This sub is showing all the major signs of becoming a circlejerk club, and will begin pushing out our non-toxic members if not addressed. If we really care about r/BrigitteMains, we need to actively shutdown/ignore unconstructive, empty discussions and post more highlights, comp strategies and art.
I was an active member of r/MercyMains for several months before her Season 7 rework. During this time, r/MercyMains was a bustling forum of highlights, strategies, artwork and streamer/youtuber recommendations. Mercy 1.1 had many varying styles of play, and people preferring differing styles lead to a lot of discussion. Friendly and hostile.
In the month after Mercy 2.3, r/MercyMains was almost exclusively rants, with everyone screaming the exact same thing in different tones. Mercy's in-game viability never died, but discussion about her did. Many people, including myself, tried desperately to get people to stop complaining and restart the old discussions we used to have, but in the end our attempts failed. The sub became a circlejerk, at one point becoming a locked sub for several days because its own members were tearing themselves apart. Any real talk was buried under hollow complaining. Mercy mains, especially new players, would come to the sub asking for advice and highlights, but instead they were met with "give up, Mercy's dead," "Bliz just appealing to the DPS conspiracy," "why would they nerf a hero who needs no aim." It made anyone legitimately wanting to play her lose all interest.
It was absolutely pathetic, and became immortalized in a meme that discouraged anyone who was on the fence about playing Mercy. In its later stages the Mercy community as a whole became resented by the whole Overwatch playerbase, which only fed into the toxicity of the remaining Mercy community. To this day, over a year since her rework, people there still complain and refuse to adapt, somehow.
I don't want that happening here.
I don't want to see history repeat itself if we are able to stop it.
Unfortunately, the layout and attitude of Reddit often encourages toxic behavior. Reddit infamously breeds passivity, with a voting system that promotes extremes in ideas, over in-depth discussions. Resulting in rifts between larger groups of users instead of a mixing pot of conversations. This is why Reddit has more circlejerk communities than almost anywhere else online. However, Reddit is currently the best home for a lot of Overwatch communities, given the Twitch chat, YouTube comments and official forums somehow have it worse off.
So it can still be avoided, but will require a small bit of effort to those passionate about playing Brigitte, and wanting to keep the community from becoming stale, or worse, resented by the larger playerbase.
#Step 1: Downvote rant posts.
We all get angry and sometimes we need to rant. That's fine, and if you want to rant go ahead. But unfortunately because of human nature, rants that are upvoted tell others that we think these things as good, which will encourage more rant posts, especially by people who less want to rant and more just want attention. If you see a rant post, you can engage in a meaningful conversation with the original poster, but do not upvote it. The majority of r/MercyMains top all time posts are rants or jokes about how mistreated or toxic the community is. That does not encourage meaningful discussion.
#Step 2: Post your highlights!
You don't need to get a team wipe PotG to have a highlight "worthy of posting." We are here because we love playing Brigitte! When someone posts a simple, decent play we put ourselves in that person's boots, and the good feeling the original poster had is shared with by the community. So we all feel good! Now instead of leaving r/BrigitteMains indiscreetly upset because someone else just wants to complain, we leave feeling happy for knowing what we could do in-game and we want to come back to the sub!
#Step 3: Be proud to play Brigitte.
Why do you play Brigitte? We all have reasons that we may think are personal to us, but we may not be so different. For me, Brigitte is a synergistic hero. I play Brigitte because I can use her to help each of my teammates be a little better than they could be on their own. With her I can bring out the best in the team, and I know we can do that here with each other.
Encourage others to keep playing and enjoy Brigitte. When someone tries to talk poorly of the community, say "I'm a Brigitte main because I love playing her, and I enjoy being there for my team." You won't make the accuser change their mind, and you shouldn't try to. Others will see you as patient and mature, and because of that they will think better of r/BrigitteMains.
I understand that change can be hard. When something is different, it can be confusing and frustrating. So it is best to take change slowly. It's okay to be mad, but don't be wrathful, casting blame as to destroy others, or abandoning your passion altogether. Let's rally together, and walk through this.
Posted Dec 16, 2018, 11:30 PM UTC