S .. S .. D .. G

Same .. Shit .. Different .. Game O_o

I honestly cannot imagine what is missing from some peoples diets.

Seriously !! O_O

What is there that impels certain people to get involved in a GAME and be just as ornery .. dismissive .. miserable .. abusive .. as they like towards others ??

Someone .. PLEASE explain it to me .. 'cuz I'm not gettin' it .. O_o

I love playing Guild Wars .. I mean I LOVE playing Guild Wars .. a LOT .. yet lately the BS has been rising to the point that I sorta feel disinclined to play .. and that bugs me. :\

We are in a guild of my daughters creation .. MaD .. she named it .. I don't ask ;) .. and we now have 10 members .. all women .. for now anyway. We are in an alliance with 9 other guilds with some pretty nice people .. mostly from Uru/Myst .. but also some who have never had anything to do with that group. And .. overall .. I'd have to say that I like most of them .. they seem like geninely decent, caring, respecting, helpful people.

There are a few though .. top members in one guild .. who seem to think that they are far and away THE finest human beings to ever grace the face of the planet. Players who's shear skill at playing elevates them to a position of superiority over the rest of us that .. unless we are saved by adopting all that they've learned as they've blazed their way through the game before us .. we are in effect .. pretty much useless ... as players and as human beings. O_o

They pontificate at length on what skills are best .. what builds are the l337est .. and try to force that on any who straggle into their crosshairs.

They are also rude to a fault .. treating most others .. and certainly most new players .. with a disdain befitting something nasty they've found stuck under their shoe.

New players builds are trashed with such offhanded dismissivness that I am surprised ANY of them bother to return .. backhanded remarks are flipped at them with a total disregard for how that may make them feel about themselves as players and at the GAME .. and there is a general air of intolerance that makes me want to sack the lot of them.

It is TOTALLY unnecessary too !!

I have witnessed people slapped down for things as insignificant as not knowing that chest keys are worth half the value to sell back to a merchant .. curtly being told to "learn the game if you're gonna play it" .. references made to them as 'reinventing the wheel' when they experiment with new builds and weapon set ups just to see what works .. in effect learning the game in the best way .. on their own .. made fun of in open Alliance Chat (A/C) because they chatter back and forth about what they are doing and any accomplishment that is a milestone to them that gives them a sense of accomplishment .. smart remarks and potshots for saying something that group deemed senseless .. and on and on and on ...

It finally came to a head on the FoG forum with one of them absolutely trashing in all ways .. the new players and how they play the game .. it was pretty bad .. and they first tried to play at 'oh .. I was just trying to get people to talk' .. O_o

*cough* Bullshit *cough*

It was a dismissive ridiculing rant that showed in full effect EXACTLY what was thought of .. of nearly EVERYONE else in the alliance .. by that one group. And it was shamefully appalling. Everything from the "hilarious" questions they ask .. to not having enough money for "simple" armor .. to "noob" builds .. to mission wipes .. and using "non-max" weapons .. deriding the farming of "low-level" areas .. making fun of some of the things people come up with .. and even justifying abusing others in missions as "helping" O_o .. etc.

This on the heels of MC taking such a brow beating in an "elite" area that she was in tears here .. by that same person. I had only had positive interaction with him up to this point .. but have been told that he's been MUCH worse with others during missions and quests. Something that I found hard to wrap my mind around as he was pretty outta control. O_O

Trying later to slough it off as "just helping to run the mission" is total BS too. It was abusive and controlling.

MC and I may not be the l337est players in that game .. but we are NO slouches either .. she and I experimented with builds on ourselves and 6 Hero AI's .. and made it to the end of that mission .. called The Deep .. with only an 8 member team in what is a 12 member mission .. having figured out a way to get ALL of us together to start in ONE room .. rather than broken up into 4. Our one regret was NOT going back in with retooled skills to interrupt the final boss and get it done ON OUR OWN with our crew of 8. :D

Instead .. we ran that SAME mission a week later with this person .. and it was a GREAT team effort .. went like a well oiled machine to a successful completion too. *I* think .. personally .. the next time that went so abusively .. their abysmal behavior was to impress upon one of the members of the mission that THEY were the boss .. not them .. who is an accomplished player in his own right and one I have great respect for as he's a decent young man who I have NEVER known to treat ANYONE badly for ANY reason.

Since this has happened .. things are just NOT the same .. meetings have been held but really not much accomplished .. the open barbs have settled down .. but I think the feeling is that the rest of us know what they think of us all .. and it's gonna take a pretty concerted effort for most to forget that.

Their leader is on the defensive .. "missing" the meetings .. they didn't concern them so .. no point in going .. no mention of the total shredding of another member on that forum .. so nope .. no problem with them at all .. O_o

There is a strain that .. I dunno .. the usual fun chatting in AC is all but gone .. with most people not even saying a 'hello' when they arrive anymore. Occasionally those who led the charge to "join existing guilds if you want to stay" .. or totally trashed the rest of us .. or led a push to have other members participate more - and let me just add WHY on earth would ANY want to after the slagging they've endured??? - are the ones to post the odd bit in AC .. having pretty much killed it for the rest of us. For me .. I have been mostly playing off by myself or with MC .. as it's just easier then giving up on something I have enjoyed. :\

One of their members .. a guy who has caused NOTHING but trouble from the first day he arrived in the alliance .. and is someone who NEVER bothers with me .. NEVER acknowledges me .. EVER even says a "hello" .. took the time to fire off a "you ever do anything then *joke* lol" .. when I had spent my first hour ingame chatting with several people I quite like .. including our newest guild member and had commented I'd not started doing anything at that point. This being someone who has deliberately joined in missions to ENSURE we failed by refusing to heal us .. he went as a monk .. and we wiped .. he even ADMITTED that that was why he went too. Another time even led us to a spawn point .. so that death was fast. I refuse to knowingly go on ANY mission with him. O_O He also fired the first shot in the drive to merge low member guilds with others .. as a friend of his wanted to join his guild with us .. also in a low member guild I might add .. and something his guild was ALL for the kicking of other guilds .. as well as someone I was a bit disappointed with for going along with them on .. and which was NOT well received by the rest of us I can assure you. So .. you'll pardon me if I hold ANYTHING they say to me as *suspect*.

I'm not sure how this can be made better .. once you've been so thoroughly disparaged by others .. no matter what they do after .. how much they try to put their best face forward .. you just always have it in the back of your mind what they've expressed before .. and it's hard to believe they've had a true seeing of the light and are sincerely trying to make up for it all.

I think the one who brought that groups attitude so explosively into public view said it best in a later post .. grant you he DID apologize to the alliance in general .. but .. I think this said it best .. and maybe is the answer to the question I posed at the beginning .. "i can't believe i am taking this GW matter so far that i am explaining myself online to people that i don't even know in real life or matter in my personal life" .. certainly it explains how it is so easy to abuse others online when they never really matter to begin with. :\