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This topic has moved here: Subject: Generational Gaps and How They Affect a Community
  • Subject: Generational Gaps and How They Affect a Community
Subject: Generational Gaps and How They Affect a Community

@spawn031

"So much of what we do is ephemeral and quickly forgotten, even by ourselves, so it's gratifying to have something you have done linger in people's memories." John Williams

Each individual's views alone are only based off of prior experiences with any community. What you're showing in the OP is not only what happens with bungie.net, but any community (not even just online ones). Look at the workforce for example. You start your way out at the bottom, as time goes on you learn different tricks of the trade and work your way up the ladder.

However, judging all of this from bungie.net in it's current state would be inaccurate. When was the last time Bungie was flat out dark? It hasn't been this way before - since there was always a game or Weekly Updates to look forward too. I find that the older users get the more adapt they are to "sticking with their kind" so to speak. That initial community that you first interacted with on the site, is going to be the most memorable for you. Which is different for everyone. Once we have all these sub communities they function in different ways - which is where you see conflict, you point them out nicely in the OP.

Once you hit the top of the food chain, you've decided that you're done with it. Everything that is being done is just old hat to you, in one form or another you've seen how things are done. Not just around here, but in any community or workplace. You find different ways to approach things, but they're not really that different. They're different because the younger generation doesn't know the habits simply because they weren't there for the time being.

Clashes of generations aren't bad. In fact, I think it's one of those things that strengthen the community. Sure you can have guys that have been around for a while see all the repeat threads and idea, but to watch the younger guys/gals see their approach on it might change the way the community as a whole sees a line of thought.

[Edited on 06.14.2012 7:55 AM PDT]

  • 06.14.2012 7:51 AM PDT

GGGGGGggggggggggggGGGG

So we here at BNet must, at this point, especially in the community forum more so than anywhere else, that there are clearly defined generational divides between members of the community.
Is there a word missing here?

  • 06.14.2012 7:55 AM PDT

Key


Posted by: Skibur
I stopped reading at 'yoots'.

What on earth is a yoot!?
It's a reference to "My Cousin Vinny". I will remove it if the great Skibur is so enraged by its use.

  • 06.14.2012 7:58 AM PDT

Gauss Cannon Ownage

I will, however, confirm that the Assault Rifle fires projectiles. At the moment, at least. We might just end up turning it into a melee-only weapon.

That was a joke.

I used to be be under 20 on these forums... Now I am not. Sadly I have not changed that much.

  • 06.14.2012 8:07 AM PDT

Key


Posted by: spawn031
However, judging all of this from bungie.net in it's current state would be inaccurate. When was the last time Bungie was flat out dark?
This is a valid point. When there is a game out (presently), everybody can discuss it. The way games are now, they're not Pacman or Super Mario Bros. They're not two-dimensional games with a limited number of ways in which to play them.

When a new game is out, there's constantly new developments coming out of it. New ways to do old things, and old spins on new things. Now on BNet, the conversation (in the community forum, anyway) has amounted to philosophical discussions that amount to discussing ideals that people have established either in adolescence or so long ago that to attempt to convert them to a different manner of thinking via an impersonal conversation such as the one had over text on an internet forum is mad.

These are conversations that boil down to "What makes a social network a social network?" (in the "Should we add Notifications?" threads). "How much thought should be put into an idea before you share it with others?" while not necessarily a direct topic of discussion (though I'm going to lock that one away for a thread at a later date), comes up a lot and dates back to that kid in elementary school who felt the need to let everyone know on a constant and consistent basis that he did, in fact, know how to add and subtract exponentially better than the rest of you and called out answers at every opportunity.

These deep discussions (or, at least, deep-ish) are the kinds of things that can foster a lot of intelligent debate if everyone plays along. But, it's a lot easier to have discussions about more superficial things like the importance of a kill/death ratio or one weapon in a video game versus another. Those things can go out and be immediately tested on the rare occasion that "Oh yeah?! Well then 1v1 me, bro!" becomes an actual suggestion and not an empty threat. Those kinds of conversations can be had on their most basic levels and people's opinions on them can constantly change based on their constant adjustment of how they play the game. One day you love the BR because you're playing a lot of Swat, the next day you favor snipers because you just won ten in a row in the playlist of the same name.

My point is that superficial conversations are much easier to have, especially when they're based on a constantly changing game (like the Halo games were), while these philosophical debates (a bit like the one in this thread) can become more stagnant after a while if one does nothing to attempt to add a bit of flavor to and alter a bit the conversation itself (something I think I've done quite nicely here; you may disagree).

  • 06.14.2012 8:14 AM PDT

Key


Posted by: Adamcunn
So we here at BNet must, at this point, especially in the community forum more so than anywhere else, address the fact that there are clearly defined generational divides between members of the community.
Is there a word missing here?
There were three. Thank you for that.

  • 06.14.2012 8:16 AM PDT

Key


Posted by: Nerd Boi
Posted by: CrazzySnipe55
This is also, regrettably, a generation that gets a reputation both simultaneously undeserved to the last complaint thread, and at the same time fully deserved from all those unmistakably present threads in MM about "User X".
For what its worth, there are exactly two threads with a member named in the title on the front page of mythix right now, and both are related to ingroup happenings rather than laughing at how stupid User X is.

See we hide that inside the threads to make it slightly harder to screencap and leak.
And that's fine. I just had to think of the most notorious happening of Mythix making fun of other members and whatnot. It just happened to be an easy target for exemplification.

  • 06.14.2012 8:28 AM PDT
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"Both optimists and pessimists contribute to our society. The optimist invents the airplane and the pessimist the parachute. " ~Gil Stern

"The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits." ~Albert Einstein

"What did I just drink?"~Socrates

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Posted by: CrazzySnipe55

Posted by: Nerd Boi
Posted by: CrazzySnipe55
This is also, regrettably, a generation that gets a reputation both simultaneously undeserved to the last complaint thread, and at the same time fully deserved from all those unmistakably present threads in MM about "User X".
For what its worth, there are exactly two threads with a member named in the title on the front page of mythix right now, and both are related to ingroup happenings rather than laughing at how stupid User X is.

See we hide that inside the threads to make it slightly harder to screencap and leak.
And that's fine. I just had to think of the most notorious happening of Mythix making fun of other members and whatnot. It just happened to be an easy target for exemplification.

You do realize most "popular" groups do the same exact thing all the time?

I wish I wasn't on my phone so I could post a legitimate response to this thread.

  • 06.14.2012 8:36 AM PDT

Key


Posted by: drummer0702

Posted by: CrazzySnipe55

Posted by: Nerd Boi
Posted by: CrazzySnipe55
This is also, regrettably, a generation that gets a reputation both simultaneously undeserved to the last complaint thread, and at the same time fully deserved from all those unmistakably present threads in MM about "User X".
For what its worth, there are exactly two threads with a member named in the title on the front page of mythix right now, and both are related to ingroup happenings rather than laughing at how stupid User X is.

See we hide that inside the threads to make it slightly harder to screencap and leak.
And that's fine. I just had to think of the most notorious happening of Mythix making fun of other members and whatnot. It just happened to be an easy target for exemplification.

You do realize most "popular" groups do the same exact thing all the time?

I wish I wasn't on my phone so I could post a legitimate response to this thread.
Oh I know*. It's just those groups aren't associated with a specific generation.

It was just an easy target. I know it isn't as bad or occurs as often as it's implied in the OP.

*it's part of the reason I've never had much interest in groups

  • 06.14.2012 8:43 AM PDT

Generational divide or bust.

Of course there is going to be differentiation in members depending on join date. Everybody here is their own person and have come along at one point in time. Whether they joined in '02 or '12 it makes no difference to me.

There are a lot of members that joined before me and there have been a lot that have joined after me. It is the quality that matters, and we see quality in every "generation" of members.

Looking forward to the new people who will join because of Destiny will be a whole new hill to climb and I am looking forward to it. As for now, we are basically all of the pre-Destiny generation in my eyes.

  • 06.14.2012 10:20 AM PDT
  •  | 
  • Exalted Legendary Member

common sense is not commonly used

I feel we should do what Bungie does each year and have a gaming tournament. We might even be able to get the bungie teams to lead the charge for each generation. grizzled elders, etc.

  • 06.14.2012 10:28 AM PDT

Key


Posted by: Blam417
I feel we should do what Bungie does each year and have a gaming tournament. We might even be able to get the bungie teams to lead the charge for each generation. grizzled elders, etc.
While possibly causing animosity, I feel like (as long as it was done the right way) that could also manifest a better feeling of togetherness as a community when we're in a period of time where all the Septagon can do at the moment is talk either about things relating to those divides, employees, ninjas, or how much we LOVE Bungie.

TooWeirdlyPhrased;DidNotGet: Yes.

[Edited on 06.14.2012 10:36 AM PDT]

  • 06.14.2012 10:36 AM PDT

Old school Bungie, born and raised,
In the Septagon is where I spend most of my days.
Relaxin', maxin', posting all cool,
Talking about Halo, life and some school.
Got in one little argument, and the mods got scared,
they said "You're gonna get banned and your member title'll be bare!"

There really isn't going to be any "togetherness" until there's something to be together for.

Once we get a new game, new opinion lines will be drawn. Until then, the only thing we have is politics and member titles, and we aren't allowed to talk about politics.

  • 06.14.2012 10:40 AM PDT

Love is our weapon. <3

I came in at a young age and waiting a couple of years before I started posts, scarce at that.

  • 06.14.2012 11:34 AM PDT

Key


Posted by: HEAD_SHOT
I came in at a young age and waiting a couple of years before I started posts, scarce at that.
I'm not entirely sure what that has to do with the differences between the generations on BNet.

  • 06.14.2012 6:12 PM PDT

I hate old people I'm never gonna be one I hate old people

  • 06.14.2012 6:31 PM PDT

I think there will always be generational gaps. It just depends what you take from it. The younger will learn from the older and the older will learn from younger.

  • 06.14.2012 6:46 PM PDT

Posted by: AngryBrute1
Oh yeah, since somebody does not believe what YOU believe; that makes us vapid...
I cannot grasp that what you call "Something happened to nothing, and that nothing became something, and it was smaller than than a period."

Older folks=wisdom.
Younger folks=people who crave knowledge.

  • 06.14.2012 6:53 PM PDT
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Well, here we are. I guess that it was destined to come to this.

Lawn.


Mine.


You.


Off.

  • 06.14.2012 6:55 PM PDT

"Koolen, I lift skinny b*****s like you."
~Wise words of Shaka, part I.

Joined Sapphire: 11/19/2011 (Record Keeping)


Posted by: Recon Number 54
Lawn.
Mine.
You.
Off.


Most constructive response in this entire thread. Way to go, Beardyman.

Personally, I feel like I've fallen out of touch with the mains. I've found that private groups can be very... Attractive. They're so much more personal, even in some of the larger ones. I feel like in Minecrafters, I can post and be recognized by a few people. In other private groups, I've actually made friends.

However, on the mains I've come to find that it's harder to be recognized unless you're a Legendary/Blue Bar. I mean, yes, it's petty to think "They're internet famous, why aren't I?" but that comes with the gaps. Typically, on the mains, it's like this:

Member(Exceptions: Skibur)-Lol, good luck.
Heroic- Sounds familiar. Get out.
Legendary- Ohai. I remember you.
Mythic-Oh, look it's UserX again!
Ninjas/Mythix(In all reality, they are different)-OH MY GOD! MURPHY IT'S YOU!*

These gaps aren't pretty to newcomers. I've been here for a few years(Though my bar doesn't show much for it) and I personally don't like any main forum short of the Community, and even then there's elitisim that gets shuffled in every so often that can get annoying. But, as you said, this isn't unique to Bungie. I realized that on other sites that I helped carry through transitions, I saw hundreds of new members while I helped run the site. And I admit I did sort of look down on them. They weren't there for the Phoenix. They missed the Party '06. They missed the events that defined the group, as I knew it, and I was still there as it evolved, while they were just walking and the door and never saw it as it was.

I never saw Bungie in it's so called "golden age." I don't understand why Mythix look down on '09s. I don't understand why it's '04 or Bust. But I have to accept it, right? It's how the gaps work, in every community.

*Cookie for reference, mates.

Post Script: It's late, I haven't re-read this. I'm sorry if it comes off as stupid and unintelligent. I just sort of began typing and never stopped. If this rant of stupidity makes you think less of me, sorry. If it makes you think more of me sweet. That's not the goal in the long run. I just hope someone can get something out of this.

  • 06.14.2012 7:26 PM PDT
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  • Exalted Legendary Member

Bungie Day '11 Community Mosaic Thread

Posted by: Malloy05
everybody listen to mac2po he is 100% right

The oldies are definitely more well known (I don't know if respected is the right word) by the community. Some newbies get in their too if they are really active. Take me for example, I'm coming up to my 4th year here at B.net and I'm positive most of the people here hardly know me to do my spurts of inactivity.

Basically, yes I see a bunch of the older guys taking part in community carnage's with some newbies in there too. The gap isn't that large, probably only affecting things like private groups (Mythic members and legendary member groups).

  • 06.14.2012 7:29 PM PDT

Spread the love...

Posted by: SundaliusNicely written. I agree with all your points.

  • 06.14.2012 7:31 PM PDT

Basically, I make the best topics ever.

Feedback!
Duardo: This thread is locked for being stupid.
cortana 5 : It's perpetually my time of the month and I'm just grouchy.
Foman: I see absolutely no reason, either theoretical or practical, that this is not a superb idea. Excellent work, my friend.

Why does everyone feel the need to separate the community?

  • 06.14.2012 7:32 PM PDT

"Koolen, I lift skinny b*****s like you."
~Wise words of Shaka, part I.

Joined Sapphire: 11/19/2011 (Record Keeping)


Posted by: HOOBLA 911
Posted by: SundaliusNicely written. I agree with all your points.


So it wasn't an incoherent piece of crap? Thank god. I don't feel like too much of an idiot now.

  • 06.14.2012 7:35 PM PDT