[Opinion]The Auto Group Dichotomy

When I found and started playing Rift (which is a funny story I'll write someday) this automatic grouping feature was already in place so I can't talk about how the game was before it was implemented. In spite of that, I can form an opinion based on similar games I used to play back then that didn't have this feature.

What's Auto Group?
In RIFT, auto group is a feature that allows you to join anyone near you during any event/quest by clicking a small pop-up window that appears automatically. For this to happen, the players near you must have their public group enabled.

 The Consequences of Auto Group
As many people that have discussed this matter before, I am also concerned about the long-term consequences this feature (now widely used in MMO's) might bring to the community and it's interactions. First, I agree that the main pro is pretty obvious: seamless dynamic; which is indeed very important in such a dynamic game as Rift. Having to ask for/accept invites for group while doing a rift, which is an heavily timed and dynamic (dynamic is the key word here: dynamics, bitch!) event would be extremely frustrating. And auto group makes it extremely easy: no talk, no questions, no interaction, insta group! Well, that's it: while describing in what this features improves our game experience I just said what is, for me, the main con: lack of interaction. We can roam all around Brevane and Dusken, closing rifts, doing hunts, completing world events and whatnot without ever talking to someone else. 

Is this the game that we want? Some might say "well you can still talk if you want". Ok sure, we can. Those of us old enough to know better might still say something polite everytime we join a group, or even ask before joining but who wants to be the talking parrot in a mute game? And by my books things are very clear: "a mute MMO is a dead MMO".

This has clear consequences and some of those can be noticed right now. Certainly driven by the mute nature of the auto group it's a rare event when someone replies to my greetings when joining a SLE. And any more interaction than that is even rarer. For those of us who have a nice guild it easy to endure this game. For those who don't (as I didn't for some time) playing Rift is like playing hopscotch in an abandoned town. I even dare to say that between troll spammers or a chat box with nothing but "Entering Ashora. Leaving Ashora. Soul damage, blah, blah" I prefer the first. Hands down.

Now on the other hand, some people are too shy to talk (even if they don't have to use their own face or voice) and this is an unvaluable feature that allows them to do group content that they otherwise wouldn't do. But hey, MMO's are social games, get over it.

Happy rifts,
Jimmie@Gelidra