Throughout times, we've experienced the worse of the worse. As players, we've suffered from terrible incidents that resulted in us losing our characters, items, or even our account due to another player's desire to obtain what you have. Not only that, when was the last time you've gone into a Player Versus Player server or room without being called a 'noob' for the most unreasonable thing the person could come up with? It's come to my attention that gamers are no longer the 'passive' gamers they used to be; instead, they're trained and then normally stolen off of the person who worked so hard for it. This isn't always the case, but these times in MMO history are darker than any other. I've seen articles resembling "Was <year> the worse/best year for MMOGs?" popping up; and to my dismay, they don't seem to have any background information about how MMOs used to be.

The time before we all gave up hope..

Needless to say it wasn't always like this. There were times before all of the hype of being 'the best character' existed. Once upon a time, there were players who only wanted to enjoy the embrace of a good game with a bunch of like-minded players who enjoyed the game as much as they did. Player versus Player was 'introduced' to the environment, but it wasn't nearly as vicious as the feature seems to be nowadyas in an MMO. What's changed? Has the focus of the individual companies caused us players to be pitted against each other in the most harsh of situations? Or is it just that the demographic of gamers have changed, only a slight variation? The younger generation of gamers have become adults, serious about gaming; while those who are fresh on the scene are picking put the notorious negativity of gaming.

Whatever the case, communities seem to be dying...and fast. We are no longer focused on parties, guilds, and friends. Instead, most players are only out to make sure that their character(s) are at a reasonably high level so that they can make yet another character to do the same exact thing with. We've lose the focus that bonded us gamers. It feels like we've lost all hope in making actual contact with the outside world through the "Art of Gaming". With communities dying out and guilds only formed so they can handle the larger missions or bosses together (instead of dying due to an unsolo'able' monster/dungeon), what is the next thing we can do to stop this from getting any worse?

As the topic suggestions: Are we friends or enemies? Do you still care about what happens to someone you don't know, as long as you play the same game with them? Are you too competitive to see the blind spot of how the greatest of 'rivals' are normally the best of friends? How do you feel when someone gets scammed and they asked you in-game for some in-game money or some lower level equipment? Most likely, when someone approaches you asking you for items, equipment, or money - you intially wonder why they can't get it their self and move on with your day as though it wasn't that important. That's how tainted the communities in our beloved games have become these days. No longer are we able to trust the next random fellow that pops around asking for some assistance; instead, we're lead to believe they could be lying to us just to get some extra money, equipment, or otherwise.

Meridian 59 - one of the first out there....and still a classic.

What is left of a community when we no longer can trust the rest of our fellow players? Very close to nothing, that's what is left after all of the destruction that these type of players have caused for all players, not just those who are paranoid about being scammed or phished. With people so worried about being ripped off in their virtual domain, those who actually need assistance in some form or another tend to become part of those who are ignored completely as though they were the riff-raff of gaming. It'll never be fair as long as we cannot take the initative to actually try to assist all fellow players, unless you have a very strong reason for believing they're going to scam you. Even so, what's a few level 0-10 equipment when you're in your 40's to 50's? Nothing, respectively. So it isn't as though you'd be going out of your way to appeal to these people; most of the times anyways.

What are companies doing about this 'distrust'? Some are implementing more unique ways of trading items, so that it's more difficult to get 'scammed' by the more commonly used tactics by these notorious players. Others are trying to bind the community together by participating in Party Quests, Guild Quests, and even...(yep, ironically enough) Guild Versus Guild. But what happens when the drama jumps up to the next level because of these things? Even the most simple and relaxing environments have become infected by the general rubbish of one or two players' bad attitudes. It just continues until someone cannot take it any more and starts trying to work around the system. Some of the more well-known situations are (for instance) MapleStory's Party Quests. There was an exploit that allowed characters to 'abuse' the Party Quest in order to get massive amount of experience for doing practically nothing. Even still, people are abusing an exploit in the Henesys Party Quest in order to 'smuggle' items out and bypass the entire thing as quickly as possible (jumping up levels for some low-leveled character). MapleStory isn't the only that suffers from such problems; but it's one of the few I know the best that have been plagued by players looking for an 'easy level'.

Is this anything about the grind? Is this because people are too lazy or bothered by how much time it takes to get a level in the game that they have any focus on? Thing is, the reason changes for just about every person who's doing these things that disrupts the community on catastrophic levels. Segregation occurs in-game between players who think that they're too "pro" to associate with the lower levels, or those who think that a particular guild or party or person 'hacks' (or abused exploits) to get an unknown amount of levels - so they do not speak or associate with them either. To assume, as they say, make an ass out of "you" and "me". We players shouldn't assume the worst about a player just because they're doing something against the rules; in some cases anyways. If you befriend them, chances are you'll find out their true intentions. Yet, you can't particularly 'betray' them just because you cannot justify such madness yourself. Just remember, a player is a player. The game is there solely to have fun and not to be the best of anything, no matter how much the pressure seems like.
This is why we have websites like MMOsite and fanbased sites, because we want to form a community but too scared to have a community in-game itself because of all of the corruption. There are times where we simply need to suck in our gut, tug our tails between our legs, and actually try to make friends with anyone. Of course if you help someone, they'll expect more help. But one should inform the person of how much help you're able (or wanting) to give in total prior to adding them to your buddy list or otherwise. Who knows? You might just make a good friend out of the whole thing, or at least a loyal 'worshipper' who's thankful for all of your help through the days/weeks/months you've given them.

Now before you close this article, you should think to yourself how you (yourself) can help another player out there. It doesn't mean you have to be "pro". Heck, you could just go out there and find a few guides for a person if you know any good websites or forum threads that gives the information the person is looking for. If you decline a few moments of your time for a fellow player, can you realistically expect someone to help you when you need it? Karma happens, and it's bound to come around sooner or later in the same way you dished it out (positive or negative). Do you think you can make some poor person in-game a little happier with some information? If not, why not? It's not that difficult. I'm not having a go at you, just try to think about how you're meant to form friends and community when you're not open to put your hand out there first.

Thanks everyone, for reading this. This article is only Part One of my series about Community Focus. I'm expecting to do player interviews (different games) and more articles about similar topics of interest about the community of MMOGs in general. You all take care and have fun gaming! Ciao a tutti!