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Good Forums...

NancyButtpeachNancyButtpeach Member Posts: 38
edited September 2012 in Off-Topic
These are the nicest forums I've been on, and the customer service from Beamdog has been excellent.

This is especially true when compared to the Diablo 3 forums and customer service. I describe Diablo 3 as a comedy of errors, and I follow the forums just for the hilarity- I quit playing the game a long while back.

It is amazing how much better an independent gaming company can be compared to a large one. Another good example is Path of Exile and Mount and Blade.
Post edited by Coriander on
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Comments

  • EidolonEidolon Member Posts: 99
    So true. I agree 100% with what you've said. The customer service is excellent. I had not received my Badge for purchasing BG:EE and it got fixed within a day of contacting Nathan. Furthermore, the general friendly, maybe even comradely, atmosphere on these forums is amazing. Not only is Beamdog's service excellent, so is the community itself.
  • mch202mch202 Member Posts: 1,455
    I agree this are good forums, I think one of the reasons is that the average age of the users is around 25+ and not 15-
  • CheesebellyCheesebelly Member Posts: 1,727
    It reminds me of the old BioWare forums, even if those used to have millions of members. It was a nice place, highly enforced, rules were followed and things were nice.

    Here things are also nice for the most part, people THINK before posting and everything is ok. Trust me, I've seen the dark side of the internet more than once, mostly BioWare's new place. Only about 1% of the people there were normal. Seriously...
  • NathanNathan Member Posts: 1,007
    edited August 2012
    ...wait, the internet has a dark side?

    You mean like the whole thing?



    ...END OF LINE.
  • SilenceSilence Member Posts: 437
    lol...yeah. I have two theories about why these forums are different than other ones:

    My first theory is that D&D players, and BG players, are generally older and more mature than D3 players. As a result we're more tolerant and well-behaved and not out for negative attention from strangers (typically).

    My second theory is that D&D attracts a particular type of person. D&D is not a competitive game and is built around imagination and collabouration. You only win if you have fun, it doesn't matter how good your character is at killing or how many rules you happen to have memorized. This is not the case in D3 or SC2, where your popularity can be determined by your clicking speed, build selection, and use of psychological warfare. I think some of that personal play-style of D&D is evident in the communication style of this forum.

  • XavioriaXavioria Member Posts: 874
    well to add more to @Silence, there is also a sense of co-operation with D&D players, things aren't so mercenary as they are with games like World of Warcraft, where you get the party so you can accomplish your own selfish ends. Granted I have seen a few arguements on this site, I have yet to see anyone trolling anyone else, and that both confuses and surprises me.
  • neleotheszeneleothesze Member Posts: 231
    edited August 2012
    Ahh, Diablo... After only good experiences with Diablo 2 I was hoping for something similar with Diablo 3. What I got instead was an unplayable game (and that's 2 copies bought for my husband and I), a game where we were disconnected more than connected, a game that told me it couldn't cope with 2 computers in the same network - we could team up with other people but we got disconnected when we joined the same party... where, as the OP said, customer service was a joke and the forums an exercise in patience... and since we had preordered the game, we weren't even eligible for a refund, even though we had spent more time in the login screen than in-game.

    However, to go back to the topic at hand, I think it's a matter of quantity, not just of having a different player base. The last time I checked there were 1350+ preorders... Let's consider that only 30% of the users of this forum preordered. That means that somewhere around 4000 people are here, sharing opinions and discussing various aspects of BG:EE. This comes at maybe 5% of a big game's playerbase (such as D3 or SC2).

    I'm sure that, were we more numerous, the quality of the forum would slip, simply because more poeple means more varied temperaments. It just takes 10 hotheaded people starting a topic on religion (even if it starts as a friendly discussion about the deities of the Forgotten Realms) and ten hotheaded people talking about racism (even if it starts as a friendly discussion on Minsc's skin colour since he comes from Rashemen) and everything will be up in flames. But that's just my opinion. We're lucky that nothing of the sort has happened so far. :)
    Post edited by neleothesze on
  • DjimmyDjimmy Member Posts: 749
    edited August 2012
    I agree with those who said that this community or whatever we call it, is kinda troll-free. I mean, the people who are here seem to be very understanding and open-minded and nice. I don't think is about age/maturity(or at least not much). It is more about what kind of people are here. I know many "mature" men and women who are always pissed by everything and everyone. Dissing everyone is for the cavillers and I haven't seen even one on these forums. It's nice, I guess. :)
  • neleotheszeneleothesze Member Posts: 231
    edited August 2012
    Djimmy said:

    I agree with those who said that this community or whatever we call it, is kinda troll-free. [...] I know many "mature" men and women who are always pissed by everything and everyone. Dissing everyone is for the cavillers and I haven't seen even one on these forums. It's nice, I guess. :)

    @Djimmy Precisely. This was my point about hotheads. :) Advanced player age or lack thereof doesn't have much to do with it. We're lucky we're still such a small community that even starting arguments are put to rest with a kind word or a fast apology from the other forum members and nothing escalates.
  • Space_hamsterSpace_hamster Member Posts: 950
    Just wait until the game is released.... ;)
  • CorianderCoriander Member Posts: 1,667
    @Space_hamster What are you implying -_-
  • CheesebellyCheesebelly Member Posts: 1,727
    @Nathan : clearly you haven't made extended researches on youtube which led into a completely unfamiliar path... And if you didn't do it, heed my words... DON'T TRY IT O_O

    @Coriander : what my fellow boovatarian implied is probably that we need to wait until the game is released... for matters unspecified. Maybe wait for a cookie jar? For a double rainbow across the sky? God knows!
  • spacejawsspacejaws Member, Mobile Tester Posts: 389
    edited August 2012
    Yea these forums do have a different mentality about it. It's not so much the trolling but lack of intolerance, grammer-nazi's, hateful comments directed towards my poor momma and threats to hack my internets and breaks em.

    They will come if word of this game gets stronger(and probably after the game is released. Someone will not enjoy it and be determined that everybody feels the same) and there have been a few that have acted a bit iffy from time to time but on the whole this forum is highly refreshing. I put it down to the fact that we all have the same general passion, we are all here for one thing rather than a mess of high opinions vying desperately for attention.

    I guess most are just happy this place exists after all these years. I know I am.

    The internet has gotten weird over the last decade. People are vicious and spiteful. My older bro still play the CoD and he literally gets message death threats and reported to Microsoft after playing a game. It's like somewhere down the line people forgot these things are supposed to be for fun. Hell that's why I only use my headset to listen to games in 5.1, may aswell snip off the mic.
  • DragonspearDragonspear Member Posts: 1,838
    Maybe its just me but personally I think @Tanthalas and the other mods deserve an award. I do my best not only to keep my posts civil but I try to also stop certain discussions before they start happening (or in their early stages) because I love the community for Baldur's Gate. I made friends with a few people on gamefaqs years ago on the still active Baldur's Gate and Baldur's Gate 2 forums (especially alaundo's alehouse) and I want any new people that come in to be willing to ask questions and explore without recrimination.

    Furthermore it could also be that D&D players know that you need fire or acid to kill trolls and most of us have magic or magical weapons with those properties ;)

    More than anything its the mods.

    So here's a toast, to you @Tanthalas and all the other mods here for quickly responding when you're name dropped in a thread. But also being cool enough to joke about in other threads and answer questions.

    Herm, I should try to make Alaundo's Alehouse here. Lemme go talk to my friends at gamefaqs and see if I can.
  • ZafiroZafiro Member Posts: 436
    This place indeed has a very smooth atmosphere, but maybe we could use a "add friend" ability, and a place to ramble about whatever? Probably this sounds like a troll call to arms, but I like the general feeling of this place, and I have a general good feeling about people around.
  • CCarluNNCCarluNN Member Posts: 200
    Thumbs up for these forums. I've read many useful and interesting threads, with constructive criticisms, proper language, spelling, and grammar, and so on. It's nice to see that many people still care about the 10+ year old BG series.
  • elminsterelminster Member, Developer Posts: 16,317
    The benefit of not having 15 year olds on this forum I think is tremendous. Even on the more controversial topics that deal with changing the game people still keep their cool and interesting discussions result. I can't think of any specific instance of trolling I've seen on here, which is refreshing to say the least.
  • Twilight_FoxTwilight_Fox Member Posts: 448
    Constructive criticism and discussion is well handed on this forum. I must agree.
  • SilenceSilence Member Posts: 437
    For a look at the alternative type of forum, feel free to check out RPGcodex....always a treat.
  • DragonspearDragonspear Member Posts: 1,838
    Zafiro said:

    This place indeed has a very smooth atmosphere, but maybe we could use a "add friend" ability, and a place to ramble about whatever? Probably this sounds like a troll call to arms, but I like the general feeling of this place, and I have a general good feeling about people around.

    That's pretty much what the Alehouse is for. Still waiting to hear back since the BG Board on gamefaqs, while still active, is slow.

  • NathanNathan Member Posts: 1,007
    Hrm - you guys mean like an "Off-Topic" forum or...?
  • EilerEiler Member Posts: 93
    edited August 2012
    Diablo 3 fails because somehow they managed to provide even fewer collaboration, community and communication tools than the primitive ones Diablo 2 had. It would probably be doing at least a little better if it had the community features (custom private channels and guilds especially, and a looser game instance creation system) even world of warcraft features.

    Instead as a D3 player you end up with a lesser social experience with few ways to develop meta communities by use of the game client. You end up with disconnected players with less chance of randomly forming complex multiple player interrelationships and the game turns into nothing more than a boring, barely social kind of social hoarding game. I would rather play a modern roguelike for that experience. I made a lot of new friends playing D2. I haven't really made any in D3 and have pretty much stopped playing it.

    D3 made Blizzard some quick cash.

    Ahh, Diablo... After only good experiences with Diablo 2 I was hoping for something similar with Diablo 3. What I got instead was an unplayable game (and that's 2 copies bought for my husband and I), a game where we were disconnected more than connected, a game that told me it couldn't cope with 2 computers in the same network - we could team up with other people but we got disconnected when we joined the same party... where, as the OP said, customer service was a joke and the forums an exercise in patience... and since we had preordered the game, we weren't even eligible for a refund, even though we had spent more time in the login screen than in-game.

    However, to go back to the topic at hand, I think it's a matter of quantity, not just of having a different player base. The last time I checked there were 1350+ preorders... Let's consider that only 30% of the users of this forum preordered. That means that somewhere around 4000 people are here, sharing opinions and discussing various aspects of BG:EE. This comes at maybe 5% of a big game's playerbase (such as D3 or SC2).

    I'm sure that, were we more numerous, the quality of the forum would slip, simply because more poeple means more varied temperaments. It just takes 10 hotheaded people starting a topic on religion (even if it starts as a friendly discussion about the deities of the Forgotten Realms) and ten hotheaded people talking about racism (even if it starts as a friendly discussion on Minsc's skin colour since he comes from Rashemen) and everything will be up in flames. But that's just my opinion. We're lucky that nothing of the sort has happened so far. :)

  • Jean_LucJean_Luc Member Posts: 228
    LadyRhian said:

    (I and others here had an experience with one whose name started with an X)

    Damn, I missed it. But the Ocean Marketing guy was hilarious. :P

  • LadyRhianLadyRhian Member Posts: 14,694
    @Jean_Luc This guy was just annoying. One of his arguments was over someone using the word "argument" with him. He freaked out. "I"M NOT ARGUING!" was repeated several times from his end. Other threads characterized the posters as "Morons" and "Children" and claimed he was being harrassed and flamed and that the poster would lose their account. He even dared argue with the moderator when the moderator told him he had it exactly backwards. The Forums are better off, let me tell you.
  • Jean_LucJean_Luc Member Posts: 228
    edited August 2012
    Oh yes, I remember now. Caught it pretty late.

    My personally most hated troll archetype is the "messiah". The messiah is a person with such visionary ideas about how things should be done (how a game/mod should be developed typically) that to defy him is cast thyself into the pit of the lowest kind of ignorance and close-mindedness. If the messiah's vision is not followed then the game/mod is predestined for failure unless the masses awaken to the Truth. The power and scale of the messiah's vision is only matched by his ignorance of the development process as well as his inability to recognize the basic impracticality of his ideas, the demanding tone notwithstanding.

    To be fair, the messiah isn't really a troll, just very misguided.
  • KnettgummiKnettgummi Member Posts: 152
    Everyone, everywhere are nice and polite compared to the D3 forums, TBH.
  • JaysamaJaysama Member Posts: 66
    I've always said the Blizzard forums were horrible because they neglected to ban the people who ruined the community since it was potentially a loss of cash. (World of Warcraft subscription) It made sense, in an unfair sort of way.

    Then Diablo 3 released and the forums continued to be unmoderated.

    I lost respect for Blizzard then, realizing that they simply just didn't feel like allocating the human resources required to run a clean forum.

    I think it's safe to say that personal insults, all capslock, and silly one word responses don't deserve to be on any forum and if Blizzard took the time to punish those people then the forums would be worth using. Until then it's the same as it's always has been: getting spammed relentlessly with useless text that offers no intellegence and highly discourages back and forth conversations.
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