Rick Howd

I haven't been active in the forums or discord for this game prior to this because I'm frankly burned out (it's easier to avoid than interact). That being said, I saw this post and it called to my 'dying embers' if you will. This is a topic that effects every forum or community space at sometime or another, I've participated in BBS's, CompuServe, IRC, a S*****D of forums, Discord and a few others venues (including letters to the editor, physical bulletin boards and even graffiti) and for 20+ years I've supported a particular software for our business. Sometimes as the host, a moderator or just a user. I think a psychologist could offer a lot more insight to the issues that are being discussed here but I'll give it a shot from my almost 60 years. 1. People love what they love, when it changes, they have to reevaluate what it means to them and if it's a positive or negative impact. They will respond in a number of ways too lengthy to discuss here, but if you're familiar with CVI or other character responsive attributes studies, it really starts to make sense. 2. It's too easy to see a dissenting opinion as a opposition or even an attack on your own beliefs or ideals. Ie. Archers vs Melee vs Mages vs Crafters. (that might be from other games but you get the picture I hope) 3. If you've had a bad day at school, work or at home (finances, spouse, kids) and you join what was fun yesterday, a typo (yours or someone else's), a low battery on your mouse or crappy music can put you into an adversarial mode. The next person that pulls a straw from your camels back is going to get bitten. You might not even intend to bite that hard, but a few misspoken/typed words can cause serious damage. 4. Regional issues. If someone is dealing with 6 ft of snow, 6 years of drought or 6 weeks/years of war they will be on edge. 5. Now the hard ones: Politics, race, religion, gender, sexual identity/preference, even slang (I have been called Honky, you get the picture). I do have a hard stance here and it only belongs in places where you specifically opt into the conversation. So now should do we work with conflict? The first way should be direct, a DM or email, whatever, that just says: "This post might be offensive to some people, aliens from mars, the Devs, common folk" Tell people how to give more constructive criticism, rather than hearing "You nerfed me completely, your game sucks now!" Ask them why is fishing so important to you, oh you're pescatarian and you don't want to kill mammals or you're vegetarian and you don't want to kill anything so the protein crop nerf is really going to be a problem. Truly understanding the beef (complaint) is key to resolution. Suggesting a balance is key to a moderator role. I've worked individually with what I call 'problem children' though they often are not children at all. I discuss the problem and the need and find a happy medium. Sometimes I agree to a point and I advocate for programming changes, other times I offer a work around or in the case of VS a mod would be appropriate. I read almost every post on this thread before I wrote this reply and I saw some great feedback/responses that genuinely reflect the community that I expect/respect. Not just here, but what I would like to see everywhere on the internet, I'm not so naive to expect it but I'm happy to see it here and hope that we can continue. Nom / Rick Howd