Don't worry about the slippery slope argument...

[Heade]

Heade, thanks for posting so much on the topic. You've explored this discussion to a point of exhaustion, where I am now 100% comfortable with the changes at this point. If you weren't here to champion the "no censorship at all" side so strongly, I would probably still be at 95%, with 5% of me still wondering if there was going to be some kind of slippery slope after this.

I am not sure that Adhira would have come out and said, "I could give a shit about wholesome," if you weren't in this fight for the win. But, I think it's safe to say you lost at this point on this issue. So, let it rest. Though you didn't convince the staff to change their minds completely, you've convinced me that this was a good move, or at least, that I can happily live with it.

As for "Character Assassination." I am using Chris Hansen as my icon to represent the true ridiculousness of people pointing at you and saying you're a creeper. I'm sure that makes you uncomfortable. Chris Hansen encapsulates the ridiculousness because he was the host of "To catch a Predator," but he has a fucking mistress that he regularly cheated on his wife with -- he wasn't a statutory rapist, but he had a MISTRESS, so he perfectly represents to insane hypocrisy of people here accusing you of ANYTHING for taking a viewpoint. +1000000 shame points on those people.

The thing is, though, there is something to be said about the benefits and harms of pursuing an argument too far. One of the pervos that Chris Hansen caught was famous for saying, "Just because it's something I said on the internet, doesn't mean that's what I really think." I don't say this in reference to your, or anyone's posts. I say it in reference to what kinds of RP happen in the MUD.

We might all be mature enough to handle this topic in the game. (Unfortunately, though, we -aren't-, as evidenced by some of the holier-than-thou attitudes that our own players are showing on the gDB here.) But the reality is, our game IS being MONITORED by the outside world. When they see some of the things that are now banned, what would they think?

The bottom line is, if Chris Hansen saw what happened in Arma, he would think this was just an elaborate chatroom. He'd be in the game, posing as a 15 year old female PC, and he'd be asking our players if "they like rape." Then he'd be trying to OOC contact info to catch the predators in the community.

So, even though it's lame, it's stupid, it's flat out retarded, I would rather our game survive than be able to pursue a rape plot. I guess I fit with the 99% of the community that never had any interest in pursuing it anyway, so for me, this is a win-win change. For most of us, it's win-win. This is why, I guess, people are accusing you of being a creepo. They see the "win-win" clearly, and they are really starting to wonder why you care.

But don't worry. I get you, man. I feel your argument, you want us to be able to RP without feeling like rules are oppressing us. But, as Cutthroat and others said, there have always been rules restricting our RP, the staff just hasn't had to make such a bold proclamation such as this before. That's the world we live in, dude. It's a good thing, too, because there are a lot of delicate folks out there who simply -can't- handle it. There are delicate folks in my own family that can't. Like my girlfriend. I couldn't ever RP rape in this game and look at her without feeling some kind of guilt, so that's that I guess.

GG, heade.

-sigh- I agree with the current state of things in-game too. I thought i've said that...a lot. The staff handled the changes really well, and I'm done talking about it, too. I don't feel like 60% of the people who respond read what I write anyhow. GG.

[Synthesis]

It's not that they don't read what you write.  Most of the time, people will cherry-pick one poor turn of phrase or your weakest argument (even if it's tangential, an aside, or not otherwise critical to building your case) and attack that point only.  I think it's a combination of laziness, attention span, and wanting to "win," in a state of affairs where rhetoric trumps logic, or where wit is more rewarded than wisdom.  The fact that they seem to ignore most of what your write isn't an indication that they didn't read it...it's more an indication that they read it and either couldn't come up with a witty rebuttal or there was some other low-hanging fruit that they decided to focus on, or they simply felt that the vast majority of your argument was just so blatantly stupid that it didn't warrant a response.  This isn't to say they aren't intelligent, thoughtful people, either; this is simply a forum where comprehensive responses and well-reasoned arguments backed by evidence aren't rewarded, and that's probably fine.

Note:  I'm not singling out anyone in particular, or agreeing with you.  This is simply how argument here works, and I'm just as guilty as everyone else.

[Cutthroat]

1. The compassion issue was mentioned in reference to a different thread in non-arm discussions and isn't related to the game world discussion.
2. I agree with you on the RP side of things. With the more recent changes and rewording of the rules regarding the issue, I'm quite happy with the resulting situation. I never like to see avenues of RP taken away, but given the circumstances, I believe that it was handled very well by staff.

Okay. It was confusing as you made the same post in several different threads. I assumed you were talking about this particular topic, still.

[BleakOne]

Can we stop calling each other creepy or 'the unwashed masses' and the like, please?

Nobody here is a hero or villain due to their opinion. Good and reasonable arguments have been made on both sides.

[Eurynomos]

Seems this thread has served it's purpose as well.