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Hello,
In the past couple of days both Lilith and Greneth have shared their
stories about recent events that has, obviously, affected them in a
very negative way. I would love to be able to say that these are
isolated cases, that it does not reflect our community as a whole. But
I can't say that. Because it would not be true.
Sadly, I constantly deal with cases of harassment, griefing, abuse,
personal insults, threats, distrust, cheating accusations, etc. Actually,
during the last couple of years I would estimate that at least 75% of
my time spent on Genesis is spent talking to various players and wizards
about the above. I am not exaggerating, it's how I spend most of my
time. Mediating, reasoning, trying to persuade people to not give up
and leave. However, I am fighting a losing battle.
Even as I am writing this note, I am also a locking a forum thread,
that for absolutely no particular reason deteriorated into snarky
comments, mocking, accusations of cheating, and lots of insults -
all in less than 48 hours. Was anyone surprised? No, we just say
"That's Genesis", and move on to the next topic where we find new
ways to insult and accuse each other.
A couple of days ago I had a conversation with Lilith. As she mentioned
in her post, she has felt harassed/abused, and some of you perhaps
wonder why haven't we (the admin) dealt with it sooner? It's quite
simple. When Lilith first came to me with this (many months ago), I
looked into it and told her about my conclusion: "That's Genesis,
you'll just have to accept it as a wizard". Apparently I've grown so
used to it, that when a fellow wizard says she isn't feeling comfortable
about how she is treated, I basically told her to suck it up, because
it's Genesis, and there is nothing we can do about it. Sure, I tried
some mediation, tried to sort things out the way I always try to, but
overall I felt that what happened to Lilith wasn't worse than what
happens to many others (both players and wizards). Since we have more
or less given up on trying to fix the "everyday abuse/insults/
accusations", there was not much to do about it. Ignore, move on and
grow an even thicker skin. And I am not trying to diminish what Lilith
went through, it sucks, but it's become "busines as usual" in Genesis.
Part of the job as a wizard (and quite often part of being a mortal
too).
At first I even adviced against posting her note, since it likely
would just stir things up. And it has, of course. She's calling out
a group of players who she feels treated her badly. Of course
there is a reaction, because some feel targeted and completely
disagree - which is their right, of course. There usually is two sides
to everything, all Lilith has shared is HER view of it. Something we
wizards rarely do. And that is why I didn't think it was worth it to
post it. It's not worth the trouble. Things were starting to settle
down a bit, why bring it up again, was my logic. It's what we usually
do these days, we wizards tip-toe around, always afraid something we
say or do will "anger" the players. You don't want to end up on the
wrong side of an angry group of Genesis players. It's better to just
turn the other cheek. Leave it be. Hope it goes away. Until next time
something flares up. And next time. And next time.
This is the eternal cycle of Genesis drama. And we wizards are
definitely not without fault either. We're all part of the same
community, and we're all responsible for it. We point fingers at
each other. We hold grudges, sometimes for 10, 20, even more(!)
years. We sit in our own little chat rooms and build up hate
against other players/wizards. We sit there, "connecting dots",
finding proof of cheating, bias, and all sorts "crimes". We sit
there assuming the worst, and we love to tell our like-minded friends
about it. Eventually we want nothing else but to drive whoever
we happen to hate right now away from the game. Yes, Genesis would
be so much better if X wasn't around. Or if X didn't lead that
guild. Or if X wasn't AoB/Liege/Keeper. And sometimes we succeed.
X is driven away from Genesis, temporarily or permanently. And
we cheer. Because we won. Finally we are free of X. But in reality
we lost. We all lost. Because one day, YOU will be X. And YOU will
be driven away from Genesis. By another group, who sit around in
their private chat rooms and build up hate against YOU.
IT. HAS. TO. STOP.
I don't want to be the Keeper who tells someone, wizard or mortal, who
feel harassed and abused to just suck it up and accept it because
"It's Genesis". It's not how Genesis should be. We are one of the
oldest online communities in the world. It's pretty amazing when you
think about it. It also kind of makes us one big experiment. How
long can an online community actually survive? Will Genesis exist
in 10 years? In 20? In 50? In 100? Who knows? Will it be one of the
world's first multi-generational online games, where we pass it on
to our kids, who pass it on to their kids, and so on? (That is
already starting to happen.)
We have to nurture our community, because there aren't many like
it anywhere on the Internet. And I want it to survive, to flourish,
and I know every single one of you want to as well. So, let's
change. Let's break the eternal cycle.
START. TALKING. TO. EACH. OTHER.
To Lilith and those of you who feel targeted by Lilith's post: Reach out
to each other. Explain your side of things. Talk to each other. Try to
understand each other. Find a way forward.
And to everyone who throws insults back and forth on Discord/Forums.
Stop it. Reach out to your long-time enemies. Reach out and apologize,
and chances are they will do the same. To everyone who thinks a
particular wizard is a cheater, reach out to them. They won't bite,
wizards are people too. Explain how you feel and why. Perhaps you will
get a better understanding for them, and perhaps they will also
understand why you feel the way you do.
And finally, to everyone who belong to a "grouping", who hang in the
various chat rooms / guild chats / wizard chat lines, etc: Be careful of
the very real and very common phenomenon known as "group polarization".
(Google it if you are not familiar with it). It's a major problem in
society as a whole, and in our community as well. We likely won't solve
this global issue, but we can do our best. Every little step matters
and will lead to a better understanding for each other, and a better
community as a whole.
People will likely continue to say "That's the Internet" and refer to
how badly people tend to treat each other online, but we can work to
make "That's Genesis" mean something else. Something better.
Cherek, Keeper of Genesis
