What constitutes sexual harassment and what should be done when it happens?

[CirclelessBard]

Playing devil's advocate here.

People seem to be demanding a lot of this place like it's a democracy and we all have a vote.

It's not, it's a dictatorship, and the guy or girl paying for the computer and broadband is most likely the head of that regime.  Where do folks get off demanding things like they are owed something?

We play her for free and someone or a group of someone's pays for the computer and internet to make that happen, we don't demand anything.

To put it in theme standpoint, they are the nobles and Templars, we are all just commoners allowed to play here.

The purely cynical argument in favor of defining and ruling against sexual harassment is that it helps with player retention. Even a "templar" that "rules" the game probably wants more "commoners" to "rule over".

In general, I find devil's advocate arguments about this sort of thing absurd when the point of the thread is how to make players feel safe playing here. The premise assumes that the staff actually care about what the playerbase has to say. If they don't, they should say so - rather than a player speaking on their behalf.

I'm 100% for people not being creeps, I have never been a guy who chose to roleplay sex cause it always came off as weird to me, so if they eliminted ERP and sexual type shit all the way and we kept it to death, magick and politics I'd be a huge fan.

That said, I'm just warning against tone.  While I'm assuming that something happened that caused this to come up and it was probably shitty and a horrible experience, there are better ways to address this stuff than to soapbox it on the forums with various people saying things like. "There needs to be..." "it should go into effect ASAP..." are sorta bullying to the folks who make the decisions.

I'm sure in their secret staff forums they discuss all manner of things we bring up and after they review it, come to a consensus, vote amongst themselves or wait for that one or two overlords who make the calls (However they do it) they will respond.

I understand that tone is difficult to read, but speaking for myself, my tone is providing suggestion. When I say that something "needs" to happen, it is not me attempting to order staff on what to do. It is me expressing my personal opinion on how the problem could (and in my opinion, should) be fixed.

I will state that I would hope the staff are just as shocked to read the account that I read, as much as I was shocked when I read it, assuming they are aware of it. With that in mind, I also came to the assumption that staff are privately discussing the matter. My statement was not to imply that staff's silence is deafening, but rather that they don't need an excuse not to speak up when they are ready to do so. And I would hope that, after the end of the discussion, they agree that staff members should not be engaging in out-of-character sexual harassment, nor should resource PCs be suggesting actions that are against the rules, because that really is the bare minimum for ensuring that the game is holding itself to its own standards.

Edit to add: Additionally, I would ask that everyone please try to remain calm. Even though the subject matter is obviously disturbing, it's not my intention to evoke reactions of annoyance or anger. I would like the discussion to be able to continue and everyone to feel like they can contribute in good faith. I would also like a staff member to feel safe and welcome to comment once they're ready to present a unified front on the matter.

[Pariah]

I am assuming this is in reference to Bebop's shadow board post.  I try my best to avoid that board, but I guess if it's as bad as you're alluding to, I might have to give it a read.

[Halaster]

This is a heated, emotional topic, and I understand that.  But discussing something from a heated, emotional place does not get results.  It just gets people angry.  Someday maybe we can talk about this like adults, but today is not that day.