Abbreviations in thread titles

Esprit

Esprit

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Jun 2005

Dvd Forums [DVDF]

E/

Not sure if this qualifies as side feedback, but I'll post in case it does

There are two threads in Riverside at the moment

"VoR vs SS"
"VS farm effect on GW's *economy*"

For a person who plays Guild Wars frequently and has a broad spectrum of characters, they probably had no problem with the titles. But for casual players or players who do not track every new trend in the game or know all the skill abbreviations, those titles might have been confusing.

Even when I went into the "VS farm effect on GW's *economy*" abbreviations of 'Voltaic Spear' were rampant, and I might have overlooked it but no one actually wrote out the abbreviation.

To me that makes the forum seem very elitist, because you are expected to know all the abbreviations of the hundreds of skills or farms or builds (I still haven't figured out 'sabway') that are in the game.

I am not sure what can be done about it, perhaps a sticky asking people to write out thread titles in full? Though I don't really expect people to adhere to such a request.

It's not the first time that such abbreviations in thread titles make threads confusing, it was just these two instances that was the straw that broke the camels back, so to speak.

Arduin

Arduin

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: May 2005

The Netherlands

Limburgse Jagers [LJ]

R/

I hear you. Sometimes it takes me a few minutes to figure out what people are meaning. And I'm playing from day one.

Yet the reason why people use abbreviations is because it's much easier to type load up on a MM with SS and a Imbagon with SV, in comparison to load up on a Minion Master with Spiteful Spirit and a Paragon with 'Save Yourselves!' and 'There's Nothing to Fear'! with Spoil Victor

It would be nice though if the opening post would explain the abbreviations used in the thread: I've come up with a new Necromancer build using Spiteful Spirit. Replies can abbreviate it to SS if they want.

However, like you said I don't think people will really listen to such a request.

Luckily there's a abbreviation index on the wiki. It's grossly lacking though. Maybe sticky that link and ask people to update it with new abbreviations?

Edit: just typed VoR, SS, VS, SV in Wiki. It gave me the correct articles. Maybe people should use the wiki more.

Avarre

Avarre

Bubblegum Patrol

Join Date: Dec 2005

Singapore Armed Forces

Quote:
Originally Posted by Esprit
Not sure if this qualifies as side feedback, but I'll post in case it does

There are two threads in Riverside at the moment

"VoR vs SS"
"VS farm effect on GW's *economy*"

For a person who plays Guild Wars frequently and has a broad spectrum of characters, they probably had no problem with the titles. But for casual players or players who do not track every new trend in the game or know all the skill abbreviations, those titles might have been confusing.

Even when I went into the "VS farm effect on GW's *economy*" abbreviations of 'Voltaic Spear' were rampant, and I might have overlooked it but no one actually wrote out the abbreviation.

To me that makes the forum seem very elitist, because you are expected to know all the abbreviations of the hundreds of skills or farms or builds (I still haven't figured out 'sabway') that are in the game.

I am not sure what can be done about it, perhaps a sticky asking people to write out thread titles in full? Though I don't really expect people to adhere to such a request.

It's not the first time that such abbreviations in thread titles make threads confusing, it was just these two instances that was the straw that broke the camels back, so to speak. It might be a helpful idea for someone to write a full guide for all the various abbreviations, especially now that the level of new content is going down, and hence it's less likely they'll change. Placing restrictions on thread titles seems a bit excessive. Players can always ask in the thread, or PM someone posting.

PS: 'Sabway' is a reference to Sab, who took the extremely common HA/GvG gimmick build of N/Rts (often heroes), made a few tweaks, and posted it on Guru. Immediately, every PvE-only player who didn't know that everyone and their mother had been running these builds for hella days in PvP praised him for coming up with it, and 'sabway' has stuck.