[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.
Contest:
6:20 PM on 09.01.2009
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How much were you paying me to suck your dick again?
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.
A framed photo of your display pic now rests upon my desk.
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.
@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.
@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.
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.
But there's 12 Commandments there.... How the fuck does that work?
"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).
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.
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.
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.
Maybe Valve too. Otherwise great job. -Applauds-
now bow your head and pretend to be serious