The Problem
People take this game too seriously. From pointlessly elitist attitudes, over to extreme guild loyalties ending in insults and drama if somebody, God forbid, would like to move on and do something new.
I’ve worked out what I love most about this game, it’s the same for most: the people. This game is not worth playing when there is nobody to talk to, nobody to play with. It’s a multiplayer game! Of course it will be this way! Though it’s getting more and more difficult to enjoy playing with others..
I’ve boiled it down to 2 sets of people taking the game too seriously and sadly the favour is in the first category at the moment. The elitists, and the extreme loyals. The elitism seems to be spreading. In TBC, it came from those in high-end guilds clearing Black Temple and rocking their badass Tier 6 goodies. The “I’m better than you” attitudes formed at this time were, while very annoying, a lot more understandable. When they removed the attunement for Black Temple and Mount Hyjal, then nerfed all raid bosses at the end of TBC, made raid content in Wrath a cakewalk, and gave everybody access to such high ilevel gear that it’s easy for people to be doing 4k dps, maybe more these days. With each of these steps, more and more people appear, talking down to people and judging them.
I’ve actually seen the ‘extreme loyals’, as I’m deeming them, and how they react. You join a casual guild, raid a few 10 mans, gear up a little. You enjoy it but at the same time you realise a lot of your friends are in another guild and they want you to join. So you say your goodbyes and put an application in. This sounds normal right? You’re playing a game and decide you want to play with more of your friends. Not to the extreme loyals. They will rage about it, because they geared you up, and you’re clearly showing your disloyalty to the guild. Give it a break.
In every casual guild I’ve been in, the people have been so lovely. Don’t get me wrong, not every guild is like that, and not every player who can hit 3k dps is an elitist either, but the people who do kind of spoil it for the rest. The problem with elitism is, imagine that observation got back to the person it was aimed at. If somebody said those things to you, generally you’d be a little pissed off (more or less depending on your personality), maybe even a little hurt. So why bother saying anything at all? Calling people terrible behind their back is downright nasty and I’ve had about enough of it. If I want to do a heroic on an alt, and I’m using bad gems, and there’s somebody in the party who knows better or thinks he/she does, there are two ways it can go.
- “May I make a little suggestion? I did a little reading on your specific class/my main is a [whatever the alt is] and you’d be better using these other gems 🙂 increased my DPS by quite a bit when I changed.” Or something along those lines, polite suggestions.
- “Omg noob, wtf you using those gems for? lol. Bad!” If somebody spoke to you like this you’d think they were a dick. They are.
Jus’ sayin’.
Now, I know John Gabriel’s theory of the internet and it’s true. Some of the biggest dicks I know are lovely people behind the anonymity, but I don’t understand.. where’s the fun in having people hate you? Whether over the internet or not.
A lot of people have forgotten that World of Warcraft is a fucking game. Okay, I guess for some it is more of a hobby, true for me, and a lot I know. This does not give you the right to act as though you’re better than everybody else, that you know better. Whether you play WoW as a hobby, a bit of fun, or even an escape from real life, it is still a game and should be treated as such. Fine, go on Elitist Jerks, make the best of your character, reading a website doesn’t make you better. Let people enjoy their game.
Note: My thoughts and opinions have a tendency to change with my mood. I did not type this post with the intention of annoying or insulting anybody, yes this is the post I was unsure of posting. The main idea behind my opinion here remains true though: This is a game that people take too seriously to the point of upsetting or just plainly making people feel uncomfortable sometimes, and this is something I don’t like.
The Lazy Sniper 
I’m going to agree to disagree on this one. While yes, some people in the elite guilds are jerks, my guild included (my guild did up to the first couple bosses in Sunwell in BT, and are the 4th alliance progression guild on my server).
There comes a point of WTF. I don’t expect everyone I group with or raid with outside my guild to be optimally geared or pull the same numbers I do — that’s unrealistic.
I do expect them to think about some of the choices they make for their character though. A hunter with a spellpower enchant? What? That’s just bad. (yes, that person is real and is on my server). A rogue with strength gems? Really?
I’ve also had these same types of individuals tell me I’m doing things wrong, despite more than doubling their DPS on meters and attempting to give them advice. Sometimes people are just beyond help.
.-= Morynne´s last blog ..Feedback is good, m’kay? =-.
“Don’t get me wrong, not every guild is like that, and not every player who can hit 3k dps is an elitist either”
I’m not generalising everybody 🙂
And yes, some people are beyond help, for example the healer we just had in Draktharon who refused to heal.. God I’m lucky Dan was tanking :s BUT the people who constantly mock and degrade casual players who, God bless them have tried to understand, but don’t have the time to read up on their class to min max, and then are judged about it. THAT’s the elitist I mean
LOL fair enough. I hate those people too.
There’s a reason why I try to run with my husband who plays an uber resto shaman. He can out-heal pretty much any level of bad.
.-= Morynne´s last blog ..Feedback is good, m’kay? =-.
Ditto, but with out-tanking. You know King Dred? Lightning Bolt Lightning Bolt, thank God for tanking CDs, Indestructible Potions (or whatever they are) and 52k hp ._.
About the loyalists… I’m probably one. And it’s not a loyalty to the guild that I’m expecting from the other people. But as a raid leader, if I get it worked out to get someone into a raid (and I now have multiple people vying for spots) and get them gear and they leave, that’s a huge blow to the other 3 people that sat by patiently waiting their turn.
This is why in a lot of larger guilds, initiates do not get gear. It gets sharded before going to someone that isn’t sure that they are where they want to be.
Personally, I would rather give it to someone instead of sharding, but I will give it to a longer-standing member over a new guy, just in case.
Gearing up someone else’s guild gets my guild no progression and I’ve got to look out for them.
.-= Arioch´s last blog ..WoW: The Numbers =-.
Hmm.. there’s a fine line here really. Because on one hand there’s a good point and a good reason to be annoyed and I think we’ve all been pissed off when somebody has left the guild with no really good reason after being geared. On the other hand, if somebody does have a good reason to leave, they’re unhappy for some reason or would be happier elsewhere, and they explain this, then that’s for the best.
I’m finding that the worst “elitists” actually aren’t the high end guild people. The elitists I run into (or that I’m asked to armory by friends who’ve been treated like crap in pugs) are often in pure, badly gemed badge gear sporting strange, strange specs.
It’s like they somehow think they’re amazing players because they’ve run enough heroics to buy the gear that gives them a GS above a certain number.
.-= Ophelie´s last blog ..WoW – Where You Can be a Kid Too! =-.
Yeah, I suppose I didn’t cover that well enough. There are different types of elitists and the kind who will spam trade asking for people’s GS and calling everyone shit and yadda yadda are the most annoying definitely.