Round 51 Nate Bargothia

Hey Y’all

I never talk really, at least not publicly or typically partake in any drama. This round made me feel a little compelled to speak out about some things just because I really enjoy this game and the community (for the most part). For y’all that don’t know me, my husband introduced me to this game about 2 years ago and I’ve made some great friends while here. Mainly ops/exploring has left me with a very narrow view of everything the game entails, but over time I’ve learned its nuances.

I’ve written this out a few times. The first time was with annoyance and anger, the second time a little more calmed down and finally now, which is mostly disappointed. I’m not going to beat a dead horse (much) since we’ve all heard enough about the cheating allegations against realm 10. This is going to cover more about the community than the round so don’t read it if you don’t care.

With that said, I think two things can be true at once. Realm 10 could have played well, could have had amazing compatibility and flow, but the optics from outside the realm gave everyone the right to be skeptical and critical.

There are a few points I want to touch on.

First, I want to thank the Fett, the dev team and the RC for everything they do to keep this community and game going for as long as it has. Even as a new-ish player, it is clear the effort that it takes to help run this ship. Saying that, it’s also clear the mental toll it can take. I’ve seen multiple people leave the RC due to how intense things can be and I really hope that after this round we can all reflect on how toxic things can get when debates are sparked.

I was so frustrated during this round. I had every right to be. I killed myself trying not to feed, and not become another FE that played into Britney’s win, which I accomplished. It didn’t feel like enough though, everything felt like it was conveniently timed, the discourse in DomChat was pissing me off and with feeding happening every 5 seconds it felt impossible. The hit from realm 4 was my breaking point of frustration. I was the only one in range of Britney at some points, and for about 90% of the round he was a threat to me, which felt exhausting. Our own realm had an avoidable snare hit that screwed me even more, and by that time it was over for me so I did what I could. A lot of my anger was aimed towards Britney (Charles) and the attitude he had about everything in dom chat. Some of it was aimed at the RC and how things were handled, but at the end of it all the way some talked to each other in DC was just not good for anyone, and the ones who allow us to have this community shouldn’t have to go through some of the shit we put them through. I have never had a round in the last 2 years where the morale was so low, even the easy going players were upset and down.

Secondly, I am not in the RC, I do not have preview to those discussions like most don’t. So when Britney was locked and unlocked with vague messages, then no official announcement, and a few going off on anyone who was skeptical and upset in DomChat it really killed morale of the entire round. The lack of transparency and the ability to discuss things of this topic is seriously an issue in this community and it creates so much stress and division I am genuinely not surprised so many people have to leave on breaks. All of us are adults, and Most (if not all) of you are grown men, so the ability to discuss things without insulting others or being a prick should be more normalized than it is. To sum that up, I think we all need to not only report things properly, but have conversations instead of accusations. I understand getting defensive when you don’t believe you have done anything wrong, but instigating more chaos and anger isn’t the way to handle anything. If you want to be a dick and complain, do it in your realm chat like I did. Don’t bring it publicly if you can’t hold your own without crashing out.

I think, personally, we need clearer rules on what is allowed and what isn’t. There is a lot of room for interpretation, and some things just aren’t clear enough and it causes situations like this. Excessive feeding, whether you’re a shit player, don’t care, or are cheating can be detrimental to a round as we saw this time. I think attitudes of people should also be kept in check. If you can’t play nice in the sandbox then get out.

Lastly, most of you probably won’t care what I have to say, and that’s fine, I don’t care either, but I want to stress this was written with the best intentions of the community. I hated this round, I still feel uneasy with the ruling but again it’s my personal opinion. I don’t want to see the community continuing in the direction it has the last few rounds, and the negativity that has come to be associated with it. We have had a flux of new players, some great and some I’d be okay never playing with, but it is everyone’s community.

So if you aren’t going to play with integrity or you are just here to troll and hurt the people in here that give a fuck, then I don’t think this is the place for people like that. Morale has been shit, and it feels like aside from packs there are no team players anymore. That could just be my realm placements. I have played with people I love playing with and then people I would never want to play with again, but at no point in my rounds have I ever acted selfishly intentionally. I would be the first person to tell you to take a break if needed, or understanding having to step away, but refusing to do that and then being an anchor to your team is unacceptable. If you have played with me you know I preach amping ares. Every Friday I remind my team. It’s common sense. The best part about this game is working as a team. You have two jobs if you want to fuck off and not pay attention, and that’s training DP and amping your ares, there is little to excuse not doing that and not abandoning so you don’t hurt your realm. Having a fun, team-oriented, and competitive environment is what it’s about at the end of the day. Not a drama circus led by trolls and pricks or people who play selfishly and don’t care for anyone else but themselves.

Anyway that’s my peace. I hope next round is better and that we can all have a good time away from the shit show that was this round.

See ya! Noodle.