
"only a retard would be posting this"
"shut up <insert league here> k thx" (to explain this one: In StarCraft 2, you are in some league, depending on how well you play - Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, Master, Grandmaster. Everyone on these forums is convinced that anyone who is in a lower league than them has no right to say anything, ever, while at the same time kissing up to the higher leagues.)
before getting a reply that might be kinda sorta-ish useful, but is still way too short for any real insight or discussion (it's like everyone over there is assuming there is a 255 character limit on every post in place, or something).

It doesn't help that 95% of all threads there are either whining about perceived imbalances and how much the games supposedly suck, or whining about people whining, which is somehow even worse, because it results in all of these threads immediately devolving into flamewars, rather than discussions.
(Yes, the irony of what I am doing right now is not lost on me. :smalltongue:)

It's a place of such wretched misery and stupidity that I think the only place on the Internet I know of that is even worse is the YouTube comment section.


Though I've made the general observation that the more competitive a game is, the worse the community for it becomes. A game more suited for casual play, perhaps one that doesn't even have multiplayer (or at least, none where humans play against each other) is far more likely to have a nice and helpful community, while a competitive game where humans play directly against each other, especially if there are any asymmetries in place (different races in a strategy game, different classes/weapons in FPSs, etc.), is much more likely to have a poisonous community that exists only to flame the hell out of each other.

Also, the more mainstream a game is, the worse the community is likely to be. I'm not sure why, actually - many people say it's because "all the kiddies go there", but I see little reason why a mainstream game should have a higher percentage of immature people playing it than a less mainstream one. I'm more inclined to assume it's because if a game's community is small, they tend to hold more together, and regard every additional player as a precious and cherished addition to this game they love, rather than just another nuisance to be overcome.

[factotum]

I'm more inclined to assume it's because if a game's community is small, they tend to hold more together, and regard every additional player as a precious and cherished addition to this game they love, rather than just another nuisance to be overcome.

More likely it's just that you notice the flames and stupidity more than reasonable posts, so when the forum has a lot more posts in it, you see it as being worse even though the proportion of flames probably isn't much higher. Alternatively, it might be that it's easier for the moderators to keep a handle on the flame wars in a less busy forum.

[Domochevsky]

MechaKingGhidra, i can't help but notice that you didn't actually include the bit of text the moderation had issues with and why. >_>

[MechaKingGhidra]

Ah, apologies for that. I got distracted in building the bulk of this thread that I completely forgotten about the 'juicy bit', as it were.

I can not recall it word for word now but essentially, I was asking in the questions area of the forums how to find where one is supposed to post for their own server. There are three subsections for the different servers and no directions as to find out which one was for me.

It turned out to correspond with a number in my url while I play the game, but since I visit a lot of sites which use an obscure, seemingly random number in their url, I would have greatly appreciated there being a sticky that actually went over this sort of thing.

Instead, they just simply assume you know right off the bat.

There we go, hope that's cleared up the last of that, Domochevsky. Note to self: make sure posts made are not right before going to bed. Something *will* be missed in the elaboration process. :smallfrown:

[Traab]

"You stupid smelly lumpy gutted moron! Why not let the spiders that inhabit your skull take a turn typing out messages? They couldnt be even HALF as worthless as that one!!!!" Oh sorry, for a second there I thought I was in WoW trade chat. :smallbiggrin: On an actually serious note, I havent run into a forum group that basically scared me off right from the start, some tend to be a bit less forgiving than others, but its generally the obvious morons who act that way so they are easy to ignore.

What I really liked on the first game forum I was ever a part of, was the everquest server boards. They had something called the **** List. Basically, it was a way for the server to police itself instead of trying to get gms to handle things. Say you were a ninja looter, a kill stealing, and a scammer. People would go to the board, post the persons character name and the offenses commited. At that point its left up for a week. If other people come forward with more claims of things they did to them, then it stays, if noone answers then it gets removed. If people jump up to defend the guy, assuming you tried to target someone else to get them in trouble, your name will likely wind up there. This kept people pretty dang honest because unlike some other mmo games, leveling up in everquest took a long time, so you couldnt just delete the character and reroll. When your name is on the list, that means noone else will group with you, help you out, or anything else. You are totally ostracized in the game.

What does this have to do with the boards themselves? It kept things a bit more polite. You see, the servers had small populations, so everyone knows everyone else, and noone wants to be called out on being an ass, so there was very little, "Omgwtf nooblet! Go dive face first into a volcano you moron!" type of posts.

[Domochevsky]

"A number in your URL" while you play the game? A session ID? (&sid=) :smallconfused:

[Artanis]

The DragonFable forums. The devs ask for feedback and constructive criticism, and then proceed to ignore it. It doesn't matter how well thought-out and helpful and well-reasoned a feedback post is, the devs will do the exact ****ing opposite. Seriously, the more bug-fix requests they get, the buggier the next release will be.

[DaedalusMkV]

The Bioware forums are a special breed of scary, so much that Bioware themselves don't go there unless they absolutely have to. I'm also incredibly leery of most of the 40k forums, especially Warseer (which seems to be literally made of whining and complaints about game balance) and Dakka Dakka (I guess it's the inherent Orkiness of the site, but I find that you have to wade through illegible gibberish for hours to find anything useful there), so I generally stick to the periphery of the 40k online community anymore.

[Starwulf]

The Bioware forums are a special breed of scary, so much that Bioware themselves don't go there unless they absolutely have to. I'm also incredibly leery of most of the 40k forums, especially Warseer (which seems to be literally made of whining and complaints about game balance) and Dakka Dakka (I guess it's the inherent Orkiness of the site, but I find that you have to wade through illegible gibberish for hours to find anything useful there), so I generally stick to the periphery of the 40k online community anymore.

Really? I've never had any trouble with Bioware forums. Admittedly, I've only ever really used the NWN forums(and the NWN2 forums they hosted for Obsidian), and I sorta used the Dragon Age forums(not a lot), but I always got the feeling that the boards were composed of a good community of tight-knit people. What forums over there have you had issues with?

Hmm, in General, I don't use many forums, I'd guess the worst would probably be Allakhazam, specifically the General Forum of the FFXI section. Some of the peeps on there...Bleh. Honestly though, over-all it's still not god-awful, not like some of the examples given in this thread.

My favorite forums would be the Community Discussion board over at Bethesda Softworks. Lots of good people over there, and while sometimes people may step on others toes, it never gets to far out of control, and the moderators are freaking awesome.

[Maxios]

I never go on gaming forums, but on the non-gaming unofficial Dr McNinja forum, I was banned after my second post. Why? Advertising. And all I did was post an RP on the site :smallannoyed:

[DaedalusMkV]

Really? I've never had any trouble with Bioware forums. Admittedly, I've only ever really used the NWN forums(and the NWN2 forums they hosted for Obsidian), and I sorta used the Dragon Age forums(not a lot), but I always got the feeling that the boards were composed of a good community of tight-knit people. What forums over there have you had issues with?

The Mass Effect forum is... Not fun, especially for the sequel. From creepy Tali fanboys to endless flamewar threads about how Mass Effect 2 was better/worse/gayer/not as gay/ poorly designed in comparison to the first game, and everything in between. My short time there was an excercise in frustration, and I found the user base incredibly frustrating and annoying. I hear that the Dragon Age forums are currently overflowing with arguments about how DA2 raped the franchise as well... I didn't spend a lot of time there before I gave up, but if you want a better picture of the problems the Bioware forum has suffered, just post about it in the Mass Effect 2 thread.
Lots of people over there spent a lot more time with it than me.

[SparkMandriller]

Really? I've never had any trouble with Bioware forums.

They have discussions on what Tali's sweat would taste like.

[Eldan]

I've found that some MUDs (basically text-based MMOs) have quite scary forums. Why? Because people there are both literate and articulate and absolute douchebags.

See, on WoW forums you get leetspeak insults. On MUD forums you get three page essays detailing why every word you ever said sucks, why you are stupid for choosing the class you chose, why you are clearly unworthy of posting because you were not even present IC in the Siege of Darkduskfallnightmoonfog twelve years ago and are therefore a n00b and why the mods should ban you and your entire country for daring to ask a question.

[Miscast_Mage]

They have discussions on what Tali's sweat would taste like.

I... I honestly wish things like this surprised or worried me. The fact that I'm completely apathetic to stuff like this worries me even more.

But yeah, I really don't hang around gaming forums, for reasons given such as the gameFAQs example(the gameFAQs forum especially). If I need help with a specific problem in a game, I generally just use google, and if I find a particular forum I regoogle with the forum's name added. If that fails then I'll start sorting through a forum, but I really don't like resorting to sorting through threads by hand.

[dsmiles]

and Dakka Dakka (I guess it's the inherent Orkiness of the site, but I find that you have to wade through illegible gibberish for hours to find anything useful there), so I generally stick to the periphery of the 40k online community anymore.As a Warmachine player, I can only speak about the guys/gals that post in that particular section, but I've never had any issues getting intelligent answers from that particular forum.

Then again, I get a lot of heat on the PP forums for asking newb questions (that I don't get heat from on DakkaDakka). :smallconfused:

[Shpadoinkle]

I don't post on the WotC D&D boards anymore, Not because of the users, but because of the way it's been treated by Hasbro. They're doing everything in their power short of actually buying every copy of anything that isn't the latest iteration of D&D and burning them to get people to play the newest version. They're basically going "NO 4e IS THE ONLY D&D THERE IS OR HAS EVER BEEN 3e WHATS THAT LOL I CAN'T HEAR YOU LALALALALALA I'M NOT LISTENINNNNNNNNG!"

[dsmiles]

I don't post on the WotC D&D boards anymore, Not because of the users, but because of the way it's been treated by Hasbro. They're doing everything in their power short of actually buying every copy of anything that isn't the latest iteration of D&D and burning them to get people to play the newest version. They're basically going "NO 4e IS THE ONLY D&D THERE IS OR HAS EVER BEEN 3e WHATS THAT LOL I CAN'T HEAR YOU LALALALALALA I'M NOT LISTENINNNNNNNNG!"
I have to admit, I dropped 3e like a bad habit when 4e came out. I was so happy to see something other than "Linear Fighter; Exponential Wizard." :smalltongue:

[The Glyphstone]

Wow, I haven't been anywhere near DakkaDakka in years. Sad, considering I was a member back when it first made the transition off BBCode to an actual forum, and back when Dakka Dakka was actually my physical local game store. Has it really gone downhill that much?

[Leecros]

I pretty much evade any gaming forum/topic that's involved with League of Legends. Don't get me wrong, I love the game. I'm just not a huge fan of some of the people. There's a very audible minority of hyper-competitive people whom get onto forums/topics and complain about the "Bad People" on their team for the night. I understand that LoL is a competitive game, but it irks me because i've played with dozens of these hyper-competitive people when there was someone who wasn't doing well. The person not doing well gets treated worse than dirt by this guy. Instead of being offered constructive advice so he can get better, he gets attacked emotionally and if someone else steps in to help then you better be wearing your flame-retardant suit.

Oh! and you better not mention that you're playing LoL to have fun around these guys. That opens up a whole different can of worms. Seriously, i could kind of understand that point if you were playing in a Ranked Match, but not in a normal game. The purpose of getting a game is to have fun. If you want to be competitive that's what the Ranked Matches are for.

Then they have the audacity to get on a LoL board/topic and complain about the guy and that's why i've quit frequenting anything LoL-based outside of the game itself, it just makes me sick to my stomach. I've seen friends of mine run off the game because of this behavior.


And just a reminder so i don't irritate most of the people on this boards who play LoL. These people are a minority a very audible minority, but still a minority. Maybe 1 in 6 or 7, of course with 5-person teams there will almost always be at least 1 on your or their side. Competitiveness really brings out the worst in people sometimes.

[Nerd-o-rama]

Well...Media is the only subforum I use here, so...

[Starwulf]

The Mass Effect forum is... Not fun, especially for the sequel. From creepy Tali fanboys to endless flamewar threads about how Mass Effect 2 was better/worse/gayer/not as gay/ poorly designed in comparison to the first game, and everything in between. My short time there was an excercise in frustration, and I found the user base incredibly frustrating and annoying. I hear that the Dragon Age forums are currently overflowing with arguments about how DA2 raped the franchise as well... I didn't spend a lot of time there before I gave up, but if you want a better picture of the problems the Bioware forum has suffered, just post about it in the Mass Effect 2 thread.
Lots of people over there spent a lot more time with it than me.

Ahh, yeah, I've never strolled into the ME forums. own it, but never played it, rofl. The Neverwinter Nights, Neverwinter Nights 2, and Baldurs Gate forums though, are all great forums though, with a lot of people actually knowing each other very well through extended interactions. Lot of friendly helpful people in there(and I've been a member of those forums since 2001). I only ever went to the DA forums a handful of times, so I guess I lucked out on not having to deal with idiots there.

[Giggling Ghast]

The people who frequent Bioware's forums are their biggest fans. You can tell because they hate their games more than anyone else.

I used to visit there a lot before the release of DA2. Now it just saddens me.

[Acanous]

Tali's sweat tastes like innocence and rainbows, obviously.
With a naughty motor oil aftertaste.

Me? I stopped using the TWC boards after the second crash and thread purge. (Top Web Comics)
Spent a few years posting there, before the crash. Lost a lot of friends to that :/

[The Rose Dragon]

Any forum which thinks lax moderation is desirable. Also, any forum which thinks seniority gives you the right to spew insults and obscenities.

Also, I try to not use the Bioware forums, because of ridiculous amount of pointless hatred and useless topics there. However, the Technical Support forums are incredibly useful, so I can't help but visit them whenever I have a problem.

[Winterwind]

Well...Media is the only subforum I use here, so...But... right now you posted in... does not compute... paradox overload... :smalleek:
*explodes*
Oh great. I hope you're happy with yourself. :smallannoyed:

:smalltongue:

[potatocubed]

Occasionally I click through to the Steam forums by mistake. Aiee.

I've never found the Bioware forums to be anything but friendly and helpful, but then again I've always stuck to the NWN and NWN2 boards, and even then just the module-design subsections thereof.

[Sipex]

I've heard that the Minecraft forums are pretty bad, especially when Notch hasn't released an update in over a week.

[Castaras]

I've heard that the Minecraft forums are pretty bad, especially when Notch hasn't released an update in over a week.

They are. I have an account on there for subscribing to mod threads but I avoid any other threads like the plague. mod threads can be quite crappy to begin with, anyways.

[GloatingSwine]

Tali's sweat tastes like innocence and rainbows, obviously.
With a naughty motor oil aftertaste.


And stomach cramps.

[factotum]

I've heard that the Minecraft forums are pretty bad, especially when Notch hasn't released an update in over a week.

You should see what they're like immediately AFTER he releases an update--half the threads are "Weee! New version has been released!" and the other half are "Booo! New feature #132 we were promised wasn't included/didn't work properly/just plain sucks anyway"...

[Bucky]

I think the Insomnia forum wins, for a very different reason.

Post quality - above average for an internet forum
Moderation - Extremely heavy. Not thinking a post through is a banning offense, as are grammar errors.

However, most of the evidence disappeared from the public eye when the owner started charging money for account creation.

[bloodlover]

Bioware forums

The amount of junk in there is too much.

RPG Codex would come in second. I usually just read the forum because people usually post then just to flame.

[Wardog]

I haven't visited the Bioware forums for ages, but they didn't seem too bad (this was mainly in the BG/NWN days, before ME etc came out).

I do remember the old Balder's Gate forums had some hard-core role-players who were utterly disparaging towards anyone who min-maxed their stats (in BG, there was no (game) reason not to give your fighter 3 int and wis in order to max out str/dex/cha).

I remember one or two even accusing people of cheating if they reloaded when they died rather than restarting the game.

[Runestar]

The diablo 2 forums for Blizzard.

So many threads seem to be devoted to twinking out the perfect build, using top end gear....from 1st lv?!? And apparently, they will cycle through armour sets faster than I can spam fireballs.

If this is what D2 gameplay has degenerated into, then I am glad I quit so many year back. :smallannoyed:

I no longer visit brilliantgameologists either. Don't get it wrong, I had a great time there, the members there were a pleasure to converse with, but most threads seem to be revolving around breaking a character, or trash-talking about breaking them. I find I am no longer the avid optimiser I was several years back, so the discussions just bore me. :smalltongue:

[Winterwind]

The diablo 2 forums for Blizzard.

So many threads seem to be devoted to twinking out the perfect build, using top end gear....from 1st lv?!? And apparently, they will cycle through armour sets faster than I can spam fireballs.

If this is what D2 gameplay has degenerated into, then I am glad I quit so many year back. :smallannoyed:That's pretty much all that was ever being discussed on most Diablo 2 forums in at least 7-8 years (and probably even longer). With the same assumptions, too - everyone thinks everyone has every piece of equipment that exists in the game available, in its optimal form, with all sorts of additional stuff just to aid you through early levels when you can't use your end-game equipment (even where it wouldn't be necessary at all). That it's blatantly impossible for any significant number of people to have that kind of equipment without some serious duping is being overlooked. Anyhow, that's not a new development in the slightest though.

There are some forums dedicated to "legit" play, that refuse to use duped items (often going as far as "use only items you found yourself") - there, you can generally find discussions much closer to what D2 gameplay looks like for the 95% of the non-cheating population. :smallwink:

[king.com]

The Dawn of War 2 forums are frankly terrifying, everyone and i mean EVERYONE believes they are right, regardless of their experience, hell there was one guy who posted consistantly for about 2 years in balance discussion despite having stopped playing the game since release...

[Runestar]

That it's blatantly impossible for any significant number of people to have that kind of equipment without some serious duping is being overlooked.

I always believed the players there simply assumed everyone else would find a way to legitly procure those gear, be it farming with your higher-lv character, trading for it, or simply have a common stash amongst friends which you can pass around when desired. Seeing how how higher lv play essentially boils down to doing mephisto runs every 3 minutes...:smallannoyed:

Even the more useful information can be summarized into "assign just enough str to wear your gear, dex for max block or dump, rest into vitality, ignore mana" and "Start with a necro as he is the most item-independent character".

To me, it is like delberately replaying baldur's gate for the +1 stat tomes just so you can start BG2 with 19 in your key stats. It isn't cheating, but it becomes tedious, and I mean really, what's the point? :smallconfused: