1) It is not quite black or white. The restaurant you have been going to for 3+ years makes some menu changes: it is quite likely you will not like the changes. As Dr. Bartle said http://www.youhaventlived.com/qblog/2011/QBlog190611B.html
If they’ve changed the recipe, though, it’s going to taste worse. (Note for younger readers: whenever anything is advertised as being “improved”, it’s like a code word for “made rubbish”.

Just because the business made things worse, does not mean you quit going there as long as they did not make it bad enough. It doesn’t mean you have to be happy about it.

2) You are absolutely correct that there is no value to being a whiner to fellow guildies about how the game has gotten worse. They are not going to change anything.

However, the head of the CSM (CCP’s elected player representatives for EVE Online), who is also a member of Goonswarm and Something Awful forums, is urging the players to take it to the game press. I.e., game companies respond to game press. Game sites (and most modern press, unfortunately) want articles that get noticed to get advertising clicks. He phrased it more politically correctly, but essentially urged the players to criticize the game company in comments and provide links to articles that reflect that view throughout the internet. ( Ergo, it is in the press’ financial interest to write negative articles since that drive page views which drive Google clicks.) Not likely, but it could be successful.

Look at the case of Activision Blizzard. Since growth is a significant part of what stockholders want, AB has to be worth a billion or two less dollars with Cataclysm subscriber loss than a year ago. Maybe a lot more since a growing #1 brand is so much more valuable than an over-the-hill brand in decline. Fair or not, people can lose their jobs when billion dollar mistakes are made. ( I think there were a number of mistakes in Cata that were going to lower revenue but that is irrelevat to whether people do get fired. ) Blizzard 2012 might be more receptive than Blizzard 2010. So if tens of thousands of players criticized Cataclysm in any press or investment site they could, would it cause Activision-Blizzard to change? Probably not. But it might.

In keeping with the musical theme, I’ll go with

And three people do it, three, can you imagine, three people walking in
singin a bar of Alice’s Restaurant and walking out. They may think it’s an
organization. And can you, can you imagine fifty people a day,I said
fifty people a day walking in singin a bar of Alice’s Restaurant and
walking out. And friends they may thinks it’s a movement.

It was really, really good.
You made me happy every single day.
But now… I’ve got to go away!

You seem to be arguing with my post, while at the same time nothing you said disagrees with what i said. I mentioned people who bring their constructive criticisms to the attention of Blizzard in the official ways we have been given.

The people in my example, however, do not then bitch to everyone around them and spew venomous hate, as if to say that if they don’t like it, then the rest of us shouldn’t be having fun either.

I’m going to cut this whole thing down to essentials.

If you are bored, tell me that you’re bored with the game. That is your opinion, and I’d like to hear about your experiences and where things got boring for you. I can learn from you, see your side of things, perhaps even agree with you.
What I don’t want to hear from you is a blanket statement that the GAME IS BORING. That THE GAME SUCKS. That is your opinion, but you stated it as fact. It allows no room for polite discussion. It puts things in a black and white perspective, and is confrontational. If someone else does not agree with your statement, then in order to talk about their opinion, they have to first challenge the baseline assumptions you made in your statement, and hopefully do so in a way that doesn’t spark rage. When people say something that others disagree with, often their feelings are hurt, and right or wrong, they seek to defend their position.

That is why, instead of raging about how badly the game sucks, I prefer people that phrase things as they are… personal opinion. Relate their experiences doing X, and how long they’ve done y, and all of the things they’ve seen in Z, and how all of that leads them to feel meh or blah or grrr!

Don’t take how YOU feel, and arbitrarily assign those same feelings to me, and everyone else out here. We’ve got our own thang going on.

Hopefully, this clarification will end the back and forth.

“Cluebot: If they’re not willing to group with you and help you take advantage of Recruit a Friend to get you to max level so you can play with them… well, they’re not really a fgood riend, understand? They’re just people you know that said, “Hey, why not pick up the game and join us, it’ll be cool dude.” No, this is more about you wanting to get yourself to max level so you will be worthy of joining them in what they’re doing. Friends are usually at least a teensy bit interested in spending time with you, no matter the level, especially if it’ll help you get to play with them and their max level characters faster.”

Oh baar, you are so right and so wise. (No no not sarcasm. :( )

But you forget that environments change people. The Stanford Prison Experiment wasn’t just a university experiment.

I’ve had close, RL friends who are still my closest friends behave in ways, in WoW, that are so alien to what they are in RL it’s not even funny. Dropping people, betraying people, using people… all in the name of Progression, in the name of Guild Leadership, in the name of the Greater Good.

Oh baar, you are so right. And yet… I wish life were that simple. :(