MVP is misleading and should be removed

Blizzard said that MVP’s text are highlighted to act as an official response so yeah, it is a thing, which is why they should answer your question.

Source pls.

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I think it was in the Welcome, Please Read! thread

to keep it simple. there’re there to give you information and answer your questions.
if you ask them a question that’s subjective e.x "how u feel about “x” they’ll answer subjectively
but if you have gameplay question e.x "how do I do “y” they’ll answer objectively

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“In order to address this, we have instituted a program that has shown great success on other Blizzard forums: the MVP (Most Valuable Poster) program. A distinctive posting text color (green) is given to identified MVPs who answer other players’ questions consistently and accurately. It lends a note of credibility to what they post; it allows players seeking answers to take what they say at face value, and frees up Blizzard representatives so that they can focus on their primary responsibilities.”

That is what it says, I assume this is what you are referring to yes?

First of it says nowhere that anything an MVP writes is an official response, so that is out of the window.
What it does say that it is supposed to allow people to take what an MVP said at face value, which, at least as far as I am concerned, is not a thing anyone with any capability to think does.

The way I understand it, they are supposed to be people whom you can ask a question and expect a respectful answer to the best of their abilities, aka no troll answers.

Nowhere is stated that what they say is in fact correct or official. Then again I am reading this without trying to find some evil manipulative intent in it.

Opinions are easily detected for most people. “I like this” or “I dislike this” is very different from “To complete this quest do X”.

On top of that when you ask a question you know what your answer will be, if you ask for an opinion you know you will get one, if you ask for advice or answers to something in the game you know you will get that.

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Continuing the discussion from Welcome, Please Read!:

You were saying?

Neither was I, obviously.

Well you know what they say. Every party needs a pooper that’s why we invited you, party pooper.

There’s no reason to go after mvp people just because you don’t like that their post is highlighted.

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Welp, I missed that when i read through it, my bad.
Still doubt anyone does and pretty sure that refers to game questions but lets assume it is supposed to be for everything:

You said this:
"The Support section of these forums barely gets any traffic, so why are MVP’s needed?..to post their random opinions in the General sections.

And to then have it viewed as the correct answer to anything said, yeah, no."

(cant be bothered to make the quote function in this new forum comply it is a pain)

So assuming I make a post idk. “What do MVPs think about X” and two MVPs give two different answers, which seems likely given you used the word “Random”, what happens? Does the Forum implode? Do they have to start a knife fight to see who’s correct opinion is the actual correct one? Or will people who see the answers realize it is just that an opinion and nothing that has any more value than well, the opinion of a person.

It’s a fair question.

I’ll say what I already said, that it’s worth keeping the history in context, because that explains why things are the way they are today.

Rewind to the God forsaken year of 2005 after WoW was released in the EU.

Some of the first MVPs Blizzard picked on the EU-EN forums were the likes of Shammoz and Celeby and so on. They were Customer Support oriented people, and their forum contribution was completely in line with how TheHelper had acted as an MVP on the old battle.net forums.
Don’t fix something that isn’t broken, right?

But because the forums acted as everyone’s main source of WoW information at the time – because the fansites weren’t very developed – Blizzard also made some people MVPs who were more community oriented.

I recall Adnaw who received her MVP title because she created a lot of guides on how to get started with roleplay and how to set up roleplaying events and so on. So she got the MVP title to highlight the work she did on the Roleplaying forum.
That totally made sense, because for many people the whole concept of MMORPGs and Roleplaying was completely new to them. Awesome to have a source of expert knowledge and information in the area!

There was also a Dwarf who’s name I’ve forgotten, but he basically posted a weekly news post on the forum every week.
Again, this was at a time when mmo-champion, wowhead, and so on, weren’t really around. People did actually go to the forums for news updates about the game, and this Dwarf dude supplied all of that. And Blizzard credited his work by giving him an MVP title. Again, it made sense!

That’s the origin of what’s known as Community MVPs today. Guides, FAQs, News Updates, Wiki info, Questions & Answers, etc…

And if you compare that to today, then the community sphere has changed a lot.

The fansites like mmo-champion, wowhead, and icyveins, they’re huge now. They’ve become the go-to source of news updates, guides, and so on, for most people.

And because the forums were stuck with an old architecture for a long time that didn’t really let players create amazing guides or news posts or anything else that compared to the fansite content, then the forums shifted more toward being a place where people mainly discussed and commented on various WoW topics, and less of a place where people went for news and information.

And that puts the MVP Program in a weird spot, because it hasn’t really evolved together with the rest of the forum community. Like, it was meant to highlight something on the forums which isn’t really what the forums are about anymore.

So that obviously brings up the question of what the MVP Program and MVPs are about!

Like, if an MVP is just a person who’s constructive and active on the forums, then why aren’t more people MVPs? I mean, surely lots of people fulfill that criteria.

And if the forums are mainly a source of discussion and commentary, then what are you actually trying to highlight when you make someone an MVP in that field?

And it’s not just a WoW thing. It’s worth pointing out that the MVP Program is a Blizzard community program and it extends to the other game franchises as well.
And it’s the same issue there.

I raged about it on the Diablo forums some weeks ago. When Diablo III was released Blizzard wanted to have a group of Diablo MVPs, so they nominated people who were experts on each of the class sub-forums – again to highlight all the guide writing, questions & answers, wiki info, and so on, which these people were doing. Good stuff!
Then over the years these Diablo MVPs stopped playing Diablo and stopped posting on the forums. Blizzard of course did nothing.
Then at Blizzcon there was the Diablo Immortal announcement, and suddenly they all came out of the woodwork like everyone else to criticize and complain. And they were still MVPs. Like what the hell? They’re people who haven’t played the game or posted on the forums for 1-2 years and they’re still MVPs!? And it’s not to criticize them, but it speaks volumes about how little care and attention Blizzard give to their own MVP Program when they seem oblivious to the fact that their MVPs have gone completely inactive for years!

And it’s the same on the WoW forums. Punyelf is amazing, but she’s also the first MVP in 3½ years I believe. That’s insane. If there’s only a new MVP nominated every 3½ years, then that MVP Program may as well not exist.

And the reason why more people aren’t nominated isn’t because there aren’t lots of great posters, but because Blizzard only wants a fixed amount of MVPs. It used to be 4 on the WoW forums, then it grew to 6 when I became MVP, and then later it was 10, and I’ve no idea how many it is today. But that’s always been the way of things. New MVPs are only selected when old ones retire, unless Blizzard decides to increase the overall amount.

But because many MVPs hold onto their titles forever and ever since there’s no motivation to relinquish it, and Blizzard don’t want to forcefully take it from anyone, then that means no new MVPs are ever really picked and the whole MVP Program is just some sort of farce, because it mainly consists of a bunch of old posters that few know when or why they became MVP. They just hang around.

It lacks purpose and transparency :yum:

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The only exception I can see to having MVP’s is that you take exception to one of them being a MVP rather than the system itself, well; that would be my take on it.

They get to type in a different colour to the rest of us, but their allowed to be critical of Blizzard and the direction any of their games take.

One thing that isn’t correct, is that Blizzard employs them - that would be the ‘blue posters’.

The main difference between MVP on here and other sites that have ‘premium posting abilities’ is that you can’t get MVP on here, by paying for it.

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From Jito in 2015. I keep this bookmarked for times like these.

Money-wise? Nothing.
I was MVP from 2011-2014, and I didn’t recieve a penny for the thousands of posts I made in that period. And that’s how it should be. And that’s how it is.

Perks, benefits, and priviledges? Yeah, some.
You’re not entitled to any of this, but historically MVPs do seem to get something in this department.
For example, I recieved Beta invitations to Diablo III, Mists of Pandaria, Hearthstone, and Reaper of Souls. And I thought that was fair. The premise for being an MVP on the Diablo III forums during the Beta testing of the game was inevitably that you were in the Beta. Otherwise you were fairly limited in your knowledge on the game. So it makes sense that Blizzard gives out Beta invitations so the MVPs can actually provide valuable posts on topics pertaining to the respective games.

You also get some means of communicating with Blizzard that normal forum posters don’t have. The priviledge makes sense, because people expect accuracy from answers provided by MVPs. So if you’re an MVP on the Customer Support forum, then it’s really in the interest of everyone that you can get confirmation from a GM that what you’re about to say is true, because it absolutely sucks to provide inaccurate answers if you’re an MVP - the backslash is far worse than if you’re a normal poster.

I also got a holiday card each year around december. Weird that Blizzard sends a forum poster a holiday card with a greeting? Yep, but it makes you all warm and fuzzy inside none the less.

And then you get the wonderful priviledge of having to endure obnoxious, random internet !@#$% who despise you solely because you are an MVP. And you get that in spades.

I also got some gifts that felt over the top. I won’t mention them, because they were mostly irregular, and I think the approach has changed a bit in this regard, so I can’t say if it’s like that today.

But that’s what you get. It’s perks, priviledges and benefits. It’s not a fat paycheck.

But maybe Blizzard should try paying forum posters for being constructive and helpful. That would probably solve 99% of all moderation problems in one swoop :smiley:
https://eu.battle.net/forums/en/wow/topic/16946424509?page=4#new-post

I can already tell you guys who the next MVP is gonna be. Too bad i don’t wanna call out names but it goes something like this:

" I looked through your armory and from what i can see, you haven’t done 100000000 mythics yet, plenty of content for you to do. You also only have 10k achievements, unless you have 20k+ you are not allowed to complain. Battle for Azeroth is 7/10 and with the OVERWHELMING content of 8.1 it will be 9/10"

Yes this person will be the next bootlick- eh MVP

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You really think that recognition only comes from subservience…? What a sad outlook on life…

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tymar?

@someoneelse thanks!

This goat will come after me now :frowning:

170 achievement points… stay strong.

if it gets too un-bearable, close your eyes!

I don´t see it as a big issue. Its not like someone who dosen´t have MVP isn´t beeing appreciated for their help ect. There are no special rights to it or anyhting. I don´t get why this is a problem.

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Read the thread.

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Well i wouldn´t count those as extreme privileges. I think the system isn´t really hurting the forums but opinions differ.

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If Tymar gets MvP with the amount of armoury shaming he does also the fact that they spread wrong information all over the place then it will be a total sham.
The man is nothing short of incompetent and offers nothing of value.
I would for one break forum rules and kick up hell if he did .
He is smug and arrogant and wouldnt be able to tell a fact if it slapped him about the face .

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