Conquest of the Horde

Sourpuddle Wrote:For clarification, Stormgald had looked over my rant and approved it. Just clarifying.

It's surprising that you find your rant in any way offensive. I've taken the liberty to compose my own rant to reflect off of yours indirectly (before discussion had begun), and to ensure that I don't get the spot light, I'd appreciate it if you gathered the information I give you with a grain of salt. Since my speech is much more persuasive, it can be a bit abrasive to the sensitive bunches in our community. I remember, long ago, helping Stormgald with a profile, and I intend to expound upon my infinite knowledge by ranting myself. As a fair warning, I didn't read it aloud, so it's subject to horribly misshaped sentences and extra wordings.

Unfortunately, CotH gives the impression to a lot of players that we all need to be accepting and congenial to each other, and while that's a really cool thing and we all should totally aim for that, it's really a dystopian-kind of ideology. In a dystopia, it is commonly confused with a utopia—Everything's perfect, orderly and in place. However, in the deep confines it smothers self-expression, shuns cultural diversity/progression and overall disencourages a higher form of thinking which could lead to rebellion, or in our case, conflict. While I agree, it's not as extreme in our case, it is true that it still exists in our servers society. We fear so much that if conflict ever is on the rise, drama will come down and flood us—The GM's will be left with no choice but to vicissitude into a stricter form of governing, imposing rules that would limit our RolePlaying experience because we're not able to handle it. This isn't a bad thing, it's the ideal thing for the GM's to do—The real focus isn't on the cause, as a troll can only troll if one takes the bait.

To further explain, I will use an example to display how deeply I felt when regarding this matter. At one point, I was told by Bolshe (or as TwilightDisciple had stated “a very good weasel”) that the GM's would go on “civilian accounts” to get players they didn't like into situations where the only suitable option was to ban. While now, that might seem (or atleast seem to me) like a preposterous and self-defeating thing, I wont lie that there was a time where I believed him whole-heartedly, like I myself had experienced it. It's not really something that has to be worked on with the Game Masters, as much as it needs to be worked on by the players. We've unknowingly created an environment full of restraint, where the idea of “disrespect” could be confused with the tale aforementioned, where we think that we're all good and dandy because we're being “polite” and “reasonable”, when in reality it's far from the truth.

Another problem deals with characters dying. People do not realize how valuable a tool death can be. We're so wound up in keeping our characters alive, we forget the fact that they're moral values and ideologies become more important, more alive than ever when they die (assuming said character has socialized quite a bit). We squander with resurrections, the idea that we should not be in a roleplay we are not comfortable with, how we must all be happy tea-party elves and live forever and ever. It truly makes me sick when I see words from a GRUNT saying, “if we die, we can resurrect after a week” in a serious discussion regarding a life-threatening event. I cringed at this not because it showed exactly how Mayson throws around the idea of characters dying as a simple thing, but because he showed me that some of the new grunts today are not ready for an advanced form of roleplay beyond modern social standards. Resurrections are not a practical thing, and the administrative team had made sure of that. Anytime we don't feel comfortable, we can forget that our characters are responsible for their actions, put our hand up in ignorance and choose to squelch the idea of negative aspects effecting our character. We can all live happily ever after, while still pretending to be rough and tough, while still engaging in “non-fatal” conflict, while still making sure that our characters are just fine with the minorities in society that, in this time period, would be appropriate to punish for their difference.

In real life, it is ideal to be as open minded as possible, accepting everything as the truth because it is all perspective, being agnostic and respectful to everyone despite his or her previous actions. Heck, that's how I live my own life. However, this is commonly confused with our character concepts, as the majority of the player base implements this into their characters (or a humanitarian form) in hope to reduce the amount of abrasion caused by differentiating cultures and ideas. This is okay if you are new to RolePlay, but if you are still that Blood Elf in Booty Bay who is really nice to everyone and doesn't want to hurt anyone, you need to realize how backwards your character is in the given society.

As players (Grunts) it's our responsibility to aspire to create a milieu that represents realism in a culture dictated by lore and archaic ideologies that are ignore our ideas because we transitioned lengthy revolutions in advanced society (Take the Women Rights Movement for example). It is imperative that we serve newcomers advice from our (once) lengthy days as Peons ourselves. I cannot stress how critical it is to represent proper behavior in argument, to think before you speak, to be considerate and open to all ways of thinking that progresses upwards. When you do not, you show how little worth your title of a Grunt means, and to be frank, it seems to me that all you did was wait a few months and write a few things in order to socially advance in our community. I find this unfortunate because they are our lifeblood of our server, the representatives and examples for all to observe and admire.

Now that's a spicy meatball.

I'd suggest that if you're upset about what I wrote, hit the PM button and we'll debate in private. I scarcely doubt anyone would appreciate an argument in a rambling thread, since that would only spell certain destruction. It should be noted that these are only my opinions based off past experiences and observation of the people I see now, accompanied with my ideal solutions and analysis.