I’m genuinely curious about this one, so indulge me. From my vantage, it’s seemed to me that casual discussion of politics inside MMOs has escalated. Yes, there were always idiots trolling every game’s general chat about the daily politic, and yes, mature guilds probably always had deep discussions about taboo topics. But I sense that it’s bubbling over much more than it used to be. And I’m wondering how you all handle it.
For example, my guild is ancient and embraces “be excellent to each other” rather stringently, but even we have shifted our political discussions into a separate space in the last couple of years, not so much to avoid offending anyone as to avoid drowning our guild chit-chat in what are frankly depressing and fury-inducing links and issues. None of us can really stomach a constant stream of that, so splitting it off means it’s there when people can handle it and out of sight when people really just can’t.
But for general MMOs? If I see a bunch of kids – or adults who should know better – ramping up a pointless political “debate” inside an MMO, I just block ’em. Not in my precious fun times! Thank u, next! Go troll Twitter or something.
How do you and your guild handle political discussions inside MMOs? (Please note, this is not an invitation to start a political flamewar in our comments!)
Every morning, the Massively Overpowered writers team up with mascot Mo to ask MMORPG players pointed questions about the massively multiplayer online roleplaying genre. Grab a mug of your preferred beverage and take a stab at answering the question posed in today’s Daily Grind!
