Interesting tread, although it has been in the forums many times in one form or another, still good points.
This is my take on the whole thing, and anyone that has lived or does live in a small town like myself will probably agree.
The MA is like a small town, I live in a relatively small town, pop. 2600.
Here, everyone knows just about everyone, they all have a history, some good/some not so good. They all know just about everyone {or at least "heard the name"}
Funny thing is although most are friendly and welcome your conversation and points of veiw. There is always a few here and there that overall are just not this way.
The reason being, it's a small town, you can be not so nice or back stab because in the end all you have is all the same people {give or take a couple} still living in this small town. You can get away with poor behavior, hurtful talk and other unpleasant things because all you have at the end of the day is the same group ya started with.
This has been the case in the MA since day one, it's not that it's a bad thing or great thing. The community is what the community makes itself. There is no huge group of people moving into the arena that anyone has to be leary of or mean too. Again, all we have is each other, the same group we have fun & great laughs with and the same group we are mean and disrespectful too.
I have played for the last 6 months WW2 Online, although a similar game {and NO this isn't a comparison between ww2 online and AH} the "town" or "MA" is much larger than AH's.
Not that this is good or bad thing, you soon learn you're not in a "small town" anymore. Brotherhood, comradre' , friendly personable chat and since of pride are hard to find. Sure you have your squadmates and a few countrymen around, but trrust me you're not in that small town anymore. You cant spout off at the enemy on ch200 or tell a foe "good shot" or "nice fight" You either took his life or he took yours.
Moral of the story:
We can choose as a small town to continue to have a nice place to grow and raise the kids, see an old friend at the diner or say hello to the grumpy guy at the newspaper stand. OR we can nit pick, back stab and belittle each other because at the end of the day or the next day when we wake up, it's still all the same people. Even the grumpy guy at the paper stand that is always there, that you know you wouldn't trade for anyone.