Re: Cullen
Posted by Apostate on 06/23/18
So Cullen isn't banned. For months, a number of players have commented to how similar his RP style is to the banned player of Ardoin, how he RPs with the same people, has a lot of the same mannerisms and stylistic choices, all of which was so close that a number of players were pretty convinced. Then, the other day, I received a copy of a discord conversation that showed an identical user name to what Ardoin used discussing RP in a slightly problematic way that was reminiscent of Ardoin's way more toxic behavior, along with a couple other small tells, so I thought it was compelling enough and just banned cullen and valarian.
However, I decided to reverse it after a few credible possibilities were raised that made think there was significant reason to doubt that Cullen is the previous banned player. First, a credible player knows him irl and vouched for him. Secondly, the discord name was actually an extremely common one, and it wasn't the same actual account, which is a hell of a coincidence but looks like it really was just might be. Third, while some small behavior was problematic, I didn't think Cullen crossed any lines himself into truly toxic behavior that would have been bannable on its own merits. So lemme make a quick comment about that, since I think some people get confused by what I consider a serious problem and don't.
'Toxic' is kind of an overused buzzword in gaming but it's an important one. Take a gaming table that has 10 people joking around and having a good time, and then one person that had a bad day at work sits down, is super brusque and angry, curses a bit, and everyone else just immediately stops having fun. The atmosphere just immediately goes south, and the other players, who were cheerful and easy going before, also become brisk and pissy all because someone came in and started being a dick. That's really it. It's a chain reaction of one person with the wrong attitude just undermining and destroying the positive atmosphere. Now the previous Ardoin was a huge example of that, when a minor bit of conflict came up, showing ooc behavior of wanting to essentially grief other players. I cannot overstate how critical it is for any players to handle any IC conflict maturely, it is incredibly easy for one player to make something go from fun to miserable, and that's why I seem so strict about it and so quick to remove players from the environment. Because it's not usually one single big thing, it's people doing a ton of little micro aggressions that make others stop having fun, and most players just aren't comfortable reporting things like that even when it's still ruining theirs or other people's experience. So yeah, while most games just don't care if someone is slightly pissy, or passive aggressive, or stops short of being creepy but is offputting or aggressive on hitting on people, yeah I care a lot, and I don't enjoy banning people but I feel obligated to police for that stuff.
However, I decided to reverse it after a few credible possibilities were raised that made think there was significant reason to doubt that Cullen is the previous banned player. First, a credible player knows him irl and vouched for him. Secondly, the discord name was actually an extremely common one, and it wasn't the same actual account, which is a hell of a coincidence but looks like it really was just might be. Third, while some small behavior was problematic, I didn't think Cullen crossed any lines himself into truly toxic behavior that would have been bannable on its own merits. So lemme make a quick comment about that, since I think some people get confused by what I consider a serious problem and don't.
'Toxic' is kind of an overused buzzword in gaming but it's an important one. Take a gaming table that has 10 people joking around and having a good time, and then one person that had a bad day at work sits down, is super brusque and angry, curses a bit, and everyone else just immediately stops having fun. The atmosphere just immediately goes south, and the other players, who were cheerful and easy going before, also become brisk and pissy all because someone came in and started being a dick. That's really it. It's a chain reaction of one person with the wrong attitude just undermining and destroying the positive atmosphere. Now the previous Ardoin was a huge example of that, when a minor bit of conflict came up, showing ooc behavior of wanting to essentially grief other players. I cannot overstate how critical it is for any players to handle any IC conflict maturely, it is incredibly easy for one player to make something go from fun to miserable, and that's why I seem so strict about it and so quick to remove players from the environment. Because it's not usually one single big thing, it's people doing a ton of little micro aggressions that make others stop having fun, and most players just aren't comfortable reporting things like that even when it's still ruining theirs or other people's experience. So yeah, while most games just don't care if someone is slightly pissy, or passive aggressive, or stops short of being creepy but is offputting or aggressive on hitting on people, yeah I care a lot, and I don't enjoy banning people but I feel obligated to police for that stuff.