hi im thefryedmans and i am here cause i would like to suggest a rule update to the chat rules saying whats allowed and whats not allowed the only reason i say this is because in the rules it says Be mindful and tolerant of players with other religions, ethnic backgrounds, political views, etc than what you may have. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. which suggests to me that views are allowed in chat. and i saw a post on tbirds post thingy maggy thats says that its not allowed in chat?? suggestion = clarification and mabey updated rules page?
The rule is essentially just stating that people are diverse and it should go without saying that everyone should be respected regardless of their background. I think the reason some people say discussions of it are not allowed is because those kinds of personal topics can be very volatile for a variety of people, so it's best to just leave them alone before they escalate.
I have adressed this ussue in this thread myself: https://empireminecraft.com/threads/the-problems-of-emc-the-great-unrest.81832/ I don't feel like you've managed to explain what the exact problem is, so I guess I'll quote the part on the topic from my thread: (Part 1.3: On cultural differences, a Wittgensteinian theory of rules) Most of what I said about the rules that moderate the economy [in previous parts of the thread not compied], can also be said about the rules in general. The people who are hurt by [the] attitude towards rules in general are the people who happen to end up around the edge of a rule, which, I understand, usually is just bad intent. There are two exceptions, though. The first, we have already discussed: [in previous parts of the thread not compied] the serious playing style. The second might be a bit more complicated to explain. Most rules on this server are kind of vague. Not only are the borders of the rules poorly defined, but the rules additionally use a lot of langue that can mean something completely different when you’re not raised in the same way as most of the staff, white American middle-class. The clearest example I have seen is a discussion a friend of mine had with a staff member on what “family friendly” means, as used in the rules. When this person thinks of “family friendly”, they explained to me, they usually imagine a young person sitting next to them as they talk to another person their age, to find out what they can and cannot talk about. In the Netherlands, (from my own experience,) that would mean that marijuana or light sex talk, like discussing different ways of birth control, or something that describes “having sex” without actually talking about the different actions that that consists of, would be totally fine, but showing a picture of yourself posing with a gun, or shooting, would be frowned upon. Swearing etiquette is also really different in the Netherlands compared to the US. The person from my example had problems with a different cultural barrier, (The lgbt- non lgbt, which can have quite different cultures,) but the point is that that barrier exists, (and I do not what to get into lgbt rights on this thread.) These cultural differences are really frustrating to people who aren’t American, as they sometimes end up breaking the rules whilst trying to follow them, but it does not need to be a problem. The problem is probably best showed with a quote from the staff member with whom this conversation was. This is what they said after they tried to explain the cultural differences: “Not reading the rules is not an excuse to willingly break them.” What is showing here is a staff culture that does not understand the limits of their own rules. This server is extremely US-centred. I know most people in the states tend to think “Isn’t America basically the planet,” (quote from a YouTuber) but the rest of the world really doesn’t see you as that anymore. To most of Europe, the USA is that narcissistic uncle you have, you don’t really like talking to anymore, but he’s a part of your family, so he’s still there, talking about how great he is and everyone nodding hoping he will stop talking soon. In short: it would be unrealistic to ask Europeans, let alone people from non-western countries, to learn about US culture to be able to understand the rules. So, no. “Just think Disney channel” (The answer staff has repeatedly given me personally) is not going to cut it either. At least partially because Europeans have to google what that is. I think I can generalise this one step further, and say that most staff is hostile towards a misunderstanding that is created by differences between people, which creates a large group of people to get annoyed by the staff, (and especially their leader,) most of whom don’t seem to understand these problems.
It is true that #2 in the rules needs some updating, and a discussion in staff channel the other day already brought a problem with languages to light. While most rules are not clearly defined black and white on purpose because we do not like people using them as a guideline for what they can get away with if it's not explicitly listed, we've had some issues lately regarding the concept of tolerance versus appropriateness of topic on a game server. So we will be looking at #2 more closely and possibly moving/editing others around if needed. These decisions will be made by the staff and rules updated by end of May, hopefully earlier.
This, in itself, is a problem, I'd say. I'll quote from that thread again: (Part 1.2 EMC as an economic institution) The rules have evolved over time to what they are now, and I would argue that they, over the years, have more and more become the rules of a "casual server" [Term I introcuced and defined in a previous part of the thread], one which doesn’t tolerate the other group [More definitions from eariler parts]. Probably the most telling is the last block in the rule page, our mission: “The rules listed above should not be used as strict limitations of what you can get away with or bend to your needs. If a staff member notices that you are continually bordering on the line of breaking the rules, they may take action even if you didn’t completely cross the line. Our mission is to have fun and create lasting memories on Empire Minecraft. Our rules are in place so that everyone can enjoy their time on the Empire. Do your best to follow these rules and we can all focus on having FUN, like we're meant to.” I want to take a moment and analyse this, and show you why this is a problem if we want to have a functioning [...] system. As we saw, [This paragraph is a summery of a part of part 1.1] the "serious players" [More definitions from eariler parts] usually like to have strict limitations on what you can and cannot do, and then look for the edge of them, not because they want to hurt others, but because that is the nature of the rules. I want to stress that most "serious" people I have talked to agree with the rules they are taking to the limit. It’s not malicious intent; It’s a different way to approach a game. What the economic [and non-economic - later part] rules are doing is making sure the "serious players" don’t hurt other people by over optimising things, and making sure the system is a fair playground for everyone. The easiest way to see how this manifests on EMC is by analysing is the auto-clicking rules: they exist because it’s ‘cheating’ to leave your computer on with a book on your key. In my analysis, saying ‘cheating’ would be the same as saying that leaving a book on your key creates a severe disadvantage between the serious and the casual, which makes the game less fun for the casual, and is therefore disallowed. We should not, however, then see the serious player looking for the edge of that rule as trying to cheat, or ‘living on the edge.’ This group’s playing style is to search for optimisation and a gathering as much as possible, for the sake of optimisation and gathering as much as possible. When you paint going to the edge of a rule as intrinsically bad, as EMC currently does, you have misunderstood what the rule is trying to do, what the people breaking it are trying to do, and what is in the best interest of the economy of the server. It is not just the rules that are hostile towards "serious players," it also manifests itself in the general discourse on the forums, and the langue used to discuss these topics. The rules are simply the clearest example of what is a larger systematic change. The ultimate result of this is that EMC, in effect, has slowly changed its player base. It used to be an economy server, but, with the slow change of rules, and, more importantly, the slow change of attitude towards the rules, EMC has more and more become a server specifically for casual players. This, in itself, does not necessarily need to be a bad thing. A casual server is totally fine; there are not any intrinsic ethical problems with starting a casual server. It has a different type of economy, but none of the casual players care about that. Thing is: EMC already has quite a large player base, and most of the loyal players are from the group serious. These loyal serious players, who have hundreds if not thousands of hours playing EMC behind them, feel like their favourite server is turning against them, which, in effect, it is. There is no single answer here. I know some staff members would be glad if all the serious players would leave, as they are only there for the casual community. I also know some staff members who are a part of the serious community, and try their best to be as friendly as they possibly can to the serious playing style. This is ultimately a question of which path the ones in charge want to walk. https://empireminecraft.com/threads/the-problems-of-emc-the-great-unrest.81832/
Mr. Word Wall. Any chance you could summorize your thoughts? No one wants to read all that. Especially since you whine about alot of things that are just silly or in your own head. We get it you have a huge problem with Krysyy. Take it to PM and sort it out like a grown up and stop spamming threads like this. Honestly man..
The eassys lol kinda fell asleep reading them And a message to the eassy writer If you have such a big problem with emc i suggest you evaluate your position on emc and maybe think about taking a brake from emc. It's good to raise your opinions but don't write 5000 words for a simple i agree or i dont agree thing.
