A general decline in the level of player sportsmanship/friendlyness

When I started the game around 12 months ago, I remember times when players were friendly and any profession could get into a group, people played for fun and exploring, etc. But after restarting PvE as of recent, I have noticed a decline in player friendlyness and sportsmanship.

Two examples in which to prove my point:

1. Around a week ago I was buying a couple of armor pieces at Droknars Forge. I saw a player asking where do I get Gladiator's Defence. I PMed him saying 'Facet of Strength in the Dragon's Lair.' He replied wheres that? I thought he might of forgot so I decided to party with him and map travel there. Unfortunatley I ended there by myself and to a PM why the f*** did you leave?

2. Yesterday I was helping a guildy cap Flourish in Mineral Springs. There were these other two players that were looking to skill cap also, so we decided to party with them. I thought great a monk and a warrior, hopefully we can cap these a little faster. As we walking outside, I soon discovered the warrior was using a Troll Farming Build and the monk was a 55. The monk and the warrior ran off and died on multiple occasions, I think they were on 60% DP while me and my friend were on around 4% Boost. We decided to tough it out with them. As soon as we hit the monk boss they capped and left. I smiled and thought to myself good game. I decided to PM them in hope of a response, all I got was XXXX is ignoring you. If they err=7'd fair enough but I think its rather selfish of them to do something like that. Despite them leaving we managed to cap all the elites we needed and had a decent time.

I'd like to know if anyone else has observed similar trends and what is one to do?

Honestly, it is like this every online English game (can't say for other culture, since I haven't play any online game that is not english) I had played.

First began, everyone is a noob and hence, appreciated each other's thought. While that, everyone had to work together to beat the mission they had never beat before.

Then as a year pass, people are tired of the same thing over and over, hence always look for way to exploit things. They not only look for exploit within the game, but also exploit on people. As you had been into better teams, you can rate the later team as worse than before, which add onto furstration.

Usually within a community of an organized guild, you can avoid such. That's what they are for =/

In my experience, Guild Wars is still the "friendliest" MMO out there. I've been playing online since the days of Warcraft II (pre-Battle.net), and find the GW community to be rather pleasant.

Oh, there are plenty of jerks, and I think the quality of cooperative PvP is dropping -- but overall, it's a good group of people.

That said...

Many, many people are using runners to get them around most of the game. There's a substantial group who wants "uber" equipment (as if GW has such things), without all that muckign about in Missions and Quests. I'm seeing this more and more.

It's not just a Guild Wars problem -- selfishness is endemic to modern societies. As in the real world, you just need to laugh and move on.

Those of us who think differently need to lead by example, both in Guild Wars and in the Real World.

It's "Just not cricket" anymore.

Unfortunately, good game etiquette and fairplay is on the decline. I'm not saying it's gone, just underlining it's on the decline.

Usually it's younger players who for whatever reason, have lacked a code of coduct to follow. If a child is taught good values he'll carry them on into adulthood. Also look at the lack of good role models in sport nowadays.

We can help reverse the trend by being a better role model. Guilds should have a code of conduct for players to follow. That means watching our language, having respect for others, winning well, losing well. Being a good sport and playing fair...even though it might cost us to do so.

Having a good name and reputation, and losing well (ie congratulating the winners, acknowledging good play, etc), beats a cheap win with bad atittude, always.

I've always found good sports to be far happier people, who really enjoy the game. They're great to be around also.

Treat it as it is; a game.

You'll find that if you can keep that mentality, you're stress level will be much lower.

I would imagine people are more rude online becuase they know they don't have to worry about the person they are mouthing off to coming and beating the living daylights out of them :P

it always was like this and it always will be to be honest..
the only answer i have is, fill up ur friendlist/guild with nice people and play only with them.. sounds nazi, but its the best solution to me

The problem is, this game requires social interaction. There are humans at the end of each character you meet. That makes it extremely hard to be indifferent.

I've always said these type of interactive games are a true revealer of character. They can bring out the best or the worse in you.

It can help you change what you dislike about yourself...or it can destroy you.

When you have a game that costs only $60 to play, you're gonna get 10 year old kids, hormonal teenagers, and pissed off nerds.

Unlike other games which requires a monthly fee, you don't see these people because they cannot find the money in their allowance to play such games. In effect, these games are populated by mature responsible adults.

Runescape is a wonderful example of a free game populated by assholes.

In WoW, I find that it's quite rare to see people like that... Which is quite a shame. If GW wants to compete with WoW, they are going to have to do much more than declare itself free of a monthly fee.

This brings me to my next point, Anet doesn't give a rat's ass about people like these. So if Anet doesn't care, why should I?

Oh wait, let me summarize my post:

Deal with it.

What a load of horse pucky.

WoW has a monthly fee, and it is populated by a collection of social rejects who should embarress that entire community.

Play a little WoW, and GW will seem like the friendliest place on Earth.

The decline is all over. I remember CTF in games like Quake 2 where when your team lost it was considered proper and polite to tell the other team "good game" and often a rematch would follow shortly after. These days, it's drop from the game so your "ladder score" isn't effected.

I've been in so many bad PuGs where people run off to uncover the map then leave without so much as a word. Other times, the player does something silly and gets killed only to begin cursing and screaming at the rest of the group.

And lets not forget the afkers and leechers in Jade and Aspen. No fair play there or politeness; just looking out for themselves and a free ride.

These very boards are rife with people who are quick to judge and call others names "Whiners", "complainers" and so on. And those being called names are often just making simple (in their minds anyway) suggestions to make the game better. Good chances are, these people emailed Anet and Anet told them to post here... and name calling is what they get.

Hench groups ftw.

Depends on the WoW realm, I guess, but to me the GW community is no worse than the WoW community ... no better either.

not from what ive seen(from a sane distance)

Honestly, I see the same amount of jerks as has been for the last 12 mos I've been playing. There's always a few. Sometimes they just stand out more than the "good" players. Two bad experiences don't lead to Armageddon.

I would agree with you I was around since beta and people were alot more fun to play when game fisrt started.

I don't think the problem has gotten worse. There were jerks in the beginning, and there are jerks now (many of them the same person). but I think the level of jerkiness is a bit exaggerated. I've been playing in PUGs quite a bit lately & I've only run into one or two people that I'd call a jerk.

To deal with a jerk, just ignore 'em. Don't respond to their BS & use that special feature incorporated into the game. The thing about the ignore list people don't realize is that in most cases, you don't need to keep a person on it for more than a few days - usually the ignored have moved on to being ajerk to someone else.

To deal with the problem of jerkiness in the game:

1. Don't BE one!
2. Use common Courtesy - say "please" and "thank you"
3. Don't TELL people how to play their character. ASK them what they're playing and ASK them if they would bring a particular skill(s). (remembering tip #2)
4. In case of mission failure - it's not good to break out the name-calling & blaming crap. It's better to not say anything at all and just go find another party. It's BEST to say "Ah, well - we gave it a good shot. Better luck next time."
5. In case of mission success, stick around long enough to say "GGA - thanks" type things.
6. When you see someone asking a question, politely answer it - if you know the answer. This will help take away the chance for the jerks in town to pop their ugly heads with their "OMFG -what a noob! doesn't even know _____" garbage.

there are jerks around, scammers around... its a given... its similar to real life, there are asshats and there are robbers... but there are also a lot of nice polite people around.

i've been trading around recently and a lot of people end the trade with "ty" or "tyvm" etc and its nice..

Yeah, with a million plus copies sold, you're going to have some bad seeds. 99% of the people out there are nice.

That's exactly what I was thinking. So someone has a little brain fart in a mission. Big deal! The noob is gonna call you a noob?

As far as the decline in respect, I think most other games go through this. I know some people will say, "well join a guild and make new friends," but this isn't everyone's cup of tea. There's a good and bad to being/not being in a guild. Unfortunately, as someone else put it, we must learn to deal with it and also lead by example.

There are jerks in real life, there are jerks in game. There is nothing we can do about it, and if Guild Wars was jerk free, it would be pretty bland.