Direct correlation between CFCing and maturity?

[Tomoyo]

Many times, I've heard that "even the younger posters seem to be more mature", or something along those lines. I've always wondered about that. Could it be that, since civ is a game requiring patience, we've drawn the more mature people out? Could it be that the immature people don't last long? Could it be that Perfection secretly threatens every new member telling them to be mature or else? Maybe it's just chance distribution.

 

[HamaticBabylon]

Maturity comes form the fact that you can argue with a person, and at the same time make the other person laugh...kids can't do that they just make people chuckle..

 

[AVN]

Many times, I've heard that "even the younger posters seem to be more mature", or something along those lines. I've always wondered about that. Could it be that, since civ is a game requiring patience, we've drawn the more mature people out?

My explanation as a 41 year old poster :
I agree that most of the younger posters are in general able to write meaningful posts. IMHO that's due to the fact that playing civ asks for an intelligence which is above average. And when someone has an intelligence which is above average he will in general be able to write posts which makes sense.

Furthermore because of the very good moderation on this board (the few) immature posters will not stay here very long, unless they change their posting style.

Just my 2 cents. Feel free to disagree

 

[Tomoyo]

Intelligence really isn't the same thing as maturity. Someone can be the smartest person in the world and still act extremely immature, while someone really stupid could act mature, simply because of their upbringing or such.

 

[punkbass2000]

I think you're throwing around plenty of inexact and indefinable terms. Who is 'mature'? Who gets to decide? Same deal for 'intelligent'.

 

[SeleucusNicator]

I wouldn't say this is necessarily the most mature forum I've ever been on; it's true that any forum with a degree of moderation will become mature, simply because the moderators will strike down anyone that isn't, but in terms of intellectual heights reached there are far better places than CFC out there.

Specifically, I think there is a tendency among many members here to make an instant flamewar out of anything they see that doesn't fit with their pre-concieved notions of how the world should be, and this can be found in both liberal and conservative members.

 

[HamaticBabylon]

"pre-concieved notions of how the world should be"...did you here that guys!!

 

[cgannon64]

Specifically, I think there is a tendency among many members here to make an instant flamewar out of anything they see that doesn't fit with their pre-concieved notions of how the world should be, and this can be found in both liberal and conservative members.

Yes. That is why this place is actually very immature. Most people here appear mature; they can use intelligent terms well. But they usually use these terms to slander someone...

 

[The Last Conformist]

Scary as it may seem to agree with SN, I don't think CFC OT is any particularly mature as online fora goes.

As for the very young posters, however, a preteen probably has to be unusually mature to find the debates here at all worthwhile.

I don't think Civ requires any exceptional intelligence, if we're talking about just playing the game, not things like winning an always war OCC on Sid. What it requires is rather patience and a willingness to to learn a game that it takes some considerable effort to truly get into; I suppose those are traits that might correlate with emotional and intellectual maturity in general. But if a such selective effect exists, it does not seem to very large.

 

[Tomoyo]

I was referring the the fact that people, especially in SF, say that this is more mature than other forums...

Also, I was also comparing CFCers to "glomp-happy" fangirls...

 

[cgannon64]

Scary as it may seem to agree with SN, I don't think CFC OT is any particularly mature as online fora goes.

What other kind of fora are you thinking of?

I imagine most other game fora to be about the same. And as for fora that are actually devoted to politics and religion, I imagine those to be much worse. Most people who actively seek out sites like that are probably arrogant smartasses who have intellectually attacked so many people they have fallen into a hole, and all they do is shout swears to those outside it.

 

[Aphex_Twin]

A flame-free forum would be more mature but much more boring. CFC is great as it is.

 

[Gelion]

My explanation as a 41 year old poster :
I agree that most of the younger posters are in general able to write meaningful posts. IMHO that's due to the fact that playing civ asks for an intelligence which is above average. And when someone has an intelligence which is above average he will in general be able to write posts which makes sense.

Furthermore because of the very good moderation on this board (the few) immature posters will not stay here very long, unless they change their posting style.

I second that AVN .
A person who likes to play civ is creative, likes to develop and write history, and therefore he thinks about the world we live in a little deeper....

 

[Pellaken]

immature people are banned or just hide for 2 years, then come back while drunk for a week

 

[odintheking]

Hey, I'm barely twelve, but I'm about mature as they come. Well, when I'm required to be mature. When I'm with my friends and such, I act stupid and immature, but that's because I'm so bored of the real world, I try to make it more bearable by acting dumb, so people will laugh and the world will be that much happier. I appreciate these forums, though, because unless someone looks at my profile, they won't know how old I am, and they will not judge by my physical maturity, but rather by my intellectual maturity. But it seems that the rare preteen here does seem to have some form of maturity, and the fact that we are younger than you should not change the fact that we are to be treated like any adult, because if we're playing Civ, we're obviously not some dull-witted, average kid.

 

[The Last Conformist]

I was referring the the fact that people, especially in SF, say that this is more mature than other forums...

They're, in effect, congratulating themselves on their maturity. It does not seem an inescapable conclusion they're right.

What other kind of fora are you thinking of?

Mostly other games-related fora I've frequented, like 'Poly or the long-gone GWMB. I'd say they tend to about the same level of maturity as here. The Darwin Awards Forums, at least when I was half-way active there, are more mature than CFC OT most of the time, I'd say.

Of course, there are individual fora that are much worse than here, too, as far as maturity is concerned. But CFC is in no way exceptional for its maturity among fora I've frequented.

 

[odintheking]

Well, the people here are more mature (I assume, I haven't actually met those people in real life) than at other net groups I've seen. Well, people I've met, at least, such as at Runescape, Zelda Power forums, etc. The people at Xanga are smart, but kinda immature and eccentric.

 

[Azadre]

This just in - CFC posters seem to not be, I repeat not be, more mature than their average counterparts. It turns out CFC posters only receive the most exceptional moderation. The first seeds of immaturity, or an immature thread, finds a lock and its existence is denied. To recap: CFC posters' maturity levels rank similar to the average internet user's. I am Azadre, and this is the CFC Beat.

 

[Mathilda]

I think it's a combnation of three things:
1. Nature of Civ- to play it well does take more thinking than a lot of other games.
2. Strict mods - not putting up with spamming surely helps.
3. Chance - I'm sure these things are down to random chance as well, how the crowd turns out to develop from the start. Then once the style has been established, it can stay for quite a long time. It would propably take a lot of peole leaving at the same time to change.

 

[ybbor]

it seems like all posters have the maturity of someone just out of college, those older usually act less mature, and those younger usually act more mature, obviously there are pltny of exceptions to this rule.