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The state of Gameplay has been declining for many years and it's been eating away at me.

Eedat·4/8/2019, 3:30:51 AM·14 votes·10,037 views

Hi there. I wanted to talk about my opinion of the state of the boards and my experience here. Just a warning that this is going to be kind of a rant. I've been a long time Gameplay poster and have racked up 44,000 upvotes mostly on Gameplay which is quite a lot for the board that is easily the most polarizing on the site. Over the years this board has gone continuously downhill and I dont know how how to save it or stop the affects its had on me or even if they can be. Long ago, I used to be kinda known for making long thought out posts with lots of info and arguments that though opinionated were at least backed with thought and information.

As the board has slowly declined over the years, I've found myself slipping and becoming bitter. Gameplay is at a point now where Riot completely ignores it. No, worse than that. As we've found out through a couple leaks and a few slip ups, they're specifically told not to interact with us and honestly I don't blame them in the slightest.

As someone with a lot of time invested in this board, it's been impossible to not let this get to me. I don't make any more long drawn out threads anymore. I can't bring myself to do it after losing out to some "NERF YASUO REEEEEEE" rhetoric for the hundredth time. If the boards are supposed to "facilitate civil discussion", then why do the shitposts only designed to whip people into a frenzy mostly come out on top or are allowed at all?

I've recently gone through my history of removals from the boards and have noticed the downhill spiral. What once was mostly just posting on wrong boards warnings or calling someone "clueless" to outright attacks and it's directly correlated with my frustration with the board. The frequency and severity has been increasing over the years. After all these thousands upon thousands of posts and comments and countless hours spent here, I'm at risk to be permanently kicked off the board for about 30 of them over 5 years and I feel as though I'm powerless to stop it. It's inevitable. These 30 comments that vary drastically in extremes are more important than the 10,000 comments and threads I've made and it's making me even more bitter and angry. Compound this with the complete lack of consistency over what is or isn't punishable. I'm a ticking time bomb more or less. Not a question of if, but of when.

One of my most recent removals really caught my attention as it really captures my feelings on the board and how the bitterness and resentment of how it's been handled has affected the way I behave here. For reference, this comment was made on a comment in a Red post in Gameplay 3 months ago. The comment ignored the entire post and was more or less an attack on Rioters for not posting on Gameplay anymore:

Riot makes threads on both reddit and this board to discuss the new champ

OmG RiOt Y dOnT wE gEt ALL tHe AtTeNtIoN?!??!?1

top rated comment legit ignores the entire subject to bitch and moan at the Rioters trying to start a discussion on Gameplay for not having discussions on Gameplay

proceeds to wonder why this board gets ignored.

is incapable of realizing he is the reason why this board gets ignored

is incapable of realizing he is the reason we won't get another red post on Gameplay for another year

is incapable of realizing why Rioters dont post on a board that literally just bitches at them and sets traps whenever they try to

[...]

For the sake of transparency, this is not my most egregious recent offense but not my lightest either. This perfectly captures my frustrations as actual discussion is drown out by endless bitching and attacks. Years of allowing this to happen is why we no longer are even allowed to be conversed with.

Oh and what a surprise, not a single red post on Gameplay since this happened.

The board itself is designed in a way to crush and embarrass people who don't agree with the popular opinion. Anyone who disagrees is met with a big red -10 next to their opinion. Eventually your opinion is actually hidden. Negative reinforcement like this has one outcome. The people with differing opinions will get tired of being ostracized for being different and will just leave. The only remaining people just reinforcing the echo chamber.

This is just my story, but I feel as though other long time posters are feeling something at least similar. A lot of the posters that I respected the most even if I didnt agree with them are just outright gone now. Something needs to change on this board. We are at the point where rioters are specially told not to post here and the number of people posting here is laughable. You can hit the front of the top page in Gameplay with like 20 upvotes in 3 hours now even on a weekend.

The board is dying. It's been dying for a long time and honestly, at this point I don't think the damage can be undone. Too many years of neglect has destroyed our little community. I'm mostly coming from a Gameplay perspective, but if you talk to other old posters in a lot of other boards its the same.

I guess I should maybe give a few suggestions

  • Limit downvoting to 0. Everybody loves seeing a blatant shit post get buried but it also is used to crush opinions that aren't popular. Good posters who constantly see a big red -8 next to an opinion or idea they spent time formulating is just going to cause them to stop doing it. Meanwhile, the blatant shitposters don't really care at all whether they get downvoted or not.

  • Completely rework the "Hot" page. Make it weigh the number comments and discussion it creates rather than just sheer upvotes. The way it's set up means that only the most popular opinions get seen which results in more echoing.

  • Some stricter standards for creating a post. There should be at least some semblance of an argument or information and not just some ridiculous hyperbole and rage.

I guess part of the reason I wrote this is to say my goodbyes to the boards I've spent so many years and hours of my time being part of. Sooner or later I'm just going to vanish from here against my will and join the ranks of old posters gone. Before that happens, I needed to say goodbye. I'm well aware that there probably aren't too many people left that will actually give a shit that I'm gone, but regardless I wanted to say I appreciate all the people who have debated and fought with me over the years over things we felt passionate about, regardless if we agreed or not.

It may be time to accept that the board I loved and was so passionate about is dead and gone and maybe it's just my time to go with it.

Thanks for reading

11 Comments

Kaisha4/8/2019, 5:09:49 AM4 votes

RIOT doesn't care, the game and boards reflect that, not the other way around. You guys get the cause/effect all wrong. RIOT has stopped caring about their game, and hence people follow suit. RIOT trolls, now ppl troll. Its a top down problem, always has been.

Kaisha4/8/2019, 6:06:01 PM3 votes

Its not ranting. I'm not angry or trying to blow off steam. You're just projecting. I always find it funny when people demand censorship for anything they don't agree with... do they not see the irony?

Linna Excel4/8/2019, 6:32:03 PM3 votes

I can't help but think part of the problem is that the player's perspectives on the game is at it's lowest point it's been in awhile, so of course gameplay is going to feel bad. I also think part of the problem is that reds would rather just take to twitter or reddit than post on the boards. A third part of the problem is reds have their own board, which they infrequently use aside from meddler, and they don't need to post on gameplay.

I agree with your first two suggestions, but disagree with the second one. Part of the reason I stopped trying to post on the old curated boards is that it was impossible to give any criticism of riot there. I honestly didn't even notice it getting deleted. My Ahri thread!!! REEEEEEE! I feel like if the mods come in and impose standards, it's just going to kill gameplay even faster.

y0r1ck4/8/2019, 4:34:43 PM2 votes

I agree with your last suggestion for stricter regulation of posts. Mods recently created a RANT board, but there's still so much crap in Gameplay because they didn't make any changes to Gameplay with the introduction of RANT. People don't realize the difference between a rant and a good Gameplay post because rants are still allowed in Gameplay.

Mods should create some enforceable guidelines for posting in gameplay. Guidelines should dictate the following:

  1. Clear, concise, and relevant titles. I should know what your post is about before I open it.
  2. A debatable thesis must be included with supporting argument and proof other than personal feelings.
  3. Complaints without the above will be thrown out immediately.

Just make it clear what belongs in gameplay and what doesn't. Yes this is censorship and some people won't like it. To them I say that a free market of ideas works in real life where up and downvotes don't exist, but not here where unpopular opinions - regardless of their validity - are quickly hidden. Here, most of the community is unknowledgable yet able to vote. Here we must curate discussion to ensure starting points are discussion worthy, to make sure random complaints and worthless rants don't make it to the front page.