Weekly Newsletter 07_14_08: Starving Trolls

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Posted July 6th, 2008 by Dalmarus

Starving Trolls

July 14th, 2008 - By Dalmarus

The Vanguard: Saga of Heroes team has been hard at work and deserves a vacation. Since I doubt they're going to get one any time soon though, my wife and I decided to take one for them. Just do me a favor and be sure not to tell her that's the reason we're going! Seriously though, it's high time I took some time off, so that's just I'm doing. As you're reading this, I'm kicking back in sunny San Diego, California enjoying some fun in the sun.

Fear not true believers! I haven't left the shop completely unattended. Ten Ton Hammer's very own Harvester of Ponies, Ralsu, will be keeping an eye on things while I'm gone, so no late night parties! For those that are relatively new to the site, Ralsu was the Site Lead here before he got a hankering for pony flesh and left the reins of the site in my hands. So yes, be sure to blame him for having to put up with my ramblings each week. Thanks Ralsu!

On to more relevant topics though!

As the weeks have been passing by, I've been talking about the ebb and flow of the community on the servers in general and how things have gone in a really positive direction over the last couple of months now. I was worried what would happen to that community when the flood gates were opened to game by way of the recently reactivated accounts. The last time this happened (December of last year), there were plenty of individuals that seemed to have nothing better to do with their time than to log into the game and troll the regional chat areas. As I've said in the past, I cannot possibly imagine having so little to do in my life that I took the time to troll a game I don't like, but to each their own.

In any case, I made a prediction a few weeks ago that I believed the community had gathered enough of a solid base over the last half year that the issue would end up being less pronounced than it was the last time. I'm happy to report that it seems I was right, and I wanted to take a moment to tell you all how proud I am of all of us. Not only am I seeing a steady stream of truly helpful answers flow across my screen in response to a number of constantly repeated questions, but I've been amazed to also see a large number of people apologize (or at least say just kidding) immediately after giving a smartass answer. I know the strain of seeing the same questions get repeated over and over begins to wear on anyone, and the majority of the folks weren't intentionally being mean, but thank you so much for apologizing in the chat channel immediately. Thank you all!

This certainly doesn't mean there haven't been any problems, or to say there haven't been any incidents of extreme asshats spewing off at the mouth. What it does mean though is that those people have been dealt with relatively quickly. The community has been quick to implement a number of different tactics that have been proving to be amazingly effective and I encourage you all to keep it up.

The first tactic is to obviously ignore the troll completely. They wither and die when their ego is completely ignored. This method seems to have the fastest results, but admittedly is not as fun as some of the others.

My favorite tactic, of which I don't remember seeing in the past, is what I like to call, "The Hook". I'd put it up to complete coincidence if I haven't been seeing it put to use more and more often as the days go by. While it could just be a matter of luck or good timing, there almost appears to be a pattern of intent behind it. In any case, I find it pretty hilarious to watch and it makes me proud to be a part of the community. I will make one warning and state this is neither the quickest, nor the most mature method, of dealing with trolls but it definitely has a distinct satisfaction to it.

The Hook - When a troll appears in the chat channels, they're normally left to spew their typical Doom & Gloom propaganda for a few minutes, up until the troll attempts to attack a player asking a question. At this point, it seems that one member of the community will engage the troll in a topic, using the same rhetoric and lack of logic that trolls tend to. Every so often though, they will also toss in a statement or two virtually guaranteed to pull the trolls complete attention... normally something to do with the troll's lack of age, their love of animals, and complete lack of playing skills. At this point, the troll concentrates on this single target and beings spewing off at the mouth with abandon. While all this is going on, the rest of the community is busy answering questions just as fast as other players can ask them, thus showing the new and returning players that Vanguard does indeed have a mature and helpful community.

It seems simply enough, and as I said, itcould be just a coincidence, but it just doesn't feel that way to me. I say this simply for the fact that it's normally only the one individual that volunteers to rile up the troll until they foam at the mouth and log off, or at the very least, finally shut up. No one else even bothers to engage them and continues to concentrate on offering assistance to those that request it. It seems too coordinated at times to be coincidence.

It may not be mature, it may not even technically be right, but by the gods, it makes me laugh, and I thank the community profusely for their monumental effort in assisting those players they can, and making everyone feel welcome. That alone will build our community (and subscription numbers) faster than anything else we can do.

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Disclaimer: The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of the Ten Ton Hammer network or staff.