It’s an MMORPG. Start Acting Like It

Community General Discussion
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The culture in WoW has rotted, and it’s time we said it out loud.

This game went from Massively Multiplayer Online RPG to “Screw everyone else, as long as I get mine” RPG—and I’m sick of it. That mindset is a cancer, and it’s long past time we started treating it like one.

Dungeon Culture Is Rotten
Let’s start with dungeon runs.

People skip half the trash between bosses in the name of “saving time.”
But who’s actually saving time?

What happens when someone dies and tries to run back?
They hit a wall of mobs you skipped, pull aggro, die again—and then get flamed for “pulling extra.”
You didn’t save time. You created a trap. And now you’re blaming the person who fell into it?

Instead of shaving five seconds, maybe just clear the path. If you’re so strapped for time that you can’t do this, then you probably shouldn’t playing in the first place!
Don’t pretend this is about efficiency.
You’re playing a video game. You’re already wasting time.
If saving one minute is more important to you than not screwing over your team, then you’re not playing with your team—you’re playing in spite of them.

The Auction House: Where Brain Cells Go to Die
Undercutting like a maniac to make a quick sale isn’t smart. It’s market suicide.

You’re not just lowering your profits—you’re tanking the whole economy.
And for what? To get your mats sold ten minutes faster?

The AH runs on a last in, first out system.
Undercutting isn’t even necessary to get a sale.
Cancel, relist, done. At least you’re not gutting your own wallet.

But no! People nuke prices just to feel like they “won.”
What they really won was the gold medal in short-sighted stupidity.
You’re not being competitive.
You’re being selfish, thoughtless, and dumber than a Murloc in a mage tower.

Guilds Aren’t Solo Clubs
These days, most guilds act like elitist Mythic raider clubs.
You’re either a fully-geared god or they don’t want to know you.

I’ve been told, directly:

“We’re not a charity. If you’re behind, that’s your problem.”

Screw. That.

A guild, by definition, is “an association of people for mutual aid or the pursuit of a common goal.”

So if I join your guild and still have to pug everything, still get ignored when I ask for help, still get excluded from raids, still play like a solo player then why am I even there?
Now you might say, “isn’t that selfish of you?” Yeah, maybe, but I’d be willing to help others, to give back when I’m sorted with guild help. The guild invests in me so I can feasibly invest in the guild. Life is about trade offs, give and take, and if I’m not in a position where I can contribute the guild on joining, then investing in their newbies is a good way to foster good will and loyalty, and they’ll work that much harder to give back. Well, that’s how I would do it anyway.

Guilds should mentor, support, lift each other up.
That’s how you build loyalty.
That’s how people get better.
That’s how communities grow.

Instead, we’ve got guilds recruiting like they’re running job interviews and ghosting anyone who isn’t already raid-ready.
If you’re not a 680 ilvl god, you’re invisible. That’s not a guild. That’s a clique, and a proper toxic one at that because they’re mostly just flexing on each other.

Also, my focus on the newbies and the weaker players is based on a single philosophy; “A rising tide lifts all boats.”
So help the newbies and the weaklings to get seasoned and stronger.

This goes neatly into the next point:

PUG Culture Is a Dumpster Fire
I ran my own key.
+7. Was dying a lot.

Guy told me to uninstall the game.
Told me to end myself.
I pushed back.
I got banned.

This is the environment now.
Toxic. Hypercritical. No room for error. No room for growth.
Just fake gods raging at humans for daring to be imperfect.

Is this the “fun” everyone talks about?
Because I’d have more fun in a wood chipper.

It’s easier to act flawless than to be decent to someone who isn’t.

What would be ideal is for some “on the job training.”
I’ve seen people complain about no interrupts, or defensive cool down usage, etc; well, you’re not showing them!
You’re not telling them what to interrupt, you’re not telling them what their interrupt is, you’re not telling them when to use defensives or self heals.
“Why should I? They should already know.”

Is a first time player going to know? Is it the smart thing to assume that everybody knows?
And do you think the attitude of expecting perfection from everyone regardless is healthy for the community or the game? Maybe if you want to gatekeep, but that’s not going to encourage newcomers is it?

Me-First Mentality Is Killing WoW
The top flexes logs and IO scores like they’re fashion models.
The bottom is left to drown.
No help. No lift. No care.

There used to be a meme:

“Do you even lift, bro?”

Now?
Nobody lifts.
They just flex—and step over everyone else because, “muh time.”

This is supposed to be a social game.
Where the hell is the social?

In your elitist raider-only club?
In your “don’t speak unless you parse” guilds?

Get real.

Here’s What Needs to Change:
Help weaker players—because you used to be them.

Don’t skip mobs if it screws over the group.

Stop nuking the economy for quick gold.

If you’re in a guild, act like a guildmate.

If you’re good at the game, teach. Don’t gatekeep.

And maybe—just maybe—don’t treat people like garbage over a fking video game.

This “as long as I get mine” mentality?
Burn it.

If you don’t care how your actions affect others in an MMO, then you’re not playing an MMORPG, you’re just stroking your ego in a shared instance. and you shouldn’t be here because whether you like it or not, your selfishness is ruining it for everyone else and they learn it, it perpetuates and that’s how we’re now in this weird, “as long as I get mine” and “MY time is most important” mentality.

Yes, your time is important, but when you’re in groups, it’s not just your time you have to consider; maybe someone in the group isn’t as adept at skipping mobs, or interrupting, or using defensives, etc; and it seems the safer thing to me to play in a way that respects that, even if everyone is on the same level.

It’s time to bring back what made this genre worth playing:
Community. Support. Human connection.

Without that, this isn’t a game.
It’s a spreadsheet simulator with better lighting.

WoW isn’t broken because of content. It’s broken because people stopped giving a damn about each other.

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Then be the change you want to be and start with yourself.
Be nice to somebody and maybe that somebody will be nice to others…aka the gift that keeps on giving.
Simply screaming on the forums and demanding people to act differently will achieve…nothing.

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You’re absolutely right that kindness can be a ripple effect, and I do try to be that person in-game—helping, explaining mechanics, even just saying “hi” in pugs when no one else does.

But your response assumes I’m not already doing that, which isn’t true. I didn’t make this post instead of being helpful—I made it because I’ve been trying to be helpful, and I’ve watched how little difference it often makes in a culture that’s drifting further and further from mutual respect.

This post wasn’t “screaming and demanding” anything. It was a wake-up call, born out of frustration that even the basics—like clearing a path back to the boss or treating new players with patience—is becoming rare.

I’m not asking for perfection. I’m asking for awareness that our actions always affect others in this game. If that’s too much to ask of an MMO community, then I don’t know what we’re even doing here.

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It starts with you.
You know how to conduct.
Do it without execting something.
Some will do the same.
Nice to see players like that.:slightly_smiling_face:

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Agreed on everything regarding dungeon runs.

And that’s a mistake.
For one, the more people undercut, the more affordable materials and consumables become.
For two, imagine I place something for 100g and then 10000 people do the same. So I am the one choosing to sell something at a price, but my material/product isn’t the one that is going to sell.
The only people benefitting from AH’s current LIFO system are people who spend a considerable amount of time in it. Everyone else loses.

That’s only for guilds that progress in Mythic raids or M+ difficulties above the achievements. The majority of every other guild is casual and friendly.

Fully agreed on pug culture

but selfishness is a tidal wave. And that’s why the game is in its current state, empowered by the reward systems of the publisher.

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You got banned and he got banned too .shows the system is working

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So your sale got buried? You cancel the auction and place it again. It encourages market interaction. It’s annoying, sure, but that’s how it works. It’s not inherently unfair or anything. It encourages market interaction.

Should they not? If they’re putting in the time and making the effort shouldn’t they benefit? As long as they aren’t screwing other people I don’t see a problem here. It’s a competitive system. Just like any other part of WoW, the people who put in the time and attention will gain an edge.

No proof he got banned, but I know I surely did xD it was explained to me that if I didn’t report him, and nobody else did, he wouldn’t have been punished.

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It encourages returning to the city often to ensure you haven’t been “equally-cut”. In which case, especially if you are hurting for gold, you delist and relist with lower price… effectively undercutting everyone else who also placed the same items at the same price. So not only is the problem of undercutting not solved, it burdens players with having to return to use the AH a lot more than they have to.

And they can benefit even with undercutting by 1 copper.

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Wrote with ChatGPT.

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Written by me, polished with ChatGPT, because what I wanted to say was much less congenial.

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only flame? generous group for not sending u to the farm with a vote kick

problem is without this feature there needs to be regulated economy from blizzard which is probably pain to implement, but i agree its annoying

im sorry u had this experience, theres still nice guilds out there

im not sure about this. yes community is big part of mmo culture, but ppl are no longer forced to interact in most content, and this is for the reason that its too time consuming. ppl have a lot less time so human interaction is more optional.

its the natural evolution of the game from my point of view but it is one steeped in tragedy

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The selfishness of modern wow players is a mere reflection of modern society. Everyone is the main character in their own story and the world revolves arround them. The sense of community and love thy neighbour is just as dead in the real world as it is in Azeroth.
Why is that? Who knows, social media, internet access, smartphones, shifts in work culture, political and economical pressure, social pressure, the list is endless. It is a very complex problem, with no easy answer, and modern wow is just one of many many many symptoms of this much larger disease that plagues the modern world.

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Let’s see…

But I don’t want to.

But… You don’t know whether it does or not until you’ve done it. :thinking:
Anyway, this particular thing is not applicable for me. I play BM hunter. I follow the group: I never lead.

I don’t care about ‘the economy’. I care about a quick buck.
Why do you expect me to care about the things you care about?
To me THAT is the toxic thing to do.

Sure. I have my own private guild where only me and my alts are in it.
I always help myself. :kissing_heart:

I don’t gatekeep.
But I don’t teach either because that’s not what I enjoy in a game.
And I play games for fun.

I don’t. I leave them alone and hardly ever speak ingame. :sweat_smile:
Live and let live.

Why?
I’m NOT playing this game for others. I’m playing it for ME.
I’m not putting others before myself. Why would I?

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Hello / Kilineiram
to be honest i didnt read all of that,
but today when i was doing lorewalking quest the only thing that made my day was the moment that artas jamed his sword in his father neck on the throne when i was watching the memories in the quest line.
that was the only thing that i saw from the original wow in the years for the first time.
im trying to say wow is not wow anymore,
its childish.
its for a small group of players like top M+ and pve players.
pvp is dead.
and so many many more problems.
from story to the way that i see it

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Maybe you should have, because this thread is about the community, not the game.

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community is nothing without the game .
also he said :
The culture in WoW has rotted, and it’s time we said it out loud.

so what i said is related to that too

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In essence I agree and that’s also the main reason of my dislike for PvP(at least in BGs).
I don’t pay the sub and waste my time to be a boxing bag/target dummy and honour farming node to somebody else. :rofl:

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Truly spot on, what matters is only personal achivement especially in the workplace, to be more precise in Office jobs.

Thats why i prefer doing manual labor, sure i have to work on weekends, in vacation days, i earn a bit less.

But at least i learned how important is teamwork and helping eachoter, because at my workplace when someone makes an error my whole team gets called out, so we always help eachoter to make sure each day all the orders are made to standard and on time.

In an office everyone is ready to backstab you on your first mistake.

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I think it ultimately depends on the workplace and its culture. While I agree that the corporate office world where its a “dog eat dog world” its could be more widespread. Pretty much almost in every workplace(exception being self employed obviously) there will be co-workers who will be willing to throw a colleague under the bus if it would get him a promotion or something.

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I dont deny that, is that I noted that in an office enviroment is more prominent.

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