Mending Fences: A Way Forward for the Community (Staff and Players)

[Reiloth]

Mending Fences: A way forward for the Community (Staff and Players)

Oh hello there – I'm Reiloth.

I've been a member of the community since 2002. I was also a member of Staff as Eurynomos from 2012 to 2014, and then again from 2015-2016.

After the release of Bebop's PDFs, fallout surrounding Bebop's whistleblowing -- Staff's initial response did not thrill me. In fact, I was angry to find out the depth of Shalooonsh's cheating and the lengths he went through to disadvantage players of the game, and waste their time. Not to mention his actions outside of the game. I was an outspoken critic of the current Staff Team and its response, and banned from the forum as a result. I have many past grievances, times where Staff and I did not see eye to eye, times where I said some things I regret, and i'm sure Staff has said some things to me they wish they could take back, too.

That being said -- I do want to take the time to acknowledge some of the steps Staff have taken, or pledge to take:

-Staff has banned Shalooonsh from the community as both Staff and Player and they made it more clear he is not welcome. He can obviously return via VPN, but even as a symbolic gesture, it is noted (at least from me). I did not want to be a part of a community that had him as a member. That is (hopefully) no longer the case.

-Staff have removed 'Resource PCs'. They have also made clear Staff should not (cannot) be in leadership roles -- if their PC is offered the position, they must decline it. They have also tightened up rules on where Staff can have PCs, limiting them to regions outside of what they are Staffing. Good -- This is how some other MU*s handle it.

-Staff cannot play Sorcerers or Psionicists. Excellent. I have asked for this for a long time, it's too easy to muddle Staff Knowledge and Player/PC Knowledge. I was not allowed to play a Psion while I was on Staff (This was an Adhira-Era rule), but clearly that relaxed in recent years. It's good to typify this, and make it explicit. I've encountered Staff Sorcerers in the past, and the amount of plot armor on them was pretty obvious. It's good this will be avoided in the future, and I hope Staff does not revisit changing this rule.

-Staff has made it so their name is attached to sends/wishes. That's a good first step, I would encourage them to also be visible in the who list when they are online, and perhaps look at the 'wizinvis' code to see if it's possible to remain invisible in the game world, while visible in the who list.

- Staff has made it so player complaints are only seen by Administrators/Producers, and Staff Complaints are only seen by Producers. This is a good step towards reducing implicit bias when viewing Staff Complaints. In tandem with the Player Committee, I hope this shines a light on bad actors more quickly and readily, and gives players confidence in engaging with this system again. I certainly had almost 0 confidence in filing Staff Complaints, having seen myself on Staff what happened to them (most basically tossed in the bin). I truly hope that changes. I would encourage Staff to publicize results of such complaints as well, and hold themselves accountable to the community when they err.

-Staff has begun posting their internal documents, such as contracts, rules, and systems. This is one of the more helpful examples of transparency in action. As long as these rules, now made public knowledge to the community, are followed -- Staff will begin the long road towards rebuilding trust, as they will now be more accountable to the community than before.

-A Player Committee. This seems to currently cover 'bans' and 'complaints'. I'm curious to see how this system plays out for the community and if it builds more trust over time. I hope that it can be a tool for player advocacy. This is something that many players in the community have been asking for, for over 2 decades. I have an email from "Sunburned" (former player) where we were discussing this exact thing, from 2010, so 13 years ago. That is certainly progress, if it ends up working.

-Player Moderators. I hope the kinks are ironed out in this process, as a system, it provides an opportunity for players to police themselves, and free up Staff from having to police the community, which I don't think should have been their responsibility in the first place. I'm not sure what went into the selection process, but I think eventually there should be a way that Players nominate their own moderators.

-Ban Amnesty. I do think Staff should offer a full amnesty to all previous players. I don't think players/PC accounts can do any irreparable harm to the game or the system or community via the game (hack it or whatever). It may require more oversight in the first few weeks, where people who should be banned are identified. If there are some murderhobo dwarves that crop up, maybe be more liberal with resurrection requests for a hot minute. I think it provides the opportunity to test your new Player Committee, and Staff's resolve to provide a paper trail for banning players. If it is as cut and dry as Staff think it is, and they can document it, then it should not be a problem to resolve. I think it would be good for optics for them and for the game, particularly if they publicize it (which they should).

I think there are some obvious accounts that were banned in the last month or so, and I think those should be more of a priority. Even if those players have no intention of playing the game again, you should reach out and unban them, or at the very least apologize (more below).



These actions have not gone unnoticed, by myself or other disgruntled players who have taken a step back from the game. So thank you for committing to this plan of action. I think there is more work to be done, particularly where Staff Culture is concerned, transparency, secrecy, etc. But these are good first steps, and I hope Staff is more receptive than ever to community feedback.



I would encourage Staff to examine the following, when looking at their mission statement/spirit of the game and steps forward:

-Apologies. Apologizing costs you nothing. I would recommend drafting a letter of apology (individuated to each) to Bebop, Ender, Delirium, valeria, and anyone else who has left the game due to Staff's actions or inaction. Past or present. Even if you feel you were wronged in some way. As long as it is genuine, and as long as you are the party reaching out, it will make a world of difference in your interactions with them going forward.

Beyond this, you are taking care of business. You are making sure your side of the street is clean. Dig deep. Take a deep breath. Apologize – Say you are sorry. That you collectively did not live up to the expectations of the community, to them specifically, and you will do better in the future. That you understand you collectively, as Staff, may not regain their trust immediately, but that you hope through your actions will demonstrate your ability to change and adhere to the rules of the game, and that you might be provided the opportunity to regain that trust again. A member of your team broke several rules during his tenure, and that reflects poorly on Staff as a whole, most of all on the Producers of the game. But you promise to try harder, and do better by them, if they choose to come back to the game.

Apologizing -- it isn't weakness. It is humble, and praiseworthy. And apologies create understanding.

In the spirit of the above, I personally apologize as a Player and former Staff member for any harm I may have caused, either intentionally or unintentionally, to current or former players. Looking back at my time both as a player and member of Staff, I made many mistakes. I own them all. There isn't much I can do to change the past, with my interactions with fellow players as a player, or past interactions with players as a Storyteller and Administrator, but if anyone has grudges or bones to pick with me personally, they can absolutely reach out over PM on the GDB and I will do my best to make right by you.

-Systems. Decisions need to be less discretionary (different answer depending on who you ask/handles your request or question). Ask questions about everything you do as a member of Staff. How do you do it? Why do you do it that way? Is there a better way to document how to do it? Is there a better way to do it? How will those responsibilities match up to expectations from the community? Does that responsibility serve bettering the game and making it more fun? How will this responsibility be perceived by the community, is this what they want? These are the kinds of questions that should dictate your systems – Discovering which questions you want to ask will drive your mission statement.

You will find having more systems in play will be a relief, as you will need to train people on adhering to systems, not on being better people. It will display bad actors to you with more clarity, as they will not follow your systems, and will be removed (because you will have a system for that too). Nothing should be left to chance. Systemize everything. It will make interactions with Staff more predictable, safer, more accountable, less discretionary, and less discouraging. You will make the interaction the same every time – positive, well-informed, and timely. Whatever the values are that you choose. It will be that way every time. No exceptions.

-Staff Interactions with the players should be positively bent. The concept of 'Staff must represent the challenge of the world and present obstacles' should be equally met with 'Staff must make the game fun for the players'. Challenges can be fun, as we all know from playing TTRPG's. But Staff has been borderline sadistic and torturous to the players of the game over the years, with how far they are willing to go to 'make the game realistic' in providing difficulty for the PCs, particularly leadership roles. I think antagonism breeds antagonism. If Staff antagonize players, players will antagonize Staff. If Staff do not antagonize players, players will not antagonize Staff.

-Value your players. PCs and Players of the game should be venerated, and not diminished or made small. Accomplishments of those PCs should be added to the chronology of the game. Staff should get rid of the concept of 'Whatever you do for the game is property of the game, including your PCs, and we can unstore them/play them as NPCs if we want without your permission'. You should ask players for their permission, always. And you should respect their time they put into the game, if you expect to be respected as well.

-The Game must become collaborative/rewarding, and move away from being punitive. Staff needs to re-examine their relationship with the playerbase and allow for more opportunities for Players to be Storytellers as well. Some of the best D&D sessions I've played in, the GM tasks the players with describing the scenery, with inserting their story into the plot, and with building up the story together with the GM. This should be the aim of an RPI MUD. There are some excellent examples of this in MUSH's and other RPI's, where Players can offer their time as Storytellers to other players, to run a plot, or animate for them.



As stated in the title, a way forward for the community. These are my own recommendations for players as well as Staff, and observations.

Time, and distance.

Most of us need time, some of us need distance. Some of us need time and distance, and some of us will not be returning. In a small community, that is a big loss. We need to lose the line 'if you don't like it, go somewhere else', because they have, and will continue to, if the community remains unwelcoming and toxic.

Stick to the Rules

Staff needs to demonstrate they will stick with their new changed rules over a period of time. They also need to be willing to hear from the playerbase, accept feedback, about new rules and if they should be put in place. Players also need to stick to the rules -- if the rules need to be updated for the community, there's no better time than now to consider doing that.

I would hope Staff realizes that with the current state of the game, having another incident such as this will absolutely be the final straw for most people. It already has been the final straw for many, so it is a good lesson that honesty is the best policy. Admitting mistakes when they happen, and not trying to explain away the problem, is the best policy.

Respect each other's time

Staff need to better respect Player's time commitment to a game like ArmageddonMUD, and applaud them for playing the game. Players should better respect Staff's contributions to the game, and extend the benefit of the doubt until it is put in question.

A community of peers

Staff should consider tying their Staff accounts to their Mortal accounts. They're just doing a different job. The veil of secrecy really needs to be reconsidered, the Us Vs Them mentality. Reiloth was Eurynomos. Eurynomos was Reiloth. The world hasn't broken from this realization. It reduces wild speculation, tying Staff to being 'monolithic', and so on. It makes you members of the community, once more.

Benefit of the Doubt

Now that the dust has settled or is at least settling, we need to each decide if we want to be a part of the community, and if we want to play the game. That may take time and distance. That decision may also change over time. But that conclusion should be respected. If the conclusion is to remain, then it should be with a positive bent, a hope to have fun playing a collaborative game. If the conclusion is to leave, that should also be respected -- I recently saw a thread where Kavrick (a new player) gave their honest feedback as to what was and was not working with the game from a newbie perspective. Several of the posts afterwards were vitriolic and unnecessary. We need to give each other the benefit of the doubt, and if we can't, then we need to move on from this community.



Though I am not playing the game and have not since all of this went down, I want to acknowledge that Staff is at the very least trying to do right by a community they had a large part in damaging. There are past grievances, and present wounds, that are difficult to overlook. Those will take time to work through. Having participated in my own echo chambers via Discord and email, I can say while it felt good in the moment to reveal all that was done wrong to me, it did nothing to resolve the situation or provide building blocks to moving on. As players of the game, I think the greatest damage we can do is to ourselves within the community, by holding on too tightly to past and present grievances, and looking to be right rather than seen and understood.

I encourage players to try to move past this. Whether that means moving on and leaving the community, temporarily or permanently, or re-engaging with the community and the game on your own terms. Maybe that means not engaging with the OOC community, only the game. Or maybe it means engaging with only a few people and limiting what you talk about to 'stuff outside of the game'. Or maybe it's fully talking about the game, because that feels healthier to you. You do you. It's 2023. I think we can all trust each other a bit more than we let on.


In closing --

I think we can all recognize that this could have unfolded better -- both from the player side, and especially from the Staff Side. Hindsight truly is 20/20. Considering the game pulls talent from all sorts of fields, maybe it would be a benefit to have people on Staff and the Player Committee who have some HR experience, even if it's just a + in your back pocket.

I could be one of those players endlessly talking shit about the game, airing greivances, and getting my companions to shout "Yeah!" with me. I'm past that now. I was angry, I felt wronged after reviewing my own events with my own PCs and Shalooonsh's resource PC, not to mention my recent correspondence with him via the request tool and just how gaslit I was. But that's the past. It doesn't serve anyone to hold on to it. Better to let it go.

Ultimately, yes, it is just a game. But it is also a hobby, shared and collaborated with by a few generations of people. It's truly a treasure of the internet considering its age. One of my friends, the handle of "Galdun", who was a former player (played Ferathule and Cammul Tenneshi) reconnected with me recently and had only fond memories of ArmageddonMUD, telling me how it shaped his writing style, his wish to pursue a creative career as a filmmaker and musician, and how he wished he still had time to play or hold space with it in his life.

That's some powerful stuff.

ArmageddonMUD is a game, but it's also more than a game. For some of us, it followed us through difficult years of our life, from hard breakups, to passionate love, to heartbreak and lost loved ones. I personally lost my mother to a 3 week battle with cancer that came out of nowhere -- Armageddon helped me disconnect from some incredibly deep, heavy emotions when I needed it, and Staff was very understanding of my storage of a leadership role. It's clear to me that we can show empathy across the aisle (Staff to Player, and Player to Staff). We've just lost touch with that a bit in recent years.

I wanted to take the time to say to Staff — Keep doing what you are doing. It may not feel like it is a rewarding path, that you are beset on all sides by people looking to jump down your throat at every perceived misstep and talk shit about you behind closed doors, behind open doors, on alternative forums, on Reddit, whatever -- But that is beside the point. The point is, this is for YOU. It is to create new systems that help protect your time as Staff, to protect Players and the community at large, and volunteer that time towards making the game more fun/better rather than policing the community or each other. If you can create systems/rules that safeguard the community (Staff and Players), it will make the game environment more rewarding, safe, and enjoyable as a game.

These are my suggestions for mending fences as a community.

This is Reiloth, signing off for a while.

Take care, community.

-Reiloth

[SpyGuy]

I enjoyed you as a staffer years ago and absolutely loved your efforts to keep Morin's alive before Tuluk reopened.   Thanks for writing this up.  It's important to show how even those on the sidelines now are still interested in seeing the game thrive.  Best of luck with whatever you're doing now and I hope that we continue to see improvements that make the game and community an even better place to be.

[MeTekillot]

+1

[najdorf]

I am one of the few people who have advocated for amnesty on several occasions. However, I want to be clear that I only support amnesty for players who have been banned from channels due to recent events, and not for players who have cheated or engaged in other forms of misconduct.

Halaster recently mentioned that it would be difficult to implement amnesty because ban reasons are not coded into the system. While I understand this concern, I worry that the process of handling appeals for amnesty could become complicated and frustrating for players.

For example, a player might have to wait for weeks to receive a response to their appeal. Another hypothetical example, assume that a player has insulted at an Admin due to recent events. I am concerned that the appeals process for this case could become adversarial, particularly if an admin asks a player to promise not to insult again. If a player feels that they were acting in self-defense, they might not be willing to make such a promise.

In summary, while I support the idea of amnesty, I think it's important to consider the potential challenges and frustrations that could arise during the appeals process. A confirmation that unban requests for players who were banned due to recent events will be swiftly handled, without asking questions, or dragging the process into a soviet style bureaucracy, would eliminate the problem to a degree. Keep in mind that people are still concerned that staff will use this as a means of accepting the request as submission from players. Whether there is truth in this or not, the concern is there.

[Jeka]

Great post.  But what if instead of mending fences and exhibiting empathy and communication like the small community we are, we just increased bureaucracy ten fold?  Maybe sprinkle in some heavily leaning staff rules that don't actually protect whistleblowers.  I know, we apologize to those that were cheated and harassed and then keep retaliating against them by not doing any kind of community outreach and keeping them banned.  Then we'll keep having a conversation about the issue they brought to the surface without letting the people who brought the issues to light at their own expense into the room.  We'll interrogate them to make sure their intentions are pure before we let them anywhere near the community even though they cared enough about it to notify their fellow players they were being cheated and we weren't the one to exhibit good faith to begin with.  Sounds way better than mending fences to me.  We clearly have the monopoly on good faith on this side of the fence.

Nothing says apology and genuine remorse to the people we've wronged like keeping punitive measures in place against them.

[Armaddict]

Great post.  But what if instead of mending fences and exhibiting empathy and communication like the small community we are, we just increased bureaucracy ten fold?  Maybe sprinkle in some heavily leaning staff rules that don't actually protect whistleblowers.  I know, we apologize to those that were cheated and harassed and then keep retaliating against them by not doing any kind of community outreach and keeping them banned.  Then we'll keep having a conversation about the issue they brought to the surface without letting the people who brought the issues to light at their own expense into the room.  We'll interrogate them to make sure their intentions are pure before we let them anywhere near the community even though they cared enough about it to notify their fellow players they were being cheated and we weren't the one to exhibit good faith to begin with.  Sounds way better than mending fences to me.  We clearly have the monopoly on good faith on this side of the fence.

Nothing says apology and genuine remorse to the people we've wronged like keeping punitive measures in place against them.

GOOD FAITH: A "Good Faith" argument or discussion is one in which both parties agree on the terms on which they engage, are honest and respectful of the other person's dignity, follow generally-accepted norms of social interaction, and genuinely want to hear what the other person thinks and has to say.

Who has a monopoly on good faith, here, exactly?  I don't think any party has it fully in our current state.

Apologies do not cost nothing.  That's a very idealistic way of putting it without actually inspecting why people have a hard time doing them all over the place.

Apologies do a few things:
1) An admission of guilt, mishandling, or shortcoming.  This is no biggy, this has already been acknowledged all over the place.

2) It generally comes with an undercurrent of olive-branch/moving forward.  You don't generally apologize to people who you have no intention of maintaining a relationship with.

3) A relinquishing of power in a given dynamic.  This is where things will become more difficult.  This is why you see apologies more easily come from individuals than entities (though still far from unheard of), because after an apology you give the other party the power to make demands, shift the decisions, and have influence in future engagements by pointing backwards to that apology.  'You apologized for it, but that means nothing if you don't do x' is a pretty standard thing to hear in those things.  It's not a demand for fixes, it's a push for -their- fix since they've now been given the power.  Ironically, the behavior in the interaction often becomes a mirror of the stance the other party had.  Note that this is only the case where the apology is not enough for a moving forward relationship.  Most of us, personally, with friends, make apologies more easily because we know we will try to move forward mutually afterwards.  That's a lot less prevalent in these sorts of scenarios.

You can hate on the power dynamic, but it's always there, precisely because this is a provider/consumer relationship, and must be in order to continue to provide the uniqueness of that service we engage in.

4) It creates leeway to the receiver of the apology receiver to behave in the same manner again.  This can be the hardest part to swallow for an entity, because there may be things involved in that leeway that make it difficult to continue enforcing a standard or providing the given service.  I know that sounds silly or exaggerated, but prime examples are available where this becomes a prime consideration; Security companies fail, and some even have bad actor employees who steal or even kill with the access they are given (BTK was an ADT agent).  While no one ever wanted those events to happen again, the biggest steps that could be taken were increases in background checking and medium steps of oversight.  They were not able to overhaul their entire system to have prime accountability at all times of all agents, because that would actually reduce their capacity to provide the service to everyone wanting that service.

In this case, there were other actions periphery to the 'main problem' as far as how things were handled by both parties that make apologies hard to give by both parties.

That is precisely why I think the request to have people reach out is reasonable rather than shorting them.  There will be a requirement of personal, actual-good-faith dialogue between the parties directly, rather than blanketed under a curtain of blame-for-changes.  I believe some people will not be able to come to terms and come back, and I believe the risk of going all the way rather than halfway is just a 50/50 chance between two clear liquids to toss on a fire.  Reaching out fully has a strong probability (in my opinion) of just making more critical posts more visible that, despite the good intention, will actually just make things worse precisely because of that power dynamic shifting and that mirrored behavior.

I'm not against full apologies.  I'm resolutely anti-ban.  But I, as a player critical of many many things, also have doubts as to how that situation would be handled by receiving parties precisely because of how efforts that appear good-faith to me have been received thusfar.  I generally err on the side of good-faith, because I always seek best result.  But pretending that this is just stubbornness rather than an actual decision with facets and calculations involved is either disingenuous or shortsighted.

[najdorf]

Aside from the tone used, actually he does come up recommendations. He is saying.

1) Instead of relying on bureaucratic measures, be more pragmatic and get the job done swiftly and effectively.
2) Proactively reach out to those who have been harmed and apologize for any wrongdoing, instead of asking them to make the first move of approaching. Which is also tied to #1, because it is a job that could be done in 15 minutes.

[Armaddict]

Aside from the tone used, actually he does come up recommendations.

Tone is a big deal here.  We've had entire other 'outrages' based on tone.

1) Instead of relying on bureaucratic measures, be more pragmatic and get the job done swiftly and effectively.

This can certainly be done but comes at the cost of recordkeeping, rulekeeping, and overall regulation.  In places where I am an administrator, there is a constant upheaval in conflict resolution based around log integrity, precisely because we don't have a medium created where direct logging can be taken.  Likewise, we don't have strict guidelines or rules, which makes transparency difficult.  It does, however, allow us to be very flexible in how we deal with situations.

The ironic twist here is that people wanted transparency and standards set, but now we're talking about making too many rules and how all the communication is too bureaucratic.  It's a good gauge of who's following along and who's just pissed and wants to be pissed.

2) Proactively reach out to those who have been harmed and apologize for any wrongdoing, instead of asking them to make the first move of approaching. Which is also tied to #1, because it is a job that could be done in 15 minutes.

This can also be done, which I've never argued against.  I have, however, said that it's not the only way, and that the current state of 'reach out if you are interested in mending fences' -is- a first step.  It just puts the Onus on the individuals rather than volunteering to chase people down just to engage in the same disagreement as before.

Basically, my impression is that both sides want the leverage of 'You came to me'.  Both sides have the desire to get things done the way they want.  Both sides are willing to let that relationship falter rather than give any more ground than they feel they already have.  And frankly, both sides can afford to let that relationship falter (i.e. This won't kill the game, and it won't kill someone's ability to roleplay meaningfully online). When you combine those factors with aforementioned tone (Let's be real, it wasn't just a tone.  They outright said that none of this was for a good-faith discussion on their part), do you find any of it particularly likely to have a good outcome?

Either people are gonna play the game because they want to, or they're gonna walk away from the game because they don't want to deal with it.  Pretty sure staff are going to continue managing the game to the best of their own ability.  But if they WANT to play, the invitation is already there, it was just a blurb in a newsletter instead of a multitude of notes sent out to groups of people in various stages of disgruntlement.

[Jeka]

I hope all my banned compatriots come back.  But it won't be had when either side comes from a place of moral high-ground (i.e. Calling the other party evil and expecting good impact) or righteous fury (i.e. I'm totally justified and will not bend, you must do this).  That won't work for either party towards that solution.  So if that solution is what we're talking about, which is what I was focusing on from the OP, it's gonna start with a mutual showing of good will, without those modern-day crutches of 'winning' fights on social media.

First if someone's banned the choice to come back has been removed.

Second we're talking about players who were stalked, cheated, harassed and even alleged sexual harassment and abuse from an Armageddon staff member.  These reports came in for a decade as recently as two players requesting not to work with Shalooonsh and being forced stored.  This was due to both IC and OOC harassment. Those players and others (one in particular still banned) were subsequently ignored, gaslit and force stored. 

Why didn't they want to work with Shalooonsh?  Because in addition to IG harassment he had taken pictures of them at a player meeting despite them verbally requesting not to do so then disturbing them without consent.  Perfectly reasonable request to work with other staff met with force storage.  I'm not comfortable with a community that wants to move forward without doing right by these players and the others at the center of this issue.  I don't think anyone should be.

Why is the onus on them to request an apology or the option to play their characters again or to be unbanned?

The sides are not equal here. It isn't about moral high ground, that's an odd way to phrase doing right by the people you directly and indirectly did major harm to as players and human beings.

You can think staff have handled this perfectly (we'll agree to disagree) and still make the observation it's a bit odd to apologize with one hand and slap them with a ban with the other.  You can say hmmm that's not how an apology works.

That is the crux at what I'm getting at.  Hurting people and then forcing them to approach you to ask for repair and to do so with the idea you get to scrutinize their intent when you're the one that broke trust is not amenable and it is indicative of insincerity and abuse.

Trying to apologize and maintain the moral high ground or even equal footing when you're the one that wronged someone is disingenuous.  Trying to modulate whistleblowers and the feelings of people you already wronged is abusive.  You can't say I'm sorry but you're actually wrong.  Especially not in the face of long term systemic cheating and abuse.  Even if there are other issues to discuss that's not the time and place to bring it up if you're actually apologetic.  To do so detracts from the sincerity of the remorse.

And putting all of this convoluted infrastructure in place on a super small game instead of employing basic logic and empathy to profer a sincere apology doesn't bode well.

You can also argue that staff is not a monolith, but having a structure comprised of different components does not make it any less a singular structure.  We don't know what's happening behind the scenes but we do know that staff as a collective entity still haven't done right by many players they hurt.

For all the talks of drawing lots and having moderators picked by staff overseen by staff but holding staff accountable but within the confines of the rules staff have established and or approved....

There's still a piece missing.  Actually doing right by the people that came forward at the center of this change.  Everyone was hurt by the metagaming and cheating that occured but just pushing forward like certain players weren't put through the ringer and force stored or banned continues to look incredibly insincere.

[Armaddict]

Sidestepping the blinding outrage, I would invite my banned compatriots to reach out with genuine good faith in people in the midst of so many of the expectations recently placed on them.  Negligence isn't the most desirable trait, but it's a long stone's throw from complicit as well.  Have discussions that aren't focused on establishing lines of good and evil and more on why you'd like to play, and fully determine what reasoning for your ban was so that fruitful discourse can be actually hoped for, and I'll see you in game.

If they end up sending out messages to each of you, great.  My field of fucks is barren.  But I'll enjoy playing with any of you (until you kill me), and anyone else.

If the game's not for you, best wishes.  If you'll only come back from a position where they approach you so that you can make demands, I disapprove but still hope to see you.  If you just want the apology for closure, I empathize and I'd tell you the apology doesn't matter, find people who more closely suit your needs.  But if you want to come back and it's just a pride thing or a moral stance, this isn't the one.  Get your game on here if it's the place.

[Armaddict]

Oh, also.

Please, staff.  Please keep in mind that I've been banned, force-stored, and showed my own outrage many times.  I've whispered sweet nothings with Mortal Slayer.  I once had to have a staff member put themselves on the chopping block to allow me to return.

You guys apparently had a bad apple.  I'd urge you to have a quality that is rarely talked about, but it's a goody: Grace.  Have grace as you deal with the internet sensation of outrage.  Be as patient as possible as you try to negotiate the assessments of good and bad ahead, and be gentle with yourselves.  I'm proud of the efforts you've made, even when I don't agree with all of them or would do them differently myself.

Through all the ups and downs, I enjoy it here.  Do whatever it takes to salvage the good ones who you don't see eye to eye with.  Hurt people lash out, but they -are- important.  Or as important as they'll let themselves be, followed by how important you'll let them be.

[mansa]

I moderated and moved some posts.

a) Some were insulting to other members of the playerbase.   That is against the rules.
b) Some were simply replying to the insulting posts, which I moved because the conversation would look weird with them remaining.

Please remember to not insult your fellow players, directly or indirectly.

[Cordon]

 There was one occasion my RP was called out by an unknown staff. Mid RP I was warned that what I was doing was wrong and that I was being noted on it..

The RP scene that was unfolding was one of the most intense RP moments I had ever been in, I see why a staff would not assume it was organic, but it was.

In response to this staff warning I in turn just sent kudos to the player because we simply just kept on with it and it was one of my most memorably Arm moments.. the PC was given a weapon that could shape-shift into another weapon.. and it was a major life turning event for my PC. Got me hooked on Arm to a new level too I must say.

If you have issues, just play them out and move on the best you can. This community is worth it to just be patient and let things go IMO.