Clearing the Air on SanctumofRall.com

My Role and the SanctumofRall.com Social Community

http://www.sanctumofrall.com/discussion/sor_general/post_42186.html

I have decided that I'm going to push the community traffic towards the preexisting enjin site while allowing this site to be used as a heavily moderated sanctuary for those that do not wish to thumb chests and be ridiculed for existing. A lot of you are right we can't run a server like a guild. That's not my intention. However I'm not going to put Roger's name on something that gets spit on and turned into a cestpool for trolls and bullies. I would hope you all stand behind me on this but understand if you dont. SanctumofRall.com is a monument to Roger's life and I will not have it tainted by those who seek to spew their stench onto the forums to try to make people miserable. 

Please give this post a good read. I don't want any unfair expectations out there as to what I will be doing on that site. I am not perfect, I am not interested in controlling an entire server. 

I am however interested in protecting my Home from invaders who seek to destroy it. I hope all of you think of Sanctum of Rall the same way. Others have a server, we have a home. Thank you.

Ben

The server is going through a whole new set of teething problems right now in WvW. We were a server that fought to the very end and we were really coming together as a community. Now not so much. Sure we still go out there and kick butt some days but instead of the server being humble in our win, we troll, trashtalk, spawn camp... ..I don't know these people, and I don't want to. Servers like Darkhaven and Northern Shiverpeaks were the lucky ones, they got to stay where they were, remain who they were, we on the other hand are hijacked and must endure the current torture until the ant bullies decide to move on.

Well said, Ben. Stand firm. We got your back.

Totally believe in you and your stance Ben. /support

Unfortunately, Elth, you're right. With a rise as quick and precipitous as ours, we attracted a lot of attention...and a LOT of that attention came from individuals and guilds who were just jumping on the bandwagon. They're fairweather members, not long-termers. This isn't their home, and they don't care about the community - they just want to be on the winning side. People like that bring a certain kind of attitude and mindset with them, and if there are enough of them it begins to paint the community in a certain light. That's what's happening now, but I don't think it'll be the case forever. Ideally, we'll see some of those people transfer back out in the next few weeks as the WvWvW ladder settles out. I just hope ANet gets around to putting a pricetag on server transfers soon so people can't keep blowing from server to server every time the wind changes. On a different note, Fog, I agree with the decision to preserve sanctumofrall.com as a testament. If that means offloading the trash to Enjin, so be it. I'd rather see sanctumofrall.com survive in posterity as a barely-used refuge for players who actually care than as soulless, number-crunching, chest-thumping wasteland.

Last time I checked, the name of the game was Guild Wars, not Server Wars. heh Kill em all. Just being on the same server sometimes doesn't make them a worthy ally.

/very much agree and being as this is our home we will be here long after the visitors have left. we are the honorable gracious hosts who will clean up the house after the visitors have left. I only joined you since the release of GW2 through a friend who played with you guys in rift. He spoke highly of you and it was not an exaggeration. I remember reading a post from Fog about the invite troubles and he stressed the idea of patience. I will encourage all of you to remember that patience as we deal with these other distasteful situations. and remember Have Fun :)

Definitely agree! I'm not going anywhere else any time soon. =) Already had real life separation for 10 months of my three years and glad I got back. I also know Oldroar and want his memory to be untarnished.

Our guild has a good deal of prestige and influence on this server because it is named after a guild member and friend. There are some guild leaders with big egos jockeying for influence right now. They are best served politically by trying to knock Fog down a peg or two and diminish the influence of our guild here on the server. Some of you may be familiar with the writings of Saul Alinsky. I don't want this to deviate into a political discussion and I won't interject my personal opinion on his writings. If you're interested in politics it's good to study; many of the politicians in positions of influence today are either an avowed or a closeted fan of this guy. "Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals" is a book of theories and methods for community organizing, which is pretty relevant since our community right now is being organized. I'm going to point out three rules: RULE 4: “Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules.” If the rule is that every letter gets a reply, send 30,000 letters. You can kill them with this because no one can possibly obey all of their own rules. RULE 5: “Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon.” There is no defense. It’s irrational. It’s infuriating. It also works as a key pressure point to force the enemy into concessions. RULE 12: “Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.” Cut off the support network and isolate the target from sympathy. Go after people and not institutions; people hurt faster than institutions. By using our morals and ethics against us, ridiculing us at every opportunity, and taking what Fog did out of context these guys knowingly or unknowingly are using effective (if not morally questionable) methods to achieve their goals. How do we counter something like this? We don't really need to. We have enough folks to go out and fight and have a good time. We can just do what we normally do and try to cooperate with other guilds on the server. Community organization is not going to affect our play experience very much at all because of the server tier system. We'll get placed correctly based on our ability to fight as an army. On a personal level I don't care I'll get good fights either way. I'm sure that this will all be sorted out once people realize that by working together instead of arguing about what voice protocol we use we'll be better off overall.

» Edited on: 2012-10-29 08:25:20

A community site with ethics and morality?! Wow... O_O

Unfortunately, our last opponents in WvW just rolled over, and as a result, we moved up in the rankings. Our current opponents also seemed to have rolled over, and we may move up again. Normally, winning is a good thing, and will keep us aligned with servers of similar skill level. The downside to this is that we are attracting people who just want to "ride the winning wave". WinterBeard identified the "personality type" that is often associated with that. Now, fresh blood is often a good thing. Look at the strength of Gaiscioch. Our guild is healthy because of the wide interests/skills/playstyles of its members (kind of like a healthy ecosystem - diversity creates a more stable environment). A contiual influx of new member is good. Having fresh folk transfer to our server should a GOOD thing... UNLESS they are bringing poison with them. Unfortunately, that is what seems to be happening. The other downside to an increased population, is that since there is a 125 player limit per side in WvWvW (1000 players total in the 4 maps), having more people on the server just makes the queue time longer.

Fortunately my inside contact in ArenaNet assures me that an entire team has been devoted to getting a fix for the Queue system online ASAP. He says it should be here soon. Can't tell me what their fix is but im crossing my fingers that they took my suggestion and added 3 more borderlands :).

I am away for final exams atm, but when I return next week I will be hunkering down in pve land and blitzing explorer modes and map completion and alts until the wvw furore dies down and the trolls move on. We can outlast!