I actually talked about this roughly 4 days ago with several other folks and on Tumblr. I was hit with a LOT of messages from people who said they either had stopped going to the RPC because of the recent toxicity or they are too afraid to join it for the same reason.
It's honestly feels like lately people can't have a disagreement in opinion with each other about what literally amounts to fantasy pretend fun times without tossing in snide insults, subtle jabs, or sweeping generalizations about how shitty [x] group of RPers who do something you don't like are.
The thing I always used to love about the RPC in the past was that it was an incredibly positive community. Barring things like a WHM Lore Discussion (which always seemed to explode for whatever reason) - I was always pleasantly surprised whenever a group of people disagreed on the lore or how to RP something and the discussion generally went something like "I personally don't think [x] is adheres to the lore, but if you do - that's okay. You'll be able to find RP because plenty of other people who feel the way you do. I may not RP like you do, but you should be able to RP it if you want to, because RP is supposed to be fun."
This was literally the first ever MMO RP community I have ever been in that had that kind of open, positive attitude towards things and I was really appreciative of that. People seemed a lot more willing to acknowledge that different RPers enjoy different things, have different interpretations of the lore, and will RP with different groups of people and that ALL OF THESE THINGS are 100% legit and okay.
There's been a very noticeable shift in recent months that's very "My Way Or Fuck You, You're Doing It Wrong.", where people will hammer down on others and belittle them for thinking one way or another about lore, characters, etc - even if it's between two groups of RPers who would realistically NEVER RP with one another because their interpretations of the lore are too different. (Which again - is 100% okay.)
At the end of the day - this is just a hobby and there is zero reason why we should be laying down the hate so thick.
Also, in regards to the trolls - I think what people are referencing is the a massive wave of trolls the RPC got hit with at one point. Not people who suddenly turned into trolls or "this person has a different opinion than I do, so I'm going to bitch and moan about there being trolls" - but legit trolls with freshly rolled up accounts who showed up to the site out of nowhere and were flagrantly just baiting people into arguments left and right for shits and giggles.
A lot of those people seem to have gotten ban-hammered (or just got bored and stopped showing up) and the mods are cracking down on things more tightly now, so it seems like it's just dying down.
It's mostly the hostility that's a problem.
It's honestly feels like lately people can't have a disagreement in opinion with each other about what literally amounts to fantasy pretend fun times without tossing in snide insults, subtle jabs, or sweeping generalizations about how shitty [x] group of RPers who do something you don't like are.
The thing I always used to love about the RPC in the past was that it was an incredibly positive community. Barring things like a WHM Lore Discussion (which always seemed to explode for whatever reason) - I was always pleasantly surprised whenever a group of people disagreed on the lore or how to RP something and the discussion generally went something like "I personally don't think [x] is adheres to the lore, but if you do - that's okay. You'll be able to find RP because plenty of other people who feel the way you do. I may not RP like you do, but you should be able to RP it if you want to, because RP is supposed to be fun."
This was literally the first ever MMO RP community I have ever been in that had that kind of open, positive attitude towards things and I was really appreciative of that. People seemed a lot more willing to acknowledge that different RPers enjoy different things, have different interpretations of the lore, and will RP with different groups of people and that ALL OF THESE THINGS are 100% legit and okay.
There's been a very noticeable shift in recent months that's very "My Way Or Fuck You, You're Doing It Wrong.", where people will hammer down on others and belittle them for thinking one way or another about lore, characters, etc - even if it's between two groups of RPers who would realistically NEVER RP with one another because their interpretations of the lore are too different. (Which again - is 100% okay.)
At the end of the day - this is just a hobby and there is zero reason why we should be laying down the hate so thick.
Also, in regards to the trolls - I think what people are referencing is the a massive wave of trolls the RPC got hit with at one point. Not people who suddenly turned into trolls or "this person has a different opinion than I do, so I'm going to bitch and moan about there being trolls" - but legit trolls with freshly rolled up accounts who showed up to the site out of nowhere and were flagrantly just baiting people into arguments left and right for shits and giggles.
A lot of those people seem to have gotten ban-hammered (or just got bored and stopped showing up) and the mods are cracking down on things more tightly now, so it seems like it's just dying down.
It's mostly the hostility that's a problem.
