I have noticed quite a bit during my times here and as a final thread I would like to comment and dissect these events to show others how I have viewed the decline of this community. I feel obligated by my own intelligence to show my interpretation of all things I have witnessed.
I want to begin by highlighting one of the more popular boards, General Discussion. Never in my life have I ever seen such amounts of blind and unadulterated hate in a forum. In the past years, I have seen such silly arguments pop up directly insulting the game (which I will agree to has lost much of its grandeur due to simplistic gameplay, no real changes, and competition). And the hate wasn't always directed towards the game, but at the Administration (which was sometimes warranted) and other members. GD was filled to the brim with underage kids complaining about how they could not understand how to play the game and so in turn, decided to make that forum a hellhole. Two of the more common topics were the adult advertisements and the links to any supposed Chinese gold farmers. Lot of discontent for no real reason. But even the unneeded and overly done conflicts committed by the forumers there provided entertainment for the rest of us.
Now, to another popular board, I am target Off Topic Discussion. There, they do not thrive on hate but more on unwarranted self-importance and circlejerks. If you look at the list of members by reputation you will see mods, admins, and lots of members with multiples bars of reputation. These bars were farmed without mercy in Off Topic. For months people would have in their sig text asking for reputation and would promise a repback. The only system to accurately judge the value of a member was broken there by the hordes of members that wanted multiple, almost microscopic, green bars. But there are worse things there just unwarranted self-importance. With the strictest and, as far as I am concerned, stupid rules governing what can and cannot be discussed on these, there is no true inspiration for creative and intelligent discussion. Off-Topic exists to cater to those that cannot focus on any topic for a nominal length of time. Instead, denizens of the realm focus on spam games that increase their post count and continue the decline of the community. The only good thing to come out of Off Topic was its *******ized child, Seriously Off Topic, but even that lost value when the rules were not laxed enough to bring about any forum of debate. Now, both forums exist to discuss, at minor length, news that exists outside of religion, politics, etc. Debate only exists by implications and not by true discussion.
The Server forums are a place I have not spent most of my time so I will award them the prize of best forum grouping for at least keeping themselves independent from the, what I consider, the worst sections of the forums. Congrats, Server forums. I am always thinking of you, Comrade FatZero.
A relatively new invention of this forum were the ranks, and with them the privileges associated with them. One of these privileges was apparently disregarded. Red rep. Apparently, no one on these forums can take any sort of criticism and must hide behind the facade of green rep to feel important enough to this community. If you feel you are one of these I invite you to one of my bi-monthly seminars dealing with self-esteem. Red rep gives some power, although minuscule, to the average posters. It shows discontent with others personalities and posting styles. To get rid of this brings us back to the past of circlejerking and mindless self-induced lust. If the administration wished to fix any sort of problems with the system they should have completely removed it. Green rep is unimportant if you can't have red rep.
What I desired truly was an open forum, where dialogue could be given from one to another. I desired a place where we could discuss to any length what we wanted with our friends here. I wanted a place of camaraderie but at the same time conflict so that we could build up our relationships and our character. I desired an e-home where one could feel safe in the comfort of others. Instead, I have witnessed the opposite. There is no evolution of character, no strength building. There is no desire to better oneself. Evony has become like a virus. People exist just to become popular and overwhelm the system for no true real reason.
I open criticism. I welcome discontent. Share your thoughts and minds for once. Express some individuality. Tell me a tale of yours perhaps. Or just maybe prove that I am completely and utterly wrong.
