Why I really left Blocktopia, and why others will too.

[Lee_scar]

Reading this I kinda laugh to myself a bit.
Bitching coming from those who are in cliques and not in cliques both ways for and against.
I laugh because I've been here literally all of blocktopia's lifespan.
Not 'theones' have you but indeed all of 'blocktopia' Most of theones but under a different alias.
(Give or take some phantoming in and out)
Yet as a person who has been here its entire life do I belong to any clique? No.
Do I have any deep engraved bond with anyone? I have a handful and could entertain the thought of more but I don't want to impose on another selfishly.
Am I one of those people that others would be literally drawn to tears if I left the community? Signs point to no.
Do I value and appreciate those people I myself call friend and perhaps the other does not call friend? Absolutely.

Yet am I whining and bitching on about why I'm not Mr. popularity? Certainly not.
Given I've put effort into it, but there is one grand thing about this community that one must take into effort to understand and accept to be a part of this community.
I happen to get along fine because I've played single player games the majority of my gaming history and need not crave nor cry out for acceptance and recognition.

That one true thing for this community and not many other is: You must be willing to bare your everything and who you are. ~ This means allowing other to know your real name, real age, real country, and other very real facts in order to become friends with them. While its not wise to force these facts down others throats so soon and so rapidly, but you must accept to intergrate you may have to reveal them. Maybe even just your name, but overall you have to be yourself, a real personality true to who you are, and nothing short of that.
That is highly due to those who are here and the size of the community.

Someone as I, who I can say know real facts about me in this community I can count on one hand, vague facts on two hands. I do not real have the right to complain and whine about why I don't have people going out of their way to accompany me in game or approach me for friendship. If your not willing to step beyond the boundary that is the anonymous then please find companionship elsewhere or resign yourself to being only close acquaintances with the people of the community.

I can tell you this, I've gone from close friends to simply 'that guy that they know' to barely acquaintances and back with dozens and dozens of people here in blocktopia.

I stay because I choose to stay for myself, those that choose to leave choose to leave for themselves, others that join choose to join for themselves.

So then why must we decide and choose the actions for others?

So that's the deal of the matter, you can either step up and step out into the lives of others, or you can simply enjoy the tide of the current. Should that current sweep you deeper into the community or wash you away tis the fate you resign to.

 

[std1997]

this is why we need a best answer button.

 

[Duffie]

this is why we need a best answer button.

Off-topic much?


As for the thoughts on the current topic, I can't say I've had the "pleasure" of experiencing this issue. I don't go on TS all the much, I don't really play RoF all too often, and I tend to stay by myself when I play on, say, SMP.

Sure, I may play with certain people who I deem as closer friends more often than others, and you could consider that as a clique sort of deal... But it's not being in a clique as an issue, as I see it, but instead: it's either accepting others into the clique, or acknowledging that other people exist.

This never really was an issue on Dusk of Discordia (or any of the previous SMPs) from what I've seen, though, so I can't really say I know how much of a problem this is, other than from looking at the people complaining about it on the forums. (No offense to said people, I only use the word as a grain of salt, I mean no harm in using it.)

Then again, I'm also typically a loner, so it also isn't much of a problem for me in terms of that, either... So, maybe that's why I've been so blind about this issue...... Nevertheless, I can't say I'd like to go through all of these posts, as some of them are either jokes or failed attempts at it, while some actually helping to the cause. Hopefully these issues are resolved, if they do exist outside of TeamSpeak and RoF.

Edit: Whoa, why the hostility, Jubjubers and paceboys?

 

[Pikmon2]

I'd just like to say that I don't understand this. If there's anything I've learned from playing AoD, it's that there is nothing that brings old and new players closer together than being on the brink of death. I have never decided not to kill someone because they are new. If I see some new player on the other edge of the map, you can bet that I will go to him or her, introduce who I am, and ask to team up. I don't get picky with who I survive with unless it is a talented player who I don't necessarily have to be best buds with. To be honest, this is why hardcore PvP games are actually better sometimes. When you're looking straight into the eyes of death, you look to anywhere for someone to join up with. We're all in the same boat when we're trying to survive. (Sorry, I'm really passionate about this idea because I'm writing a book with that as a theme )


This, however, is something I won't dispute. It's a huge problem with BuildBox; people will see a new player and tp to them and go "oh hi new player, btw this is a nice build but HERE ARE ALL THESE THINGS I FIND WRONG WITH IT AND I DONT THINK ITLL GET BUILDER YET OH YOU DONT KNOW WHAT BUILDER IS WELL ITS A RANK YOU GET WE WITH IT HAHA HAVE A GOOD DAY." People have a tendency to give players advice without them asking for it (bringing up the other problem about players randomly tping to people without them saying its ok but I won't get into that). And then the other problem: when a player DOES ask for advice, people automatically assume they want a review for Builder. Buildboxians take note please.


Haha, this is another thing. When I first said "hey, I haven't really gone on LSMP yet" (took me so long to figure out what it was called before RoF lol) and logged on, I was bombarded with all these crazy colors. I thought to myself "wow, this is different form the other servers" and I noticed that people weren't... really talking to me. I got a very bad premonition because this was the exact same trend as what happened when I logged on to those super-advertised servers, a phase I just came off from when I found you guys after the disconnection with Primordia's shutdown. Much to my dismay, my worst thoughts were realized.
"Hey guys! I'm new to this server but I've been on BB and AoD a lot"
Talking amongst selves continue.
"Sooo how do you play?"
Talking amongst selves continue.
"Um guys how do you play the game? I'm kinda new to this server lol"
Still no responses. Chat is flaring with other conversations. I don't want it to end the same way. I get angry.
"Um guys I've been asking for a little while but how do you play?"
NO FRICKING RESPONSE. I wait for a perfect moment when the chat goes to a standstill for 3 seconds and ask one more time before my window of opportunity closes.
"CAN SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME HOW TO PLAY THE GAME?"
"shit brah, calm down"
"survive"
"there's lava and you have to not die lol"
"calm down jeez"
"survive"
"survive"
"lol friend good one! ^"
(this is an op now) "Sorry, LSMP is a Lava Survival game where lava comes in waves and you have to build a house that won't melt to survive. There are certain blocks that won't melt. Here, I'll show you the tutorial"
"do /rules"
"survive"
"woa shit bran calm down"
"oh hi S_swimmer i recognize you"

Now, let's fast forward to the present, where I've been on Blocktopia for a while now. I haven't particularly made any super close friendships with the regulars on RoF aside from the ones that visit other servers (not to say I haven't made any friendships, you guys are hella cool but I don't go on rof TOO much).
Me: "Hey guys!"
Lots of people: "Hi swimmer!" "Hi swimmer!" "Hi swimmer!" "Yoooo whaddup" "heyy its swimmyyy!"
I mean, I'm not even part of the whole RoF crowd. I'm with BB and AoD. Yet, I am still welcomed. Despite not being part of this "clique," people are still very friendly with me and joke around with me. This is different from when I started out. Is it because I'm in their clique without realizing it, or that I'm just a familiar face? It's possible that the reason they didn't reach out to me for a while in the beginning was that they just didn't know what I was like. I can totally understand that. You normally want to stay away from people you don't understand. Not like it's a good thing. I think that might be part of the reason new players aren't as welcome - people don't know what they're like yet. Not the only reason, though. I'm not going to say anything about that, whether its better or worse or what it means. I'll leave that little tidbit up to you guys.

Just wanted to voice a small opinion I had, sorry if it was said before, there was just so much text I couldn't read it all ;-;

See, your first time on RoF is how my time is on any server of BT to this day!*laughs to self*

Anyways, I've seen your first experience on RoF numerous times. Well. Except not you. Anywho, I think it's only really a problem on RoF and SMP (I'm not sure if it's the same with DoD, since I barely played it. And barely anyone is on Infected anyway ahahsdhahs and I wonder why people dislike me). On AoD, back when I played, I always saw staff or veterans or whomever welcoming new people. Same with TNT, and occasionally, BB.

Okay this not related for the most part to Swimmer's post from here on out:

Do I think cliques are the only problem? No. Do I think it still is a problem? Yes. It's been a problem since as long as I can remember. Maybe in my case it's because I purposefully poke fun at everyone in my statuses, but who knows. But what I do know is staff is one of the biggest perpetrators of this. Whenever I joined RoF, I felt unwelcome. It was just like "lol meme" "lol meme!!!" and I would say "hi" or something and the conversations amongst themselves would continue, with few times someone actually saying hi back (even most of the staff at the time didn't say hi or anything.)

Now, something I've learned from from being trusted on TNT, was to welcome all the people who joined. Even if I didn't quite like them, I would make an effort to keep peace with myself and them for the sake of the server (I know I have to do a better job of that on here, heheh...), and just say hi to them or something. All the TNT staff (when I say this I'm talking about people other than me, just for reference) were really welcoming and kind to new players and old players alike. Same with AoD, as far as I can remember.

My first experience with SMP? I killed someone near spawn, which I didn't know still counted as spawn, and got yelled at by multiple staff members and players alike, not to spawn kill, how I better not do that again, etc. etc. How warm! First time on RoF? No one talked to me, no staff welcomed me, nothing. Just players and staff making """jokes""" or... something about what box was being built around X AFK player. Okay that last part didn't happen the first time but whatever. I would talk about how, as far as I can remember, no staff welcomed me on Infected, but I guess I did kind of say it was a dumb idea multiple times, and continually was against it, so I guess that was coming. Still kind of rude, nonetheless.

I think we need to work on the staff attitude first. Welcome people. Represent the servers well. You're the representatives of the server. For the player-base to change, you need to change. Be kind, and try to remember people are human, and will make mistakes. Thank you.

 

[DarkHender]

From a new player's standpoint

AoD -> Play a game with people you don't know and hope either you or they are social enough to befriend you.
RoF -> Build a house and AFK
BB -> Build something by yourself and have your build critiqued by someone you don't know for a rank that means nothing to you.
SMP -> Abandoned
TNT -> Non-existent

Spoiler: servers and stuff idk

Aod is very social whenever I am on. All you have to do is start talking.. sometimes people will ignore you but you can always wait for friendlier people. They could just be in a bad mood.

Rof is actually very friendly if you would stop afking. Afking is your problem.

BB- you can ask people what they are building or how they are or a general question maybe abut their week.

SMP- wait for it to come back?

Spoiler: little story+how2makefriendstherightway

Not everyone is going to like you in their clique.. and in real life I have had people that tried to push their way into my friend to best friend zone in about a day.. and they basically freaked me out and I do not speak with them at all anymore. I mean if you take your time and small talk you can make friends.. Like I am making a friend in school slowly. We're talking in a class a lot, we talk about games and we've already stated we are going to help each other with work since we take the same class but our subjects in that class are switched.

so basically my make friends nicely and slowly, don't push, make small talk..
no friendships come in a day or two you will probably freak them out and they will be like "no!!" but if they don't that's great but generally I would think they would.

this relates to irl/online and basically anywhere

Sorry if I trail off topic or stated something someone said already.

some other members already said some really nice things about being social in the server and stuff.
im really tired so im sorry if none of this makes sense xD

(also I agree about the bored and no new content)

 

[Kordra]

a different take on it

 

[heartgamingmufin]

i hate people anyways so

 

[Later_Gator]

 

[Notme]

If you don't like cliques, then why you won't become lone wolf and learn to pvp?

This way you would be something like VSMP Danni :)

I'm lone wolf I can do fine alone but server must have more than 5 people, (mining and crafting all day gets boring) unless its pvp smp and I want to travel/steal.

From a curious new player's standpoint

AoD -> Talk about how server works and try to survive either in randomly assembled team or alone.
RoF -> Chat about everything, build something nice. AFK is for weak/when no one is on server.
BB -> Build something you want - either its map for servers, or base/trap for upcoming SMP.
SMP -> Join clan or go as lone wolf and raid everyone else.
TNT -> Explode everyone and have fun.
Infection -> Zombie survival with parkour. Run to survive and chat about community.
AT -> Go for adventure either alone or with friends. Or just mess around.

 

[Lee_scar]

well fuck I must be doing it wrong cuz people dont know any of that about me

but overall you have to be yourself, a real personality true to who you are,

And your not?

 

[Defiant_Blob]

About the joining a server and not feeling "welcome", it sounds more like you're expecting people to step out of their current conversation and make way for you.
To be honest, that's really rude. Just because you're a new player doesn't mean that you can expect the current players to cater to you. They have their current conversations already going on, and they can't be expected to stop and pause for every new person? If you want to be a part of a conversation, join one, don't tell others they need to stop theirs so that they can talk to you. Find people that have interest similar to yours. Though everyone on the Minecraft servers shares the interest of Minecraft, that doesn't mean they share any other interests.

Stop demanding that players and staff need to stop what they're doing just because you joined the server. The world doesn't revolve around you, sorry. If you want to talk, initiate the conversation. If you're not trying, why would they try for a stranger when they have friends already putting effort into them?

Like, especially with the people that are complaining that they are not immediately greeted when they join the server.
These are servers run by volunteers, not Walmarts with door-greeters. Please get off your high horse and quit acting like you deserve to be treated like a customer at a five-star restaurant.

 

[Vatumok]

Jubjubers, I used to think you were pretty funny, but honestly you are just tryharding to be edgy right now, pathetic.
It's not that people cannot join cliques of others by showing interesting, that's certainly possible but the servers are still not generally new people friendly. Once someone sticks around for a while and wants to join the community it is possible but really no one looks out for newer guys, and especially because people now eachother here so well they can feel left out. It's not we owe newer players anything or something but from their standpoint, why would they stick around here?

Fucking hell, we're hosting minecraft servers, of course we need to think about the players, even the new players. It's not like a hotel or supermarket can just say "lololo fuck everything we don't owe anyone anything lolol" and then just expect to still go well.

This is exactly the elitism I've been talking about, that honestly disgusts me right now.

 

[paceboys]

Well, considering the fact that your first 30 minutes on teamspeak included you micspamming 3 different rooms and getting banned for flaming WiiGoGetter for killing you in minecraft, I'm not surprised that people don't exactly want to welcome you to their 'clique'.

 

[Jubjubers]

Jubjubers, I used to think you were pretty funny, but honestly you are just tryharding to be edgy right now, pathetic.
It's not that people cannot join cliques of others by showing interesting, that's certainly possible but the servers are still not generally new people friendly. Once someone sticks around for a while and wants to join the community it is possible but really no one looks out for newer guys, and especially because people now eachother here so well they can feel left out. It's not we owe newer players anything or something but from their standpoint, why would they stick around here?

Fucking hell, we're hosting minecraft servers, of course we need to think about the players, even the new players. It's not like a hotel or supermarket can just say "lololo fuck everything we don't owe anyone anything lolol" and then just expect to still go well.

This is exactly the elitism I've been talking about, that honestly disgusts me right now.

Could we not degenerate into insulting eachother? Thank-you.
In all honesty, I find the whole "hurr I hate cliques" thing more pathetic than me making a mspaint comic highlighting the flaws in their arguments. It's a cluster of people who don't know how to socialize and make friends trying to make claim that their inability to converse with a group of people about a certain subject, e.g kordra micspamming the LoL channel and then making this post when they wouldn't pat his back for doing it, is some grandiose fault that everyone else should be held accountable for. It's hardly cliques, it's people being more friendly to their, well, friends.
I'd find it hard to find any large multiplayer game that most people play with groups of their own friends where people suddenly drop what they're doing and instead of playing with their friends - which is most people's sole purpose of joining a server - to purposefully go out of their way to actually look out for new players.
I'd mostly expect an Operator to help people asking for help, no?


I usually go onto servers to play with my friends, not to be an ad hoc new-player babysitter.

 

[Vatumok]

Could we not degenerate into insulting eachother? Thank-you.
In all honesty, I find the whole "hurr I hate cliques" thing more pathetic than me making a mspaint comic highlighting the flaws in their arguments. It's a cluster of people who don't know how to socialize and make friends trying to make claim that their inability to converse with a group of people about a certain subject, e.g kordra micspamming the LoL channel and then making this post when they wouldn't pat his back for doing it, is some grandiose fault that everyone else should be held accountable for. It's hardly cliques, it's people being more friendly to their, well, friends.
I'd find it hard to find any large multiplayer game that most people play with groups of their own friends that suddenly drops what they're doing and instead of playing with their friends - which is most people's sole purpose of joining a server - to purposefully go out of their way to actually look out for new players.
I'd mostly expect an Operator to help people asking for help, no?


I usually go onto servers to play with my friends, not to be an ad hoc new-player babysitter.

Honestly, you deserved a slap on the wrist, especially with 20 people admiring your post.
And still, you disregard my post, it's not about kordra or what he did or who he is. The fact that this discussion is going for almost 5 pages says something is up. I personally noticed something is up. And then I find it very disappointing to see you make like.. 4 posts just mocking the OP and bringing discussion down while I do think this is a pretty important subject.

At least thanks for posting in a serious manner now.

 

[Jivvi]

Honestly, you deserved a slap on the wrist, especially with 20 people admiring your post.
And still, you disregard my post, it's not about kordra or what he did or who he is. The fact that this discussion is going for almost 5 pages says something is up. I personally noticed something is up. And then I find it very disappointing to see you make like.. 4 posts just mocking the OP and bringing discussion down while I do think this is a pretty important subject.

At least thanks for posting in a serious manner now.

I would call the mspaint serious enough, as it more or less depicts what's going on

all in all, you can't expect people to go out of their way to involve you, but you should be able to expect decency and respect, at least

 

[nitasu987]

Rant Incoming!

I've been a part of BT for a long time (ok like 4-5 years) but seriously, all this arguing really gets me annoyed at the fact that we should be having fun playing a game (s) that we all love! And also, just because you're not active on the servers or that you're busy in life doesn't mean you have to leave the damn community! I haven't been on the servers consistently for probably the last year, and have I left? NO!

Can we go back to having fun and not blaming each other for random shit? OF COURSE there are cliques, and things that go wrong. IT'S LIFE. The Admins AREN'T perfect, and neither are you. Hell, I'm definitely not perfect. They have a really tough job and I feel like they don't get enough respect.

I want to get back on the servers... we'll see how this resolves.

Rant Over.
Glory to the Horde.

 

[Jayfeather]

Rant Incoming!

I've been a part of BT for a long time (ok like 4-5 years) but seriously, all this arguing really gets me annoyed at the fact that we should be having fun playing a game (s) that we all love! And also, just because you're not active on the servers or that you're busy in life doesn't mean you have to leave the damn community! I haven't been on the servers consistently for probably the last year, and have I left? NO!

Can we go back to having fun and not blaming each other for random shit? OF COURSE there are cliques, and things that go wrong. IT'S LIFE. The Admins AREN'T perfect, and neither are you. Hell, I'm definitely not perfect. They have a really tough job and I feel like they don't get enough respect.

I want to get back on the servers... we'll see how this resolves.

Rant Over.
Glory to the Horde.

An argument is a disagreement between two points that in the best case leads to a resolution whether in the form of a one-sided conclusion or a compromise.

What do you all fear by this that we can not allow progress or a differing in ideas? Why is it that when this thread has arguments it is a "crapfest", or you "don't want to incite any arguments". This mentality is pointless because if we can't bring our different viewpoints to the forefront then we can't make change. What you're doing is covering up and issue so that we can maintain a huge issue under the surface. "Look everything's fine we're not arguing we all just secretly disagree is all." If we want to make progress we have to have the type of dialogue this thread offers, otherwise as a community we're not all communicating our interests and our methods to reach a shared sentiment.

 

[Enderfive]

Honestly, I'm left wondering right now how many people personally have experienced the thing we're arguing about. I knew for a fact that this wasn't the first time this problem was discussed, but the only thread I could actually find about it was made at the start of the year by SnapFlash. Now, the fact that both of the OPs of these threads are apparently (I don't know them personally, basing my point on what others have said) people who have been obnoxious and generally rude on TS, then I'm starting to think that what's actually going on here is this:

someone is not accepted into a group of friends right away, then becomes annoying to that group of friends, and then proceeds to rant on the forums about how unwelcoming the community is. Then some people agree to the OP just for the sake of agreeing and having a debate/argument about the issue and then the result is 5 pages of flaming, drama, insults and so on and so forth. I'm not saying that you guys actually want to argue or that the issue is non-existent, but take a moment to think about all the times you haven't been on good terms with a group of people. Is the issue always in "cliques" and unwelcoming behaviour, or are you yourself to blame as well, or furthermore, have you ever actually been in a situation where a group of people have been ignoring you rudely or attacking you for no reason? Yes, there are certain players who do that, but from my experience they're rare cases, not the norm in the community.

You don't get to be friends with people you just met and you don't go attacking them for being unwelcoming when they don't immediately accept you into their own small group of close friends right away. You don't think in that way in real life, why should the internet be any different?


On a different note, keep the discussion civil. I'm quite disappointed when I see people, who used to be high staff or people that I personally respect a lot, descend into insulting each other when they don't agree with your view on the issue. It's not that hard to keep yourself from calling each other "pathetic edgelords" or whatever it was. We're not on 4chan right now, guys.

 

[Sploorky]

I really think more frequent events would fix the issue presented. New content added to existing servers are good, but it does not generally bring in too many people to return to the server. Events allow people to interact with people they do not generally speak to, and brings older and newer people to the server.

Despite some ugly bits in the thread, I'm really happy we're having this discussion.

 

[Notme]

I really think more frequent events would fix the issue presented. New content added to existing servers are good, but it does not generally bring in too many people to return to the server. Events allow people to interact with people they do not generally speak to, and brings older and newer people to the server.

Despite some ugly bits in the thread, I'll really happy we're having this discussion.

I enjoy event servers too :D

Also AT events are fun

I wonder why recaps are always hosted on Friday. Did TheOne founded community on Friday?
I would like one time events not after recaps but 20 hours later - 20:00 Sunday in my GMT+1 timezone.
For Americans it would be 11:00 - 16:00 Sunday.

 

[Hunter]

inb4 thread locked for "keep it classy"

Head staff, may I ask for a little bit of moderation of this dickery, it is certainly uncalled for and going offtopic.

Jubjubers, I used to think you were pretty funny, but honestly you are just tryharding to be edgy right now, pathetic.

 

[Jayfeather]

nah if it gets locked we'll have much more serious issues than this

 

[Jayfeather]

Malcovent
Would you like to comment on the quote he has there ^ because I 100 percent disagree and want to see how this thread is unorganized or is hard to follow. Despite posts like Paceboys's or Jubjubers, because of forums having quotes, tags, and reply boxes I can easily tell where people stand on different arguments and its important that we get these things out here.

 

[JtTorso]

Alright, I'm gonna throw in a reminder to keep things civil and if we can't maintain that then maybe we shouldn't bother with having a discussion about such topics? Regardless of your opinions, it's important that we at least keep some degree of patience and respect for our fellow members (This is not exclusive to just this thread), we don't need to be badmouthing, insulting, or patronizing. I wish also to remind you all to keep on topic.