Faeria and toxicity

General
#1

Faeria and toxicity

Good morning guys I’m J0k3se and today I want to talk a little about how we interact with each other.

The reason why I’m writing this is simple - because I care. I care about this game and I care about the community around it.

From the very first time I started playing Faeria, back in 2013, I’ve had many pleasant conversations with the players. This february I started using Discord to talk to the developers and players of Faeria and again, everyone was really friendly. The community is great!

The thing is I really want to keep it this way, I think we all do.

In card games there are plenty of ways to develop frustration. How we deal with this frustration plays a big role on the the community’s toxicity-level. Using terms like cancer, ebola, hitler and retarded to describe things should (in my opinion) always be avoided. It drags everyone down and it is disrespectful. I’m not saying that you should not be frustrated - it is absolutely okay to be frustrated and to hate certain cards and decks, but please be careful with how you communicate it.
If someone is playing the currently powerful Yellow-rush decks, and you hate to play against it because it is so strong - feel free to say that! Say “I hate rush, it’s overpowered and boring!” instead of “**** bullshit cancer boring rush player”.

Comments like that drains us and does not make us happy. Faeria is a game and games are for the most part played to be enjoyed. By avoiding terms like cancer, ebola, hitler and retarded it will be easier for players to enjoy the game and have fun. Keep in mind that for some players the absolute most fun in this game is the challenge to “break it”, to find the best combination of cards to destroy their opponents, so let them try to do that. There is nothing wrong about that. It is actually good for the game, considering it is in early access, that players try to break the balance of the game so that it can be fixed before release.

The fact that this game is online doesn’t make anything okay. Just because popular platforms such as Twitch is full of insults, hate and foul language doesn’t mean it is okay.

When I was pointing this out earlier in discord I was called sensitive. Sure, I might be sensitive, so could you please try to respect that? I don’t think it is very much I am asking for.

There is a theory called “the broken window theory”. The term “Broken Windows” comes from the metaphor used to describe this concept: “If a window is broken and left unrepaired, people walking by will conclude that no one cares and no one is in charge.” This theory says that the little things matter (source). Toxicity in online-games is a massive problem, so massive in fact that many have given up on fighting it. I don’t want my favorite community and game to go that far, I really don’t. And once the toxic behaviour starts, it is incredibly difficult to stop.

So with more and more players joining, I have a small request. Let us try to stay civil, note that I’m not asking you to pretend to be happy, just talk as you would if there were children around (you know, there are children playing this game).

See you in game!
Hugs and kisses
J0k3se

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#2

Thank you for this post, J0k3se!

I don’t really have much to add…I’m just happy that there are level-headed people like you around playing this game, because I know sometimes my temper gets the better of me and I may not be as friendly or polite as the standards I’m trying to hold myself to - so it’s great to have a reminder from time to time that every smile and every toxic comment we swallow down instead of typing it out (I know it happens to me!) can make our community a bit more welcoming.

So let’s all try and work on that together. :slight_smile:
-X

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#3

Excellent post, J0k3.

There are some real points to be made about how the surface of a “community pool” reflects to those passing by. Even if the majority of the volume is full of calm, cool, refreshing water - it’s the surface that firsts draws your attention. No one wants to jump into a pool that looks a little dirty on top, even if it’s perfectly welcoming underneath.

It’s important to keep that in mind as we interact with each other on a daily basis.The ways we present ourselves to each other not only affect ourselves, but those looking in from outside. In the end, we really don’t need to use certain words if we know they make others upset. There are plenty of other words available in the English language. Too many, probably.

In the words of 20th century philosophers Bill S. Preston, Esq. and Ted Theodore Logan:

“Be excellent to each other, and party on dudes.”

5 Likes
#4

Can’t agree more. There is actually a Forum’s Code of Conduct here — Forum Code of Conduct, and it would be nice if it would be applied and enforced to Discord as well (btw, @Atmaz, this topic was unpinned for me, is it globally pinned? If no, then it should be, if yes, then users shouldn’t be able to unpin it, I guess).

And if someone would dare to say something about the free speech, we’re not obligated to listen to them, but always can send them a link to this excellent xkcd comic: http://xkcd.com/1357/

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#5

Hey Jok

Perfekt post and perfekt Reaktion on discord yesterday! I really agree with you actually i have to say i love playing this game couse of the community! I will fight for a nice and friendly behavior! I hope the rest of the community will do it also!

Regards
Blackscape

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#6

Toxic behaviour does not starts out of nowhere. It’s consequences of the unjustified expectations and wrong developers decisions usually.

#7

You have a very limited understanding of what human languages are and how they work. The space of meanings is continuous and words of any language, jargon or dialect at any given period are just projections of some points in the space of meanings onto the Algebraic structure of a natural language. People combine words and form sentences in order to create the best reflection of the meaning they try to express. In other words, manipulating the dictionary does nothing to the space of meanings. If you ban some words which currently express particular meanings from the usage in the community dialect, but the reasons which generate these meanings stay - the meanings will also stay, and people will express them.

There is a big difference in meaning between “This deck disappoints me” and “OMG what a cancer the creator of this deck should be raped repeatedly until they die”. If a person desires to express the meaning close to the latter example, they will not alter this desire and express the former just because words “cancer” and “rape” are banned. They will find a way to express something close to the latter, and over time, it will even alter and “corrupt” the base meanings of new words. Consider the word “special” and nuances its meaning has right now and compare it to the meaning before the era of political correctness. If people want to swear and curse some decks and players, they will continue to do so, and nothing will stop it.

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#8

I don’t understand why people are giving me a hard time about this.

I think @Atmaz is absolutely right about the importance of how our community appears to those passing by if we want the game and the community around it to grow.

#9

Totally agree J0k3se.

We want our players to feel like they are part of a family when they play Faeria and, though every family has differences and disputes, they understand that they are part of an amazing whole.

The CMs and Mods are here to help if anybody ever feels affected by the conduct of others in any of the Community Hubs/Forums.

The Discord Code of Conduct is linked to in the title box of its #faq channel, so we’ve made sure that is covered too. :slight_smile:

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