Negativity In The WMH Community

I write this fully acknowledging that Donna & I are total newbs to the world of Warmachine / Hordes / Privateer Press. We only started playing last July. With less than a year under our belts with the game & a lot of that time dealing with the tail end of covid restrictions, I recognize that our experience is super limited compared to the majority of WMH players.

That said, this is a subject that's been on my mind almost from the beginning. It's also a lot deeper of a subject than I'd do justice in just one blog post. There are too many aspects / avenues to address. So, I'll just dive into the first few that stand out to me here & maybe get into others in future blogs. 

Overall, our experience has been that most of the WMH community is a really supportive, positive group. I have no doubt that the amount of excited posting I do, especially early on, could turn people off. I get that. 

Even still, I got very little as far as negativity directed at me.

I can't say the same for every post / comment / etc from others. I've seen too many cases of someone asking a simple question / making a basic observation followed by people railing in the comments with many of the same, tired gripes.

To clarify, not every complaint / concern that's brought up is bad or unfounded. Some of the more common things that are mentioned that I wholeheartedly agree with are:

- Asking for more community engagement / communication from PP to the players.

- Restocking battlegroup boxes & starter sets / making new Brawlmachine-centric starter sets.

- Improving distribution overseas & improved relations with FLGSs. 

Unfortunately, even when these valid concerns are brought up, at least half of the comments mentioning them are written with such disdain & misery that they can actually hurt the message due to how off-putting the tone of the message is. The thing isn't that complaining or stating a negative is bad in and of itself. It's more that overly miserable tone and language that's used in some of the most common gripes.

As someone who has been thoroughly engrossed in the game since discovering it, a decent amount of my time over the last 9 months has been voraciously consuming every bit of WMH content I could find. This ranged from podcasts to video batreps to blogs to forum posts and everything in between.

In going through all of that material, I saw several "THE SKY IS FALLING" mantras repeated for as far back as 2017. I wouldn't be surprised if there was more going back further than that, but I can say for sure that I've seen these things repeated for at least 4-5 years worth of online gripes.

"THE GAME IS DEAD! IT'S ALL OVER!", they've decried over the years. Conveniently ignoring the work that PP has put into it throughout that time with updates, new factions, new models, etc. This is almost always based on what they see in their own local area...as if their local meta dictates the entirety of the game's status around the world. 

"PRIVATEER IS DONE FOR! THEY'RE GOING OUT OF BUSINESS!", they type with absolute certainty. This one is often following a particular well-known member of the team moving on to work somewhere else. From what I saw, this was prophesized when Oz left, Hungerford moved on, even as recent as when Faye left...Meanwhile, PP is still around and still putting out new material for all the current games in their line. 

Even better is that often when you see these comments, they're made by people who readily admit they don't even play the game anymore. Yet, they insist on hanging around in FB groups / forums about the game so they can jump into discussions to spread their negativity; often offering nothing to the actual conversation being had, but just looking to dump on someone excited about the game.

And, no, this isn't me crying out because someone said something mean...lmao...you cannot hurt my feelings. Even if it were possible for some random internet stranger to offend / upset me, as I mentioned, this hasn't happened much at all on my own posts, but more something I see happening on a lot of posts by others.

I hate to say it, but I guess the simple fact is that some people are miserable and as the old saying goes...like company.

"Well aren't you being negative complaining about the complainers?" Nah, bud, I'm just pontificating about things I've seen and exploring ways that I can try to help combat them. I grew up in poverty, a child of divorce (mom abandoned us when I was 5) who suffered under an abusive alcoholic father (took his anger / pain at losing my mom out on me). I lived enough misery in my first 18 years of life to get my fill. 

Things certainly aren't perfect in my life these days, but I * CHOOSE * to focus on the positives. When faced with negatives, I * CHOOSE * to try to find ways to fix or at least work around them. 

That's why I post a lot. That's a big part of why I write this blog. That's why I put in so much work over the last 2 weeks to improve things for people who currently play or who might be interested in playing Company of Iron (and still working on those things now).

Getting into the game during covid, there was understandably a drop in new content for Warmachine. So, instead of complaining about it, I made some. On top of that, I bought some video equipment, bought software, and bought the entire catalog of Incompetech music so that I can eventually add 1 video batrep per month to my blog content.

The other counter to denouncing the negativity is that we who try to see the bright side are just being "white knights" for PP. 

HA!!!!!

Seriously? 

I am certainly a fan of PP & the game, but the idea that someone seeking out positive discussion about something they enjoy meaning they're "simping" for the company (as some have accused) is beyond ridiculous.

I started this off with stating that PP could do better with communication, putting focus into getting starter boxes restocked, etc. Those are valid complaints that I fully support. I can honestly evaluate & point out where things can be improved without having to wallow in misery as we discuss it; trying to shout down anyone who's enjoying the game.

Another thing that I think gets lost on those who focus solely on the negatives is all the work that PP has done over the recent years. This includes something as small as adding to the lore with the Hengehold Scrolls all the way to the massive update put out last October and the coming launch of the Orgoth.

Understandably, you're not going to make everyone happy all the time even with the things I've mentioned above. However, it's funny that 2 of the common complaints I've seen fly directly in the face of each other. For every complaint that someone's favorite action hasn't gotten new models in X years, there's somebody else complaining that there's too many models & PP needs to cut some out of the game. That contrast is a discussion for another day. 

On the positive side, a player (Benjamin Tolputt) started what I believe can be a very productive post in the main WMH group on FB. In the post, he offers a positive & negative and asks others to follow suit. It's turned out so far to be a very constructive discussion where most of the negatives are being brought up as things players would like to see PP change / do, but without all the vitriol that usually pops up in negative comments.

Oh and I'm sure someone somewhere could have something negative to say about what I've written in this blog. Go for it. I don't care. 

I'm going to be too busy over here putting together some Druid Mist Riders for my wife & starting to type out my batrep for next week.