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  • Subject: Generational Gaps and How They Affect a Community
Subject: Generational Gaps and How They Affect a Community

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Posted by: HeyBlade789
Admittedly, i always get annoyed when there is a new influx of members on the forum, they are here for the game that's just come out, as opposed to the community, they stay in their forums and seem particularly self righteous, what i do like however, is when these members do stick around and begin assimilating into the community, it makes it all worthwhile!
Yeah. The whole being annoyed that someone doesn't how things "go" around here (I.E. the particular brand of subtle sarcasm that seems to be the weapon of choice for most Mythix in the war against linear and boring forum experiences) is a bit of a silly thing to admit you get annoyed at because of the fact that it's really unavoidable as a new member unless you pull a Helveck and lurk for four years. But, at the same time, everyone has to deal with newbies being newbies and the way you deal with it is usually directly indicative of two things:

1. The way YOU were received as a new member.
2. The way you felt about how you were received and "welcomed".

But its how quickly or how well they then integrate into BNet as a community (if they do at all) and not treat it as just, for example, a place to make an account to ask how to get blue flames, that is really the thing that allows you to judge them as a not-so-naïve member and as a legitimate part of the community.

Not quite sure how much sense that made since I wrote it off and on over about half an hour but...... Yeah.

  • 06.15.2012 8:26 AM PDT

Known by some, but not by all.
Soffish: Do not eat!
TWP Assistant Director.

I see what you did thar!

All I can sat is that this is a place for all ages. I learn from people older than me as well as people younger than me.

~Delta
Posted by: x Foman123 x

Posted by: drummer0702
One of things I hate most is younger members pretending to have been at places or in situations that clearly predated them.
So true. We never had this problem back in 04/05.

  • 06.15.2012 9:18 AM PDT

Old School

roflcopter, now get off my porch!

Posted by: x Foman123 x

Posted by: drummer0702
One of things I hate most is younger members pretending to have been at places or in situations that clearly predated them.
So true. We never had this problem back in 04/05.

  • 06.15.2012 9:56 AM PDT

"That's about all that can be said for plots, which anyway are just one thing after another, a what and a what and a what.

Now try how and why."

Wait, so I'm an old member? I don't feel that old.

Now please excuse me while I go watch The Price is Right and fall asleep on a rocking chair.

  • 06.15.2012 10:36 PM PDT
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  • Exalted Mythic Member

I came for Halo, but I heard the Tru7h, fought thru Carnage, and stayed for Bungie.

No one cares how much you know, until they know how much you care.--Teddy Roosevelt

Ever since I started working as a camp counselor during the summers, I have grown quite attached to guiding others to a better level of understanding in whatever matter that is at hand. I hope to relish this same enthusiasm for new members online, but I also fear I might instead become jaded and tired of the constant barrage of unlearned members. Seriously, I don't know how I'll be able to function on these forums if our intelligent conversations are buried within a couple of minutes.

  • 06.15.2012 11:13 PM PDT

Key


Posted by: CoRaMo
Ever since I started working as a camp counselor during the summers, I have grown quite attached to guiding others to a better level of understanding in whatever matter that is at hand. I hope to relish this same enthusiasm for new members online, but I also fear I might instead become jaded and tired of the constant barrage of unlearned members. Seriously, I don't know how I'll be able to function on these forums if our intelligent conversations are buried within a couple of minutes.
Much the same point HeyBlade brought up where the younger generation may not (and, in the past has not) been able to adjust to the level of basic conversation used here, nor may they be able to (for some reason) grasp fully the concept of the community as we know it and function along side it as a regular member. Obviously there's a point towards the beginning of the non adaptive curve where it's, not so much our duty as it is our pleasure to be able to tell them how things tend to go 'round these parts as well as the basics of the forums etc. But there does indeed come an indeterminate point where teaching becomes reteaching and the pleasure of guiding slowly turns in to monotony and annoyances.

That's just how it goes, I suppose. You help guide until the newbies lack of adjustment becomes too much or until you've guided one too many, then you just stop caring and there'll be two or three more to take your place.

  • 06.16.2012 6:59 AM PDT

"That's about all that can be said for plots, which anyway are just one thing after another, a what and a what and a what.

Now try how and why."


Posted by: CoRaMo
Ever since I started working as a camp counselor during the summers,


A fellow counselor? Woot!

I have grown quite attached to guiding others to a better level of understanding in whatever matter that is at hand. I hope to relish this same enthusiasm for new members online, but I also fear I might instead become jaded and tired of the constant barrage of unlearned members. Seriously, I don't know how I'll be able to function on these forums if our intelligent conversations are buried within a couple of minutes.

While it would be impossible to individually guide every new member that comes on b.net, I think that there is something to be said for "leading by example." Sure, you might not have the immediate feedback, but if people see the members with the fancy hats talking like adults, they'll probably want to imitate them. Remember, you don't always see how people react to your post, but I know that the way certain members act has had a large effect on how I form myself as an individual on these forums.

Posted by: HeyBlade789
Admittedly, i always get annoyed when there is a new influx of members on the forum, they are here for the game that's just come out, as opposed to the community, they stay in their forums and seem particularly self righteous, what i do like however, is when these members do stick around and begin assimilating into the community, it makes it all worthwhile!


While I can understand the temptation to want to view a new influx of members as, in effect, an invasion of little barbarians who must be civilized before it is too late, I think a better role for older members would be to make b.net welcoming. Too often I see people asking honest questions getting railed with condescending and sardonic answers. Sometimes they'll bring up a subject which, while being new for them, is immediately dismissed as old. Sure, one might argue that such is the way of every forum on the internet, but if being an "old member" really counts for anything, it'll have to be better than the norm.

  • 06.16.2012 8:26 AM PDT

"Hero's Get Remembered, But Legends Never Die. Follow Your Heart, And You Can Never Go Wrong."

___________(""""II"""" ; ;II""""")_TT______
I ---------____.`=====.-. :________\___|================[oo]
I_III___/___/_/~"""I_I_I_I'''

To put it all into the simplest terms possible: Regardless of the generation, each one thinks that they themselves are right, the other is wrong, and they will go many lengths to justify that.

Edit: ...However true or real, or, lacking of, ground that justification holds, they will still hold their ground on the point they are defending. (Or attacking for that matter.)

[Edited on 06.16.2012 8:37 AM PDT]

  • 06.16.2012 8:36 AM PDT
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ODST Expeditionary Force I The WorkPLace I Mythics
Technically Mythic
Posted by: Cobravert
I just saw a green monkey nut shot a small tan lizard(?) in a gunny sack.


Posted by: CrazzySnipe55

Finally, the group that, let's be honest, should be two due to the huge difference between people like Halo53 and someone who made their account on June 14th, 2009 and is just now getting that blue bar, the Mythics. This is the generation where you can become semi-famous (a made up adjective of the highest prestige 'round these parts), or at the very least become a name that someone can look at and recall having existed before "just now". This is the generation Ninjas are pulled from. This is the generation people want to be. This is the generation so cool that they made a group about how cool they were and then had other generations make an inferior group so that they too could pretend to be cool whilst waiting on the roster in Scranton-Wilkes Barre to be called up to NYC.

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". The word "elitism" is thrown around a lot. Some might argue more than it should. I would agree with "some".

I don't think the Mythics get a good rap considering most of them are just snarky and sarcastic because they're looking for a new way to respond to how they feel about a notification system or custom avis, having already done so fifty times previously. But that's just me.



Wow, that's an awful lot of assumptions about a user group/private group you know next-to-nothing about. You seem upset.

[Edited on 06.16.2012 9:06 AM PDT]

  • 06.16.2012 9:06 AM PDT

Key


Posted by: chubbz

Posted by: CrazzySnipe55

Finally, the group that, let's be honest, should be two due to the huge difference between people like Halo53 and someone who made their account on June 14th, 2009 and is just now getting that blue bar, the Mythics. This is the generation where you can become semi-famous (a made up adjective of the highest prestige 'round these parts), or at the very least become a name that someone can look at and recall having existed before "just now". This is the generation Ninjas are pulled from. This is the generation people want to be. This is the generation so cool that they made a group about how cool they were and then had other generations make an inferior group so that they too could pretend to be cool whilst waiting on the roster in Scranton-Wilkes Barre to be called up to NYC.

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". The word "elitism" is thrown around a lot. Some might argue more than it should. I would agree with "some".

I don't think the Mythics get a good rap considering most of them are just snarky and sarcastic because they're looking for a new way to respond to how they feel about a notification system or custom avis, having already done so fifty times previously. But that's just me.



Wow, that's an awful lot of assumptions about a user group/private group you know next-to-nothing about. You seem upset.
Upset? No. Quite the opposite. I have a lot -- well, a reasonable amount -- of respect for Mythics. They've all been here and managed to have some sort of reason for coming back along with still finding some level of enjoyment in the site, and for that I commend them.

As for the assumptions I've made, I don't see how I can have done anything else. How is it possible to make a not-so-retrospective and yet still presently relevant thread about different generations on BNet without either cutting the threads length in half owing to the fact that I have not and am not apart of 50% of the generations/user groups on the site, which would then have amounted to a less than mediocre blog thread about my experiences when I was a member and over the past few days as a Hero, or instead doing what I did and making educated guesses about user groups and private groups that I have not been, am not now, or may never be in?

Also, in other posts I've made in this thread, (namely in response to, I believe it was drummer and Nerd Boi but I could be wrong) I thought anyway, that I'd made it fairly clear that I had used the "threads about User X" Example mainly as hyperbole, again because I don't know about those groups from any sort of direct experience so I needed to take from what I knew about it (and the boobs thread didn't seem applicable to this thread).

As for my comments about snarkiness and sarcasm from them, that's not being cited as a bad thing. Hell, I'm snarky and sarcastic sometimes. But the excessive use of snark and sarcasm is, from what I've gathered from posts from site veterans in the past (citations not available due to the authors handles being unknown), due to having talked about almost every topic imaginable upwards of dozens upon dozens of times and needing a new way to express themselves in a way that both entertains themselves and their fellow veterans.

I'm sorry if any assumptions I've made have cast you or any other Mythix in a bad light. I only meant to observe what I could.

  • 06.16.2012 9:46 AM PDT
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Anybody that joined after Reach's release seems to be a retarded -blam!-. Seriously. They call their opposition trolls, they act like -blam!- 9gaggers, and think that spam, quote storms, and -blam!- trolling is funny.

  • 06.16.2012 11:21 AM PDT

Key


Posted by: halomaster10144
Anybody that joined after Reach's release seems to be a retarded -blam!-. Seriously. They call their opposition trolls, they act like -blam!- 9gaggers, and think that spam, quote storms, and -blam!- trolling is funny.
I'm all for generalizations in lieu of naming every kind of person there is within a group, but there's generalizing and then there's hyperbole. I know it's just your opinion but I don't see how you can make that kind of generalization about a group that big. There's always the wannabe trolls in the flood and the inexperienced forum goers in the Reach Forum who speak in shorthand and act immaturely....

But that's quite a statement to make.

  • 06.16.2012 11:41 AM PDT
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ODST Expeditionary Force I The WorkPLace I Mythics
Technically Mythic
Posted by: Cobravert
I just saw a green monkey nut shot a small tan lizard(?) in a gunny sack.


Posted by: CrazzySnipe55

Posted by: chubbz

Posted by: CrazzySnipe55

Finally, the group that, let's be honest, should be two due to the huge difference between people like Halo53 and someone who made their account on June 14th, 2009 and is just now getting that blue bar, the Mythics. This is the generation where you can become semi-famous (a made up adjective of the highest prestige 'round these parts), or at the very least become a name that someone can look at and recall having existed before "just now". This is the generation Ninjas are pulled from. This is the generation people want to be. This is the generation so cool that they made a group about how cool they were and then had other generations make an inferior group so that they too could pretend to be cool whilst waiting on the roster in Scranton-Wilkes Barre to be called up to NYC.

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". The word "elitism" is thrown around a lot. Some might argue more than it should. I would agree with "some".

I don't think the Mythics get a good rap considering most of them are just snarky and sarcastic because they're looking for a new way to respond to how they feel about a notification system or custom avis, having already done so fifty times previously. But that's just me.



Wow, that's an awful lot of assumptions about a user group/private group you know next-to-nothing about. You seem upset.
Upset? No. Quite the opposite. I have a lot -- well, a reasonable amount -- of respect for Mythics. They've all been here and managed to have some sort of reason for coming back along with still finding some level of enjoyment in the site, and for that I commend them.

As for the assumptions I've made, I don't see how I can have done anything else. How is it possible to make a not-so-retrospective and yet still presently relevant thread about different generations on BNet without either cutting the threads length in half owing to the fact that I have not and am not apart of 50% of the generations/user groups on the site, which would then have amounted to a less than mediocre blog thread about my experiences when I was a member and over the past few days as a Hero, or instead doing what I did and making educated guesses about user groups and private groups that I have not been, am not now, or may never be in?

Also, in other posts I've made in this thread, (namely in response to, I believe it was drummer and Nerd Boi but I could be wrong) I thought anyway, that I'd made it fairly clear that I had used the "threads about User X" Example mainly as hyperbole, again because I don't know about those groups from any sort of direct experience so I needed to take from what I knew about it (and the boobs thread didn't seem applicable to this thread).

As for my comments about snarkiness and sarcasm from them, that's not being cited as a bad thing. Hell, I'm snarky and sarcastic sometimes. But the excessive use of snark and sarcasm is, from what I've gathered from posts from site veterans in the past (citations not available due to the authors handles being unknown), due to having talked about almost every topic imaginable upwards of dozens upon dozens of times and needing a new way to express themselves in a way that both entertains themselves and their fellow veterans.

I'm sorry if any assumptions I've made have cast you or any other Mythix in a bad light. I only meant to observe what I could.


I said that because to me, it seemed like you used the examples you did out of personal experience with Mythics and not based on actual history. Understandably so, since you're not Mythic and not in the group. I'm sure you were aware of that apparent bias, but it doesn't help a conversation of 'what do you think of generational gaps' when your view of the oldest group may subtly influence others views as well. Believe it or not, MM doesn't care that much about User X, or any other infamous members. We spend more time hating on each other than we do everyone else. Most people will come to find that their preconceptions about us were false once they reach that milestone.

  • 06.16.2012 12:21 PM PDT
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The End

‘The conscious is cancerous if allowed to linger’

"Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there."

Posted by: CrazzySnipe55
That's just how it goes, I suppose. You help guide until the newbies lack of adjustment becomes too much or until you've guided one too many, then you just stop caring and there'll be two or three more to take your place.
I used to be relatively verbose, now there is little that will ellicit more than a few lines from me and Foman would write a wall of text on his supper if you gave him the chance back in '06. I don't think it is that you stop caring, you just learn when it is worth bothering.


I skimmed through the OP and disagree with how you have tried to link reputation, even recognition, with stereotypes or title bars. What you are right about is that time will always factor into any community, however the extent of that time is not as long as you suggest, nor is it strictly tied to generations of users.

In the circles with which you associate you gradually become perceived not as a member, but as a person. Here the longer you have been around and the more you put into the community, the more you are given (whether positive or negative) in return.

I'll touch upon this idea of 'member' vs. 'person' very briefly to explain what I mean. A member is a person branded based not on their contributions but upon a stereotype assigned to their group. For example, 'anybody that joined after Reach's release seems to be a retarded -blam!-'. A 'person' has an identity associated with their username; they become more than text.

Now I need explain the other crucial element: 'the circle with which they associate'. It is always very difficult for newcomers to earn a place within any established circle. Voicing your opinion amongst so many others, who often hold similar views to yourself, is a virtually futile way of transcending beyond a stereotype and becoming a person, not a poster. Also, much like life, people always prefer to converse with those they know.

It is not however impossible to break in to a circle.

The easiest way to do it is through [relatively small] private groups, or a quiet public forums (like the community forum). This is the real life equivilent of regularly visiting a local pub or joining a club. There newbies are less frequent and are more a source of curiosity than frustration. Crucially, the hypothetical newbie is not competing with so many other unknowns. They then begin to be recognised and are, gradually, seen as a person (with a reptatation that evolves based upon contributions). Unless a person has an extreme characteristic (e.g. very annoying, very stupid, very witty) this is the best avenue through which they might form an identity and make friends.

This isn't school, where people are only friends with people in their year, it is that local club where teens are friends with people 20 years their senior. It takes time, but please do not think your 'generation' matters.

  • 06.16.2012 12:24 PM PDT
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This, pretty much. And it makes me feel old.
Posted by: ODSTFADE
I think the oldies are the wise and the more greater community members and they act as maturely as possible. While the younger generation tend to have more of a "questional" way of thinking. They don't get along as well as they should in my opinion.

  • 06.16.2012 1:11 PM PDT
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Posted by: CrazzySnipe55
But that's quite a statement to make.


No, it's really not. Back before Reach was released, the Halo forums and Flood were a lot more original and interesting. They were sarcastic, but they weren't smartass' and jerks.

I understand that not all post-Reach members are bad, but there sure are a lot (if not a majority).

  • 06.16.2012 2:03 PM PDT

Key


Posted by: chubbz
I said that because to me, it seemed like you used the examples you did out of personal experience with Mythics and not based on actual history. Understandably so, since you're not Mythic and not in the group. I'm sure you were aware of that apparent bias, but it doesn't help a conversation of 'what do you think of generational gaps' when your view of the oldest group may subtly influence others views as well. Believe it or not, MM doesn't care that much about User X, or any other infamous members. We spend more time hating on each other than we do everyone else. Most people will come to find that their preconceptions about us were false once they reach that milestone.
I get what you're saying. To be honest, all things considered, I probably should've waited a few years to make a thread like this considering the retrospectivity the idea itself invokes, but for whatever reason yesterday I was possessed to discuss generational gaps and how they affect a community.

Again, I do understand what you're saying about this and I probably shouldn't have made this thread with nothing more than a two year old account and doubly the amount of site experience.

Oh well. It's here.

  • 06.16.2012 2:54 PM PDT

Key


Posted by: Tom T
Heading out to dinner with family. I'll make a response when I come back.

Space: Reserved.

e: Okay, back.

While I understand what you mean about my, perhaps slightly off-target linking of reputation and recognition to account age, that still obviously factors in to it. There are very few people who, with a fairly regular posting consistency (10-20 ppd, give or take), from what I've seen who can establish any sort of identity within the community as a whole, or even in a specific forum. Don't get me wrong, I know that not every member above 4 years is going to be widely renowned throughout the site (exemplified by all the people who ask if GP is a new mod almost every time he posts in the Septagon). I'm just saying that account age (along with other factors such as likability as a person, post frequency, whether or not you were a ninja, whether or not you are a ninja, etc.) is one thing that can, over time, increase the rate at which your recognized at various parts of the site (or the site overall).

Obviously it's easier to become well recognized as a person and not a member outside of larger populations like The Flood and even the Reach Forum at its height, but that doesn't mean that account age and what generation you were "born" into can't also affect (greatly in some cases) your popularity on the site.

Other than the fact that they like to advertise how awesome they are on a regular basis, '04 mythics are mainly more popular on the Community Forum because they've been around more. They've had more time to establish themsleves so that they aren't just an avatar who says things or a nameless face in a crowd of thousands.

[Edited on 06.16.2012 5:47 PM PDT]

  • 06.16.2012 2:54 PM PDT

Please stop complaining about the 'death of a loved one' it's my job. They probably deserved it anyways. Here's a warning, if you keep making pentagrams out of the neighbors livestock I will personally come to your house and kill everyone you love. Now leave me alone, I got to get back to work.
~M.D~

I wonder what category I fall into...

  • 06.16.2012 3:00 PM PDT
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Posted by: Tom T
I don't think it is that you stop caring, you just learn when it is worth bothering.

  • 06.16.2012 4:02 PM PDT

Posted by: WolfmanMaverick
You people have just sent my sides into orbit. A bunch of MLG try hards sucking the dick of some supposed pro half the thread hasn't even heard of. Classic.

I seem to remember the same exact thing happening back in the H2 days in the Zanzibar forum. Just was a smaller user base back then.
Posted by: halomaster10144
Anybody that joined after Reach's release seems to be a retarded -blam!-. Seriously. They call their opposition trolls, they act like -blam!- 9gaggers, and think that spam, quote storms, and -blam!- trolling is funny.

  • 06.16.2012 4:23 PM PDT
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Well, here we are. I guess that it was destined to come to this.


Posted by: Achilles1108
I seem to remember the same exact thing happening back in the H2 days in the Zanzibar forum. Just was a smaller user base back then.
Posted by: halomaster10144
Anybody that joined after Reach's release seems to be a retarded -blam!-. Seriously. They call their opposition trolls, they act like -blam!- 9gaggers, and think that spam, quote storms, and -blam!- trolling is funny.

So ur sayin ther usd to b less rtards here?

  • 06.16.2012 4:29 PM PDT

"I firmly believe that any man's finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear, is that moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle- victorious"

Btw. I didn't read all the OP so no criticising. I am at a friend's house right now.

OT:

I think the level of interaction depends on the maturity of the older members and the newer members. I have been on bungie.net for a few years now and through critical analysis I have realised that newer members must fit a certain criteria, they must adapt to the environment of this website. Regardless of age.
Very few immature members survive. For a new member to seamlessly blend in with the community, he/she must maintain a clear level of maturity and friendliness with other members. The newbie should treat other members like fellow employees in a way.

  • 06.16.2012 6:54 PM PDT

yas334229812

But I lurked for ages then joined during the dark ages. But hey I stayed in the universe for ages before going to others.

  • 06.16.2012 8:18 PM PDT

Community Carnage group
They call me Arch. YOU SHALL NOT PASS!

Posting on the forums: 5 minutes.
Making a thread: 20 minutes.
Claiming you are the alt of a banned account: Priceless.
For everything else, there's stosh.

Seniority is what young/newer members look up too, trust and desire. Some still think or are under the impression that it is just some title or colorful glowing title hat, but it's not. They just need a little guidance. Seniority is compiled from other smaller attributes such as, commitment(time and support), positive input and trust running both ways.

Regardless, at the end of the day it is all a matter of different opinions. Nuff said.

  • 06.17.2012 4:24 AM PDT