Modification In Rp Rules Regarding Ooc Conduct

[MonMarty]

A few meetings back @Arendan and @Carlit0o proposed to me a growing trend in the community, particularly in relation to WIS, but also to a resurfacing of some movements that had long been considered dead and dated. What they proposed, was not necessarily a growth in toxicity, but rather a strange current of willful distaste, intentional creation of anxiety, and to a degree meme-warfare with the purpose of making others feel ill about roleplay. I originally rejected this assessment, or rather, I rejected the notion that this was a prevalent issue. Calls were being made to make some sort of public statement about the matter, but I felt, at the time, that doing so would give credence to it existing in all groups, while it has certainly been, and continues to be, a very isolated situation.

That being said, I believe that remaining silent about it now indicates a lack of community awareness, a sense of "this isn't happening in my own community so I'm going to pretend it doesn't happen at all". I am in the (un)fortunate situation of not really having a support base. Unlike some noble families or cool community kids, I don't really have "shills" or a discord to call my own. I float around discords and swap between friends frequently because I don't want my opinions to be reinforced by an echo chamber, and I believe that by exposing myself to varied outlooks and opinions, that I'll be able to form a better cohesive decision, when one is called for. Unfortunately, this also tends to put me in a weird spot where I'm constantly exposed to the anti-group behavior that occurs on either or both sides, often in tandem, often at the exact same time. It's just people on multiples sides of the aisle calling each other toxic, and using underhanded attempts to make the other person enter a stage of profuse rage and grief. This kind of "us vs them" mentality even grates me, as a spectator or on-looker, and it's even more frustrating when my friends on both sides know about this, and just simply don't care, and I know there are other people like me.

I didn't want to acknowledge it at first, because I didn't want to make this a "problem for everyone", but in doing so, I actually encourage its growth because it is deemed possible and effective due to MassiveCraft's lax rules on social behavior outside of the basic norm (racism, discrimination, sexism), which in part I believe also to be a travesty of good will on my part. I think that now is a necessary point to take a more pro-active stance to it, because it genuinely risks driving players away from the community. This is not a community wide issue, I should warn or press again. It is an insular situation happening in entrenched sub cliques of the community, but I want to express that this kind of conduct will not be tolerated moving forward, from anyone for that matter, even staff. I will express a couple of points before explaining the changes.

MassiveCraft is in many ways been a long piece of my life, 8 years almost now, which is considerable in my total lifespan of 28 years. It is something I have sunken thousands of hours into, spent thousands of dollars on, and continue to try and grow as it's my main modus of making a living. That being said, the roleplay world is mine to dictate. I created the first version of Regalia, set up the framework of the lore, and run a red thread through the lines of creation of everything. Players and staff alike are welcomed, embraced even, to make their imprint on the server, to leave a legacy, or to make their contributions. I am not so dull to not acknowledge the fact that ultimately the player base is what makes the server "real", because without them I would just be a lonely megalomaniac sitting in an ivory tower somewhere dictating a fictional world with no one living in it. I work very hard to make Massive a positive place, and I want everyone to feel welcome, mattering, and to have a good time. I don't even actively play much myself anymore, I would wager I maybe get about 2/3 hours of roleplay in every 5 days or so, and mostly just run the backend of things to make others happy, and I am happy doing just that. I find satisfaction in creating and maintaining a world others inhabit, without any of the weird power complex intricacies. I like the illusion of absolute power, not actually wielding it and flexing on others. That being said. I will not tolerate others coming to Massive and trying to make Massive into something that it is not. Massive is a place where the players have grown comfortable with how it evolved, and where I have grown comfortable with where it's at. This is my server. I dictate the continuity of the lore and the direction of the story, working together on that direction and steering in different directions when I receive good input, but I will never tolerate the whole system that I have built being torn down by a group or individual who want to re-shape Massivecraft in their image.

With that being said, this is all the pre-amble to some fairly simple rule modifications, I just felt it necessary to explain my angle in this. I don't think it's that big of an issue yet, but I want to ensure it doesn't become a big issue, and even if it never did, work towards ensuring that people who don't want to be exposed to this kind of stuff happening second hand don't have to. A lot of players A B and C didn't come to massive to watch players D E and F grief each other to all high heavens with memes and dumb toxic bullshit. I am taking an active stance against it.

Rule Modifications

• We are going to take an active stance to what we perceive as "the willful attempt to inflict undue anxiety or stress on another group or person through forum posting, discord publications with the intention of reaching the intended recipient, or collective action to drive others off the server".
  • I am aware that Discord evidence is not submitted for ban cases (in most cases anyway) but I'm willing to make an exception when there is credibly proof that there was a concerted effort to use Discord to engage in toxic conspiracy against a person or group.
  • I am the final judge on what "undue anxiety" or "wilful attempt" is. This rule should not be misconstrued as "xyz person is plotting against me, I am now feeling anxious, this must be against the rules". There is such a thing as "reasonable anxiety as a result of tension, and unreasonable anxiety as a result of an obvious attempt to make someone feel miserable. I am able to tell the difference.
  • This rule covers merely the perceived will from one (or more) side(s) to inflict undue stress or anxiety on another side through underhanded means, or to use OOC pressure to get IC things through by OOC shell-shocking the opposition into a passive or surrendering state.
• We are going to enforce a vague concept of New-Life-Rule in the continuity of character motivations, when it concerns characters with a motivation or ideology targeting specific people or groups.
  • If for example you have had a character working against a group or consortium or person that has perished or failed, you should not pick up a new character which then immediately praises up your past character/group as "the right way" and continue that fight with the same motivations, while knowing everything the previous group or character knew, and completely collectivizing the same mentality as if they all belong to the same principle in an obvious attempt to continue the crusade against whatever person or group you targeted previously.
  • @AntonVoron is a great example of a person who has a varied palette and showed mentality flexibility, ranging from a conservative racist, to an ascetic love-thy-fellow man priest, to a hardcore absolute monarchist, to a collectivist socialist, a devout fanatical priest, to a pagan kind knight, while none of his characters invariably supported, praised or held up his previous character or previous support groups and cliques as the way to move forward. Each character is unique, and does not feel like a reboot of the last, and all players should strive to that ideal.
  • We understand that most players are just more comfortable with the same old mold, and that is fine. This rule is not to deter players from embracing the same ideologies or playing the same archetypes. This rule only applies to people who, after losing a character or struggle or switching characters, pick up a new character with the same mentality, the same ideology, the same friends, the same enemies, with the same outlook just to continue the same struggle the last character was in. People who are the victors, should be allowed to have a sense of that victory, not a momentary respite until said character has been rebooted with only a new name and new face.
• We are going to enforce a concept of pro-community involvement for plots, involvements and stories, and responsibility and accountability for those trying to participate in the community or political narrative.
  • Long story short, if you're trying to affect live-server roleplay or mentalities, you are expected to actually be playing on the server. The forum is a means to an end to drive roleplay on the server, not the other way around. Community involvement only occurring on the forums is not community involvement, and any attempt to interfere with the live-server community will simply be deleted until the player has made the necessary investments to be visible in the community's live presence, as well as a position where they can be held accountable and intractable for the content they produce. If something is made purely for the sake of causing ill reactions, then it has no place on massive. Posts that exist purely to provoke a response and negative clout will be deleted.

TL;DR

• If I believe that a group or person is causing undue anxiety to someone, I'm going to get rid of them or punish them by taking away what candy is given to them in good will. If this concerns WIS groups attacking each other on an OOC basis, expect to be barred from WIS or have bases taken away.
• If I believe that a person is unfairly breaking the concept of "new character, new life" to try and vex another player or group, that player will have their character declared non canon and challenged to find another venue to continue their conflict roleplay.
• If I believe that a person is not an active member of our live-server community, and still attempts to prod at it from the outside in, by for example posting vexatious posts on the forums, these posts will be deleted and the account will be penalized. If you want to play on massive, play. Don't post about it on the outside.

For the longest amount of time have we simply completely ignored the underhanded psychological warfare between roleplayers for the sake of "driving roleplay and conflict", while losing sight on the concept of making massive just way too stressful a place to hang out in. Action will be taken from here-on out.

 

[Carlit0o]

And at the beginning of every meeting in similar fashion Carl the Elder said, "Carthago delenda est."

 

[MonMarty]

Ok y'all I'm gonna clean up the thread. Toxicity is not a privilege to specific communities. I made my comment perhaps in poor taste, but to illustrate that while survival gets some laxing rules to discourage frustration, roleplay gets some more increased rules to curb the complete wasteland.