Very antisocial in public areas

Maybe everyone around you was very shy?

I know I normally wouldn't respond unless -
(1) I had what you were requesting.
(2) It's something I might know about fairly well (don't need me more egg on my face, thank you).
(3) I assume someone else will respond or figure you're talking to someone else and I've just got big ears.
(4) I'm not feeling lazy - this chat box thing can get so confusing/clumsy sometimes.


What we really need is in-game voice chat. So I don't have to be lazy about typing things out. I'd say "No, I don't have one" but can't get around to typing it out in game when I'm busy trying to figure out how to do stuff. Especially in a crafting area, when I finally got the darn mats to do what I want it to. Nope, not risking chatting to screw it up.

 

I'm not stressing at all. I'm offering my two cents on ways to fix this. Why am I getting so much resistance on this from people???

 

You are meeting resistance because you are saying that people are not responding to you and because of that fact, you seem to be hinting at changing core game play mechanics, specifically Guild and Party chat. (which ties in with the Zone chat stuff that has been going on since R1)

You are also meeting resistance because you are telling other people that their responses to this thread aren't good enough for you. Which is ironic.

 

Yeah if there is an issue and somebody replies with a answer that doesn't meet my standards then I will reply with "that isn't acceptable" or "that is not good enough"...

Say you worked as a phone guy. Now you were sent to fix this guy's phone because the line two button wasn't working properly. You go in there and you can get it to work 1/3 the time, but that's the best it will do. The guy working at the desk gets mad and says they need that second line. Then you reply to the guy with the phone problem, "Hey why don't you just use one line, and if you don't like it go back to using a standard analog phone with call waiting."

The guy will reply with, "Sorry that is not good enough"... am I right?

So in the several cases I said that is not good enough, I meant it. The way I look at it is if we are giving feedback why should we give halfbaked feedback. Somebody telling me to go back to playing UO if I don't like this game ... 1. hasn't read my posts to know I'm trying to help. 2. is rude 3. attitudes like that don't bring in new players.

So the point is are we willing to discuss the possibility of helping other players in game in order to make this world welcoming for new players? If so then why not discuss possible problems that might hinder social interaction.

Although after hearing some of the replies in this thread maybe they should also add a feature that is optional that you can turn off communication with people you don't know. Call it Friends-Only-communication-because-I'm-a-cranky-person-mode. This mode is for people who know they aren't nice to anybody they meet, and they still want new players to feel welcome, and they know if new players interact with them it would only be trouble.

 

All I know is that I have only had a conversation with one person in game, with the rest just ignoring me.

 

Don't take it personally. I have missed almost every conversation. People have tried to stop me to ask me a question and I didn't hear them either. I notice later, and then I try to answer their question with a private message. The message seems to work though.

So I don't it is players trying to be mean, because I wasn't trying to be rude.

 

just because I set my setting to 'multiplayer' doesn't necessarily mean i have a desire to interact with you.

i did however meet / talk with a neighbor briefly the other day.

 

I personally turned off local chat on all tabs but one because so many times I would reply or ask if they needed help and I would get the reply "I was talking to someone else"

People see me and private message me and I always respond. It is a much easier form of 1 on 1 communication.

When you get stuck in a game it is frustrating but from my experience this community is fantastic for helping others etc. You just hit a bad situation because these folks happened to be busy doing their own thing.

If you ever need help feel free to add me and chat with me anytime. I am still learning the game myself but I am always happy to help. (just don't ask in local chat I will likely run right past you lol)

 

Have you played many MMOs since UO? This is pretty typical.

While there may be some game interface issues which cause this (chat bubbles would be great, making player chat more noticeable, etc) it seems like you're trying to dictate other players behavior. That group could have a perfectly good reason for not talking to you - frankly it's not your concern how others decide to play the game.

There is no way to stop people from using Teamspeak/Skype/Mumber/Ventrilo to talk to each other in voice while playing this game. That's just the reality of most gamers these days. My WoW guild chat is usually dead but there's all kinds of people yucking it up in Mumble. If Portalarium tried to do something to interfere with that it would essentially be the same as telling a huge segment of the market not to play their game.

 

Other than WoW no. I started several MMOs but I quit them within 2 hours. The reason I quit those MMOs was due to the fact that it all feels like WoW. The fact that nobody talked to you in WoW is no suprise becasue of the way the made that game.

However this is a spiritual successor to all things Ultima, and this world is different than all those WoW-like MMOs that are quest based, follow the script type games.

Also keep light hearted in here. I'm making good and serious points but I'm mostly joking around in here when I'm saying stuff like "THAT'S NOT GOOD ENOUGH". We gotta have a sense of humor or life just sucks.

 

I'm sorry, but that is just unacceptable.

 

I can so relate to this. I have wasted so much money trying out other games that almost always WoW reskins without the budget to do it right. But I did manage to play some for more than two hours.

The Secrete World kept my attention for a few weeks mainly because the overall look and feel was different enough. I still go and play it for a few minutes when I am really bored and need a zombie fix. But under the covers, it is still the SOS under the covers. That one is also has instance based map vaguely similar in concept to SOTAs map, although it looked like you walking on giant tree branches.


And there was Tera, which I really liked the combat in, but that is about it. I quit that one when they started merging servers.

AA kept my attention for about and hour or two. I had higher hopes for it.

 

For me... First hour is creating the character and after that is done I have just enough energy to do the first tutorial and I'm spent. (and I'm not just echoing lord british during his interviews during kickstarter... this is in fact my experience). Then I log back in the next day and I realize this is another wow like game that isn't as good as WoW. In fact I'm thinking of a free to play game (Lord of the Rings Online). Hey I know a lot of people like that in these forums, but man I was so done well before I finished that first area. It just didn't have the magic to keep me around, and I'm skeptical about free to play games because I'm afraid of how they are going to milk my pocketbook some how. Another one that caught me by surprise was Star Trek Online. I saw that and signed up with high expectations before it launched, and after I played I was like are you kidding me??? It is like WoW but in space... I had a borg character (that wasn't cheap) but after I played a few missions I was totally done.

So with the games they have out here these days I see why people aren't as likely to chat like they did in UO. In UO there wasn't all this imperative need to run off and finish 50 quests that night so you can level up ... (level up for what? so you can get geared up. for what??? I don't know ... so you can go do a raid with your team and impress them with your DPS improvements??? just to hear your friends say OH MAN great job nice improvement from yesterday). Sorry that was fun for a while, but it is just not for me. I liked UO. Nobody ever talked about how much damaged they did EVER. However one could boast about how good their PvP skills are as they wipe out an unskilled guy with a vanquishing sword and you used your GM equipment and some help with good ol' UO Assist looting that awesome weapon adding it to your collection...

In sota I think we will learn to be more social again. Talking to NPCs and talking to players use the same mechanism. We just need to not be distracted. Maybe some of the things brought up in this thread might be good ideas to help us see the interaction.

I understand that some people don't want to waste their time with other players. Maybe just imagine other players as being the same thing as the NPCs. We ought to slow down a bit or we might miss something in this game anyway. Talking to other players should still be encouraged.

 

I really think part of the issue us that Chat is kind of wonky. It's not intuitive and does not follow the standard in some ways so some people are still learning the ropes. I know when I leave SotA for a bit and come back, the chat interface drives me nuts until I remember the little nuances about it.

You also made a good point about people not used to being social because games don't really nurture this so much anymore. Many people who will play SotA may never have had many social experiences before in game. There will be a learning curve and comfort level to overcome before they feel brave enough to converse. Sounds funny but I know it to be true. I'm guilty of this myself. As a matter of fact, since SotA is not a hand holder in any sense, I was forced by game design to start asking people for help. This is going to be the case for many, and will have a positive social impact on the game.

I wouldn't worry too much about the lack of social players right now. I think this game is going to be huge with RPers come launch.