I FINALLY FIGURED IT OUT!

Ch4mpTW · October 2016

I finally figured out why it is that there is so much negativity on ESO that some of us experience in-game, and also here on the forums. I came across this thing by accident. when looking up types of MMO's, and the player bases that they hold. It's called the: "Online Disinhibition Effect" or "O.D.E.". Another name for it is: "The G.I.F.T. Theory" as described by Penny Arcade's John Gabriel.

These things explain every single negative action, and toxic person we may have encountered to date on ESO. Or better yet, anywhere on the Internet. After studying those things for a few hours, I truly don't think I can find myself getting offended anymore from folks on the net who appear to get on my bad side or irk me. I hope these 2 things provide a huge relief for those who deal with it, and can increase their overall enjoyment of this wonderful game in the future. Happy playing, bruhs and bruhdettes.

O.D.E. Definition:
The online disinhibition effect is the reduction or abandonment in remote electronic communications of those social restrictions and inhibitions that would arise in normal face-to-face communication. Many factors cause this disinhibition, including the appearance of dissociative anonymity, invisibility, asynchronicity, solipsistic introjection, dissociative imagination, and minimization of authority.[1]

G.I.F.T. Definition:
You're gonna have to Google this for yourselves.

AzraelKrieg · October 2016

So you made a post about why people act like they do and it mainly comes down to the fact that being in an online community provides some level of anonymity? Can I have the 5 or so minutes that I spent reading this thread and making this comment back at some point because this topic is pointless as anyone that has been in an online game in the last decade knows this already.

Ch4mpTW · October 2016

AzraelKrieg wrote: »

So you made a post about why people act like they do and it mainly comes down to the fact that being in an online community provides some level of anonymity? Can I have the 5 or so minutes that I spent reading this thread and making this comment back at some point because this topic is pointless as anyone that has been in an online game in the last decade knows this already.

To be honest, I didn't experience the nonsense like I experienced in ESO as badly in other games. Whenever I had altercations with people, where people made person attacks and made highly racist remarks or anything of the sort that would be classified as "extreme"? It was always in-person, and handled in-person. So when I would see a lot of jokers online acting reckless, or mouthing off I'd take it to heart.

This is due to where I come from and grew-up, there is no cyber bickering. All that exchanging hateful stuff through the Internet is nonexistent, and things are handled with extreme violence if someone violates someone else on a personal level. So when I come to an environment where it's done regularly, and not handled as I previously mentioned — it threw me through a loop. It confused and irked the heck of me.

But after looking into this stuff in-depth, I have an understanding of what I'm dealing with on a psychological level. And therefore can shoo off pests who try to buzz nonsense around me.

Edit: I also grew-up in an era where arcades were the main spot of social gaming. If you wants to play with someone on a video game, you either went to a buddies house or to the arcade (mainly).

AzraelKrieg · October 2016

Ah, that makes sense then. ESO is actually the first MMO I've played but coming into it I knew of the inherent issues with online communities as 4chan was a big thing for my friends during my high school days though I didn't actually go on it.

Elsonso · October 2016

Nah. I am a firm believer in metaphysical solipsism.

Ch4mpTW wrote: »

G.I.F.T. Definition:
You're gonna have to Google this for yourselves.

I assume you are referring to the infertility treatment?

Bouldercleave · October 2016

It could be simply that your random and sometimes very narcissistic posts illicit said responses.

A wise man once said:

"Don't confuse my personality with my attitude...

My personality is who I am, my attitude depends on who you are..."

Ch4mpTW · October 2016

AzraelKrieg wrote: »

Ah, that makes sense then. ESO is actually the first MMO I've played but coming into it I knew of the inherent issues with online communities as 4chan was a big thing for my friends during my high school days though I didn't actually go on it.

Yep. That's why I would snap on so many people who remotely said something close to annoying me. I mean I've played MMO's before like WoW and LoL. But Blizzard and RIOT Games don't take a lot of the stuff as lightly as ZOS does. Or at least those 2 companies appeared to not tolerate it when I played them. I have in the past tried going back then, but couldn't stand an hour due to the toxicity within the playerbase. When I played, there was naming and shaming allowed (to a degree), and the mods there had no problem digging around heavily into situations to resolve them 'fairly'. ZOS doesn't do that. Not even close.

But anyway, that's why I found it to be such a huge discovery. Sorry if I'm late to the party. ._.

Mephilis78 · October 2016

Trololos thinking day smartie like dat in peopleses but scaried by witcher thingey metal sticks dat hurtun.

Ch4mpTW · October 2016

Mephilis78 wrote: »

Trololos thinking day smartie like dat in peopleses but scaried by witcher thingey metal sticks dat hurtun.

Say what? Lol. If you mean hammers and blam-blams, yes. Most people do talk reckless, but straighten-up when the heat is exposed or flashed for a brief moment. And in that brief moment in time, it's as though all those who thought they were hard soften right up and apologize. There's no more acting wild, and mouthing off crazy when that thing is shown. Seen it for myself numerous times growing up how the power of a single stick of metal changes people's perception of how tough they truly are. Sad but true. And no, I do not promote doing such things. If anyone was curious.

AzraelKrieg · October 2016

Ch4mpTW wrote: »

AzraelKrieg wrote: »

Ah, that makes sense then. ESO is actually the first MMO I've played but coming into it I knew of the inherent issues with online communities as 4chan was a big thing for my friends during my high school days though I didn't actually go on it.

Yep. That's why I would snap on so many people who remotely said something close to annoying me. I mean I've played MMO's before like WoW and LoL. But Blizzard and RIOT Games don't take a lot of the stuff as lightly as ZOS does. Or at least those 2 companies appeared to not tolerate it when I played them. I have in the past tried going back then, but couldn't stand an hour due to the toxicity within the playerbase. When I played, there was naming and shaming allowed (to a degree), and the mods there had no problem digging around heavily into situations to resolve them 'fairly'. ZOS doesn't do that. Not even close.

But anyway, that's why I found it to be such a huge discovery. Sorry if I'm late to the party. ._.

Probably the reason why Blizzard and RIOT are so hard on it is they only have the one platform the game is on so they have a bit more control over the community. ZOS doesn't as they have to deal with PSN and XBL. I believe SquareEnix has the same issue with FF:ARR as they have PC and PS4 versions. ZOS could do more on the PC side but when it comes to console, skip ZOS, go to Sony or Microsoft for issues that you feel are a violation of their respective TOS.

Mephilis78 wrote: »

Trololos thinking day smartie like dat in peopleses but scaried by witcher thingey metal sticks dat hurtun.

This is by the far the most intelligible post I have ever seen on this message board. And there have been a lot of unintelligible posts made

NobleNerd · October 2016

Ch4mpTW wrote: »

AzraelKrieg wrote: »

Ah, that makes sense then. ESO is actually the first MMO I've played but coming into it I knew of the inherent issues with online communities as 4chan was a big thing for my friends during my high school days though I didn't actually go on it.

Yep. That's why I would snap on so many people who remotely said something close to annoying me. I mean I've played MMO's before like WoW and LoL. But Blizzard and RIOT Games don't take a lot of the stuff as lightly as ZOS does. Or at least those 2 companies appeared to not tolerate it when I played them. I have in the past tried going back then, but couldn't stand an hour due to the toxicity within the playerbase. When I played, there was naming and shaming allowed (to a degree), and the mods there had no problem digging around heavily into situations to resolve them 'fairly'. ZOS doesn't do that. Not even close.

But anyway, that's why I found it to be such a huge discovery. Sorry if I'm late to the party. ._.

What? You do mean LoL (League of Legends) the online game that is infamous for the most toxic community? AND World of Warcraft has so many trolls.

To be fair I haven't played ESO in about a year due to the performance issues, hacks, and cheating but it can't have gotten that bad.

SaibotLiu · October 2016

"I grew up around brutal violence, but its the internet that gives me offense"

I kinda had a feeling there would be this much cringe in this thread.

Hempyre · October 2016

Ya, I chalk it up to a "laymans" version of a lack of consequence or rather the lack of fear of consquence for one's own words and actions. I grew up before interwebs and one had to be careful in word choice, tone and phrasing as there was a real possibility of being punched in the face. Its a shame that's not the case now.

This lack of control extends past the digital realm. Examples such as the New York power outages some years back, the stadium after Katrina, the Vancouver riots, (A hockey game, really...) the LA riots, repeatedly. Etc.. All saw a breakdown in civility, riots, looting, arson, ***, roving bandits, violence. In some cases within hours of the trigger event, all because the authorities were not able to maintain the threat of consequence. The general masses revert to animals when given the choice.

I personally try to tailor my online interactions as if I were in a face to face conversation. This however, doesn't guarantee a lack of salty.

Good read that stuff.

Ch4mpTW · October 2016

Hempyre wrote: »

Ya, I chalk it up to a "laymans" version of a lack consequence or rather the lack of fear of consquence for one's own words and actions. I grew up before interwebs and one had to be careful in word choice, tone and phrasing as there was a real possibility of being punched in the face. Its a shame that's not the case now.

This lack of control extends past the digital realm. Examples such as the New York power outages some years back, the stadium after Katrina, the Vancouver riots, (A hockey game, really...) the LA riots, repeatedly. Etc.. All saw a breakdown in civility, riots, looting, arson, ***, roving bandits, violence. In some cases within hours of the trigger event, all because the authorities were not able to maintain the threat of consequence. The general masses revert to animals when given the choice.

I personally try to tailor my online interactions as if I were in a face to face conversation. This however, doesn't guarantee a lack of salty.

Good read that stuff.

Yep, pretty much this. And yeah, I see we grew-up in the same era perhaps. I had to be suuuuuper careful what I said to people, and I still am to this very day. I definitely agree with you 100%.

MasterSpatula · October 2016

Anonymity doesn't excuse bad behavior; it simply reveals who you really are when the fear of consequences is removed. It doesn't make you less ethical or moral, but it shows how ethical or moral you truly are.

That said, it's a lot easier to generalize, dismiss, and disregard others when you have no empathy for them, and it's a lot harder to find empathy for someone when you have no real experience of the person.

Browiseth · October 2016

This isn't really anything new though, is it?

Ch4mpTW · October 2016

Browiseth wrote: »

This isn't really anything new though, is it?

For me, it was. Especially when I looked deeper into it, and saw that psychology actually had a name for the behavior itself. It was some pretty enlightening stuff. I'm still going to research it more, to be honest. All because it really does explain a lot of the nonsense I see regularly on the web. And to know that it's being studied on a scientific level by psychologists is amazing.

TequilaFire · October 2016

Or could it be that some of us just don't agree with what you post most of the time.
But hey glad you found a way to rationalize it.

Hempyre · October 2016

TequilaFire wrote: »

Or could it be that some of us just don't agree with what you post most of the time.
But hey glad you found a way to rationalize it.

Not even remotely what the thread is about.

Thanks for coming out though.

Osteos · October 2016

It kinda is though. The OP made a lot of threads in one day that seemed to be nothing short of bragging rights threads and the op felt personally attacked when this was pointed out to him.

Rohamad_Ali · October 2016

I figured it out a long time ago .

"Immaturity"

No Harvard study required , no ask google , no acronym .

Ch4mpTW · October 2016

Rohamad_Ali wrote: »

I figured it out a long time ago .

"Immaturity"

No Harvard study required , no ask google , no acronym .

Lol. You're the best, bruh. Take this awesome.

Rohamad_Ali · October 2016

Ch4mpTW wrote: »

Rohamad_Ali wrote: »

I figured it out a long time ago .

"Immaturity"

No Harvard study required , no ask google , no acronym .

Lol. You're the best, bruh. Take this awesome.

My Grandfather use to drag me to Alcoholics Anonymous meeting when I was a small boy . After people would finishing talking , no matter how crazy it was being , people would say Thank You for sharing . So when people say something crazy I just that . Every seems to being happy with it . No arguments so far .

WhoThenNow7 · October 2016

Ch4mpTW wrote: »

To be honest, I didn't experience the nonsense like I experienced in ESO as badly in other games. Whenever I had altercations with people, where people made person attacks and made highly racist remarks or anything of the sort that would be classified as "extreme"? It was always in-person, and handled in-person. So when I would see a lot of jokers online acting reckless, or mouthing off I'd take it to heart.

This is due to where I come from and grew-up, there is no cyber bickering. All that exchanging hateful stuff through the Internet is nonexistent, and things are handled with extreme violence if someone violates someone else on a personal level. So when I come to an environment where it's done regularly, and not handled as I previously mentioned — it threw me through a loop. It confused and irked the heck of me.

@Ch4mpTW this makes no sense... You said where you come from and where you grew up there is no cyber bickering.. I'm pretty sure the internet doesn't care where you live.. The internet is the same no matter where you are. You know that, right? lol

jedtb16_ESO · October 2016

you should have seen it back in the day on the old bbs..... on some the only moderation was for bandwidth

SaibotLiu · October 2016

Ch4mpTW wrote: »

This is due to where I come from and grew-up, there is no cyber bickering. All that exchanging hateful stuff through the Internet is nonexistent, and things are handled with extreme violence if someone violates someone else on a personal level. So when I come to an environment where it's done regularly, and not handled as I previously mentioned — it threw me through a loop. It confused and irked the heck of me.

More than that though, if Im reading this correctly, the OP is confused because people are aloof and cavalier about racist stuff rather than using it as an extreme personal attack? Now youll have to bear with me cause Im Australian and here its normally okay to joke around with people about that kinda stuff, but when it's used on a personal derragatory level that's a different story. And here in Aus, Im also able to have constructive and open conversations about race with minorities or how each of us percieve the world, and I think thats a really helpful and healthy thing, and helps you learn rather than just worry about who you can or cant offend.

IMO, the main culprit here is this mentality in the US mainly that it's not okay to talk about those things, and when people get online their first instict is to let loose and shatter the taboos. I think you'll find this is natural pushback for fostering an ultra PC society, more than it is just people being obnoxious on the internet because they can. And the OP's assertion that he grew up in ultra barbarism where people cant talk to each other or take a joke should not be celebrated as normal. Thats exactly the kind of idiocy that leads people to be intellectually isolated and behaving like they were raised in a barn when they get online.

Cherryblossom · October 2016

Nope I think in this case it's the game.

Bryanonymous · October 2016

I actually found the OP to be fairly interesting, and plausible. We all know anonymity gives people the freedom to say whatever they want. And if you look at the difference between chat in trade guilds and zone chat, you'll see those inhibition differences that the OP is suggesting. To sum up the point, people seem whiny because humans are emotional beings who will let loose when they have nothing to lose.

Digiman · October 2016

Wouldn't call this community the most vile. Angry sometime, but boy when Wrobel does something stupid on the PTS do we hear about it here.

nordsavage · October 2016

There is also a saying that "If you run into a-holes all day you might be a *ick.".

Bryanonymous · October 2016

nordsavage wrote: »

There is also a saying that "If you run into a-holes all day you might be a *ick.".

The simplicity of this metaphor is brilliant.