The above post reminded me of something that I read earlier in regards to an actual roleplay topic (on tumblr) but was what I see more geared towards tabletop roleplay than MMORPG roleplay however it still applies.
http://www.giantitp.com/articles/tll307K...6efFP.html
The article goes on to describe situations where a character might react a certain way to a certain situation. (Someone steals something, someone else finds stealing is wrong. The person decided that the thief needed to leave the party or the person would leave.) Instead of being adamant about the ultimatum given and thus driving much discord into the small group of roleplayers, the player who thought the thief was wrong could have said or done different things that would be in-character. This is what -we- choose to do.
The point was that, we are a community, trying to keep and foster the community. If we didn't care, we wouldn't say a thing. There were a few who had voiced it outside of RPC that they found themselves coming less and less or wondering if they should visit less and less because of things. But, for me, I wouldn't keep coming to check on things if I didn't care. We -do- care and that's probably why some things get heated. So if we care, I do, I will continue to try and do my best to better how I react and thus treat the community better. Is it truly worth it to keep arguing something to the point of being condescending (which I believe is what starts to get people heated. They feel like someone doesn't treat their opinion with as much "worth" or that it is inferior / it doesn't matter).
I posted one of the posts elsewhere, but I think that myself and in general everyone can stand to be heated in their discussions/debates/what have you. Keep it from shouting matches. Keep it from personal attacks. You think it's going nowhere? Leave the topic; don't post things that "everyone knows" will just end up de-railing the thread and locking it. Instead of stopping the discussion, those who are taking it too far should be notified and/or dealt with that what they're doing needs to cool down.
edit: tl;dr : We choose how we react, bad or good. Our actions should be made with the thought "Is this going to help or better the community?" I'll own up to the fact that I've gotten quite upset about posts or threads I've made and someone makes a post that adds no discussion except to make a snarky post about it.
http://www.giantitp.com/articles/tll307K...6efFP.html
The article goes on to describe situations where a character might react a certain way to a certain situation. (Someone steals something, someone else finds stealing is wrong. The person decided that the thief needed to leave the party or the person would leave.) Instead of being adamant about the ultimatum given and thus driving much discord into the small group of roleplayers, the player who thought the thief was wrong could have said or done different things that would be in-character. This is what -we- choose to do.
The point was that, we are a community, trying to keep and foster the community. If we didn't care, we wouldn't say a thing. There were a few who had voiced it outside of RPC that they found themselves coming less and less or wondering if they should visit less and less because of things. But, for me, I wouldn't keep coming to check on things if I didn't care. We -do- care and that's probably why some things get heated. So if we care, I do, I will continue to try and do my best to better how I react and thus treat the community better. Is it truly worth it to keep arguing something to the point of being condescending (which I believe is what starts to get people heated. They feel like someone doesn't treat their opinion with as much "worth" or that it is inferior / it doesn't matter).
I posted one of the posts elsewhere, but I think that myself and in general everyone can stand to be heated in their discussions/debates/what have you. Keep it from shouting matches. Keep it from personal attacks. You think it's going nowhere? Leave the topic; don't post things that "everyone knows" will just end up de-railing the thread and locking it. Instead of stopping the discussion, those who are taking it too far should be notified and/or dealt with that what they're doing needs to cool down.
edit: tl;dr : We choose how we react, bad or good. Our actions should be made with the thought "Is this going to help or better the community?" I'll own up to the fact that I've gotten quite upset about posts or threads I've made and someone makes a post that adds no discussion except to make a snarky post about it.
