@Pavel I go back and forth on “it’s a just game,” just because so many times the phrase is used to diminish/ignore real issues, but I think you got it just right here.

If one’s choices are, “Hurt people who trust me,” or “Log off until I cool down,” really only one of those responses is right, and it’s right every time.

Sun thought I was upset at Polk’s bigotry. I had noticed it, but it wasn’t why I tried to talk to her about him. I told her expressly I was not interested in that side of the talk; that I had identified complex patterns of deceit and recklessness; that several other players (9 by the end) had given me proofs, some receipts. The end result was a ban for me and my partner. 8 other folks left the game within a week of that.

That’s why I have the signature I do. That’s why I laughed my ass off when Polk tried to throw in with me. Nah, bake on the pavement, wormie.

Sun, if you see this, even if you replace Polk, Wolfe, Mizha, all the troublemakers, the problem is your myopia, your inflexibility and your inability to believe you’re making a mistake until it’s you, not others, paying the price. Your “only complain about harassment/abuse/etc to me” rule was the greatest shield a serial abuser could hope for. You don’t trust us, and without trust nothing will get better.

"They delight in acting in bad faith, since they seek not to persuade by sound argument but to intimidate and disconcert. If you press them too closely, they will abruptly fall silent, loftily indicating by some phrase that the time for argument is past.”
― Jean-Paul Sartre

@Pyrephox “You can’t solve an OOC problem with an IC solution.”

From your lips to God’s ears. Perfectly crystallized.

@Pavel Let’s name the phenomenon Dead Telnet Theory.

@Warma-Sheen My favorite part of the lead up to this was when Sun allegedly investigated all the rps of 8 characters with Polk/Ned/Nash going back 15 months…in an hour. “We have investigated ourselves and found no wrongdoing.”

And yet the thing I warned her about happened. It’s almost like shielding abusers might be biting her in the ass.

@Mushling-0 The only thing crazier than Polk paying to be tolerated is that he’s done it twice in the 2 years I’ve known about him. The only thing crazier than that is that it worked twice.

@Evilgrayson Role players are bonkers. RPG players are bonkers. WoD fans are bonkers. Add the anonymity of nick names and you wind up with an abusers paradise.

Staff are simply blind to too much (the nature of MU*), and can only react, because nobody wants them proactively violating privacy. When there’s a proper shadow society being maintained OOC, more organized and longstanding than a game, good luck.

It took me about 15 years to figure out this mix is bad for me. I’m sorry for your experience, truly. I was gutted my last time MUSHing, and called it quits. The circumstances bore comical similarities to your tale. Hugs for y’all.

@Gasboy Beef Hardpeck! Blast Slabchuck! Brawn Hardcrush! Rock Stonehard! Fist Punchthud!

Told her. Told everyone. Three months ago.

I have rarely felt such validation.

@Wizz Nah, this is his m.o. every time. It’s a lifestyle.

@Pavel As a former Producer, it’s interning sans benefits.

@Gashlycrumb In all my years of gaming only one ST had the ignorance and nerve to attempt correcting me by telling me what my character would feel and how they would react. My character I’d been playing 8 years at that point, long before Lib. Then she ultimately would rather ban me and my partner than answer anything in a direct way, while simultaneously spamming the game with posts about how players are never to be trusted.

Trembling despot.

God I don’t miss this hobby.

@Artemis This was a habit of one of the worst players I ever met, whom simultaneously constantly talked about what an advocate and ally she is. Very handy for fingering her stealth alts. She also talked about her terrible marriage and sought comfort in others OOC. Talk about a messed up cluster of wrong coping mechanisms. She’s still out there, too. Deeply institutionalized.

@Aria David Kaff AKA Viv Savage, keyboardist for Spinal Tap. That one stung. Rest well, king.

@Pyrephox “You can’t solve an OOC problem with an IC solution.”

From your lips to God’s ears. Perfectly crystallized.

@Cygnus Lovingly, respectfully, given the game we all have in common, no. 🫠

@MisterBoring The people stressed are the ones trying to maintain their ethics. But I respect and exhort that. What’s the alternative, spreading cheeks for our AI masters?

How can I solve a problem in a complicated way that’s already been solved two simple ways 40 years ago?

@Gashlycrumb “If I die, don’t eat me.” ~ Gashlycrumb, 2025