Frequently Asked Questions

This FAQ is a guide to help explain many of the features and nuances of the site. If you have any questions please check here first as this is an ever-evolving document.

Should you still have questions that we do not answer below, just hit up the forums and ask.

General Inquiries
Registration and Profiles
Featured Contributors
Making Friends
User-Defined Groups
Creating and Finding Matches with Game On!
Voting on Content and Comments

General Inquiries
Q: So why CivilizedGamers?
A: How many online matches have you been part of that inevitably turned into racial slurfests that left you wishing that you could play competitive games with folks more like yourself?  Have you scoured the various online gaming forums to discuss industry news and events, only to find that most are full of folks who talk at each other instead of to each other. Do you frequent the same old tired gaming "blogs" that regurgitate the same old information and insist on bypassing thoughtful discussion and instead try too hard for that sophomoric zinger that usually falls flat on its face?

You are not alone. We believe that there are many people out there who feel the same way we do - that these people are scattered and sprinkled throughout the web on various sites... gems in a proverbial pile of trash. CivilizedGamers.com is our attempt fight back against all of the asinine, juvenile garbage that has become all too commonplace in this industry. A voice that we hope will speak to the many of us out there that are tired of the current Uncivilized State of Gaming that permeates throughout.

Registration and Profiles
Q: There's an awful lot of information requested when creating a new account... why?
A: The reason we ask for this information is primarily to determine permissioning for a few areas of the site - primarily forums and platform-related sections.  Some information, such as location, is also helpful when trying to organize events and matches with others in the same region as yourself.

In all honesty there really isn't much that we ask for. Blood type? Nope. Sexual preference? Nah. Credit score? Not required... yet. (kidding!)

For more information, feel free to check out our privacy policy.

Q: What do you do with the GamerIDs I provided when registering?
A: The GamerIDs are used to validate your online account.  After you submit your XBL Gamertag, PSN ID, or Wii Friendcode, we will contact you on the relevant service and ask you a question to confirm your account.

Once you have been confirmed, you will be given access that particular platform's forums and Game On! areas.

Q: What do I do if I need to change something?
A: Most of the registration fields can be edited in your profile after your account has been created. Just go to My Account->Profile and you will find an edit button to make changes.

Note that some information is unchangeable (like your birth date and gender) - apologies to those transgendered folks, but you'll have to stick with your originally registered gender. 

Featured Contributors
Q: I have a lot of interesting ideas and would like to participate as a Featured CivilizedGamer blogger. How do I do this?
A: Our Featured CivilizedGamer contributors are a pretty exclusive group of individuals that have great insight into the industry and the gaming culture as a whole. More importantly, they are able to express their views and observations in such a way that makes them interesting (for most of us, anyways).

At this time we are not looking to expand our contributor base, however that will likely change in the future. If you are interested in becoming a featured contributor, the best way to start down that path is to build up a portfolio of interesting posts throughout the site here.
We are very interested in those that have interesting things to say and present themselves well... so start posting and stay tuned!

Making Friends
Q: I've found some posters people on the site that I'd like to follow. Is there any way to do this?
A: Right now we have instituted a basic friends model.  This model allows you to send "friend requests" to other registered users.  Assuming your request is accepted, you will be able to track their activity throughout our site - from creating new forum topics, to signing up for matches and commenting on news feeds.

User-Defined Groups
The groups area is still being fine tunes and didn't make it in time for the initial beta release. We expect to have it up and running shortly, so stay tuned!

Creating and Finding Matches with Game On!
Q: Can you explain Game On! to me?
A: Certainly. Game On! is our customized module that allows players to set up matches by platform.  It was designed to assist in the organization and scheduling of matches amongst gamers.  Simply go to Community->Game On!->Create New Match and then select the appropriate platform to begin the setup process.

If you would like to join a public match, you can do that by working your way toward Community->Game On!->Find a Match and then select the platform. This will list all of the relevant information for all of the public matches that have yet to take place.

Q: How do I signup for a match?
A: Simply click on the title of the match you would like to sign up for, and you will be brought to that match's homepage. On the bottom right corner click the Sign Up button to register for the event. This should immediately display a star icon on your calendar, indicating that you have a match that day.

Alternatively, the person who created the match could sign you up by proxy.

Q: I want to create an Xbox Live match, however I don't have XBL as an option... what gives?
A: Currently we require confirmation of all online accounts. If you do not see a particular platform, the most likely cause is that you have not supplied an XBL gamertag, or it has not yet been confirmed.

Check the registration section of this FAQ for more details.

Q: I changed my mind, I don't want to play in this match I signed up for... how do I get out?
A: Easily - just go to the match homepage (you can look under My Account>My Matches, or find the link through your calendar) and at the bottom of the main page click on the "Cancel Signup" button. Viola! All set.

Voting on Content and Comments
Q: I've noticed these stars and thumbs all over the place. What are they all about?
A: We've implemented two distinct voting methodologies throughout the site to get users more involved.

• Voting for Comments: The comments/forums has a point system known as "Gamer Karma" (GK) that works as follows: For each "Thumbs Up" vote, the author of the post will receive +1 GK point. If the vote is a "Thumbs Down", the author receives -1 GK point. For contributing a vote, the voter receives .2 GK points (it isn't exactly labor intensive to vote ya know!).

These Gamer Karma points accrue for each user and their posts and help do define the quality of their comment submissions based on the voting of their peers.

• Voting for Stories, Blogs, and Forum Topics: Here the voting system is slightly different. Since this content is much more intensive and generally requires more time to formulate and post, we have enabled a more flexible 5-star voting method, allowing users to vote from 1-star (poor) to 5-star (awesome).

Q: Can I see what I've voted on, and how stuff I've posted has been voted?
A: Sure! In your profile, there are links that display your current total Gamer Karma Reputation, your total GK points, and your overall Gamer Karma rank as compared to the rest of the users on the site.

Your GK score and GK Rank are also displayed in the author area of your comments. We also display the aggregate GK score for the comment on the comment itself.  For stories, blogs, and forum topics, the average star total with the number of votes submitted is displayed in the post itself.

We also plan to develop pages that will list the content you have posted and their respective rankings.

Q: Why should I even bother with voting?
A: On websites with a huge fanbase (not us right now) that revolve around the social aspects of the Internet (us right now), it's difficult to easily discern quality posts and posters from those otherwise.

Your voting on content is helpful in a number of ways:

• It makes people think twice before they post their comments, since a flamebait post or any other worthless-waste-of-everyones-time post will get voted down, sinking the author's Gamer Karma Reputation.
• The aggregation of points "levels up" the user - so in theory you will be able to tell the general usefulness of a poster's comments based on their rank.
• Voting enables the site moderators to generate lots of cool content - like "Best of" lists - that will highlight the cream of the crop content and posters on the site.

Q: Can't I just go through a whole thread and vote everything down?
A:  You could, but that just wouldn't be Civilized...! In all seriousness, disrespectful and immature behavior like voting up/down on every single message just to be a PITA will be monitored and dealt with accordingly. So please refrain from abusing the system!