Now that things have mostly settled down a bit, and due to some interest in hearing more about everything that has happened here since the start of the year, I'll go ahead and go over things for the sake of some transparency and clarification. As SND (staff non-disclosure) is a hot button topic overall, and especially as it has applied here, I won't keep everything behind that wall just because, but I will also not be throwing it completely out the window, and what I write below is what I believe to be a fair amount of transparency and no more than is necessary in keeping with both good faith and maintaining enough SND.
As many of you probably know, Dux was once upon a time the gaming overseer for the hotseat section. When he became less active and had to step away from the position, it was of course necessary to decide on a new overseer and the future direction of the section's staff. While I would have liked to have Dux have more input on the matter, that just wasn't an option so I decided to hand over the position to Soul.
Fast forward some time, and I had to step down as gaming hex last year (busy IRL, and still am really quite busy unfortunately), as I felt being in red while not able to be active enough for potentially long periods of time was not something I should do. I stepped out without a proper gaming hex replacement, something in hindsight is of course not a decision I am happy with, but at the time I saw little alternative as well as from my perspective a stable enough section staff setup to manage as it was regardless. During this time of my absence as a hexer, other admins had to step in when issues arose, and while I thank them for doing so, it probably didn't help that they had little prior experience with the gaming staff I had worked with and thus made the situations harder on both them and GS as well. Again though, hindsight...
During this time, Parafix was removed from staff for issues predominantly related to SND. Jadli would also later be removed for similar issues. I don't believe the specifics of this are entirely relevant now (though perhaps to some degree), nor was I fully present during the proceedings, so I feel no need to comment on those further. Suffice to say though that most here are probably not unfamiliar with personal issues between them, and these issues were not conducive to either of them remaining in staff in the end.
I stepped back into the role of gaming hex earlier this year soon after the "split" in the hotseat community (or whatever you would like to call it). As I said before, I had left early without setting things up more properly, and whether that was the main catalyst for things that transpired this year could be up for debate, but I think I definitely dropped the ball either way. Additionally, I felt it unfair to the other hex that had to step in to take care of things, having less experience with the people and section, and adding just more work to their already heavy workload. This is why I stepped back into the GS hex role.
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I will not try to summarize too much of what transpired in the past few months, as I am sure many of you are already aware of it at least to some degree, and I don't wish to paint the wrong picture by adding a lot more to an already complex narrative. I would prefer to answer specific questions you may have on this though, and go from there. Please be mindful that SND and general user privacy may still apply, so I will be sure to respect that where needed, though given the unique nature of this entire situation, I don't intend on throwing everything behind a non disclosure curtain.
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Unfortunately such a split in the community that also split staff does not make any decision easy or perfect for all involved. I had no intent on removing Soul completely or permanently from his position as overseer, though wished to temporarily as it would coincide with the break he wished to take and hoped that would potentially help things settle down in the long run. I also had no intent to definitively change the rule(s) regarding hotseat admin passwords, only that it seriously needed to be discussed since I had received enough complaints on the matter by then. I had communicated this to GS hotseat staff, and I do think this was received the wrong way and Soul and Parafix took this as definitive before I had said anything publicly, and Soul officially resigned as overseer and left staff.
Up to then, and to this day, I have seen little that needed a forceful hand to any degree in changing. I have not changed Soul's revising of the admin password rule, and as it stands now it may not change (though I will continue to be mindful of it and its implications). I did not officially fire anyone from staff in this time, Soul included, and did not ban anyone during this time (though it came close once or twice [additionally Jadli's fixed suspension from hotseats was instated just before I officially returned, and I let that run its course and did not modify it]). I would also like to make it clear that the end goal was never to explicitly 'get everyone back to TWC' either. Do not take this the wrong way though; I have been part of many other gaming communities in the past, and seen plenty of these sorts of splits before (more or less the same), and sometimes it is an inevitability or necessity. Whether or not what happened here was that was not evident earlier, which is why I did not approach with the intent of simply trying to get everyone to come back because we hate losing members. In both this area and thinking of Total War as a whole, I'm a bigger believer in the TW community at large and what is good for all TW fans as well as TWC members, as I feel that is healthier for both this site and the series the site is based on overall. Rather, the intent was to fix whatever potential unhealthiness was causing the issue(s) as best as could be done and let things go from there, and if that meant some people wished to not play hotseats here anymore, that was totally fine and I am not going to force anyone one way or another.
I do however, have control over staff, and have the responsibility to make sure it runs smoothly, and while GS as a whole and this section may yet have changes in the future to ensure that, making sure staff is going as it needs to be is really my job. The overall goal is and always should be to have staff be serving the community in the right capacity and to not alienate it, nor to force people one way or another when it comes to where they wish to spend their time and effort both in hotseats and whatever other ventures they may have.
I realize Soul has posted a video on his youtube channel with many thoughts on the whole matter. Attacks on myself in any form I could care less about; had a good chuckle from it actually. I need not comment on specifics he may have, if anything you may ask questions here or to me about it. While I realize that no matter what I cannot be the most absolute objective observer in this entire situation, to me his video is entirely too biased and serves no purpose to better anyone or anything, only as a platform for narcissism. Unfortunate that I must say that, but it is what it is; again, anyone may ask questions for clarification, I will answer as appropriate.
So going forward, we of course hope things will run more smoothly and things can once and for all be put behind us. This is still an ongoing process now and will be for some time. For now though, as I had said previously, any former GS from hotseats section are not liable to be considered for reinstatement anytime soon. Anyone is still free to apply, but I guarantee nothing beyond it being seen and considered along the needs of current staff. I realize the staff for the section is considerably smaller now, with time we will hopefully have a good balance again. Changes to rules may still be on the table, comments and recommendations are always welcome still, however staff still holds that responsibility and decision making for consistency.
In the end, what I am consistently seeing from my standpoint is complete unwillingness by some to find any sort of compromise, and it is why things got to where they were and became detrimental to more than just those few. I do not get two fairly distinct sides of an issue telling me they are both 100% correct and righteous, then expect to see much good coming from that in any form. It is tiring to listen to or watch unfold and hardly healthy for the community as a whole.
As there is no intent, and never has been, to split the community, I will allow a link to Soul's new site for hotseats in a particular stickied thread or two where relevant. No one here, staff or not, will face reprimand for playing hotseats here, there, or in both places. There is no stipulation of that in any way in the ToS nor should staff ever be forcing anyone one way or another. Play hotseats wherever you wish, the aim is to always be sure TWC as at least one outlet for that, even if not your preferred. Again though, not abiding by the ToS while here, or in any other way intentionally trying to cause troubles here even while off site, will be noted and dealt with accordingly.
And one last time, please ask specific questions if you have them, and I will answer to the best of my abilities and what privacy allows. There is a good deal more I could write if I wanted to go greatly into depth, and that would indeed be a long post, and probably very hard to follow because of that. Hence why I am opting for anyone with specific questions on something that may not be here to ask them and go from there, not to dodge anything, but to simplify this and not waste any more time. You may also PM me if you wish, however do not expect any more details than would have been posted publicly just for doing so.
The Emperor Protects,