How warframe acheives a great player community?

[DestroyerOmega]

3 hours ago, XaxalShiba said:

Huh. How is the community in PoE right now?

It normally varies in quality as all communities do, but one thing I found that it does right is have multiple chat instances. One is full of S#&$posting a la our Region chat, but the other three instances are surprisingly full of people willing to help out and give advice on builds and whatnot.

Again, I have no idea how they manage this, as that game is Free to Play. Maybe having multiple Region chat instances works? I dunno, maybe. 

[Insizer]

1 hour ago, MillbrookWest said:

As others have said, i think the PvE nature of the game creates the mindset early on in Warframe to the point where even the most arrogant of players understands that they need team members to accomplish certain tasks.

So, for most normal people, knowing that it is a team effort, we go out of our way a little when possible to help others. They may not be a permanent member of your squad, but if you have a spare X mod that will help him help other squads, people on Warframe tend to be generous enough to gift/loan said mods to up and coming players, or in the case where X mod is a little too valuable, they will instead lend their help in attaining X mod instead through missions. The latter tends to be the more favoured option as far as i've seen due to the games gameplay. 

So on that note, I think you can't dismiss the gameplay elements when discussing the attainability of Warframe, in relation to its friendly playerbase. FashionFrame aside, the game itself allows you to express your particular playstyle in missions. Run and Gun, Power Heavy, Melee only, Secondary only...etc etc. It's easy for people to find their Niche, but those Niches are all governed by the same rules as other play styles... So your Warframe will essentially be built the same, and if you like to dual wield secondaries, you still equip the exact same mods as someone who likes to merely run a secondary for 'oh snap' moments. Yet both playstyles still understand the fundamentals of what makes each 'work' - So to speak.

Very good points. People do help out newbies getting mods and there is usually someone on recruiting or region that is willing to offer taxis to alerts or wherever because of how quick missions are. And I don't think I've ever met someone who is 100% unwilling to revive anyone. Its one thing if reviving someone will risk the mission, or if they are too far and such, but I've rarely met someone who wont sprint to revive an ally in the same room if they know that they aren't going to die in the process.

It also helps that there is a large degree of non-restrictive customization both in playstyle and modding. Some frames fit some niches better than others but everyone can more or less use all of them. Frost is an good example. Most players I'd argue have him, and can use him with 90% effectiveness even if they don't use him often. Each frame has a few modding categories which, for the most part, are self-explanatory as to their effects on a frame, so people know roughly what to expect when modding even complex frames like Equinox.

[Insizer]

3 minutes ago, DestroyerOmega said:

It normally varies in quality as all communities do, but one thing I found that it does right is have multiple chat instances. One is full of S#&$posting a la our Region chat, but the other three instances are surprisingly full of people willing to help out and give advice on builds and whatnot.

Again, I have no idea how they manage this, as that game is Free to Play. Maybe having multiple Region chat instances works? I dunno, maybe. 

I play PoE, its a great game, but I'm guessing it gets by because of its smaller size. Warframe is the 3rd most popular free-to-play on Steam just by total playerbase, so its easy to imagine we get a whole lot more toxicity than PoE. I could be completely wrong though.

[XaxalShiba]

1 minute ago, Insizer said:

I play PoE, its a great game, but I'm guessing it gets by because of its smaller size. Warframe is the 3rd most popular free-to-play on Steam just by total playerbase, so its easy to imagine we get a whole lot more toxicity than PoE. I could be completely wrong though.

3rd largest already? My my. How much has changed in 2 years.

[Insizer]

47 minutes ago, XaxalShiba said:

3rd largest already? My my. How much has changed in 2 years.

It was the last I checked a year ago... and I just checked, it still is, right after DOTA 2 (1st) and TF2 (2nd).

But is looks like PoE is 6th... so take it as you wish. I still think the warframe community is by and large very nice.

Edited April 11, 2016 by Insizer

[XaxalShiba]

I have yet to find any bad apples in my experience. Your experience may differ however. 

Worst I found was a bunch of players kicking me out because of me not being Mastery Rank 21. Why the bloody prova shoving is MR put on such a pedestal? Must be people taking their prestige mindsets from COD into the game.

[Teadude]

This community is herd mentality and salt

[(PSN)robotwars7]

yeah, compared to a lot of places I've been, there's a lot less toxicity here. this is mostly down to the fact that the moderators are always active, and actually do a good job, unlike other forums like Bungie's where political and religious arguments derail 99% of threads.

of course there are still a few bad apples out there, but that's just humanity for you.

[Ziegrif]

In-game: Separate us from each other as much as possible. The game is easily soloable from start to finish where trading and raids are the only thing that requires social interaction. Normal missions require no teamplay other than doors of friendship button presses. Chats are as unobtrusive as possible and unloaded when logging in they're never in your face (least I haven't really noticed them). On PC I think voice chat is disabled as default, have never heard anyone use it.

In game the player has to be the one to seek out social interaction when in most MMOs it's in your face immediately when you login.

On the forums: HEAVY MODERATION. Have you seen the Warframe abilities feedback section? It's a gosh darn war zone at times.

Edited April 11, 2016 by Ziegrif

[PrVonTuckIII]

I'm jealous you got to play Warframe as a school project. Why can't I have assignments like this. :(

Honestly, while WF has its bad apples, older players tend to be helpful and patient with the younger ones, and we tend to be a supportive and open community.

[Yzjdriel]

How does Digital Extremes create a great, nontoxic community for their game?  By being part of it.  The developers talk to us.  They're involved in the community, and they take our feedback seriously.  They have live-streams and jesting publications (let's be real here guys Prime Time is top-tier entertainment) in which they talk about and play the game that they have created WITH US.  They don't shutter themselves in and force content down our throats like Bungie, they interact with the players both in-game and on the forums.

Zephyr, the Warframe?  She was player-created.  The Mios, Kronen, and Silva and Aegis?  Player-created.

Found a bug?  Tell them about it, it gets fixed.  They answer questions, talk about upcoming features, and behave like they're the consumers of their product, rather than the producers (because, after all, they are both).

They keep the forums clean and polite by locking toxic threads, moving posts to the correct sections, and outright deleting posts that have nothing important to say (religious arguments belong on 4chan, threads in which the original post is pure toxin will get nowhere, etc.).

As for the game itself, the players of Warframe are here because they're tired of the toxin in other communities.  If we're not playing games because of toxin, do you really think we're going to allow toxin to exist in our community?  In a word?  Hell no.  The community is largely self-regulated, but that doesn't mean members regulate each other (although we do sometimes): it means we keep toxin out of the community by keeping toxin out of our contributions to the community space - these forums.

Also, Region Chat.  On back-to-back days, I've seen Region: debate the merits of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, roleplay a Kill La Kill story and argue about whether the ending of Bleach was good (at the same time), and spontaneously become a 'help desk' for Half-Life 2 players.  We have a good time and keep things lighthearted, and as a result the community is fun, laid-back place where crazy stuff happens daily and good times are had by all.

[PrVonTuckIII]

20 minutes ago, Yzjdriel said:

Awesome Stuff

This. So much this.

[Yzjdriel]

1 minute ago, PrVonTuckIII said:

This. So much this.

Wow.  I'm flattered.  Like, I'm actually sitting here smiling because you replaced my text with "awesome stuff".  That just made my day.  :)

[PrVonTuckIII]

Just now, Yzjdriel said:

Wow.  I'm flattered.  Like, I'm actually sitting here smiling because you replaced my text with "awesome stuff".  That just made my day.  :)

Not a problem. It's true, although it's hard to find someone putting it so plainly.

[Kontrollo]

Off the top of my head:

• The audience this game appeals to is probably more mature than in other popular online games. (Biig generalisation, I know, more to follow.) The tone of the game was darker and more gritty earlier as well, which is what set the baseline for the community.
• The developers are awesome, both in their attitude towards the community and the game. They care for their game and the feedback.
• The forum guidelines are sane and the moderators do a very good job.
• Most of the game is not competitive in any form (live and let live). Dark Sectors were causing some drama while they were up. The new iteration of Conclave had/has chat restrictions, and it does create some salt here and there, although we try to build a nice community there, as well.
• The game itself encourages teaming up and helping each other out (Warframes complement each other, shared affinity, reviving downed teammates, and so on).

[Trooper402]

 

4 hours ago, Yzjdriel said:

How does Digital Extremes create a great, nontoxic community for their game?  By being part of it.  The developers talk to us.  They're involved in the community, and they take our feedback seriously.  They have live-streams and jesting publications (let's be real here guys Prime Time is top-tier entertainment) in which they talk about and play the game that they have created WITH US.  They don't shutter themselves in and force content down our throats like Bungie, they interact with the players both in-game and on the forums.

Zephyr, the Warframe?  She was player-created.  The Mios, Kronen, and Silva and Aegis?  Player-created.

Found a bug?  Tell them about it, it gets fixed.  They answer questions, talk about upcoming features, and behave like they're the consumers of their product, rather than the producers (because, after all, they are both).

They keep the forums clean and polite by locking toxic threads, moving posts to the correct sections, and outright deleting posts that have nothing important to say (religious arguments belong on 4chan, threads in which the original post is pure toxin will get nowhere, etc.).

As for the game itself, the players of Warframe are here because they're tired of the toxin in other communities.  If we're not playing games because of toxin, do you really think we're going to allow toxin to exist in our community?  In a word?  Hell no.  The community is largely self-regulated, but that doesn't mean members regulate each other (although we do sometimes): it means we keep toxin out of the community by keeping toxin out of our contributions to the community space - these forums.

Also, Region Chat.  On back-to-back days, I've seen Region: debate the merits of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, roleplay a Kill La Kill story and argue about whether the ending of Bleach was good (at the same time), and spontaneously become a 'help desk' for Half-Life 2 players.  We have a good time and keep things lighthearted, and as a result the community is fun, laid-back place where crazy stuff happens daily and good times are had by all.

I'm actually curious if the staff will get in on this thread and throw their 2 cents into this topic.

[Ibro156]

5 hours ago, PrVonTuckIII said:

I'm jealous you got to play Warframe as a school project. Why can't I have assignments like this. :(

Game Design course doesn't work like that >.>

@Trooper402 Anyways, I think its mostly because this a primarily PVE game where toxicity isn't as strong as a PVP game. Then there is the free constant updates, doesn't matter if your paying or freebie. As DE seems to actually care about what their making, they don't force players into buying plat or cut up content as DLC. Whenever I buy plat, I don't feel forced. Next is how DE are always listening and responding back in the forums, Devstreams and sometimes Prime Time. The rules are reasonable, not being one sided - so you can voice your opinion. The Mods acting quickly and getting rid of anything that can cause up-roarer or breaking the rule. They host events on forums and games to keep the players interested and giving them plat or exclusive items and such. You get the general Idea, if been around Warframe for a while now.

Spoiler

 

Edited April 11, 2016 by Ibro156

[Berserkerkitten]

No offense, but personally, I don't feel like the Warframe community is really all that different from any other gaming community, save for the really awful ones like WoW, LoL or CoD. I get people in random groups AFKing and going out of their way to only move and participate as little as somehow humanly possible whilst letting others do all the work for them. I get people telling me to go kill myself (the internet's way of saying, "You may want to work on that"), because I happen to like my red and black colour scheme. 90% of PUGs don't communicate, they don't even say thank you if you revive them. Heck, sometimes they can't be bothered to revive one another at all. Yes, I get it, everybody is super busy, nobody says hello anymore, but how is this a sign of an exceptionally great community?

If you log on via the EU gateway and join a relay, the main chat language is usually in Russian and I have no idea what's being said at all. And during every episode of prime time you get legions of horny teenagers posting hilariously creepy messages directed at Megan and Rebecca.

 

Don't get me wrong. I don't mind the community at all. I'm not complaining. I absolutely love DEs enthusiasm, the way they include the community, they talk to the players, make them feel part of the game, all of that is amazing. But IMO you still get the same amount of trolls and jerks on here that you'll encounter just about everywhere on the internet. It's just not as noticeable, because the forums and the ingame chat channels are really well-moderated. People acting like bags of d*cks, well... that's people for you. It's not the game's fault.

Edited April 11, 2016 by Berserkerkitten

[TotallyLagging]

As the entire first page have said, this is a co-op PvE game with no competition between players. Everything is shared - loot, exp, health & energy drops. The developers are also a lot nicer compared to most developers these days, doing bi-weekly streams, answering questions from the community and whatnot. That, and, well...

17 hours ago, Rachnera said:

Any dissent or toxicity gets deleted

The forum mods... Let's just say that they work a lot. This community is pretty good, but not that good. Add in a liiittle bit of competition and you get massive hunks of salt. Just look at Gradivus and Tubemen event.

Special mention goes to the DS PvP community ( And specifically DS. Conclave dudes are pretty cool for the most part ).  All the dramas concerning DS nodes, from high taxes, DS conflict hosts disconnecting to DDoS. All that good stuff.

[Omnimorph]

18 hours ago, Trooper402 said:

Hello Tenno,

I am currently a student that is studying game design. I have been a fan of Warframe for some time now.  Recently I was assigned as a final project to do a critical analysis of Warframe.  While I was thinking about this assignment I started thinking about the community that has developed with the game. It have not had any negative experiences while playing Warframe; which is something that I really cant say about most other games I have played online.  I was hoping to get feedback from the community about this topic regarding Warframe and how Digital Extremes has created such a great community around the game.  This is a topic I thought would be worth writing a paper on.

I think one of the things is "no loot" - I mean no loot of the kind that people can argue over.

One of the other great MMORPGs of all time that had an excellent community was City of Heroes.  That too had no loot (that you can argue over).

It has been my observation that loot you can argue over, loot that has to be divided by Need/Greed, or someone's decision, loot that some classes find necessary but that other classes can accidentally get, etc., etc., is a major cause of resentment and toxicity in gaming communities.

Edited April 11, 2016 by Omnimorph

[Trooper402]

2 hours ago, Ibro156 said:

Game Design course doesn't work like that >.>

@Trooper402 Anyways, I think its mostly because this a primarily PVE game where toxicity isn't as strong as a PVP game. Then there is the free constant updates, doesn't matter if your paying or freebie. As DE seems to actually care about what their making, they don't force players into buying plat or cut up content as DLC. Whenever I buy plat, I don't feel forced. Next is how DE are always listening and responding back in the forums, Devstreams and sometimes Prime Time. The rules are reasonable, not being one sided - so you can voice your opinion. The Mods acting quickly and getting rid of anything that can cause up-roarer or breaking the rule. They host events on forums and games to keep the players interested and giving them plat or exclusive items and such. You get the general Idea, if been around Warframe for a while now.

  Hide contents

 

where did the other 2 photos go? :(

[Ibro156]

1 minute ago, Trooper402 said:

where did the other 2 photos go? :(

Spoiler

 

[SenorClipClop]

16 hours ago, DestroyerOmega said:

>Warframe has an excellent community

PFFT

PFFFFFFFFFFFFT

Not really, no. Path of Exile has a community leagues better than this, even though it is in the same free-to-play category.

 

Okay there bud, just because there may be better player communities doesn't make Warframe's anything less than the excellent community it is. "One thing is good and so all the other things are sh** " is a foolish way of looking at things.

But anyway, adding to the list of stuff that makes for a generally good time when cruising the Origin System:

• Sharing. All credits, mission rewards, loot, resources and even exp can be picked up by everyone in the mission. If a rare mod drops, it doesn't go to just the player who killed the enemy or whoever is hosting the mission. Everyone gets a copy.
• Keysharing. An extension of the previous point, a common practice is to run a mission in a squad of four and, when that mission gives the squad a void key (total of 4 void keys), each squad member will use their key and the squad will be able to run that Void mission four times more than they would've playing solo, meaning quadruple the loot. This is not an accident in the game's design, and it actually encourages players to co-operate.
• Many different things to do. Tired of Interception? Well, before you get your knickers in a twist about it, maybe go play some Spy, or an Archwing mission. Warframe gives you a wide palette of ways to prevent boredom and stagnation. (Players need to take some initiative here as well, and we'll still see frustrated players who have been playing the same loadout for 100+ hours and don't know why they don't like playing anymore, but you can also ignore these people pretty easily.)
• Virtually endless customization. This may not seem like a way to help out the community, but it actually is a large part of what makes the game player-friendly. Sure, millions of other players have Limbo, but how many other players have a Liberace-themed Limbo? The game gives you a diverse pool of tools to use and then allows you to further customize them with colors and skins and the like, making these things your very own.
• Reliance on other players. While many top-tier players pride themselves on the ability to complete high-level missions solo, there's no denying that having even just one more Tenno along (as long as they're not totally outclassed for the mission) will make any mission easier at absolutely no cost to any player. Squad-based co-op allows players to bring a wider array of effects and abilities to a mission and better ensure victory. Everyone benefits.
• The irrelevance of negative player attitude. Players will be negative. It'll happen anywhere, in any game. But in Warframe, players can really only express that negativity in chat, and there are so many positive players that know how to handle these negative peeps that they get shut down pretty quick.

[(PSN)horridhal]

I'm just going to answer the question posed without reading much in the way of other people's responses.

Much of the lack of tension stems from the way the game is handled.  Unlike many PvE games, Warframe has no real competition to speak of or, at the very least, such competition is far from the focus of the game.  All loot drops are shared, meaning you picking something up doesn't equate to me not getting that something, Affinity is evenly split within a certain radius, and more players equates to more enemies on a map and more loot to be shared.

In most PvE games, the grind is generally a push to reach a competitive point in PvP of some sort or another, or to have the best gear in a non-loot sharing environment, leading to divisions between the players.  Warframe doesn't do any of that, so the competitive nature of people is naturally less than it would be in other games comparable to Warframe.

[ROSING]

Frankly, I've had suspicions that the poor new player experience has something to do with it.

Hear me out on this. In order for a new player to really understand the ropes of this game, they constantly have to reach out more experienced players as opposed to the game telling them what to do. If our players weren't helpful towards them, then we would be a much smaller playerbase. And in turn, those who are helped will become the helpers, and the cycle feeds off itself.

However, this also implies that players who don't reach out for help will get frustrated and leave the game. Not trying to be negative or anything, but that particular type of player is more likely to be toxic or immature compared to ones who are willing to ask for help from others, though of course that is not necessarily the case for all people; some just might be shy. Nevertheless, for better or for worse, this game attracts a certain type of player and shuns another.

That's just a weird theory of mine. Not saying its a good thing or a bad thing.