The Official Forums II: Out Here Grindin'

[Byrthnoth]

...It would be akin to someone saying that just a pistol is fine in an FPS...

For Halo 1, Pistol was the only real weapon

[Lyall]

For Halo 1, Pistol was the only real weapon

I was hoping someone wouldn't call me on that, dammit. Shhh! I'm on your side!

Seriously, that cannon was too damn powerful.

[Churchill]

Shit game but, USP+Tac Knife=win

[Ironside]

Shit game but, USP+Tac Knife=win

Only with Marathon/Lightweight/Commando and only in small areas, at least if the other team's any good.

[arus2001]

With some bringing up the thick skin defense, I'll just overall state it goes both ways. Raving retard defying reason getting your blood pressure up? Get some thicker skin and let them pout in the corner for a bit. Who knows, you might be getting trolled. Not everyone's willing to wade through a sea of ego to get to facts, so really, the strongarm tactics can come off just as juvenile, and certainly with that spritz of haughty superiority that garners a certain reputation. I don't think Kirschy posts there, but even here, I don't think I've seen him/her talk down to someone, and consider that a lot more admirable than trying to browbeat a number into someone.

All this kind of reminds me of the bullshit with Rog on Alla. You had some who thought him smart and gave good info, while others couldn't stand him because half the time you had to play games with him just to actually get an answer. Eventually, and rightfully, he got called out on his shit and got the boot. Sure, his fans bitched and moaned about how no good info will ever be spread on the site again, but that logic thrives under the assumption nobody else knows or is unwilling to share their own knowledge. His only real edge in having no social obligations to speak of was basically being first on everything. Know what, though? Life's going on and people still get questions answered there. So, while some of you guys might be posting under the assertion it's your civic duty to spread truth, knowledge, and the BG way, I'll just implore you: Don't be a Rog. Not only could it save you from a ban someday, some might actually start listening that wouldn't before. Bonus points if they don't feel like you'll make fun of them behind their back. This isn't rainbows and unicorns hippie logic, either. Just, ya know, some common civility.

[isladar]

I'll just implore you: Don't be a Rog.

Usually I term it "Don't be that guy", whatever negative trait being that guy might entail, but basically: this. People have bitched that Certain People are banned from this site, who could maff, but unfortunately chose to do so will simultaneously spilling bile. There are a lot of very, very intelligent people here, who camp the RQT to give answers and who are working very hard to figure out all those delicious formulas that non-maffers can use to make themselves better. Knowledge isn't so exclusive in this environment that anyone has a monopoly on it, so thinking that achievement grants the right to be a dickmonger is silly. I love banning dickmongers.

[kamugi]

Someone asked about if the parse happened:
I spammed /sea all hyr all day, and he never logged on. Maybe today he will.

[Vandalhart]

I thought your love of banning covered all groups no matter the type?

[Crizto]

Someone asked about if the parse happened:
I spammed /sea all hyr all day, and he never logged on. Maybe today he will.

I eagerly await the parse after seeing how that thread went.

[Cail]

Someone asked about if the parse happened:
I spammed /sea all hyr all day, and he never logged on. Maybe today he will.

Like i said, ill be back sunday if you guys want soem1 to poorly gear a DD up for the obligatory shitty dd in merit pt

[keitari]

Just two cents:

RQT is fantastic. There are a lot of very smart people that are overly-willing to explain things to people (like me) who aren't very good with numbers, creative in-game thinking, etc.

Also, "Post Pics of Your Gear" thread is amazing to find out what to wear and why. Seeing screenshots and such with people's setups has helped me with my jobs. I can even give my girlfriend advice on gearing her Dancer (seeing how mine is only 49).

I learned very quickly here that if you aren't a total douchbag and have some sense of civility (and probably humility) you have really nothing to fear.

Official Forum is light years away from that level of player contribution.

[Aliekber]

Essentially it boils down to dog-paddlers and Olympians having to share the same swimming pool.

The reasons for BG hate should be pretty obvious: nobody likes being mocked, and plenty of people/their friends have been featured in gimp threads or random fail. No matter how you want to spin it, these aren't good for bolstering BG's image among the casuals (who, out of everyone, need help the most). It's not as scary once you've posted here a few times without getting banned or run out of the stadium in the process, but then most FFXI players haven't had that experience, because most of them have never posted here at all. I know I half-expected to get called a moron and banned the first time I posted here, simply from what I'd heard from others, despite being fairly knowledgeable about FFXI and a generally good-natured person.

BG will be what it is, and that's fine. But I really don't think that it should come as a surprise to anyone that the only FFXI forum that allows (and endorses) threads dedicated to making fun of other people's gimpness/lack of skill is the one outsiders tend to have a problem with.

[Mrbeansman]

I will say this as insufferable as Thorny, Neo and friends where I learned a great deal while reading their dribble.

BG will be what it is, and that's fine. But I really don't think that it should come as a surprise to anyone that the only FFXI forum that allows (and endorses) threads dedicated to making fun of other people's gimpness/lack of skill is the one outsiders tend to have a problem with.

And yet there are the minority of people that when mocked and ridiculed learn from the experience and soar to greater heights.

[isladar]

I learned very quickly here that if you aren't a total douchbag and have some sense of civility (and probably humility) you have really nothing to fear.

That's a life-lesson, not just a "tip to not getting reamed" on BG!

And yet there are the minority of people that when mocked and ridiculed learn from the experience and soar to greater heights.

Or even non-mockees (is that a thing?) seeing what constitutes mockery, and avoiding it. The RQT, and it's predecessor, FFXI: Standard, have always been my favorite aspects of the forum, as far as proving what I heart about this place. Ice-cold facts and fresh maff, and less of the NICE GEARSET FGT. To be fair, however, Media and Cross-Server has produced a healthy amount of pure entertainment, and it certainly has its place within the milieu of BG-at-large. Learning to interact within a community, any community, means learning its taboos and humor.

[Aliekber]

And yet there are the minority of people that when mocked and ridiculed learn from the experience and soar to greater heights.

Yes, that certainly happens, but I'm not really trying to come at this from a right-or-wrong perspective (BG gets results, I can't argue with that). People asked why BG hate exists, and to my knowledge that's a big part of it.

"Tough Love" works, but it can easily make enemies as well, and BG gets both sides of that coin. But I don't think I'm saying anything that everyone here doesn't already know, for better or worse.

[Pharaun]

When I first started lurking BG I learned a ton from the gimp and random fail threads just by seeing what not to wear and do. After that I went and studied more to understand why things work the way they do and to try and make myself a better player.

Of course I understand that to the people that get posted in those threads it's a pretty big humiliation, no one likes to be made fun of, but they are playing an mmo and need to learn to deal with the social aspects of it. You could argue that they are a relic from the wilder days of BGs youth and that we have out grown the need for them, but I don't think they will go away. It's like most reality television, people have a sick fascination with watching other people makes fools of themselves for our entertainment, and now that it's engrained in the public conscience it won't go away.

[Eeeks]

BG will be what it is, and that's fine. But I really don't think that it should come as a surprise to anyone that the only FFXI forum that allows (and endorses) threads dedicated to making fun of other people's gimpness/lack of skill is the one outsiders tend to have a problem with.

The outsiders who claim to have a problem with some of the threads in Media are fucking liars. They're probably laughing along with everyone else at the overall spectacle, shared gems, and astonishing stories until they see themselves, their friends, or people like them in the spotlight. The mature and rational people will take that time in the spotlight and learn from it - the others will 'have a problem' with the threads in Media. I guaran-fucking-tee you that damn near everyone who publicly takes issue with Media's threads behaves, once they're in-game with their friends, just like the posters in the Media threads. We're all rubberneckers to one degree or another, but not everyone is honest enough to admit it.

Aside from that little rant, Keitari's two cents are spot on, in my opinion. Posters need a thicker skin to prosper here, but the payoff is that there's no better place to learn and to discuss the ins and outs of FFXI (alongside everything else the overall forums offer).

I'd be a significantly worse player if I had not lurked these forums and read the discussions since the days before I had a single level 75 job.

[Aliekber]

Hey, you don't have to justify it to me. I'm here in media as well, aren't I?

Just don't think you're not burning a bridge every time you post a gimp.

[Clash Perez]

I'd be a significantly worse player if I had not lurked these forums and read the discussions since the days before I had a single level 75 job.

Pretty much this. Before I found BG, I visited the oft-maligned QCDN forum. While it had some very useful sections (event-scheduling and Dynamis calendar mostly), good information was hit-or-miss. BG introduced me to a lot of information and quite a few useful tools which have made me a more informed player, if not a better one.

I love banning dickmongers.

Gotta teach those bastards to share those dicks.

[Greatguardian]

Hey, you don't have to justify it to me. I'm here in media as well, aren't I?

Just don't think you're not burning a bridge every time you post a gimp.

I've shown up in the gimp thread before.

It's really a matter of looking at the relative size of someone's ego and someone's maturity. People can only really be mature if they're more mature than their ego is large. Some (most) people? Their ego's too big to learn from their mistakes when they're called out. Are there more friendly ways to do it? Sure. Does that mean it's the BG poster's fault that xxxSephiroothxxx decides to ignore solid information just because his e-ego is bruised? Hell no. They are two completely separate things, and it's xxxSephiroothxxx's fault if he doesn't want to take the time to separate the fact from the ridicule in order to better himself.

I really have no sympathy for people having to do the extra work, either. I'm stuck doing plenty of it when reading the absolute drivel that some Alla posters put on the Official Forums. It's easy enough to sound intelligent by using proper sentence and paragraph structure, but if you take a good hard look at the content it becomes complete and utter pigshit very quickly.