Forums » General

VO is a bad user experience for newbies....

Nov 22, 2011 blackl5405 link
The user experience is terrible. The players are close to bullies, with FAMY training more.
I have notified parents groups to make sure the kids don't get on here. I personally, would
take 100 offline, and just have groups and guilds talk to each other. Get rid of the trash/ego/bully talk.

I was just reading about a user, having tried VO on a Mac, and had a bad experience from the group. A developer responded, and apologized. i thought that was cool. But, it seems nothing has changed. And from the low number of new users, I can say, the user base is not growing. I watch as newbies get trashed, online. And most of the bullies think it is funny.

I think others need to know about this.... and they can try VO and see what I mean.
It does not take long.....

Here are some bully quotes from screen shots I have taken, and sent to parents groups:

[100] <DE-1412a> ficking noob

and

[100] <DE-1412h> i mostly shoot noobs in grey. noobs are the ass holes for being noobs in grey.

They can try to pass it off as a role playing game. But, it is a bad user experience,
if you are on the other end. I do not think users signed up to be bullied, in real or as a role.

Most other games do not let this happen.... I would take all GENERAL chat, offline.

A very interesting quote from another user today: In most games, I only have one or two people on ignore. In VO, I have a list full.

BLACK RABBIT
signing off for the last time
Nov 22, 2011 Pizzasgood link
Congratulations. You have discovered that VO is not Hello Kitty Online. Take a look at the footer of this webpage, and you'll see that VO has an ESRB rating of "teen". It's not like this is advertised to children.

If you want to play some game where everybody is friendly and there is no conflict, look elsewhere.
Nov 22, 2011 raven177 link
He/She/It expects to be given a free pass because he/she/it is new.

Sorry about your luck. There are places in the 'verse that you should stay out of if you don't want to get your ass kicked repeatedly. Also you can /leave 100. I assure you, nobody will miss your witty repartee.
Nov 22, 2011 slime73 link
Most other games do not let this happen....

... which games are you referring to, exactly? Lego Universe? That game is designed for children, this one is not. Acting like a child ingame is a good way to get other people to dislike you.
Nov 22, 2011 tarenty link
Those are hardly offensive quotes anyhow. That's just a tryhard nub troll, not even one of the quality ones. If those really offend you, go live in a cave.
Nov 22, 2011 genka link
Actually, for me, one of the scariest facts about the new mech warrior game is their forums.

Not only is their software depressingly shitty, but so is their moderation. The forum defaults to censoring any word that might ever offend anyone, up to and including "god" and "hell," and their moderator seems to have a "treat users like children you're trying to sell shit to" approach to his work. Mind you, I'm not saying that the future players of MWO aren't children, but it strikes me as a shitty way to treat your potential playerbase:
"Oh, you wrote a condescending post on how to 'argue'! I'll pin it!"
"Oh, you made (yet another) thread on how the forum won't keep you logged in no matter how hard you ask! I'll lock this one too!"
"I see you've made a post on how the censorship's a little too much. That's cool, I'll lock it."
"Look, the rule about signatures not containing pictures that are unreasonably large is like, a guideline. Scrolling past people's ugly-ass 'artwork' is what forums are for, right?"

Sooo, yeah, some other games are indeed over-moderated.
Nov 22, 2011 Dr. Lecter link
Doorknob, asshole, don't let, etc.
Nov 22, 2011 Phaserlight link
You really are incredible, black rabbit.

http://techhacking.com/2011/02/21/vandetta-online-homegrown-space-age-mmorpg/
http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/reader_comments.asp?e=33081&sec=11&area=articles
http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/reader_comments.asp?e=33220&sec=27&area=articles

Your behavior reminds me of someone with bipolar disorder: Starting seven threads in a 24 hour time period, while cross posting your review on outside websites in which you describe VO as "boring" when clearly your experience has been anything but. All I can say is; that much karma doesn't happen without extenuating circumstances. I hope you find the support you need at those parents groups.
Nov 22, 2011 Crusader8389 link
He fails to mention that

1. DE is a griefer, and tends to act in such ways

2. blackrabbit provided MUCH provocation and trolling to illicit these remarks... yes I was on, I saw it.

Also, I discovered vo at 12, and played on all trial accounts, and NEVER found vo to be unfriendly towards noobs. In fact, the VAST majority of players were extremely helpful, trying (and often failing) to teach me stuffs about vo universe. In other games, communities have not been so nice. So buck up and get learning rather than complaining.
Nov 23, 2011 Whistler link
"I see you've made a post on how the censorship's a little too much. That's cool, I'll lock it."

I like how they think over there!

In all seriousness, I'll lock this so that it doesn't devolve before Inc can chime in. Thanks for the thoughtful responses.
Nov 23, 2011 incarnate link
I'm not sure how much chiming is necessary. The OP's expectations are clearly not in line with a highly combative online game. There's always more we can do to improve the newbie experience, or try and keep general chat a bit nicer in-game, and sometimes there are periods when it becomes rougher than we want (often coinciding with an unusually rude new player). We are working on ways of improving that, along with simpler report mechanics for abusive situations. But all that said, I concur with our vets that, generally speaking, most people in the game are pretty helpful. There's a certain level of "RTFM" that is expected of new people playing through the basic tutorials; but beyond that, a lot of people give their own time and effort to helping new people learn combat and the like.

Relative to the type of chat one sees/hears in most combative online FPS games (Halo? Battlefield? CounterStrike? Call of Duty?), VO is positively nurturing.

Relative to other non-combative MMOs that have no distance-based chat, yes, they may seem less abrasive. Although I guarantee things still get very flamey in WoW and other games, it just may be less evident unless you're near someone unpleasant, or some kind of drama. Removing our distance-based chat is not an option at this time, it's a necessary mode of communication for our current player density.

VO is not a kids game, most of our players are in their 20s and 30s (and up). We have always been rated for "teens" at a minimum, and we do have a chat filter to try and scrub language for those who don't want it. We also have a responsive Support Ticket system to allow users to privately report in-game abuse and other problematic situations.