Actually, being here for 5 years, there is much less disrespect now and recently then there was at other times, such as the end of Halo 3 and various parts of Reach. We've made punishments harsher and harsher for some reason, even though in general there's much less reason for it then there used to be.
The drama, flame wars, and general disrespect was so much worse in the past. We used to have to lock battle results topics just to avoid people flaming and insulting each other after battles. This last year it hasn't gotten nearly that bad.
Although to be brutally honest, this "transition away from warsim" stuff you all are talking about, isn't really totally true. Since I joined in Halo 3, we never had this strict, serious warsim atmosphere throughout the entire community. It's always been in specific squads or companies. Even back then, at certain times there were "casual attitudes toward FMs" as Zeta said (especially in BLUE), or times where 14-15 year olds have been in HC, as Sicario said (Johnkilla even got elected as FM at 15, but WC overruled it and put Max as FM).
The warsim atmosphere in REDWATCH, for instance, was mostly only in REDWATCH. Sometimes an FM and HC would spread it throughout the entire army, but never was it universal. It changed with leadership changes, it changed with squad changes, etc. For those of you who want to help bring it back, work to get into HC positions and actually make those changes. Pointing out something being gone won't bring it back, you've got to be proactive and productive to bring it back.
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