Everyone,
About a week ago shed agreed that I would start having private conversations with most members of the "Whiskey" chat. The other discord where some members of our community also reside after the explosion that erupted on the Community RP discord. The schism that has been dividing our community has to end and that was the main motivator for me to start to have these "interviews" with the active members of the Whiskey chat.
I'll be tackling this on a point based system, sharing what I collected from the input of the 7 people I spoke to and sharing the view of Shed on it. That means the points will include changes in policy that have recently been agreed upon but it will also involve idea's that community members have shared.
New blood,
One thing that has featured 6/7 talks was the lack of new players. As Skylord put it recently, he was the newest member for years.. With Azazel recently taking up that title. A good question one needs to ask is how do you see our community expanding? After all numerous games have tried to use the Front Page Announcements with minimal to no gains. A downside is also that multiple people did join after these announcements but never stuck around, or at least not to my knowledge at this point. I would ask everyone to put together their brainpower and come with proposals. Posting on other site's to generate traffic here is something I wouldn't be opposed to. I have to admit I don't know about other boards though so that's something that can be considered.
Shed,
Also featuring heavy was the role of Shed, people know it's there, hear about it but rarely seen it is the general consensus I have gathered. Shed operates mostly on the Discord as the admins and on the forum as the people who have moderation rights on the entire RPG forum and they approve new games. That part is also not seen because it happens on our own, hidden to the public sub forum.
Since Gandalfus and I have joined shed we've been talking about things that could be/needed to be done to further our exposure and availability to the "public". This was also the reason that both Gandalfus and I have joined shed. 1, because we both have been part of the RPG community for years and 2, because we both are European's. This assures that pretty much 24/7 someone of shed will be online to patrol the discord and help around in ongoing RPG's.
Recently the most important changes that we agreed upon as Shed members include the following points. Further down this statement some other parts of the "new policy" will be discussed more in depth.
- Shed members will always be considered head moderators in RP's. Along and in collaboration with the RP-creator of course.
- Self moderation of any kind will not be tolerated. Nobody or nothing will be exempted from this. All the people currently in Shed have the responsibility to help on this front, even when they not participate in the game. Integrity on rolls should and must always be preserved.
- Shed will enact more control on game releases. An example would be Barry's Roman game, it's a given that without the participation of "major" players like LM, Gandy and myself included as Barry put it, games tend to fail. Not enough people to keep embers burning resulting in a death or pause. By taking control of the launch, Shed can actively take a role in exploring if releasing a game is fees able in the period the creator ought it too.
Be aware that Shed control over roleplays (aka "new policy") will only affect subforum proposals and not one thread ideas since they do not require much moderation beyond their creator's presence.
Respect,
Nobody that has ever graced the discord server will deny that there can be moments where people have a chronic lack of respect for each other. As I was told as a young lad, you don't need to be friends with everyone but you can be civil with everyone. It'll be no surprise that this subject featured in all the conversations I had, some to a bigger extent than others but it does point the finger on the sore spot. Flaming and toxicity has been on the rise since WOTR1's end.
Shed recognizes that it has been to kind and lenient towards these episode's of flaming and toxicity and there for we apologize. I would personally make a note that since the expansion of shed we have been cracking down upon these forms of behavior and we have issued multiple bans from the discord. Asserting our authority and ensuring a nicer overall environment to be a part of.
We also realize that to some extend the damage already has been done. After all 12 of our members are members of the Whiskey chat where some of those 12 chose to completely abandon the RPG Community discord because of the toxicity and flaming. This is something Shed wishes to restore, we are the first to agree that everyone has the right and freedom to be part of an other chat but it would be for the betterment of the community that at the very least the members that chose to leave the RP Community rejoin it. Under the insurance that toxic behavior, the attacking of members(part of the discord or not) and flaming will no longer be tolerated. When anyone feels that the situation is turning toxic you are encouraged to talk to one of the Shed members, chances are there's one of us online at any time and we will act. No longer will we endlessly try and calm someone down by being nice. Enough is enough.
Viking RP,
We have recently seen the proposal for a viking RP. Initial comments on the Discord were met with resistance. In particular there were members that did not agree with pushing Rome aside. Making something clear: development on the Viking RP started after Barry paused Sunset on Rome. During a couple of the interviews people suggested that a game where cooperation would be first could be a nice change for our community. The game centers about everyone being in the same clan who lands on the shores of England. Yes, you can be a loner who relies on himself but the emphasis should be that we(the players) work together to build a Kingdom and survive.
Two other people I spoke too suggested that the community/Shed participate more in developing an idea. This is the reason why the proposal is rather bare boned and is still open for changes. I'd invite every to go and have an opinion about it but also be productive in helping change what you, and maybe other might dislike.
Closing statement,
In my professional life I have dealt with people who couldn't lead, people who did not recognize authority and people who would enjoy lighting the embers to spark conflict. I dare say that this community is not even remotely close to the extremes I have had to deal with. Again, 6/7 of the people I spoke first mentioned that they hated the split and wanted it repaired. As long as there are people willing to work towards a compromise, towards a common goal we will always be able to mend our differences. It's my deepest hope that people recognize that Shed is working to improve the situation. That we will always be an ear to the community for suggestions and area's that could use improvement. Most importantly, this community can be whatever the community wants it to be. We can let it die because nobody can step over their ego or we can take the compromises at hand, reunite and be on our merry RP'ing ways.
On behalf of Shed,
General Brewster.