If you spend as much time in the community and online gaming, working in Xbox.com forums and talking with gamers you'd see a disturbing trend, namely that the community is becoming less of a community and more of a "survival of the fittest".  Sometimes we need a reminder of some basic rules that can help create cohesiveness, rather than division.  To this end I present "10 Rules of Community to Live by".

1.     Think before you post in an online forum or blogspace.  Is this comment worthwhile?, will it benefit the community?, is it wasting bandwidth?

2.    Before attacking anything, consider whether it’s really important to criticize and if so, can you do it in a dignified manner?  For that matter, do you really care about the posting, announcement, etc?  If not, then save your posting energy for things you do care about.

3.    Don’t put “bump”, “ditto”, “right on” or any other mono-syllable or simple agreement as a post.  Craft a response that provides additional insights, perspective or background that will enlighten or enhance the community and its members.

4.    Ensure that you’re sending the response to the correct people and your facts are correct.  It’s becoming an epidemic for people to blast community websites, blogs, and forum leaders for just about anything.  Find out who the criticism should be sent to and craft a response to them. Before you do, see rules #1-3.

5.    Treat everyone in the community equally.  This goes for new players and experienced players, males and females, younger gamers and older gamers, etc.  Another epidemic is the disrespect that’s permeating the gaming community.  Females being disrespected like trash in online matches, the younger crowd disrespecting older gamers and vice versa, “experienced gamers” or “wannabes” disrespecting the less experienced as “noobs”.  No one benefits from this abuse and it serves nothing, except to push us further in the abyss of degrading behavior and tears the community apart.

6.    Celebrate the history of gaming that preceded you.  When new maps are released for an arcade game like PacMan, understand the historic significance and quit tearing down the very people and games that led to the evolution of gaming where it is today.

7.   Don’t act like you’re the center of the world of gaming, and the world at large.  The reality is that each of us is a single member of a community, one that should be about positive growth.  Share your opinion, but do so in ways that follow the previous rules.

8.    Don’t judge announcements, press releases, or other postings that aren’t written the way you would write them if you were in charge.  The fact is “you aren’t in charge” of that PR firm, company, community site, etc.  There’s been a backlash from the community regarding announcements that used the word “major” in their language and the community deemed it “not so”.  The fact is that the announcement was major, since content was created specifically for the Xbox 360 console, for a historic game.  The community response was a huge amount of wasted blog space, comments, and the like about how this wasn’t a “major” announcement.  If you don’t think it was, then follow the mantra “Let it go”.

9.    Seek the WOW” and let go of the rest.  Realize that today’s Internet has created a place where there is very little “Wow!” left in the world.  Nothing is a surprise, therefore little is a major announcement.  It’s like “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”, where the kids gorge themselves on treats to the point where it’s lost its specialness.  We won’t go back, but try to seek the “wow” and if you can’t, then silence isn’t such a bad thing.

10.  Have fun!   This is gaming after all, which is supposed to be fun.  The vast majority of gamers play for relaxation and fun.  After working all day at a job, school, taking care of a family, doing chores and the like, the majority of us want to game to relax.  If you can’t relax and have fun at gaming, then perhaps you should explore other avenues of relaxation.  This applies to posting trash in forums, attacking others in games, finding the need to cheat your way to victory, doing everything possible to be annoying or any other non-constructive behavior.

Of course, these aren't the end all, but following them could begin purging the negative and foster a better experience for everyone.  I mean really, would you rather spend your free time relaxing or filling the world with more negativity?  I desire the former and avoid the latter.

As always, let me know what you think and I look forward to seeing ya'll online!

~ Rainmaker2112