A reminder about drama

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Cory
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A reminder about drama

Postby Cory » Sat Feb 23, 2008 10:31 pm

Everyone knows that DG is a very social system. In a sense it could be seen like highschool. Everyones vying for status through levels and other accomplishments. Generally those who like what they see and stick around carve out a little place for themselves in the social structure.

Just like in school, cliques are going to develop. They tend to form around guilds, around activities you like in DG such as RP, or just that someone in the group has caught your eye. Once people start to segregate into their various groups, it starts to be easy to point out who's different and not one of your group. Once people are different, the rumors begin to fly. People like to peep over into the other groups and speculate. Or worse, they start to take offense at the other groups and see them as a threat. "That guilds so childish", "They're all snobs", etc...

Then one person breaks up with someone and has to leave for another guild, they find a new person to like, someone kill steals, someone calls names, whatever. The cliques start forming lines and plotting against each other. Paranoia runs rampant and all of the sudden the gods are on the side of whoever is against you, always :) PMs are flying, rumors are flying, harassment reports are flying, cats and dogs living together, anarchy.

DG is a social environment. There is going to be conflict and how you resolve the conflict says boatloads about your character. If you're capable of rising above the conflict and moving on you'll see that it just blows past, along with the next conflicts, and the next. I'm sorry that your boyfriend cares for another, I'm sorry that someone KS'd you, I'm sorry that your world is utterly destroyed due to someone doing something someplace for some reason.

I'll present myself as an example of some of the effects. People don't see me. The only time you see me is once in a while during an event, when I have to inform someone of policy, or when I'm going to break everything for the fun of it. One of the reasons I hide, besides being busy a lot of the time, is because admins make great targets for drama. We're like the siege weapons of your conflict. When the other side is seen to have one, your clique bands together as the underdog against a greater foe. When one appears to be on your side you raise our names like a banner as a shining beacon of your righteousness. I avoid being seen to avoid being seen as partial to anyone or anything. I'm tired of my name being on someones banners. If a complaint is made that is valid, I'll step in as the admins are supposed to do, but most of them are not.

I let it slide when people try to say I'm on someones side and just do what I'm supposed to. I know that when someone is banned for a very valid and provable reason that their clique will still see me as the villain, and I brush that off too. The same with the other admins. The ones who are visible are going to be bigger targets for people to rally against, but they choose to be seen and take the flak for the enjoyment of those who appreciate admin interaction in the community. Admins have no reason to be part of your cliques, and they're not. They don't choose sides, they only enforce policy.

Now that you've seen a little bit into how I and admins have to deal with drama, analyze your interactions with others objectively and see if they can be viewed as drama. If you have drama, how do you resolve it to the benefit of the community? Are you being called names? So be it, children do that. Are you calling names? Why, to what ends? Is your clique, guild, clan, or whatever, currently feuding with someone? Whats to be gained by keeping that up instead of just dropping it? Are you sending PMs to people right now warning them of impending doom from the clan of widgets because they did a bad thing?

This may seem silly, but look at it objectively. Drama only exists because of the people in it. If everyone dropped whatever they're feuding about right now they'd probably just disappear with no repercussions. Life in a small social structure which seems a lot easier when people let things go, drop the paranoia, and just focus on the enjoyable aspects.
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President/Developer Grimoire Entertainment Inc.
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