07-02-2020, 03:20 AM
I knew a thread like this was going to appear at some point in the day and I was thinking on how I'd respond to it, only to realize what I had thought of was going to end up being an incredibly long winded effort post that would read more like me desperately defending myself while pointing fingers and trying to say what could have gone better while holding tight to my hindsight. Instead I'll go forward without mentioning last night as a whole.
What Mouse and Chance have said is all this conversation really needs to boil down to. Discord ruins this game, not only in the ways that they've pointed out, but in the mere concept of destroying the fantasy and mystery. I've mentioned this to some in the past in smaller conversations where I share the anecdote of my first week on Spires consisting of me running around and meeting big name characters that amazed me. In the era where I didn't know a single person OOCly, these characters struck me with true fear, admiration, interest, and curiosity. This game felt so much larger without the knowledge Discord brought to it. This is why I've taken my own habit of starting incognito or quietly where I go in 'dark' so to speak. Unfortunately that hasn't proven to be a great solution.
But of course, that is only half of the problem.
The mods and admins have a difficult time punishing metagame because it is hard to prove without hard evidence, but we all know it when we see it. When someone's IC bends like taffy to fit their OOC interests, it is something the administration can't punish, despite everyone knowing and recognizing how ugly it is, along with the fact that we all know it when we see it as well.
These two issues are things that really you, the players, have to start policing for yourselves. You have to hold your friends accountable, or else our RP environment will continue to suffer and bleed and this will not be the last time we have this conversation.
- Call out your friends when their IC flips on a dime
- Call out your friends when you know they're metagaming information
- Call out your friends when they show up in a big important scene that was mentioned somewhere on Discord and start trying to influence it
- Call out your friends when they gank low RPL characters and push for higher than justified cap rolls
- Call out your same friends when they kill these characters or when they drag them off to their inevitable deaths/indefinite imprisonment elsewhere instead of RPing an escape like so many have advised time and time again
- Call out your friends when they grime/scum/act in a way that hurts the game as a whole
At some point, we have to be accountable for our own actions. We're all adults, and while the admin team operates as some measure of security and rule keeping, they can't do it all. Strengthen your OOC and IC barrier, question why you're RPing a certain direction. If you want this game to be better, begin with yourself. Move on to your friends and help them be better. Continue on in this pattern and who knows, maybe something might change.
What Mouse and Chance have said is all this conversation really needs to boil down to. Discord ruins this game, not only in the ways that they've pointed out, but in the mere concept of destroying the fantasy and mystery. I've mentioned this to some in the past in smaller conversations where I share the anecdote of my first week on Spires consisting of me running around and meeting big name characters that amazed me. In the era where I didn't know a single person OOCly, these characters struck me with true fear, admiration, interest, and curiosity. This game felt so much larger without the knowledge Discord brought to it. This is why I've taken my own habit of starting incognito or quietly where I go in 'dark' so to speak. Unfortunately that hasn't proven to be a great solution.
But of course, that is only half of the problem.
The mods and admins have a difficult time punishing metagame because it is hard to prove without hard evidence, but we all know it when we see it. When someone's IC bends like taffy to fit their OOC interests, it is something the administration can't punish, despite everyone knowing and recognizing how ugly it is, along with the fact that we all know it when we see it as well.
These two issues are things that really you, the players, have to start policing for yourselves. You have to hold your friends accountable, or else our RP environment will continue to suffer and bleed and this will not be the last time we have this conversation.
- Call out your friends when their IC flips on a dime
- Call out your friends when you know they're metagaming information
- Call out your friends when they show up in a big important scene that was mentioned somewhere on Discord and start trying to influence it
- Call out your friends when they gank low RPL characters and push for higher than justified cap rolls
- Call out your same friends when they kill these characters or when they drag them off to their inevitable deaths/indefinite imprisonment elsewhere instead of RPing an escape like so many have advised time and time again
- Call out your friends when they grime/scum/act in a way that hurts the game as a whole
At some point, we have to be accountable for our own actions. We're all adults, and while the admin team operates as some measure of security and rule keeping, they can't do it all. Strengthen your OOC and IC barrier, question why you're RPing a certain direction. If you want this game to be better, begin with yourself. Move on to your friends and help them be better. Continue on in this pattern and who knows, maybe something might change.