I apologize for the heavy nature of this post, but I feel it is necessary at this time. To you younger members of the community, please do not feel the need to read this. This post is for the more mature players and anyone struggling with something in real life.
About me
Hi.
A lot of you have gotten to know me over the past month, but if you still have no clue who I am, I am an ex-raider, ex-admin, ex-librarian, ex-many-other-things who has recently returned after an absence of about two years.
What you probably don't know is that I left due to my struggles with depression after my life-long friend and fiance left me a month before our wedding. Before that I was dealing with some rather serious health issues which still occasionally plague me; I was taking care of my brother's children while he was unable to; I lost friends and family from ages 14 to 80 due to sickness, cancer, and drunk drivers; and much more.
Besides what I personally experienced, when I was 14 I created a large community on Runescape for where I got to know people who had their own problems. Some were in abusive relationships or marriages, some were suicidal, some were veterans with PTSD. One person I knew was living in Christchurch, NZ during the 2011 earthquake and we had to talk him through the disaster in order to keep him from throwing his life away by running outside to look for his family. I am now 23 and the knowledge of so much that is wrong in the world weighs very heavily on me.
I don't tell you all of this to ask for your pity or your sympathy. Perhaps I would have two years ago when everything around me was crumbling away, but now I have a very different message. No matter what you are going through, there is always, always someone in the same boat as you. If I happen to be in your boat and you want to talk about it then feel free to message me on Discord. Unless you're asking me to steal the Declaration of Independence I will never decline a conversation. Otherwise, the internet is your best resource. Whether it's talking to other server members, finding a forum or subreddit, or joining another community of sorts, you can find friends to help you through your problems.
To the community
The above experiences are not unique to me or a handful of people. I would dare to say that nearly everyone on this server is dealing with one or more significant problems. Thankfully, Minecraft is a very good game for relieving stress and escaping for a little while. Loka perhaps a little less due to the competitive nature of Conquest and the risk of being murdered, but regardless, the core of the game is still the same. You tame animals, build cities, and hang out with your friends.
What is not good about Loka is the chat that I have seen and heard about in the past couple weeks. There is a big difference between friends or Conquest rivals bantering and harassing someone in chat just to bother them. The latter is not acceptable. You do not know what the majority of players on Loka are going through. You do not know what impact your words will have on them. This sort of behavior is bullying and if done in real life would almost definitely result in criminal charges.
I implore all of you to think very carefully about what you say to people. If you cannot get along with someone then that's fine, it happens. Avoid interacting with them, don't talk about them, and in the worst cases use /ignore. If you've personally been rude to someone then apologize and try to move on. But in no circumstance should you ever use any of the text or voice chats to intentionally try to upset someone. If you are on the receiving end of bullying then please immediately report it to the admins and include screenshots if possible.
To the admins
We have a no tolerance policy for trolling, but I would also ask for there to be a clear no tolerance policy for bullying. In most cases it is left to the players to settle arguments among themselves. While this is the best solution in many cases (after all this is a PvP server so people tend to be upset when they get murdered), but in cases such as bullying I do not think it should be put in the player's hand. A swift ban or mute is the only appropriate response.
Again, I apologize for posting something like this in General, but I thank you if you've taken the time to read through this. This is a serious problem and I hope we can all do our part to stop it.
About me
Hi.
A lot of you have gotten to know me over the past month, but if you still have no clue who I am, I am an ex-raider, ex-admin, ex-librarian, ex-many-other-things who has recently returned after an absence of about two years.
What you probably don't know is that I left due to my struggles with depression after my life-long friend and fiance left me a month before our wedding. Before that I was dealing with some rather serious health issues which still occasionally plague me; I was taking care of my brother's children while he was unable to; I lost friends and family from ages 14 to 80 due to sickness, cancer, and drunk drivers; and much more.
Besides what I personally experienced, when I was 14 I created a large community on Runescape for where I got to know people who had their own problems. Some were in abusive relationships or marriages, some were suicidal, some were veterans with PTSD. One person I knew was living in Christchurch, NZ during the 2011 earthquake and we had to talk him through the disaster in order to keep him from throwing his life away by running outside to look for his family. I am now 23 and the knowledge of so much that is wrong in the world weighs very heavily on me.
I don't tell you all of this to ask for your pity or your sympathy. Perhaps I would have two years ago when everything around me was crumbling away, but now I have a very different message. No matter what you are going through, there is always, always someone in the same boat as you. If I happen to be in your boat and you want to talk about it then feel free to message me on Discord. Unless you're asking me to steal the Declaration of Independence I will never decline a conversation. Otherwise, the internet is your best resource. Whether it's talking to other server members, finding a forum or subreddit, or joining another community of sorts, you can find friends to help you through your problems.
To the community
The above experiences are not unique to me or a handful of people. I would dare to say that nearly everyone on this server is dealing with one or more significant problems. Thankfully, Minecraft is a very good game for relieving stress and escaping for a little while. Loka perhaps a little less due to the competitive nature of Conquest and the risk of being murdered, but regardless, the core of the game is still the same. You tame animals, build cities, and hang out with your friends.
What is not good about Loka is the chat that I have seen and heard about in the past couple weeks. There is a big difference between friends or Conquest rivals bantering and harassing someone in chat just to bother them. The latter is not acceptable. You do not know what the majority of players on Loka are going through. You do not know what impact your words will have on them. This sort of behavior is bullying and if done in real life would almost definitely result in criminal charges.
I implore all of you to think very carefully about what you say to people. If you cannot get along with someone then that's fine, it happens. Avoid interacting with them, don't talk about them, and in the worst cases use /ignore. If you've personally been rude to someone then apologize and try to move on. But in no circumstance should you ever use any of the text or voice chats to intentionally try to upset someone. If you are on the receiving end of bullying then please immediately report it to the admins and include screenshots if possible.
To the admins
We have a no tolerance policy for trolling, but I would also ask for there to be a clear no tolerance policy for bullying. In most cases it is left to the players to settle arguments among themselves. While this is the best solution in many cases (after all this is a PvP server so people tend to be upset when they get murdered), but in cases such as bullying I do not think it should be put in the player's hand. A swift ban or mute is the only appropriate response.
Again, I apologize for posting something like this in General, but I thank you if you've taken the time to read through this. This is a serious problem and I hope we can all do our part to stop it.
