Considering that nobody can even talk to each other in-game, I fail to say how an elitist can form. Perhaps in the well known youtubers of the series, but even then, you can probably count them on both hands, maybe even one. And for the most part, those folks go their seperate ways.

By the same method you're communicating with me right now. A forum. This isn't difficult to understand. If you need more: Steam chat, Team Speak, Private chat via LIVE, raid call, skype, literally any method of communication ever outside of the game itself. Even if we were to remove the "in game" (more like third party I guess,) methods I just gave you, [quote]Considering that nobody can even talk to each other in-game, I fail to say how an elitist can form[/quote] this still doesn't even matter. Like, are you serious here? Can you honestly not tell how an elitist attitude can form without natural in game chat? Why on Earth would you restrict it to that? This is starting to turn into another tangent or something similar though, so I'll move back a few steps. The elitist attitude forms because it is generally considered a more difficult game among the selection of the current generation. Couple that with its strong basis on learning through mistakes/experiences, you then get banter back and forth, with old parties talking about how x and y sections are absolute cakewalks, while the newer party is only first finding x and y sections. I'm sure I don't have to draw out the direct results of these situations right? Jumping forward, this leads to certain attitudes being set up on forums, youtube coment sections, ect... You get the group that considers themselves to be near deity status while other players, some new and some old, hate these people's guts. The sense of elitism in the dark souls community is not new, and is not largely undiscovered. [url=https://www.google.com/search?q=elitism+in+dark+souls&rlz=1C1CHFX_enUS542US542&oq=elitism+in+dark+souls&aqs=chrome..69i57.2513j0j7&sourceid=chrome&espv=210&es_sm=93&ie=UTF-8]It's also not very difficult to find these things either.[/url]. However, there has been a large push against elitism in the community since the game started aging, and the attitude has since gotten better. That said, I expect the quality of attitude to dip once more when DkSII comes out, and it will remain that way until it starts too age too. Afterwords, most of it will be suppressed or pushed out again (seeing the pattern yet?) and everything will be just peachy. So, yeah. That's how you can get elitism in a game without in game voice chat. Not difficult, just takes more than the immediate reaction you may be used to hearing in game. Super simple stuff.

Evidently I guess I don't ever see much of this stuff unless it hits me in the face or is sitting up in plain sight as an experience on my end.