“Stormwind 
” is the “what’s the deal with airplane food?” of forums comedy.
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It’s not a good picture when in a thread - discussing cliques and exclusion - people are slating “communities”.
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This is a little bit missing the bigger picture.
Disclaimer: I do not write “ignores X, Y, Z” and neither I ignore people in-game because they belong to a group I dislike, though I actively try to avoid them if I know I don’t enjoy their presence.
For example, in my case the problem is not that I am ignoring this person because I have a grudge, but that a grudge emerged out a difference in our role-playing approach which left a sour taste in my mouth. Now, because this has happened multiple times with the same group, and when reached out on an OOC level they didn’t care, I decided to keep my distance from them.
I’m not saying this to correct people, definitely there are childish individuals who can keep up a grudge for years. Yet, I am also sure that dismissing community issues as “grudges” is missing the problem: what caused grudges in the first place may still be there in the approach of these people, therefore it makes complete sense to avoid them.
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I’ll be perfectly honest, I’ll never fully understand the whole dunking on Stormwind mentality. It is one of the largest roleplay hubs, offers a quick and easy way for any kind of player to find roleplay, its fairly popular and fits the style of a typical fantasy city.
It’s a good way to find recruits, to meet other players and to do more open and random roleplay aswell as casual roleplay, both of which is fun.
Without Stormwind, I’d have probably missed out on about 70% of my best roleplay experiences, as well as overall.
And sure, you get weird people sometimes or odd concepts, but that’s not to do with Stormwind itself, it’s a byproduct of it being the most accessible/largest hub, people will go there.
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At times, I think the Stormwind hate is more of a bandwagon than something based on extended, personal experience. It’s cool to sneer because you expect people to jump on and agree.
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The most reasonable response is to do just this honestly, just avoid people you honestly feel you do not mesh with for one reason or another. There is no need to advertise that you are doing it, but so is there no need for the group or individual do it back or mock/taunt if the feeling is mutual.
True yes, but I’ve also seen it brought up in character and that makes it even weirder. (As in reffered to as the really strange city and with obvious OOC jabs). Same with how I feel iffy when people bring up Goldshire’s reputation in character. Everyone is mostly onboard OOC why that place is bad, IC just treat it as it is, a small quiet town.
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It’s hipster mentality.
Bad because popular and popular because bad, etc.
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Which is why I despise it. It’s a blackhole of RP inertia sucking everything into it and out of the rest of the world. It is the amazon of RP hubs, it propagates an attitude of you can get everything there so why go anywhere else. An entire world exists with opportunities for creativity which is the foundation of RP. But for too many people, in my opinion, there is nothing beyond the walls of Stormwind.
I also kek that my opinion upset the “clique” of people who love stormwind, how’s that acidic reaction for an ironic play on the thread topic.
Which is basically how it all works, you’re not part of the group. Whether it’s IRL friendship, being a “founder”, having a different RP style or just having different ideas and opinions. And the only way to get in is to fellate your way into the group, which isn’t worth it. If you are the outcast whether justifiably or unjustifiably so, don’t bother hanging around. Go somewhere where you’re not left out in the cold.
Yeah, we’re definitely the ones lowering the pH around here… /s
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While it would be great to see other hubs and zones used more frequently(even though some are to varying degrees), I do not think it is in favor of roleplay or the server to just decry Stormwind and those who roleplay there as “bad” for it because it allegedly takes away from other zones.
If you truly want to see things done elsewhere, help promote it. With events, with invitations to public roleplay etc. Encourage people to go outside of the city instead just mumbling about how terrible it is.
Its popular because of its setting and its ease off access. But if people also had an easy time finding rp in other hubs, they would go there too. I like Stormwind personally if I just got an evening to rp and want to relax a bit, but I also like exploring and find other places. It’s why I have often joined guilds that go to other places for weeks at a time.
Bit of a weird comment. Also worth pointing out that just because a group of people disagree with you on something you said or an opinion, doesn’t mean it’s some “clique” who are secretly plotting against you. Sometimes people will just not agree with what you said, sometimes alot of people won’t.
Sure with some groups, but I think this is a very pessimistic attitude to have. There will always be some groups you won’t fit into even if you try, but there are just as many where you can work your way in with not much effort.
I find the attitude weird though.
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I think that the definition of “clique” is being watered down a little too much if it’s being used to describe a bunch of unconnected people who just express similar opinions regarding a subject on a public forum.
To return to the original topic, almost every guild or community, no matter its size, is going to have an actual clique, an exclusive group of close-knit individuals who will prefer doing things with each other rather than the rest of the guild/community.
In my experience, this is less of a problem in larger guilds and communities. They still have their cliques, but there’s usually enough people outside of these inner circles that you don’t need to worry about them having a stranglehold on the larger group. Meanwhile, in small guilds with only ten or so active players, a clique of five people can split the guild in two and lead to a miserable experience for the excluded five people, who end up feeling alienated and like they’re not “true members” of the guild.
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Doesn’t have to be a conspiracy. All a clique has to be to be a clique is to be exclusionary with little to no means of joining it. You’re paying to play, do you really want to waste time chipping away at the cold shoulders in an attempt to join a group that may never let you in. Or do you want to go find people who do want you around.
You call it pessimistic, I say looking for a place where you’re actually wanted is the optimistic approach.
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I think you’re both generally agreeing with each other that there are always just other places to go that’ll want you around if you don’t feel welcome where you were.
A good place to start here is asking what your current or previous character concept was, that can play a large role in how guilds treat certain characters. i.e., a new fresh-faced recruit will probably be looked down on until they prove themselves, or a hardened veteran of the Second War will be given some extra favor.
At this rate, when there’s a consistent issue and the officers and yourself cannot find compromise or agreement, its time to leave the guild for better or worse in my honest opinion. These situations shouldn’t be uncomfortable OOC, though IC is an entirely different story, people are free to RP horrid or abrasive characters, and its up to other individual characters how they react to that and how they view it.
I think you’ve had a very poor beginning experience with guilds, roleplay and the realm in general from what I’ve read here. I’ve been here since early WoD now and I would say this isn’t really typical of the realm or roleplay at-large, just a one-off poor occurrence. Most guilds I’ve been in and interacted with over the years generally have some platform where they will announce to everyone in the guild when RP is happening or when RP events will be occurring.
This is tricky to come to any sort of large agreement on, this forum even over the years has rarely been able to find a solid agreement as to where the line is drawn when it comes to IC treatment causing issues OOC. In my two pence, you should try not to feel bad for things happening IC to your character, regardless of how they’re being treated they aren’t you after all, and the other person isn’t their character either.
Each character in RP will have their own unique viewpoints, opinion, desires and goals and like I’ve said before they can be incredibly abrasive as a character but this doesn’t mean they themselves are abrasive IRL but it seems you’ve also tried some sort of resolution to that situation IC and OOC and neither worked out so I’d say at that point you should have left.
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You’re absolutely right and I will add, sometimes I wished things weren’t like this. There was a time in which meeting someone wouldn’t entail questioning which group they belonged in.
Azeroth felt like an open world, where characters would meet each other regardless of OOC differences, and for example there was this feeling that the community was one, and in many ways this also gave life to somewhat shared criteria for what was widely accepted and what wasn’t. Whereas now, I’m not sure if this is still the case.
I completely disagree with this. Sometimes it’s not them, sometimes it’s you.
Cliques always exist, and while they should do their part in welcoming you, you’re also going to have to do some work yourself. If you’re “justifiably” the outcast, you may want to reconsider your approach.
It’s not uncommon that the unreasonability and stubbornness of the ‘lone wolf’ outweighs that of the pack (quite ironic that I have to write this), and I’ve often seen people who believed they found a clique of players when in truth, the problem wasn’t anyone, just their concept which was problematic.
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It simply falls on guilds/communities to be inclusive with newer members, which doesn’t always happen, unfortunately. But this has been a problem forever, I’m surprised someone hasn’t brought up the ever-reaching, ever-grasping, brainwave controlling skype cliques.
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They know better than to invoke powers beyond their comprehension.
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Stormwind looks like a playmobil castle. Get your big city itch scratched in Boralus.
(please)
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Do you still actually RP?
Your mog is chef’s kiss.
Come to Boralus and I’ll model it for you.
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