Today I’d like to go over a very strange topic, the WoW playerbase and the troubles that generalization has brought us to. Many players are very pervicacious to this topic and there is no real line in the dirt. There are two major schools of thought: we should treat all players with the upmost respect no matter what they’re doing or we should all be elitist jerks and shun every player. Yet, that’s just a generalization of people who are generalizing the WoW population.

Those who are a bit more optimistic have varying opinions, but they usually see every player differently and apply a different school of thought for each type. Some may believe in turning the other cheek, not allowing anything to bother them while others may separate newbies and jerks into two categories. The pessimistic side sees everyone as a liability and the entire playerbase as nothing more than idiots. The latter is what a lot of players are quickly becoming.

Of course, some may be quick to blame them and their ideals as nothing more than elitist jerkery, which is exactly what it is. Yet this opinion can be formed easily when you find yourself meeting a lot of very ignorant and apathetic players who join raids masquerading as a talented player which can drag everyone else down. Their selfish agenda is what breeds a sullen playerbase that can quickly turn bitter.

Whose fault is this though? Many point fingers to the existence of GearScore, saying that without it there would be a lot less trouble for everyone. I disagree very strongly. GearScore is the result of the playerbase looking for a way to avoid a big problem. That problem is the number of bad apples out there who cause people to lock themselves to failed raids. People who try to join with terrible gear (where even skill can’t compensate for it) or ignorant people with no skill just trying to coast their way into some gear.

I don’t see GearScore as inherently evil nor do I lambast those who use it to filter out people without a certain score. If there are those who disagree with its use then they can either make their own raids with their own rules or join a guild with a likeminded attitude in order to raid. The latter being the most preferable course of action because trying to PUG anything is nothing but a headache for anyone. I personally have never used it in one of my raids but I do often check the armory of someone with low health. Back to my main point, GearScore is nothing but the result of people in bad gear getting into raids and bringing everyone down. So naturally people want insurance against that or some kind of defense.

So back to the main question, whose fault is it that the playerbase is souring so much against itself? I blame Blizzard and the need for the daily dungeon. It is a broken game mechanic that does nothing but makes us repeat content we’ve done over and over with players we probably don’t want to be playing with. The random dungeon finder only compounds the problem by making us play with players we don’t want to play with from other servers.

With a raid you can easily say meet up at 8 p.m. Tuesday night and we will delve into the dungeon and begin clearing it of all of its evil. A daily dungeon though requires just five people, less than a raid, and needs to be done daily. So it creates a scenario where it’s hard to meet up your friends each day at the same time to do the daily dungeon. So you have to rely on PUGing it in order to do it.

Yes, you were cool the first time, but I would be happy not to see you for awhile.

In a perfect world we’d all play with people who know their class, know what they are doing, and have absolutely no malice in their heart. This is not a perfect world and we are often grouped with players who are too apathetic to learn to play their class or players who don’t want to do anything and coast while everyone else does the work. Too often have I seen a selfish player level their weapon skills or a Hunter feign at the start then talk about what they’re about to go cook for dinner.

We do meet a lot of awesome people in the daily dungeon, but it’s a lot easier for us to remember the frustrating and bad encounters. We remember these encounters so vividly that we begin to generalize with everyone else about how bad the player population is. Then we grow elitist attitudes and begin to close ourselves to the world. We begin to, dare I say, hate everyone but ourselves and our friends. It doesn’t help that the number of malicious mods that rotate through the raid icons get released and makes everyone really mad.

Of course, it also doesn’t help that we have such a poor mindset when we go to do the daily. It’s not like we haven’t helped Brann Bronzebeard over 30 to 40 times already. It’s only fun the first few times so we’re usually in a bad mood to begin with. I know I am. Sure, I love WoW, but I don’t love doing the daily dungeon and I don’t like how it’s required for me to get my gear.

What’s the solution? Well, that’s a great question but I honestly doubt there is anything that Blizzard will do to get rid of the daily dungeon unless it’s changed in Cataclysm. In the meantime, the best thing we as a community can do is to come to an understanding that generalizing people is bad. The playerbase is full of bad players, ignorant players, newbies, great players, and more. It’s important to see things from everyone’s point of view.

Don’t shut yourself away from the community because you have a few bad experiences. Don’t join the hate train when it departs because people want to smack talk. I know there are a lot of bad players out there. Legitimately bad players who have been in the game long enough to know better. Remember that there is often nothing you can do. You can take some time out to help educate newbies or even players who may not know better, but they have to be willing to listen and if they’re on another server then you can only help so much before you and them part ways. Do try to help though, as much as possible, because if you educate one he may in turn educate others.

Interaction is a great thing. Just ignoring everyone keeps you from making new friends and new connections. The game is big, with a lot of players, and a lot of awesome people. Someone may not be able to use their skills quickly and efficiently but they may be awesome roleplayers or great at making gold. Everyone is different.

What do you think? Come to the Ten Ton Hammer forums and share your opinions!