I can confirm EMC is not an aggressive environment. I will always somehow end up in aggressive communities (I will admit to breeding these at times, but I always have an okay-ish reason mmmkay?) and I will always leave those things when it becomes alarmingly obvious what they are. These communities are a lot smaller than EMC - the biggest one was 35 people (its now probably less than 15 due to me kind of blowing a casket at multiple people... lol - EDIT 24/01/2017: I killed that entire community.), tops - but the point still stands. Either I love this place too much to leave it or we're not an aggressive community. I vote for the latter. I've seen aggressive situations develop here, sure, but they're always resolved in a healthy manner - and when they're not, it's almost always forced to be resolved by outside parties, whether that be members of the community or staff. I've had members here care for my real life well-being and I've made friends who I now communicate with outside of this website. Since I joined in 2012, one thing has always remained same: the fact that we're awfully tight-knit, and the members here have learned to be nice to eachother - going back to 2013 and 2014, people did have grudges (I had a few myself) and constantly wanted to screw eachother over in some way or another, but I have seen none of that over the last 2 years. We're relatively drama-free and I think this is the most drama-free we've ever been. But what do I know, I'm just sat here at 2:30AM drunk on tiredness and fatigue in the dark and I'm going to bed now because my parents are going to bed and if they see me awake at this time I fear for my well-being that I just talked about EMC members caring for kthxbai
i dont think emc is anymore hostile then previous times i have seen it. The schism was incredibly volatile, people were being banned left and right there were fights everywhere. i was a mod while that was happening. like i said before every single end of the summer this happens. people leave and blame it on the community, when in fact its boredom, interest in other games, interest in other things (social life anyone?) or even a commitment to school. anyone who is seriously going to stay and enjoys it here could tell you that other then the odd moment we as a community are quite tight knit. if you feel something is out of line report it, or even start a pm with the person and invite a mod. and as always if you feel mods arent doing their job, or are doing them wrong pm krysyy. heck even ive done that, might even do it again tonight.
Good afternoon I apologize for not quoting the posts of members that I allude to in this, but this is a response to everyone that views this (and other similar) threads and addresses the entire community. This is long with a TLDR at the bottom. Skip to that if you don't feel like reading long paragraphs. On EMC, we have players from all backgrounds, ages, religious beliefs, etc. We have differing opinions that are formed as a result of these variances and I wouldn't change that for the world. However, bullying is a problem. I'm not going to argue that one bit. It's going to be a problem in any and every community, online or not. There will never be a complete stop to bullying and that is the unfortunate truth of human interaction when differing opinions exist. The solution, although some may disagree, is NOT to increase the limitations of forum communication. The problem, as the OP has stated, lies at the player level. Sure, some of you have scoffed at the idea of increasing the amount of likes you give out, but the OP has a point here. I'm not saying that you should like every post that you read just for the sake of sending a like, but Facebook uses their like/love/whatever mechanism in order to filter your news feed to things that YOU want to see and create a personalized experience on their 'forums'. The same thing, although more on a psychological standpoint than a coded one, exists here. When a person receives a like on their post, they are more inclined to post something similar in the hopes of generating more likes. When you like a post, you acknowledge that player's content made you laugh, smile, or that you simply agree with what they are saying and don't want to post a +1 comment, etc. So it seems all fine and dandy just to go dishing out likes at every turn, until you realize how strong of an influence that liking posts can really have. If players that post snarky responses to other players are given likes, then that player is more prone to post more snarky comments, and more and more because that is what they see as what the community wants. The result is something akin to the bad side of Imgur, reddit or tumblr, where the rudest, or sometimes raunchiest, post gets the most points. We've headed that way on EMC before and a very wise tiger once wrote a letter. Now it seems, from the OP's point of view, that we're heading that way again. If you believe they are wrong or right doesn't really matter. What matters is that at least one of our own believes it and they have taken the time and effort to share their thoughts with us, hoping that we will take their words to heart and do what we can to improve. That's what we do as a community on EMC. We listen to each other and we care about what others think, even if we want to seem like we don't. As a result of likes and given some time, the community CAN become more of what you want to see, just like your Facebook news feed. Each of you has the power to influence what another person posts on their own profile and each of you are subconsciously making post decisions based on input from other players BECAUSE of how close this community truly is. The only way to limit bullying, other than actually using that 'Report' button which I can't force you to hit, is to respond with kindness, patience, and understanding as an anti-bully. TLDR; OP has a point and maybe everyone should re-read their post instead of turning this into 'It's the Staff's Fault' thread. If you think something breaks the rules, then REPORT it. Otherwise, do what you can on the player level to promote a positive environment. For every bad post that you see (and hopefully report), post two positive ones. Our community is a family and like all families, we're going to disagree. We're going to have giant fights and not talk to each other at times. We're going to possibly get into food fights at the dinner table or have screaming matches over who gets to control the TV for the night. At the end of the day, we are a family and families are there for each other through thick and thin. If you want to be an estranged member of the family, we'll still support you and welcome you back with open arms when you decide that you want to come back home.
Some very good posts here. There is one I really don't understand, though. It's gotten a lot of likes, so people must be able to explain what was good about the post.
i didn't even read this but this is a minecraft server and im 90% sure this is probably an overreaction can anyone fill me in
We need to end this? End what? In all honesty I see a lot of things wrong with EMC, but definitely not this. I completely agree with this statement, but there's quite a few other things that I also disagree with. I'm a serious veteran on the Empire. I've been around for over 1730 days at this point, and I simply disagree. It's just not right to say that not enough alerts are being passed around. Liking something isn't a matter of making someone feel good - it's rather about appreciating the actual text written on the site. I do sometimes look at my alert box when I get a lot of likes and smile, but it's not about making others feel good. That's not why we should like things. I think there are more than enough likes being passed around for the right or wrong reasons, so in my opinion, this is just wrong. To put it shortly, although it feels good to be liked, that is not what the like button is made for. Just face the reality of the situation, please. Being annoyed with people is one thing. Being actually pissed at someone for the reality of the situation is another thing. Ignoring them or leaving them alone isn't going to help, but neither is bashing them. As much as I agree that turning the other cheek will sometimes work, it is not going to work all the time as, in human nature, people are stubborn. Again, I sadly disagree. I seriously think this is BS. Real life shapes your personality just as much as what you say online does. Everything you say, every action you make, everything you do shapes what other people see of you. As I have said somewhere else, you can't call something right or wrong because it's not what you believe in. We're not discriminating - we're stating the reality of the situation. What YOU process of it from there is not up to us to argue with and should never be stated as a fact. No one is discriminating - rather telling the truth. Yes, there is situations where people are discriminated but not nearly as often as someone simply getting pissed because it's not what they think or because their opinion is contrary to the vast majority of others. //rant like my post please
Hm, perhaps. Still though, it's got so much more like than Shel's post itself... that seems odd to me.
So OP was kinda hard to read but from what I'm seeing is we are forming a lynch mob to bully bullies right? I don't know I couldn't get through the whole post and the other posts seemed to suggest as much... most of which I couldn't read through either. I did find this one extremely funny though So... people voted no, because like you said, you treat people the way you want to be treated. which is how it should be
I understand why it seems slightly odd, but it's just passive humour. It can be good for a thread like this, after all, more people are interested in having fun than just being dead serious and taking part in all the drama. He got the likes because it was funny. As for the serious posts, the likes on it tend to show that you agree with that person, or at least to some extent. In this case, Shel simply didn't have as many supporters for his thought than Haro had people find his comment funny. Not meaning that harshly or anything, there were good and bad ideas from all sides and all people here, but that's perfectly okay, because we all have our own ideas!
There are times when I think the staff are too lenient (with players seen as nuisances), but there are also times when I think they are far too strict. The "too lenient" side was already explained by you, and I know that your reasoning is valid and proven correct most of the time, but I just don't have the patience for that. IRL I work in a setting where if I don't put my foot down hard enough, a problem can grow uncontrollably, hence why I have little patience for those who don't learn from warnings. That said, EMC's environment is very different from my environment, which is why I am not campaigning against the leniency. The strict part is really the only part that rubs me the wrong way occasionally. Sometimes the staff appear to slap players very hard with little justification, for something minor. There are instances where pranks that were pulled on people by the staff in the past are now being prosecuted as if it is targeted harassment. I have seen instances where someone was running and jumping around on a res, swinging their sword in the air, and then some random friend of the res owner teleports to the res, claims that the jumping player is killing all the animals, and immediately reports them. A staff member then appears, tells off the player who was jumping around, and even though the player explains that they were doing literally nothing harmful, just because they were reported they have to stop because "it was upsetting people." What kind of justification is that?! The player is then told that they should "ask for permission before doing it in the future" because "it will cause less problems." I find it absolutely ridiculous that players doing harmless, innocent actions that are immediately reported on get hit so hard. It creates (has created?) an environment on EMC where the whiny (for lack of a more appropriate term) players know that they can get people in trouble for things that are in no way breaking the rules, just by using certain buzzwords (ie harassing, bullying, stalking). Instead of informing the reporter that what the reported actually isn't against the rules, and that nothing harmful can happen because of it, they are catered to just for claiming victim. I don't blame the staff members themselves for the actions they take. I think the reason that they are reacting like that is due to real life's fear of "victim blaming" seeping into online communities. Nobody wants to question a victim anymore due to the chance of looking insensitive and horrible for putting them through more trouble. TD;DR feelings are being put before reason, and people are learning that they can take advantage of that.
I would completely agree with you IF you were privy to all that was connected to a particular case .. any case in fact .. and knew everything that was going on with those particular players. I'm not gonna repeat was has already been said and in such a nice way I might add but when you know and can see everything that went into an action from staff that resulted in the above then I can agree with you but not at this time obviously because you can't know. You just don't have the resources.
I haven't come across this particular instance or something similar myself yet, but I'll keep that in mind. As far as I know, staff are not doing what's in your example and enforcing something other than the rules because of what someone else may see in somebody's actions. In any case, though, it is always investigated and dealt with if it is reported. Sometimes, that dealt with part can just simply be telling the reporter that it wasn't against the rules, there are cases where that happens, I'd agree with you there, though can't say I have seen staff telling players off for no reason as such. Staff should always be properly investigating and making decisions based on evidence supplied to them, but sometimes we can make mistakes. Thanks for your comment, I now understand what you mean
I should have put a note that I realize I have no access to the resources that staff use, but I see it happen often enough to challenge the idea that I always don't know the whole story. This change appears to be systematic, not individual. I don't have it out for the staff as it would be unreasonable to to take that stand with only one type of example.
With all due respect, that's the comment players always seem to get when commenting about staff related things. I'm not claiming that it isn't true, but that's also not really the point here. This is more about the way things look from an outsiders point of view. In this case I can't help be a little surprised that no one seems to have told the reporting player how to keep other players from their residence. If they had known then maybe they could have solved their problem themselves, at least that's how it looks to me. Note: the only reason I'm commenting here is because I can relate to the story. I've seen something similar happen on SMP2 (without staff intervention) where one player apparently annoyed the other. Instead of trying to get in between them or telling someone not to do stuff I opted to carefully explain how players have full control over their residences. This resulted in one player removing access from the other. I also talked to the other player and told them that it really was up to the residence owner. They own their place, you're merely visiting. If you annoy someone you risk that they take action. But the result was simple: no drama, no discussions no good vs. bad guys. Just one player getting annoyed and removing the other. Temporarily removing the other I might add.
