I’ve noticed one thing that bothers me about playing a Horde toon: the General Chat channel is terribly sophomoric. I cannot get over the number of juvenille things I’ve seen on the channel since I started seriously leveling Deadr.
It has forced me to /leave 1 every zone I go to. It’s totally unnecessary for all that chatter that EVERYONE has to see. Isn’t that what whispers are for? I know I like to give a good harassment to idiots and jerks from time to time, but I don’t make the whole server or zone watch it.
Oh, sure, I’ve seen that more often on Kargath playing an Alliance character, but I have over 50 DAYS of playtime for Alliance. I got on Dethecus to play with my cousin in Texas as an Orc warrior and had to /gquit after 7 levels because his guild was full of bad-mouthing short-bussers who were taking it to the next level by drawing pictures using the chat windows, trying to see who could draw the best rack.
So my basic premise is, I think that in an RPG, people with a bit more delinquency and other associated problems that generate the above behavior will tend to lean toward the “dark” side and play a Horde avatar.
This is certainly not the case with everyone, as some people play both sides, and others play as perfectly well-adjusted adults who can form good, solid, mature guilds. If there was a study on it, though, I’d bet that there are more societal outcasts on the Horde side. This idea is so engrained in my head from my past experiences on other realms that I actually had a decent amount of internal resistance to creating Deadr on Burning Legion. I finally figured I’d do the best that I could and be a priest. 🙂
Think of it this way: on how many Horde PvP’er blogs do you see them complaining about ganking?
Controversy time over. I’m working down the list from 10 Remarkably Effective Strategies for Driving Traffic. We’ll see which technique floats my boat next.
I beleive it is a server/faction phenomenon. I’ve seen the same behavior on both sides on server X. On server Y its the horde. On server Z it’s alliance. I also see less of it on both sides as you progress in levels.
While I agree that the Horde side is worse about it, you are only level 16. Remember that 12 year olds have an attention span of about 1mm, so they usually can’t make it past level 12. Thus, Barrens Chat 🙂 Once you get past around 20-25, you will see a significant drop in childish crap.
Shoot 2 comments before I got a chance to reply. 🙂 I sure hope things get better on BL in higher levels then. I’ll take Gnom’s view that it goes both ways so far, but I have yet to see the dark/seething/impish behavior from the “good guys,” say around Deadmines.
Are the favorite ganking spots of Alliance ppl over in Kalimdor?
The Forsaken are ‘evil’, but the rest of the Horde are not. You will eventually come across quest text and dialogue that clearly shows the Forsaken using the Orcs, Trolls, and Tauren to further their own agenda.
Once you hit about level 25, you can say goodbye to ‘Barrens Chat’. I have several high level Horde toons, and I rarely had general chat issues past that point.
As far as ganking goes, Hillsbrad is the worst by far. Shimmering Flats, STV, and Tanaris can all get nasty. Beyond that it depends on your server. If the Horde are seriously outnumbered, then the high level zones can be very dangerous.
So it’s best to stay in groups and run instances, I guess. 🙂
I just /leave 1 whenever I create a new character, regardless of faction. I’ve never really encountered anything approaching an intelligent conversation in general chat.