Okay, I'll say it - What's with the maturity rules coming in?

[Dynamite! 0]

I really don't go on Epsilon too much anymore, but I've been hearing plenty of disbelief from old friends about the new rules.

Leaping over all the arguments about things like "maturity" not inherently meaning "sexual" (which it doesn't, in both theory and practice), the deliberate vagueness on the admins' part (the flag couldn't get any redder on this one), and general calls of blunt tone-deafness, I'm trying to work out what the actual purpose for these specific rules is, as imagined by their creators.

It's difficult to actually work out the drive behind this. It's not trying to stop adult RP, as adult RP isn't banned. It's not trying to protect younger roleplayers, because it's actively stripping away the social preventions and protections that people put on profiles. It's not trying to prevent blowback with the MRP addon, as I'm pretty sure the makers don't care about profile misuse, even in Retail. It's not trying to prevent harassment and out-of-the-blue explicit messages, as this is about the furthest possible thing from impactful on that. It isn't trying to "make start more inclusive" because excluding some people doesn't inherently include other people.

 

At this point, everybody seems to understand that these changes will be wholy negative, will not achieve any positive outcome, and will simply damage, divide, or alienate the community - As I'm sure it's been discussed ad nauseum on the Discord to no avail, perhaps this can be somewhere to vent about gross mishandling of Epsilon's social issues. Certainly not the first instance of that, if I may spitefully say.

Of course, if anybody has an inkling as to how these rules could have possibly been dreamt up, I'd love to hear it.

Edited December 31, 2023 by Dynamite!

[icetorn 0]

Epsilon WoW has been a cult of personality ever since i began playing in probably 2020. It is a very small number of people self aggrandising, and it is very obvious to me that it is grandstanding for absolutely no purpose other than appearing to be deep, involved and wise while simultaneously assigning punitive actions which are shallow, delegated to someone uninvolved and uninformed, and asinine in argument.

I'm not allowed in .ann for having the word "horny" in my TRP. My arguments were met at first with detachment and disinterest and then intellectual dishonesty, with Azar-whats-his-name literally arguing that there is nothing wrong with what I'm doing, whilst simultaneously ordering me to stop doing it.

Well. I didn't. Duh.

[CoolDude420 0]

9 hours ago, icetorn said:

Epsilon WoW has been a cult of personality ever since i began playing in probably 2020. It is a very small number of people self aggrandising, and it is very obvious to me that it is grandstanding for absolutely no purpose other than appearing to be deep, involved and wise while simultaneously assigning punitive actions which are shallow, delegated to someone uninvolved and uninformed, and asinine in argument.

I'm not allowed in .ann for having the word "horny" in my TRP. My arguments were met at first with detachment and disinterest and then intellectual dishonesty, with Azar-whats-his-name literally arguing that there is nothing wrong with what I'm doing, whilst simultaneously ordering me to stop doing it.

Well. I didn't. Duh.

Well put.

[Beira 13]

Coming at this a bit late, but given these rules only impact Start and the Main Phase, that alone tells you where the issue actually stems from. You're allowed to have your adult content in your TRP and dialogue so long as you stick to your own phase and other phases that permit it.

The real issue is simply the continued existence of Start as an OoC lounge rather than just being where new characters start before moving elsewhere. A basic technique in online games is to ensure the starting area is purely that, not a place to be clogged with excess objects and players. In WoW, the main hubs are the major cities, and the starting zones were a good distance from those (particularly without the benefit of speed boosts). But the use of the starting area as the OoC lounge has become common practice on past servers, leading to it clogging up with every person who comes to the server. Az and his cohorts never learned from this mistake, and so allowed the issue to fester here.

Even when I see phases that have secured a dedicated clique, members of that clique don't inhabit those phases as a norm, they default back to Start.
So rather than impose rules that demand people actually attempt to roleplay, it's apparently easier to play Thought Police and ensure kids aren't exposed to things they already immerse themselves in. Especially since I'm sure the bulk of the offenders who necessitated these rules were underaged players.