Why Trolling is Killing Everyone!!!
•
by Marcus Patterson
Dear Readers,
A troll is someone who posts inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as eRepublik, with the primary intent of provoking other users into a desired emotional response. Trolling is what players like Zoli does. What Eugene Harlot and Neil McWiggles choose to do in their articles. Just to name a few out of the thousands.
You can have your own views on trolling. However, I want to share with you why I feel that the amount of trolling in this game doesn't make this game fun, but is overall detrimental to the game play and the experience of a social strategy game like this one. Some trolling is acceptable, it provides fun and competitiveness. However, too much trolling, which is the case right now, does the opposite. Also, I will not be using many pictures in this article. Pictures may help to break up the text, but they take away from the true meaning of an article. This is meant to be a serious statement on how I really feel and why people need to cut this trolling out. However, I will use one here, but after that get ready for text, text, and more text.
My Views on Trolling
I am not a troll. I will not play into that media scheme just so I can get subscribers. Recently, i have seen players with 400 subscribers and just two or three articles. These articles are just trolling, stupid articles insulting another nation. These days, the nations that are the targets of trolling are the eUS and ePoland. This back and forth trolling between nations and media papers is creating a frenzy of hatred, threats, and just constant insulting. I don't know anyone my age from Poland in real life. Although, I do have ancestors who are from Poland, and who are still alive to this day. I have to be honest and state that when I see these articles, I am offended. Even though this is a game, when someone insults my country, even my eCountry, I am offended to some level. Now, I choose to ignore the insults on the eUS as this is a game and I don’t care about how people feel about a fake country. However, it is clear now that these insults spew from real life beliefs and real life situations. I recently saw an article depicting a picture of Vladimir Putin smiling in front of the plane that crashed in Russia that was carrying the Polish President and his cabinet aboard it.
That is not acceptable. In a game or in real life it is just disgusting. I also want to use this article to give my commiseration to Poland, and I won’t go into any more detail on that situation rather than giving the Polish citizens my deepest condolences for their loss. I will not link that here.
On top of that awful picture, I also saw an article showing a picture of real life Serbia. The picture showed destroyed homes and the aftermath of the breakup of Yugoslavia and the wars that followed. Let’s not bring real life into this game. Serbians, most Serbians I would say, have a very tough life in a nation that is in constant civil war with bordering nations and people who share a different religion or culture. There’s no need to remind them of all of the bad things that happened in real life, in this game. If someone were to show a picture of 9/11 in this game, I would be heavily disappointed, and possibly quit immediately. It's just wrong in every way possible.
What We Should do About Trolling?
The only thing we can do is realize the situation it puts people in. The arguments, the fighting that ensues because of trolling. If we feed into that media frenzy, then the trolls win. Trolls suck, why let them win?
What we need to do is write positive articles. Write articles on the good things about the different eNations. We need to celebrate our differences and share our similarities. We may hate the eUK in this game, but they are a great ally in real life. We need to come together, whether we are fighting in this game or not, we need to be friendly. We need to remind ourselves that this is a game.
Let me start us off:
The eUK:
British people are just awesome, let’s be honest. Their accents make them girl magnets in the eUS. We know this to be true. London is a great city, you guys pwn noobs on the soccer field. Thanks for Beckham by the way, he made Soccer relevant in the eUS for like 2 days. More than anyone else has done for the sport here in the United States! You may have betrayed us in this game, but it just shows the difference between the eUK and the real UK. We still love you in both worlds!
Poland:
Poland, you guys have amazing food in your country. Your culture is also very interesting. Plus, you guys have the cheapest beer, but it still tastes good. Thank you for that! In this game, we may not be great friends right now, but we were once allies, let’s not forget the times we fought Phoenix together.
Spain:
Barcelona, Madrid, Marbella. Wow, your cities are amazing. The architecture in Barcelona is beyond amazing. The beaches of Marbella and the southern coastline are spectacular. When I went to Spain, I had the greatest time in my life. In this game, you are no longer an ally, but I don’t care. Spain is where I plan on living after I retire, if I have enough money 🙂
.
Hungary:
You guys have some great sites to see in your nation, like Budapest, including the Banks of the Danube, the Buda Castle Quarter, and etc.. Hungary is our bitter rival in this game, but in real life, I’m not sure if I know/hear anything about Hungary. It shows the best thing about this game, that in this game, you and/or your nation can do/be anything you want.
Conclusion
So, I hope that people realize that focusing on the positives of a nation and/or citizen, is just so much more beneficial than pointing out the negatives. Positive reinforcement has proven time and time again to be the best way to motivate someone, as long as it’s not done over and over. However, the point remains, positive reinforcement is a powerful tool that is not being utilized in this game, at all. Let’s change that. Join me in the revolution to push out the trolls, and let’s have a great time in eRepublik!
I Can Into Congress!
Tomorrow, PM me telling me you need a ticket to vote, and i will send it to you right away. After seeing that you have voted, I will personally send you a message with a funny picture and an e-hug 🙂
.
Vote for Marcus Patterson in Louisiana!
Please vote, subscribe, and/or comment if you liked this article. Even if you don’t agree with me, I hope you at least got something out of this article. Thanks for reading!
Sincerely,
Marcus Patterson
Ambassador to eVenezuela
CEO of PHC – Invest on the ERX!
Facebook
Twitter
Discord
Comments
Trolling, like anythign else, can be used one way or the other. I agree most of its used rather incorrectly.
However, much like in real life, getting "called out" on things can often have positive long term effects.
In this specific case, Poland is going to get trolled because they've become very arrogant. They even wrote a "Help us America" article regarding the Rhone battle. It (which was a joke) consisted of a bunch of Polish citizens basically saying "screw you america, weve don't need help".
Polands going to get trolled for losing, especially because of how arrogant they've become. Bescause of this trolling, they just might learn a lesson in humility they might not have otherwise, making them (and eden) better in the process.
tl;dr version - Trolling is fun
good points, voted
Win article is win.
This article sucks. Useless platitudes and reliance on RL for positive points.
Voted, though I expect this article to be heavily Trolled, itself.
Publius, I use real life examples to illustrate that insults and trolling against nations and people ingame, affect people and nations..outgame(?). I use real life comparisons to show that this game is a wonderful tool for expression and to make a nation like Indonesia, into a powerhouse!? I mean, that's incredible.
You say this article sucks, but thus just prove my point. If you don't like the article, that's fine, but there is no need to insult it. You are an example of what I am talking about. I hope you were kidding with your comment, but i don't think you were. Agree or disagree, that's fine, but no need to troll yourself.
This Article is severly under voted
Choc McSkittles / Publius x2.
What I think you're running up against is mainstream netiquette, and while it's admirable for you to try getting people to be more polite, it's not gonna happen. And I'm referring to the abrasive, wants-to-seem-funny way in which people naturally tend to talk to one another on the internet, just look at the eUSforum. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not really critiquing, I think it's humorous when Emerick calls somebody a fgt. Just don't get bent out of shape about it. When somebody trolls me, I've got some words right back for them. You can't stop it, you might as well just roll with the flow.
And for the record, I disagree with the insinuation that Eugene Harlot's articles count as trolling. Sure, I suppose he trolled Indo a little bit with the "Indo Can Not" one, but that article was more based in strategical fact than bland factless insults... he was just pointing those facts out like a smartass, which I found enjoyable to read. You're saying it's great that eIndo is a powerhouse in eRep, which is amazing since they're not IRL... Sure, that's true. But that has nothing to do with trolling, and should not be a disqualifier from being trolled. If they are our in-game enemies, sometimes it's good to troll the enemy. Psychological warfare, lowering morale, boosting our own morale, so forth.
Sure, in RL, I like Britain and wish things hadn't gone as they did in eRep... But they made their bed and now they get to sleep in it, and I'm not going to go hold hands and sing Kumbayah with them because of RL opinion. Perhaps you should keep the two similarly separated.
In summary... I think you're just a little too sensitive, and need to get some thicker skin.
"If someone were to show a picture of 9/11 in this game, I would be heavily disappointed, and possibly quit immediately"
Let's do it. One less player to fight for poland.
Aero, you misinterpreted what I was trying to say. The point of the article is to limit the amount of trolling, cut out the negative insluting, and to make people remember not to take this game personally and then feel the need to retaliate.
Can you honestly tell me that you like reading the 20 "Indo can not!" articles or other stupid articles every day? The amount of trolling in this game, in my opinion, just ends up hurting the value of this game, and what people can accomplish in this game.
I can talk to people from Servia, Hungary, Bulgaria, in this game. It is a powerful tool, eRepublik. I have never gone to Bulgaria, and never spoken to anyone from Bulgaria. However, with this game, I am speaking with people from many different nations that i will most likely never visit in my lifetime.
You and everyone else is entitled to their opinion, and I appreciate your comments. As you can see from Fabrizziop, people use the internet as if they are talking to fake people with fake hearts. Just cheap, disgusting "humor" fab.
Vote this up if you like it guys. Let's get more comments going.
Let's use eRepublik for what it is! A tool to speak with people from around the world. A tool to create friendships. A tool to be anyone you want to be. That's why the admins call it a Social Strategy Game. V2 will fix the strategy aspect, it is up to us to fix the social. Let's do it guys! Down with the ridiculous amount of obnoxious trolling, up with positivity!
united fail of America you have been SRB-ed 😛
САМО СЛОГА
СРБИНА
СПАШАВА
Great article - admittedly I'm sure I've been guilty of it too many times - sometimes we all need a slap upside the head reminder to keep things light and cordial.
The forums of an otherwise great sports Mmorpg I play have mostly died since the majority of the gamers got fed up with the non-stop mocking and hostile trolling. Without good player interaction the gameplay has gotten hollow and boring.
is coz of channers, tem channers T______T
Now, this is trolling 😛
you forgot the monetary market trolls who buy .01 at a time to make you disappear for 2 minutes
Marcus Patterson, great article. Unfortunately, trolling affect us at different levels in our RL. I could dare say for some trolling is a way of life, a psychological warfare.
"with the primary intent of provoking other users into a desired emotional response"
Look around you, media, sport, politics, economics and you will find all sorts of "trolling". Some people have reach a stage when they think trolling is a fashion hence you're cool if you're up to date in such fashion.
My point of view regarding trolling? Just a quote from Forrest Gump: "stupid is, stupid does". Because a intelligent person does not feel the urge to troll.
All I can say is...
:trollface:
your mother
"Can you honestly tell me that you like reading the 20 "Indo can not!" articles or other stupid articles every day?"
Yes,very much so.
It's a fair point of vue! Greetings from Romania and eRomania!
Cristian
I actually took the opposite side of trollism in an article I wrote last week:
http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/patting-my-trolls-on-the-back-for-a-job-well-done-1315956/1/20#comments" target="_blank">http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/patt[..]ents
The existence of trolls is a consequence of living in a semi-free society. You can't talk about free speech and freedom of the press without also welcoming those with nothing to offer but negativity. When I write an article, I welcome ALL feedback, from sincere and encouraging to chants of DEATH TO ARJAY.
That's not to say you should take a troll out for coffee and biscuits sometime soon, and by all means, before you kiss a troll, make sure he or she gargles with Listerine first. But if you're going to champion communication and the sharing of ideas, you have to at least realize trolls are people too... well, kind of, at least in the fact that they have arms and legs.
Awwww .. cute 😃
*** 😉 It's a game, it lets me do things I wouldn't iRL. You don't get hurt here, unless You make yourself do. Don't take it to serious.
Alright then Marx. To each his own. haha
Bulgaria has the best yogurt. True fact.