I'm writing this because I want to make it clear that we will do not tolerate trolls and bad actors in our community. As more people have joined the community there has been an uptick in people who show up, cause trouble OOCly, pretend they are acting in good faith, and waste a bunch of staff and player time.
TLDR: Each individual is responsible for their behavior and their character. If their behavior violates our rules or causes harm to the community they will be removed from the community.
Over the years we have gotten much better at identifying and tracking these patterns of behavior in people, and removing them from our community. We have gotten stricter, and less forgiving of poisonous behavior.
In the past we have given folx a large number chances to change their behavior before we finally resort to suspension or perma-ban, and we will continue to offer second chances, where applicable. However, we will not be the endless well of patience we have been in the past.
This does not mean we will not welcoming to new players. People who are new to MUDs/MOOs, and are having trouble understanding the theme or rules will always get the support they need.
That being said, there have been times where the staff have dedicated hours of coaching and conversation with players (new and old) who have been breaking the rules, violating the theme, arguing on xhelp, back-seat GMing, leaving shitty notes about RP they were involved in, etc. In some cases the hours of time put in have paid off and the player was able to turn a corner, more often though, are times where those efforts fell on deaf ears, resulting in even more frustration from the staff and a decrease in the time that those staff members were able to provide to players who were not causing issues or acting in bad faith.
We want the game to be fair and accessible to all, however, there are people who lack the maturity to be members of our community and we need to be honest with ourselves about that.
When we play the 'endless patience' game, more often than not, the result is a haggard staff, and a player base that isn't getting the attention it deserves because the staff is spending 6 hours a day arguing with bad actors on xhelp about how their behavior violates the rules or is bad for the game while the player in question pretends they don't have any clue that their behavior was causing these issues, despite being spoken to about it multiple times.
Some people want to play Sindome like a single-player game. This is not a single player game. Each player is one of hundreds who all require attention. Requiring 10x the attention of another player is bad for the game as a whole. We need to continue to steer clear of a world where a small set of players require a disproportionate amount of hand holding, warning, and other staff attention.
Here are some examples of the behavior that will get someone classified as a troll or a bad actor:
1. breaking the rules over and over and pretending like you didn't know you were doing so
2. being aggressive to staff on xhelp/email when they attempt to talk to you
3. being passive aggressive to staff on xhelp / email
4. being aggressive in @notes
5. being passive aggressive in @notes
6. lying to the staff
7. creating troll accounts
8. being a jerk on the BGBB
9. being a jerk on OOC/game help
10. using hate speech OOCly
11. circumventing suspensions
12. continuing with behavior you have been asked to cease by a staff member
13. cheating
14. flaming
15. refusing to acknowledge xhelps
16. taking issue with anything and everything a staff member tells you
17. repeatedly claiming others are cheating with no proof
18. failing to accept / arguing OOCly about IC outcomes
19. farming
20. sponging UE
21. refusing to RP because certain players are online
22. acting in bad faith
23. needing constant attention from the staff to advise/warn/correct your OOC or IC behavior
24. playing the game drunk/high and trying to use that as an excuse for poor OOC behavior
25. attempting to solicit better outcomes from the staff because you have made a donation to the game (expecting to pay to win)
26. using IRL hardships to justify blowing up at staff or breaking the rules
27. expecting special treatment from staff because of your IC job/role
28. expecting special treatment from staff because you believe you create a lot of RP
29. deliberately making the job of the volunteer staff more difficult
30. expecting the admin to break the rules to 'prove' what they are saying is true
31. not accepting 'it's IC' when you xhelp with a query/problem/issue.
32. treating the admin as if they are out to get you, and acting like the burden of proving that they aren't is on staff.
And the list goes on. We are simply not going to tolerate this behavior. If you are exhibiting this behavior, please stop. If you are just arriving to Sindome, please recognize that the behaviors outlined above, while not an exhaustive list, do accurately capture what we consider poor behavior in our community, and exhibiting said behavior will quickly result in a suspension of your access to the game, and possibly a permanent removal from our community.
If you have any questions about this, please reply in this thread and I will clarify either in a response or by editing my original post.
-- Slither
