From a female point of view

[Pompeia]

First of all, let me tell you this is a positive rant towards SWTOR

 

I started to play on a PlayStation, before the slim models were out, but late in its life cicle. Though I had great fun with its games, I never matched the best gamers on that system. Later I started to play on a Dreamcast, and tried out Phantasy Star Online. Made some young friends, who I teamed with, and those friends introduced me to Ultima Online on the PC. Later, with even a bigger team (we made more friends there), we moved on to some MMORPG that required me to use several keyboard keys. I adopted a very personal and non funcional play style, wich I got more experienced at, but that still makes me play diferently from most of you, including many many females that use the regular WASD control keys, the numbered ones and all the Fs.

 

So I have a confession to make...I'm one of those that use the arrow keys, leaving the mouse unatended when i need to reach the spacebar for a jump, and I do manual aim with the mouse cursor...as for the attack special, its the same, I use the cursor on the quickslot bar and no shortcut. I do know what attacks to use, and do the proper rotation, but in a pvp match, raid or dungeon (flashpoint), I'm probably a few secs slower then the majority.

 

On games such as Rift and WoW, this diference earned me some nasty comments from Pick Up Groups (PUGs), including one I will never forget wich was: You cant hold the aggro of a tomatoe. I now laugh at those comments, but at the time I rage quit the dungeon and never did any again on that character. This was in Rift. On WoW, on my orc hunter, I also got some nasty comments from PUGs, like one I cant forget either (dps wise) wich was: Are you even trying?

On both ocasions I was doing my best, and in both of them I was a fresh max level doing it with standard equipment, and not with "purples" like most of the team was. On both of these games I never dared to do dungeons anymore.

 

Yesterday on SWTOR I went to an operation with my tank. I mostly use a dps, but they needed a tank. I warned the team that I wasnt experienced in tanking, and that the equipment was at the minimum required. They couldnt care less. So off we went. And we had 2 wipes. I must also say I also play some male characters, and that I was using one of them (so I doubt ppl were gentle with me for beeing female). After the second wipe I was feeling like you know what, was letting the guys down, so apologised once more and they must have sensed I was feeling insecure. Their comment was: Relax Dude!

 

If this was the only time I helped to made casualties, I would say I was very lucky with this team. But the same hapened when I was learning Karagga on my male marauder - toke me 2 tries to understand what i had to do on the machine boss. Now its a walk in the park. But anyway, the people in the team werent rude at all in any time. And on Hard Mode operations wich i did with my tank previously, on the first atempt when things didnt go all too well (I confess I panic a bit when I see any adds going to the team), the worst comment I got about my lamme tanking cant be compared to those I got on other games.

 

I see a lot of negativism about this game on this forums, and if a new player reads them will get the impression that this game isnt good. I dont know what will become of it now that it has a Free to Play option community wise, and I'm pretty sure there is still people in it that are capable of nasty remarks, but from my personal experience this community is worth a lot more then those from most other MMORPGs. And I dont know about you, but for me a MMORPG with a bad community gives me a very good shortcut to the quit buton. Likewise, an average MMORPG (I really like the story, lore, theme and mecanics of SWTOR though, so its above average for me) with a good community (like Ultima Online was) can keep me adicted for years.

 

Either I'm very lucky, or this game has a very good community with just some rotten eggs, and not the other way around. Anyways, love this game, and my thanks to the nice people I interacted with in it.

 

/Positive rant off

Edited November 17, 2012 by Pompeia

[Beslley]

Don't hit on me, silly boys. Tee hee.

 

Also LOL CLICKERS.

 

 

I mean it's nice that you had a good experience, but nobody cares on the forums. It's a wretched hive of scum and villainy up in here. Nobody cares if you're male, female, twi'lek, mon calamari, or wookiee. We hate everyone, and especially you.

Edited November 17, 2012 by Beslley

[MrSchmo]

Either I'm very lucky, or this game has a very good community with just some rotten eggs, and not the other way around. Anyways, love this game, and my thanks to the nice people I interacted with in it.

 

/Positive rant off

Great community with ba apples. What server you on? Your the type of level headed people I like to play with.

[FINNT]

Good you can enjoy the game. Just be ready to meet those too, that only enjoy the game when everybody (in team) is half as good as they (perfection halved).

 

About the forums: Forums (CS, General mostly) are always full of negativity because thats where people come vent their frustrations.

 

Just play, learn, enjoy and try to forget those that play the game like its work.

[chuixupu]

I have to say, while there are definitely more than a few turds in the community, it's far more civil here than in the other game I play and people are generally more forgiving.

 

However, I don't see anything gender specific about this ....but good to know there's people of all kinds and play styles finding a place.

[FourTwent]

+1

 

im glad you had some good experiences. the more you play, the better your odds are that you'll come in contact with a few bad apples. just dont let them discourage you from having fun. remember, it's a game

[AllanGand]

Well imo the reason it is this way, is because of the whole no cross server stuff. People who were douchebags on my last server, simply tend to get a bad name till they're ostracized by the entire server.

[Beslley]

Seriously, though. Online communities can be mean. Get over it. If a few mean comments make you quit playing, maybe MMOs aren't for you.

 

Here's how you get rid of the mean comments: Stop clicking. Learn to play. Get better. Push through the hate and succeed. When I started playing MMOs I was abysmal and got a lot of flack. Hang in there and learn from your mistakes. Find a guild willing to help you learn the ropes.

 

P.S. Things go a lot smoother if you don't bring attention to your gender. There's a lot of negative "girl gamer" stereotypes, and bringing attention to your gender just makes it worse for you. I know, it's a raw deal that you have to put up with this, but that's the way it is right now, unfortunately. Of course, if you are in vent, don't feel like you can't speak. Just be prepared for any comments thrown your way, and don't sweat the little stuff.

[ItchyThePenguin]

Don't hit on me, silly boys. Tee hee.

 

Also LOL CLICKERS.

 

 

I mean it's nice that you had a good experience, but nobody cares on the forums. It's a wretched hive of scum and villainy up in here. Nobody cares if you're male, female, twi'lek, mon calamari, or wookiee. We hate everyone, and especially you.

 

Ha! I might have to use that in my sig or something!

[FerrusPA]

Don't hit on me, silly boys. Tee hee.

 

Also LOL CLICKERS.

 

 

I mean it's nice that you had a good experience, but nobody cares on the forums. It's a wretched hive of scum and villainy up in here. Nobody cares if you're male, female, twi'lek, mon calamari, or wookiee. We hate everyone, and especially you.

 

You. You are a good person. Keep posting.

[CelCawdro]

While I can appreciate that you're enjoying your time here, the perception isn't gender-specific. A friend of mine, male, who is, shall we say, a less-than-optimal player had a much better time here than in other similarly structured MMOs. I think this has a lot to do with design, more than the community itself. Losing aggro as a tank on a few guys isn't an automatic death sentence for your party, and is even ideal in some situations. The game doesn't allow players to have a visual record of your performance in your selected role. And the difficulty is generally more forgiving.

 

While I agree that the community is much more positive, I do wonder how much of it is owed to game design decisions rather than any altruism on the part of other players.

[Tordos]

Sorry but I don't see anything gender specific in the OP, only in the title, which leads me to believe I was deceived.

[eldefail]

I've played WoW from the early part of Vanilla all the way until a couple months ago. Your experience in the group finder, the impatience, all that stuff isn't something I noticed a lot of until cross-server group finder came into play. Those people can speak their minds and completely neglect common decency because it is extremely unlikely you'll ever run into each other again, and even if you do, you'll probably have long since forgotten each other's names. There simply weren't any social consequences of being a jerk. Before cross-server grouping a consistently bad attitude could earn you a reputation of douchebaggery, hit ignore lists, and otherwise have a more difficult time finding groups.

 

I like the SWTOR community a lot more, too. Sure the forums are full of rants and gripes, but this is where people dump it and they tend to leave it out of the game. I've been grouped with people who, in WoW, would have been vote kicked right away and here it's like no big deal as long as you're trying and not doing it on purpose.

 

I wish the forums more accurately reflected the in-game community. The community here is great, and this game is great.

 

I get where the OP is coming from in regards to gender-specific issues. For years I wouldn't even tell people I'm female because of treatment I got. MMOs don't seem to feel this way anymore, though, and haven't for a while. Nowadays people have gotten over the "chicks don't play wow" harassment--yes, mere mention that I'm female or speaking on vent would get me HARASSED and picked on. As lulzy as it was, it got old and I stopped telling people.

 

OP, gaming communities have changed a lot in the last few years. Gender really doesn't have anything to do with it anymore. People have realized that many, many women are gamers and that many, many "women" are actually dudes so they just don't even bother or care anymore.

Edited November 17, 2012 by eldefail

[FINNT]

Seriously, though. Online communities can be mean. Get over it. If a few mean comments make you quit playing, maybe MMOs aren't for you.

 

Here's how you get rid of the mean comments: Stop clicking. Learn to play. Get better. Push through the hate and succeed. When I started playing MMOs I was abysmal and got a lot of flack. Hang in there and learn from your mistakes. Find a guild willing to help you learn the ropes.

 

P.S. Things go a lot smoother if you don't bring attention to your gender. There's a lot of negative "girl gamer" stereotypes, and bringing attention to your gender just makes it worse for you. I know, it's a raw deal that you have to put up with this, but that's the way it is right now, unfortunately. Of course, if you are in vent, don't feel like you can't speak. Just be prepared for any comments thrown your way, and don't sweat the little stuff.

 

Adults can give advice and critique (most of the time ) without resorting to hate, bad language and so on. If "well oiled" team is ones goal, then guild or close group of friends are almost only choices. This because there is always "newcomers".

Edited November 17, 2012 by FINNT

[Beslley]

Adults can give advice and critique (most of the time ) without resorting to hate, bad language and so on. If "well oiled" team is ones goal, then guild or close group of friends are almost only choices. This because there is always "newcomers".

 

In real life, yes. Anonymity does things to people.

[KurganNazzir]

It's great you're enjoying the game and all that but, seriously, there is nothing here having to do with gender other than you apparently wanting to point out that you are female for whatever your reason.

 

Either way, enjoy the game. It has its ups and downs, just as the community does, but it is a fun game.

[hippiechick]

I have Rheumatoid Arthritis and my hands are severely deformed from it. And I raid. And I listen to people complain about how much I suck at getting out of the fire or how often I miss a heal or how low my DPS is. And I dont care.

The people who judge others based on how well or badly they play a game have a special place on my $**Y list and I have absolutely no respect for them. My hands are in horrible pain and I cant bend/unbend most of my fingers. My sucking at gaming is the least of my worries.

 

You go girl, play however you want to. Click all day long if it is how you are comfortable.

 

M

[Aerilas]

Later I started to play on a Dreamcast, and tried out Phantasy Star Online.

 

Ok you have my love.

[ChazDoit]

First of all, let me tell you this is a positive rant towards SWTOR

 

I started to play on a PlayStation, before the slim models were out, but late in its life cicle. Though I had great fun with its games, I never matched the best gamers on that system. Later I started to play on a Dreamcast, and tried out Phantasy Star Online. Made some young friends, who I teamed with, and those friends introduced me to Ultima Online on the PC. Later, with even a bigger team (we made more friends there), we moved on to some MMORPG that required me to use several keyboard keys. I adopted a very personal and non funcional play style, wich I got more experienced at, but that still makes me play diferently from most of you, including many many females that use the regular WASD control keys, the numbered ones and all the Fs.

 

So I have a confession to make...I'm one of those that use the arrow keys, leaving the mouse unatended when i need to reach the spacebar for a jump, and I do manual aim with the mouse cursor...as for the attack special, its the same, I use the cursor on the quickslot bar and no shortcut. I do know what attacks to use, and do the proper rotation, but in a pvp match, raid or dungeon (flashpoint), I'm probably a few secs slower then the majority.

 

On games such as Rift and WoW, this diference earned me some nasty comments from Pick Up Groups (PUGs), including one I will never forget wich was: You cant hold the aggro of a tomatoe. I now laugh at those comments, but at the time I rage quit the dungeon and never did any again on that character. This was in Rift. On WoW, on my orc hunter, I also got some nasty comments from PUGs, like one I cant forget either (dps wise) wich was: Are you even trying?

On both ocasions I was doing my best, and in both of them I was a fresh max level doing it with standard equipment, and not with "purples" like most of the team was. On both of these games I never dared to do dungeons anymore.

 

Yesterday on SWTOR I went to an operation with my tank. I mostly use a dps, but they needed a tank. I warned the team that I wasnt experienced in tanking, and that the equipment was at the minimum required. They couldnt care less. So off we went. And we had 2 wipes. I must also say I also play some male characters, and that I was using one of them (so I doubt ppl were gentle with me for beeing female). After the second wipe I was feeling like you know what, was letting the guys down, so apologised once more and they must have sensed I was feeling insecure. Their comment was: Relax Dude!

 

If this was the only time I helped to made casualties, I would say I was very lucky with this team. But the same hapened when I was learning Karagga on my male marauder - toke me 2 tries to understand what i had to do on the machine boss. Now its a walk in the park. But anyway, the people in the team werent rude at all in any time. And on Hard Mode operations wich i did with my tank previously, on the first atempt when things didnt go all too well (I confess I panic a bit when I see any adds going to the team), the worst comment I got about my lamme tanking cant be compared to those I got on other games.

 

I see a lot of negativism about this game on this forums, and if a new player reads them will get the impression that this game isnt good. I dont know what will become of it now that it has a Free to Play option community wise, and I'm pretty sure there is still people in it that are capable of nasty remarks, but from my personal experience this community is worth a lot more then those from most other MMORPGs. And I dont know about you, but for me a MMORPG with a bad community gives me a very good shortcut to the quit buton. Likewise, an average MMORPG (I really like the story, lore, theme and mecanics of SWTOR though, so its above average for me) with a good community (like Ultima Online was) can keep me adicted for years.

 

Either I'm very lucky, or this game has a very good community with just some rotten eggs, and not the other way around. Anyways, love this game, and my thanks to the nice people I interacted with in it.

 

/Positive rant off

 

Yeah I think part of the relaxed enviroment is due to Bioware making dungeon and raids more accesible for casual players, something for which the hardcore raiders hated and still hate TOR

 

Im pretty relaxed while doing a dungeon but I used to go bersker if someone messed up during a warzone, I just went nuts

[MidichIorian]

Probably the easiest way of playing this game (assuming that you don't have key binds down):

 

*Use arrows

*Bind a few abilties to the num pad. I have my aoe's there

*Put jump on num pad 0 (zero)

*Macro stuff such as adrenals and perhaps also class boosts to certain abilties so that you don't forget to use them. This is easy to do in the programs that come with some keyboards and computer mice.

- Buy a Naga (when I say Naga I mean that type of mouse, it doesnt have to be a razer mouse)

*Put next target on scroll wheel button

-Put auto-sprint on one of the top buttons and "next friendly" on the other (the latter is not needed for pure dps specs). You can combine this with targeting options under preferences in swtor so make sure that you don't have to tab through 20 enemies.

-Bind your main abilties to side-buttons 1-12, the most frequently used ones on 1-8.

 

In the event that you want to make it a bit more compliacted for yourself, still without having to play full keybind/piano, you could put "next quickbar"/"previous quickbar" on num pad buttons 1 and 4 or possibly on two of the mouse buttons. It will instantly give you an extra 10 mouse commands. Really convenient for heal hybrids.

Edited November 17, 2012 by MidichIorian

[FINNT]

In real life, yes. Anonymity does things to people.

 

Agreed.

[astrobearz]

Don't hit on me, silly boys. Tee hee.

 

Also LOL CLICKERS.

 

 

I mean it's nice that you had a good experience, but nobody cares on the forums. It's a wretched hive of scum and villainy up in here. Nobody cares if you're male, female, twi'lek, mon calamari, or wookiee. We hate everyone, and especially you.

it matters if youre a droid:D

[LostInReverie]

Clicking obviously isn't a big deal while you're leveling, especially by yourself. It's not even that much of a big deal in FPs or heroics. However, clicking is definitely a hindrance in warzones. This is coming from a fellow clicker. No one's ever complained about my ability to play the game before, but then again I do not do a lot of PVP. I would say click away unless you're serious about doing end-game content competently.

[niiall]

i have a couple of suggestions, If you are going to use the arrow keys, then try using numpad zero for jump, then you shouldnt have to move your hand.

 

Also try remapping some of those keys that are close to your left hand, maybe the page down ones etc.

 

and finally if you can afford it, get a naga mouse. at the very least if you can use all the keybinds on there you can set your interrupt under your thumb for easy use. Interrupt must be on a easy keybind

[Hyde_v]

I don't use mods in any online game I play. Never have. I use one hand for movement keys, the occasional number command, and target selection with the tab key. The other hand has the mouse for command selection, camera turning (if I need it,) movement (hold both buttons down,) and targeting on mobs too far away to auto-selected. After ten years of MMOs, I've become very proficient at it. Some have commented that I have fast mods. I chuckle at that.

 

As for the ToR community, so far, it's better then WoW's. You can still ask a question in chat and get an actual answer instead of flames and insults. Chat channels are not filled with unacceptable topics. And when they are, if Bioware's rules about punishments are to be believed, offenders take a nice vacation. Unlike WoW's penalty volcano where you get a series of warnings before any real punishment is handed out; very few take warnings seriously.

 

The game is a challenge and has several good storylines. For that, I'll keep paying and playing.

 

I'm not sure what gender has to do with all of this though.

Edited November 17, 2012 by Hyde_v