What is wrong with people in this game?

I have recently purchased Guild Wars and have enjoyed the gameplay by myself up to the level of 9. With the game being partially a MMO a new player such as myself should be able to ask questions about things which are not so common to the community around me and have people give some sort of helpfull response. I have played other MMOs in the past and in all of them the people around me were more than happy to help me out and answer my questions. With Guild Wars it is as though no one cares about anyone unless they are in their own guild. I can sit in a major town asking people simple questions without ever getting a response. Why?

Don't get me wrong this is a great game even though I have only played it for about a week now, but the community is making me want to quit already. The majority of the players appear to be selfish at first and offer no assistance what so ever. I could easily be wrong about this, but until I see otherwise I have no reason to believe in game players are willing to help other out.

Basically I want to get someone elses oppinion on this and find out if this is how it just is.

i feel the same way ive had it for bout three weeks now and i get no response from ppl except for a select few... ppl on here post useful stuuf that has helped me out so keep postin on here and readin these forums for help

I registered just to tell you that I agree with you in every respect. Whenever I find myself in Ascalon I always try my hardest to send messages to those who ask questions. I am sick of asking a question myself just to be bombarded with "WTS 30 GOLD PLATINUM ARMORED BOOTS +3 ARMOR", but I guess that is what you get with no monthly charges.

btw Hello to everyone in the community

I guess I'm one of the exceptions, I do know alot of jerks , but I'm usually a nice guy. Problem is that I'm a soloer by nature so I'm usually in and out of most towns.

Frankly, I don't answer questions in game any more because the same question gets asked every 5 minutes by different people. At least on forums the answer is stored somewhere and people could use search. In game, you have to explain everything all over again.

Whenever someone asks a question and I know the answer, I whisper it to them. I disagree a little with you. While I was leveling, it seemed as though when I asked a question, someone always helped me (only one person, but that's enough ). And now, in turn, I answer questions.

The problem may be your question is lost in too many other people's trade talk. if that IS the problem, then switch to a quieter (not desolate, but quieter) district...

If nobody still helps, you can ask questions on these forums or PM somebody you know...

no, you are not wrong about this. the majority of players only want to advance their own characters. that's all they care about.

for evidence of this, notice how that 95% of the time or more after you complete a quest or mission, your whole party will leave within 30 seconds of getting back to town. usually with no "thanks for doing a good job, team" or "let's play again sometimes" or "thanks for saving my butt so many times during the mission" ...nope, no nothing. they got what they wanted: the quest/mission completed so their own character can advance; therefore they have no interest in anyone else as of that point

there are a few exceptions to this rule, but not many.

I try to contragulate my group, but mostly they're not interested. oddly enough, I've picked up like 25 players on my friend list that I enjoy talking to. some of them even farm with me!

unfortunately, I've yet to group with them again for some bizarre reason..

I say congrats, thanks, or "it was good" only when it really IS something extraordinary. if it's just a normal run, the team generally disbands without ANYBODY saying anything...

For me, it's probaly a case of I honestly don't see the question with all the WTS/WTB stuff going on.

If I do and I know the answer I always whisper it to folks.

Realize that many people turn off their chat because they don't wish to see all the trading...not because they don't want to help.

Well I've pretty much turn off the channels whenever I'm in town because of spam and the general idiocy of people in GW. There are rare ocassions where I do try to help out. But yes it does get old answering the same questions over and over again. Also some of these people asking questions are downright rude and demanding and ungrateful.

And then there's just selfish people who don't help anyone. So I'm really not surprised not more people go out of their way to help people.

I'm too shy.

The only time I don't answer questions is when the player asking doesn't bother to take the time to ask properly.

Stuff like "how u go 2 tower" I ignore. But other than that, I try to answer if I know the answer.

When I am in town I am usually afk. There are times when the chat is scrolling so fast I don't even see anything except the WTS or WTB.

A lot of it is that especially in certain towns, the trade spam has gotten soooo out of control at times that a lot of folks either ignore the chat windows or turn off the local and trade chat.

Personally I try to help people if I know the answer to a question they've asked. I not above giving nice folks a few crafting materials if they need them or sell them cheap if its a rare one.

Good folks are out there.. The best thing to do is cultivate a friends list and find a good guild that suits your playing style. My guild and I socialize on TS more than we actually mission together a lot of the time and we've met same very good people in the past month.

The down side is that since retail release things have taken a turn for the worse from the BWE's. THe large influx of umm.. less than mature and less than pleasant people has put a dingy mask over what was a very friendly and helpful community before. So if you can just look past the Noob comments and mean folk telling you what a loser you are for not knowing what they themselves probably didn't know a few weeks ago.. you should be fine. You can look me or any of my guild up in-game if you like, we generally are nice to strangers..

The thing I don't get is if it's so bad in guild wars, why isn't it in other games?

I mean... it's the same people that play these games in the end, no? It's not like the whole human race just kinda switches gears when loading up guild wars... ?

I dunno, maybe it's the nature of the game... maybe not. I've had mixed experiences though... I agree, people LOVE to care about themselves... hell, that's why celestial sigils are going for 70k a piece now. I don't consider that fair, but they'll charge it because some munky will eventually buy it for that price. Honestly, if I was one of those l337 super crazy skillzors freaks winning sigil after sigil, I wouldn't hestitate to sometimes give out a few.

Anyway, getting back on topic, when I first started out I had a few people help me out. Infact back when I was a lvl 6, a lvl10 took me through a bunch of post-sear ascalon quests and later hooked me up with 15 hide squares, and at the time I didn't even know how to salvage stuff! I guess I've been pretty fortunate so far, but I totally understand where you guys are coming from with the chornically disbanding party.

I remember making a party once to do a mission & the corrisponding bonus, and two lvl20's joined up willing to 'help' and collect the bonus along with it. When the bonus was done, one disappeared right away. The other just said he had to go and gone he was aswell.

Sigh...

The difference is that unlike all the other MMO's GW has no monthly fee.. That means that every little teenie bopper thug/pimp/1337 wannabe finally has a game that they can convince mommy and daddy to buy for them since it won't cost again.

THe crowds in those other games pay to play and so while not by any means a perfect crowd.. it isn't as rampant with immature hormonal stupidity.

I have found that pmany, many irritating thins go on in chat, such a spamming, panhandling, and selling on non-trade channels. If I see someone ask a question I will do my best to answer tho.

Too true. No monthly charge has its prices. Usually when I have a question I don't even bother because almost nobody answers. But when somebody else asks a question I answer if I can not only because it helps them out butalso so they don't keep spamming it. There's already enough spam because nobody uses the trade channel...

Also, there are no GMs in game to monitor or curb bad behaviour in the game. And the kids know that and pretty much know that they can act in whatever way they want and get away with it.

Well, you got us right? We will all be here for any member if they need help. I am not going to totally agree that I other game people will help you but not here. I have seen many people call others 'noob' just because they ask questions in many other mmorpgs I have played. It is not just Guild Wars.

It's a certain kind of psychology.

The distance of the internet paired with the fact that there are so many.. faceless people?..

I try my hardest to answer questions when i see them.

Here it is, according to Penny Arcade. (Warning: contains swearing)

Having played 2k4 for quite some time, I can attest to that. However, GW seems to have a lot of stupidity floating around as well (larger audiences, I'd guess). I really think it would help if they just had a more organized way of selling things than spamming it's description in Trade every 10 seconds.

I also try to answer questions and discourage people from generally annoying or n00bish behaviors (trade talk in chat channel, spamming "OMG LOL LOOK AT TEH MUNK DANCE!!!!1!!" in chat). Sometimes it seems like I'm an army of one, though.

I agree with how a lot of you feel on this issue. This game has a lot of strong points which may keep me around for a while, but the community (in game) is one of the weaker points. This game, for some reason, makes a lot of people looking to increase there own status at the sake of your misfortune. Plus, yeah, it is free so I would assume its easier for more people, (more jerks too) to get into the game. Also, this game seems to inspire some racisim with the whole korea vs. america stuff. I hope the development team is hip to all of this and is making a way to control or manage this.

Ive had my own ideas, here:

http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...ad.php?t=13895


Just a little story about something that happen to me today. I was in Hells Pricpice and Ive tried the mission a few times and lost, mostly because someone wanted to hurry up or because 2 or more people logged out mid mission. (if its only one, I press on) Today some monk was offering to team with a group if they paid him 3k. The sad thing is, while Ive been in Precipce, every group I was in or every group that that was looking for players where looking for monks only. (It only took me, a ranger/e, a r/mo and a e/n with henchs to actually beat it) Ive notice these sort of things getting more popular. Players are taking advantage of each other and not really helping.

And that cant be helped completely. Thats just the way the world works for some unfortunalty. But in agreeing with the thread, yeah, it does seem a more rampped here than other games.

Oh yeah? whats up with "noob".
Is it really so bad to be learning instead of knowing? How can we know unless we first learn?
People throw that word around like an insult, but...how insulting is it really? You play games more than I do. ...Im so ashamed.
I dont really get into it with name callers. But I see that word fly around a lot and I see people getting upset about it. It just seemed like the most ignorate thing to insult a person about. I was surprised at how much it caught on.
Its like a 2nd grader insulting a 1st grader for not know the materal covered in 2nd grade.

I agree with all that has been said so far... I have on piece of advice: Find an intelligent, large guild, and join. Seriously, if you're tired of idiots, it's the best thing you can do. If you're in a very good guild, you can tune out the rest of the game. If it's large enough you can do it all... buy from your guild, socialize with your guild, and do missions with your guild.

all the nice people (well not all) and the people with experience (such as alphas and betas) are likely to be at least in the south shiverpeaks by now...and the others may not know the answer...

any one got a access key used or a player they don't care i can use or play one some if u do not want can i have plz

I try to answer people when they ask questions, but as for grouping, well, I'm basically a soloer.

I have to go afk too much to play with people, and my computer drops off to much that 1 out of every 5 times I'm out, I get disconnected, and don't want to leave a group hanging.

You can add me to your in-game friendslist if you want, I'm usually happy to answer any question that I know the answer to.

any got a player they do not want or they don't care if i play on it i will do any thing

dose any one have a player they do not want or don't care if i play on it i would do any thing plz

any one got a player u do not want or i could play on if u do not care i would do any thing

Um... don't go asking for free accounts again o_o;

That leads to trouble round these parts...

Just logged from spending bout an hour and a half with a new monk -- showing him around, answering questions, etc. -- most of what I know I learned by doing, but I know what it feels like to be completely lost/new... and I remember with much warmth the people who took the time to help me in other games. Just paying it forward as I can. Karma matters.

New player == "politically correct" term for someone who has not played the game long and thus does not know much about it

n00b == Disparaging remark directed at people who, regardless of the actual amount of playtime, seem to be much better at making other players hate them than actually playing the game effectively. General things to look out for: frequent unnecessary swearing, failure to effectively use any known language when communicating, inability to cooperate with others and accept constructive criticism, constant whining, other generally annoying and immature behaviors

For some comparisons, see below:

Looking for new areas:
New player - Hello all. Does anyone know how I can get to Granite Citadel?
n00b - OMFG sum1 take me to Granite Cit!!!!!1 Will pay lots! (which turns out to be 150gp)

Upon reading the line, "<player name>, please stop aggroing so many big groups at once.":
New player - Oh, sorry. What does aggro mean, and how do I stop doing it?
n00b - FU I qiut *disconnect*

Upon dying in combat while the fight rages on:
New player - Could somebody plz rez me when they get a chance?
n00b - rez me
rez me
rez me
rez me
FU all, us ux *disconnect*

Now, I'm not saying everyone has to type like a secretary, but (for example) "CN u geiv me that ham i want it" is not an acceptable way to ask another player to give up a hammer that has dropped in a sane world.

For another example of "n00b"-type behavior, please see all recent posts by luis cruz99 (assuming they have not been deleted) and tack "blatant disregard of community rules" on my above definition

I'm glad this idiot finally got banned...

Anyway,
If you reallly want to get involved in trying to keep the game clean, all you have to do is take a screenshot and report it. Some of my friends and I do this every time someone says something racist, sexist, or talks about what their mother did with some farm animal. Don't get me wrong, I won't try to report someone who uses profanity after they died in a tough mission. You won't be able to wipe these people out, but at least they'll get the message and cut back or stop. If anything, they'll be banned and it'll be a while before they figure things out and get back on.

I had someone report me(at least he said he did) for using the word "dumbass." It was a while back & the party was doing the Northern Shiverpeaks stuff. The quest where you have to rescue the npc dwarf? Well anyway... the npc dwarf said that he had been caught again & I jokingly replied to the npc dwarf "You're a dumbass! Dont let it happen again!" which all but one in the party laughed at. The individual in question asked me politely(he was polite I will give him that) not to swear... I replied that I hadnt sworn(dumbass to me is not a swear word anymore than jackass or smartass is), he replied that I had indeed sworn & was reporting me for it. Yay! Horray for beady-eyed snitches!

I always answer question if i see one in the chat... but I don't visit major town often =/

I play outside of the economy almost completely...

First of all, other than the main post I havent read what anyone has said, so if I repeat anything it must be right =P GW has no monthly charge, this will take the average age of the game down. Teenagers are often jerks, its the hormones really.

Secondly, the community is alot like the real world. 98% of people just dont really give a darn about you, and the 2% who do only care about you because it makes them feel good; so really they care about themselves. (Friends and family discluded.)

There are people who are patient enough to help a person out, or answer a simple question without being an ass. Ill answer questions, but I dont hold hands and do quest walk-throughs. Except for my guildies, and thats where this all leads. Find a good guild for you, most likely a mature one who will be willing and able to answer the 100 questions that we all have when we start a game like this.

Myself, I try if I know the answer, but often I don't, since I'm still no expert on the game. I'm also kind of a loner as well, so usually if I'm in town it's because I'm hurrying to the merchant to sell stuff and then I dash out again etc...I barely even notice there's chat on my screen, since my chat window is usually 'closed' and the words blend into the background.

Also, many times people ask questions that aren't easily answered/explained in a short response or two. In those cases, I often direct people to this forum/site.

Overall tho, I'd agree that at least on the surface, the world of GW is a very quiet one where people rarely respond or talk. But many may be 'whispering' or have general chat off.

I've seen the dwarves say "damn it." What? Did that guy report that to ANet too? I would never report someone for swearing, but if you can't handle the word dumbass, you shouldn't be anywhere near an internet connection...