I understand it's easy to look at this situation as black and white, but like most things in life, the truth is usually lurking somewhere in between (the grey area, if you willGARRETTtheGREAT wrote:I'm not saying that this thread has deserved anyone a medal of achievement. But what has earned Platyna the respect I hold for her is the work she did do. I believe her work should not be diminished or downplayed. I don't think it's right for the TMWC members to say how terrible she was to just throw people out, with no acknowledgement of their value to the team and for the TMWC to say they are doing things the right way, but then do the opposite as the very first official act. To be blunt, I think it makes the TMWC look like a bunch of hypocrites and it really lends to the whole power hungry image I'm sure would rather be cast off. If I was ostracized in the same way tomorrow, I would hope that commending my achievements would be important to at least someone.
). The TMWC are easy to point a finger at and call power hungry from one angle, and from another, Platyna can be made out to be one hell of a tyrant. I would like to point out that while I am part of this TMWC, I was not very involved with the server move, and the same is likely true for enough other members. This is not to say that I did not agree with it ultimately.. but, more to say that the TMWC did not plan this "master coup" in the manner many make out. The truth is, on the GM front at least, I don't see any way we "gained" any kind of power from the unfortunate way things played out - at most, we are able to discuss important things, like the application of the rules, and actually come to an agreement. Before, it was not uncommon to post topics asking for Platyna's input on such things and have them ignored for months or entirely. This was understandable too, as we all knew she was busy with her studies. What was not understandable, was how she publicly threatened her GM team for supposedly "changing rules" without her input, and then never even explaining what she meant when asked. To be honest, I have no personal grudge against her, but I never once felt like a trusted part of her team when she did such things, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who shared the sentiment.
Platyna did do many good things for the project over the years, and I've mostly avoided these kinds of topics simply because defending myself or the TMWC in this situation, is unfortunately not possible without 'putting Platyna down' so to speak. I have no wish to do that, nor do I think anyone who goes to Platyna's server, or speaks in her defense is a bad person. I simply wish those people would take a deep breath, and remember that at the end of the day even groups like the TMWC are just people who often have differing opinions, before posting.
I don't enjoy the way it all happened, and hindsight is 20/20 as they say - I'm sure there were better ways to handle that situation, but that applies to Platyna as well. I chose to stay with the group because I love the odd community here, drama and all, and saw that the move was not simply inspired by anger or revenge of some sort. To explain that, I'll ask this: Would this project be better off, if Platyna had been approached directly with the problems her team had with how she did things... and she had brushed us off, or told us to leave if we did not like her decisions? I am not saying she cannot be reasonable, only that she has an admirable amount of confidence in her own choices, and often had no patience for being questioned about them even if it was necessary. Had that happened, the game likely would have lost most of the few contributors left, many of the GMs, and others involved. The bottom line was, Platyna's method of having one person with absolute authority is very effective when done right.. but such a person should be clear about their decisions, work together with the people who add to the project or moderate the game, and not alienate those people who do all the micro managing when they are not around.
Long story short: I don't think there is a direct right or wrong side in this. But at this point, some actions can't be undone no matter how much people argue, and even if the split ended with a full reunion... the underlying issues left, from both before the move and because of it, would tear the team apart and harm the game and community that we all love enough to be sitting here arguing about it.
GARRETT: I do agree with one thing you said in particular.. Platyna should be acknowledged for her part in where the game is today, and hopefully will be in enough ways. I had been working on an item she seemed to want in game, so at the least I can finish that.
blackrazor: You posted as I was writing this, so I'll only address you briefly. Your points surely sound nice and reasonable, but even while I did not like how the server move was handled, I was unable to say with any confidence that she would not do something drastic as a response to very early notice, such as remove the ones suggesting it... they would have likely left anyway if she insisted on staying in charge and didn't agree to some pretty major attitude changes. I understand your point to an extent, and some negativity was apparently allowed that clearly shouldn't have been. But be realistic, and tell me do you really see that Platyna would humbly accept that criticism and take steps to change the problems? Or do you think she would have responded indignantly, and invited everyone upset with her to leave? Had that happened... there would simply be a game, hardly any GMs, developers, and that would be a very rough setback to the entire project, as well as hurting the community at least as much as the way things went down. I'm not saying it's good, or even that she would respond in the ways I've mentioned.. but, most of the community is still here, and we suddenly seem to have a lot of old players who left coming back recently. I'd rather look at this glass as half full, but maybe that's just me. If she'd had earlier notice (she was sent an email that she never saw apparently, a bit before it all happened), chances are this discussion would be replaced with a similar one, something like "How could you have organized this with others ahead of time, without telling her? That's disrespectful!". I'm not sure there was any way this could have gone without hurt feelings and anger.. but I do hope to avoid more of the same in future, whatever may come.
*sighs at his own inability to write a forum post that isn't the length of a short story...*
