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Improving game communites: Commandments of Less Suckage photo

[Editor's note: Community member pixelpunx contributed a piece to our Weekly Musing subject on how to make gaming communities suck less. Please post your own over on the Community blogs. It may get read during our panel at PAX this Friday! -- CTZ]

There are certain times when people need rules. I would guess that Internet communities are in desperate need of such rules. Why not refer to some classic suggestions, in this case, from the Bible.

Here we wave a singular perspective on how to make internet communities a better place, loosely inspired by The 10 Commandments.

I am the Lord your God.

Pick a community, and stick with it.

You shall have no other Gods before me.

Make sure you pick a community that agrees with your ideals, sense of humor, and level of involvement.

You shall not make for yourself an idol.

Don't expect your contributions to seem more important than your fellow community members'. You're all a part of the same experience, with an equal amount of influence over the community.

You shall not make wrongful use of the name of your God.

The image of the community is important above all else. Don't embarrass yourself, or the people who have created the haven in which your avatar exists.

Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.

Set aside time to make contributions geared towards the people you have now become involved with. Maybe make more than a one word comment. Offer a genuine opinion. Give more to your community than you take.

Honor your father and mother.

Those who have been involved with a community longer than you have helped shape it. Just because you've been reading a site for a couple of weeks doesn't mean you're fully involved with the people who make it what it is. Don't barge into a conversation and expect your opinion to be considered valid. There will always be a trial by fire.



You shall not murder.

What's the point in ripping your fellow community member to shreds? Does it matter that he has the Xbox version of a game as opposed to the PS3 version? Does it matter that he doesn't love Halo 3 as you do? Live and let live.

You shall not commit adultery.

It's pretty ridiculous to create an account for a community when your only goal is to talk shit on its contributors. It's bad taste. Consider yourself 'tacky' if you've done so.

You shall not steal.

Don't copy your community members' posts in hope of creating the newest Internet meme ... Unless, of course, its funny as shit.

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

Your digital neighbors may be closer to you than you might guess. Always put in a good word for the people that surround you. Never talk shit about them, unless three or more people from the community feel the same way.

You shall not covet your neighbor's wife.

Don't harass female community members. You have a penis. They have a vagina. Big whoop. The internet has no gender.

You shall not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor.

Some people may receive more recognition than you, but don't let that stifle your input. Your thoughts count. It might just take some time before they are validated by the community.


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32 comments | showing # 1 to 32

Ali D's Avatar - Comment posted on 08/29/2009 07:06
Ali D
Anyone else thinking a kind of code of conduct wouldn't be such a bad idea?
de BLOO's Avatar - Comment posted on 08/29/2009 09:09
de BLOO
I'm with you.
Krow's Avatar - Comment posted on 08/29/2009 09:21
Krow
Pixelpunk, I can't wait until High Strangeness is available. Unrelated, I know, but I've been meaning to tell you that for quite some time. Also, thanks for the STFUAJPGM segments! Man, you're just awesome incarnate, aren't you?

How much were you paying me to suck your dick again?
kauza's Avatar - Comment posted on 08/29/2009 09:37
kauza
Some fantastic ideas. I love all of them, and I know they'd all contribute to a better community.

I think the seven forum commandments that we have here are pretty awesome already. Especially:

1) Thou shalt not suck.

6) Thou shalt not be a fame whore

7) Thou shalt not cause drama in the LBC

I feel like those cover everything, and can definitely be applied to communities in general. I mean, how perfect is number 7 for an online community? We don't need drama. We need fun. And not sucking is always a valuable rule.
Elsa's Avatar - Comment posted on 08/29/2009 10:41
Elsa
Excellent!! All of your 10 commandments are valid and nicely said!
Uber Mashu's Avatar - Comment posted on 08/29/2009 13:50
Uber Mashu
You well versed gent. It bought a smile to my face and a skip in my step. Short, sweet and straight to the point. I should learn to follow in your example.

A framed photo of your display pic now rests upon my desk.
Magnalon's Avatar - Comment posted on 08/29/2009 15:43
Magnalon
The rules need to be more prominently displayed in my opinion.

If people were forced to:
1) Take a test
2) Agree to a TOS with the rules right fucking there
3) or the rules pop up whenever you make a blog

Before joining, I think there'd be a lot less stupid going around.
pixelpunx's Avatar - Comment posted on 08/29/2009 15:43
pixelpunx
@Krow: Thanks for the nice words! I'm looking forward to High Strangeness' completion as well. Also, no charge. We can do a work trade.
@Kauza: The forum commandments are pretty right on, I agree. I guess the 'golden rule' could govern all of these things.
@Uber Mashu: Rad! that's a good idea. It would make a neat poster, perhaps.
Technophile's Avatar - Comment posted on 08/31/2009 02:34
Technophile
This needs more comments. Why does it not have more comments?

@kauza

I'm glad you like the forum commandments. Niero wrote the originals and I ..elaborated on them for the slow.

@magnalon

The problem with rules is that nobody reads them or they read them and assume they don't apply to them. It doesn't matter how many times you make them click through them. I've got the rules for the forums in a thread at the top and in the thing you have to agree to before you register and we still get people that completely ignore them. People don't read. It's a sad fact. All you can do is put them where people can see them and just keep reminding them.
michaelb99's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/01/2009 18:32
michaelb99
Great article I really liked the 10 commmandments angle
NihonTiger90's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/01/2009 18:33
NihonTiger90
Great post, and nice way to tie in the whole commandments theme with this feature. :)
gamadaya's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/01/2009 18:33
gamadaya
@Technophile:
The test would test comprehension of the rules though, so you would have to read them. But I still don't think it would matter. On Kotaku, you have to submit several posts that are screened before you are allowed to post for real, and the threads are heavily moderated, and yet somehow the amount of flaming and fanboy bullshit over there is still way higher than what it is here. Whatever Destructoid's system is, it works pretty well.
AKK's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/01/2009 18:33
AKK
...

But there's 12 Commandments there.... How the fuck does that work?
shit-polka's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/01/2009 18:44
shit-polka
eh, they're alright, but a bunch of them feel stretched to fit the source material, like the adultery one, and then I just don't agree with some.

"I am the Lord your God."

sticking to one community generally creates really one-sided or narrow views of things and issues, and at least with forums I find predisposes little hormonal weenies to default to 'us vs. them' attitudes. I can understand the belonging thing, but I don't see why it should be some West Side Story melodrama about fidelity.


"Honor your father and mother."

that is horse shit. I can understand getting hazed if you're an idiot, but if an opinion is well-informed and gathered, it shouldn't make a difference how long they've been there. it's hierachical shit like this that drives me bonkers; there's always some degree of dick-measuring with stats with online communities, and that is something that ruins them.

I realize how ironic it is given my time here. I also realize how hilarious it'd be if someone pointed it out to invalidate my opinion.

hilarious.

the coveting your neighbour's wife is a good one though, god do you little twerps love to drool over and/or harass girls online (because you secretly want to drool over them but don't want to look like a bitch).
Avalon51's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/01/2009 18:45
Avalon51
even if there are 12, these are awesome commandments.
Coafi's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/01/2009 18:50
Coafi
@AKK:
Well, you just went against the commandment:
"You shall not murder.

What's the point in ripping your fellow community member to shreds?"

I forgive you.
maelstromZERO's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/01/2009 18:56
maelstromZERO
The issue with poor behaviour on the internet (which really expands far beyond the online videogame community) isn't so much that we need rules. Because in all honesty, we all know not to act like blatant jackasses in general--it's a common sense thing not to verbally sexually assault women in public, and not to verbally abuse people we think are idiots IRL.

The reason why we don't do that is because there are real repercussions to our actions. If we verbally sexually assault a girl, we're going to get slapped and/or reported to the police. If we denigrate someone, we run the risk of being ostracized by our more sensible peers and being kicked in the balls.

The problem with the internet is that there are no social consequences to being a jerk. And without any real consequences to our actions online, we're permitted to let our more ugly impulses run free. The end result, of course, is the internet as we all know and love today.

If we want to make the internet a better place, the issue isn't putting in more rules. We have lots and lots of rules, but there's not enough mods with not enough time to keep track of everything. No, we need to establish some kind of system in which there are social consequences to our actions. That way, people will think twice about posting something stupid, racially insensitive, bigoted, or otherwise insulting.

. . .what kind of system that might be, I have no idea. lol.
nateled's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/01/2009 18:58
nateled
i have found my religion!
pixelpunx's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/01/2009 19:58
pixelpunx
Yes, there are more than ten commandments (they're only loosely based on the real deal). Funny thing; various Christian religions clump some of these commandments together. I guess you could combine all of them into a singular commandment:

Don't Suck.

@Shit-Polka: How would belonging to a single community promote narrow mindedness? Seems like opinions from within the Dtoid community vary to an incredible degree. The difference on this site: we listen to what others say without turning around and being a dick to them. It would seem that this sort of niceness to one another would promote communication, and possibly learning from our fellow community members. Tolerance and respect seems quite different than narrow mindedness.

Also, concerning the whole 'honor your father and mother' bit... to clarify: I was attempting to express how important respect for your peers is. Not that any one of us is better than the other. I respect your opinion, though.

PS.: If you need an avatar, PM me. I'll draw one for you.
artha14's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/01/2009 20:03
artha14
As an athiest I don't care much for the comendments. But this is the best rules for a community to have. Good job. ^-^
GameBrahma's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/01/2009 20:13
GameBrahma
The problem with the code of conduct is that all of the contributors have differing perspectives and reasons for gaming and/or what they find "fun". Therefore, game reviews, as well as comments ultimately serve as fodder to the impending flame wars (think of congress). The best bet is to find others who think like you do and exchange rating and reviews. Then, out in the public forum, flame on!
GameBrahma's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/01/2009 20:13
GameBrahma
The problem with the code of conduct is that all of the contributors have differing perspectives and reasons for gaming and/or what they find "fun". Therefore, game reviews, as well as comments ultimately serve as fodder to the impending flame wars (think of congress). The best bet is to find others who think like you do and exchange rating and reviews. Then, out in the public forum, flame on!
Hcapt's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/01/2009 20:23
Hcapt
I disagree with commandment 2. I came to this community because I fundamentally disagreed with it, and felt that many of the common perceptions here were wrong. No point in talking to people that agree with me - there wouldn't be anything to talk about.
TurboKill's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/01/2009 20:27
TurboKill
You forgot to add "Thou shall never speak shit of Atlus."

Maybe Valve too. Otherwise great job. -Applauds-
Vigilante8's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/01/2009 21:06
Vigilante8
The first blog top 10 in a long time that don't feel like a blog top 10, but more like a blog post of really good craft. Good job, really!
Zodiac Eclipse's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/01/2009 21:47
Zodiac Eclipse
And the Lord doth sayeth unto them "STFUAJPG" and it was good, like this blog.
Im OK's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/02/2009 15:18
Im OK
You know what are some other good rules to follow? How about the stuff at the bottom of the page in the "Community Rules Quickie" thing, just below the "Add Comment" button. Yeah, I think more people need to take a few moments and read that, maybe even click on some of the links in there too, before filling the text box with poopy and clicking that "Add Comment" button.
Aziel13's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/02/2009 15:57
Aziel13
amen
now bow your head and pretend to be serious
Ball Buster's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/02/2009 21:16
Ball Buster
I'm all for it. The only problem is, the people that most desperately need to follow it won't actually read it.
XHLB's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/16/2009 01:13
XHLB
Nice article, very helpful. thanks!!
Nike Air
XHLB's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/19/2009 12:18
XHLB
Nice article, very helpful. Thanks!!
Nike Shoes
Yaron Cheng's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/09/2009 23:43
Yaron Cheng
I know, but I've been meaning to tell you that for quite some time.
Christian Audigier|Christian Louboutin
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