An Open Letter to Our Staff and Players re: Current IRL/IG Situations

[Draugr]

Folks,
I've been kicking around posting something like this for quite a few weeks.  I think it's time.

I know we're all going through similar messes with the lockdowns and closures, isolation and social distancing.  I wanted to reach out to the community as a whole and be mindful that while we all continue to play this game together that we are also mindful of the situation around us.  We are all suddenly finding ourselves with many of our traditional stress outlets taken away.  In their place, we have considerably more time to spend here - on ArmageddonMud.  I know I have found myself almost constantly on Discord, with the port open in the background watching the action here and there, far more even than I am normally addicted to the game.  That can be a fun thing, but... we also need to be mindful that in this time when we are all looking for stress relief, escapism, and somewhere to find community?  ArmageddonMud is not themed to be a relaxing, sunlit stroll through the breezy park.  It's a game about Murder, Corruption, and Betrayal.  Where the other players and the environment itself are trying their level best to get ahead and that is frequently at the expense of other characters' well-being and happiness.

So I'm writing this letter to all of us, to please be extra mindful, during these times, that we are all a bit on tilt.  I am not asking you to change your play.  I am not asking you to cuddle up or take the edges off your bone swords -In Game-.  But I am going to ask you all to be a bit more mindful of the people on the other sides of the monitors and to be kind to yourselves as well.  Get up and walk around a bit.  Get some water.  Don't forget to eat.  Assume positive intent in your interactions with the community, other players as well as staff.  Give yourself permission to get up and step back a bit so you don't end up adding to your real-life stress by carrying over In-Game stress into your real life situations.

If you need an outlet, please feel free to vent to the Request Tool.  Staff continues to respond to your Questions, Requests, and, yes we've noticed - Player and Staff Complaints, as stress grows.  We are a community.  A community that is seeing several old hands returning and some new and old cracks get exposed and brought to light.  But we'll get through this together, if we agree to take care of ourselves and each other IRL while we're backstabbing and betraying one another where that behavior belongs, in-game.

Cheers!
- Draugr