Game feels way more dead now, even if people are online. Back then, cities popped off, PvP was full, and people actually grouped up. Now it’s all solo grind and quiet zones. Not really “massively multiplayer“ anymore tbh.

I read in another thread its harsh to call the server a ghost town, because there are still people running arround & thats true.

But its becoming noticeable less.


And even if some people get annoyed, this is a massive indicator for me, since we have no steam charts on console :

hiyde wrote: »

it's logical to suspect

It is one possibility out of several different ones. Just because one person belongs to a group that is affected by cases of bigotry (which is sad enough), that doesn't mean everything bad that happens to that individual is related to that.

Let me give a last piece of advice - I know, nobody asked for this, but since some readers, LGBT or not, might find this useful, I want to write it down here:

If a situation is bad enough - and I know it's bad right now in some regions of the world for LGBT people (and many other people too, but that's a different topic) because I read international news and have friends from different countries - I think what a community would need is strength, confidence and resilience. Focussing on being victimized might lead to the exact opposite, by becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy: Because with the expectation to be hated and persecuted, people will interpret everything accordingly, real attacks as well as completely unrelated events.

Psychology calls that cognitive distortion. Cognitive distortion includes things like (not saying that all have to apply, but to give you a short idea of the concept) making negative assumptions about people you don't know at all and their intentions, assuming a majority of people is against you or an aspect of your identity, overgeneralization, labelling, emotional reasoning (making your fears cloud your view of reality), jumping to conclusions, etc, you get the picture.

Scientific studies have shown that this way of thinking increases fears and reduces both overall happiness with life as well as resilience. I read that behavioral therapy against anxiety and depression exactly teaches you to counter those negative assumptions and not focus on it too much, because that only leads to self-sabotage. Focussing on suffering only increases suffering. Thinking "out there are people who try to harm me", no matter if it's true or not, will influence your way of thinking and your feelings negatively. Does this benefit the community as a whole or the individuals being part of it? I don't think so.

So I very much advocate for keeping a clear mind and vision and not jumping to conclusions. Voicing concerns and speaking out about bigotry is absolutely justified of course. It's sadly not like there aren't enough absolutely clear situations. But one should be careful when it comes to assumptions in an unclear situation and rather try to resolve the situation calmly and consideredly before making any accusations.

Also leaves a better impression to the outside, by the way: Jumping to conclusions that don't seem understandable to others makes them think you're exaggerating and makes them believe you less. I don't think this helps in facilitating understanding. And like I also wrote in an earlier post, emotional reactions may also attract ill-intended people even more because they come to think you're easy to target. So remaining calm and factual also helps against this.

That put aside, I fully agree with @Soarora 's last post.

What's more, there are plenty of situations in which it is entirely appropriate for guild-masters to circulate a player's name to other guilds. We do this frequently. Rob the guild bank of all items? Guess what. We warn other guild masters about your behaviour and your name circulates throughout the guilds on the whole server. That's how it works. That's how it should work.