#adroby

The 12 Days of Moon Guard

It wouldn’t have mattered. No one could hold on to the name, no matter what was done with it. Blizzard would always have passed it back to Adroby because on its guild name-change page it said “original guild names will be locked for 90 days after changing” — and of course they weren’t and they still aren’t. So, Blizzard would have to get into all that bug fixing stuff and maybe give Adroby some actual money back — or it could just fuck over the new owner of the guild and keep the money.

Some spam-bot has bumped Adroby's old First Alliance Battalion recruiting thread from the days when he had run the Stormwind Guard name so far into the mud that even he didn't want to be associated with it -- so he name-changed the guild.

I like the title First Alliance Battalion of the Stormwind Army. The addition of Alliance is particularly good as it makes the name look nothing like the First Regiment of the Stormwind Army.

Maxen was right when he said "The cycle continues" on the forums, but he was right for the wrong reasons. In this post, I'm going to jog us back through memory lane and tell you why you cannot expect any change to come from those boards.

As the past few days reminded us, there was once a guy called Kellinath on Moon Guard. He was a friend to a few guilds and they allowed him to sit in their vent. One day, when he was talking shit about Vesp (feel free to correct this section if I am wrong), Vesp himself entered the vent and the conversation died. After getting shamed in that way, Kellinath decided he would enter BoL's vent and read from a prepared statement... but he quickly burned through his material and needed to start repeating himself and improvising.

Having run out of anything else to say, Kellinath began to shout "N---." Over and over and with some variation. None of that is up for dispute -- there is even a recording of it. So, of course everyone on MG was outraged and condemned him... oh, wait... did I say that happened on Moon Guard? Ay me! I fondly dream.

What I meant to say was that because this happened on Moon Guard, a lot of people supported Kellinath or defended him -- the whole thing was Vesp's fault. It was Vesp's fault for entering the first vent and shaming Kellinath while he was insulting BoL. Vesp was too confrontational. It was Vesp's fault for egging Kellinath on in the BoL vent. He was too black. It was Vesp's fault that the thing became public. It should never have been recorded and played.

Now, I give props to Vesp that he realized early that no one was going to do a thing about it -- not the pillars of the community, not the let's play nice contingent, not the I'm friends with everyone block, and not the forums r so srs brigade.

After all, what did it matter to any of those people? What was the difference if one black member of the community was the subject of the best known and near-universally reviled racial slur in American history? What was important was that discussing it, or speaking out against it caused drama! It upset people's good times -- I came to this game for a good time and I'm feeling very attacked now!

Vesp asked members of BoL not to talk about it any more. I was not in BoL at that time.

I wrote a single letter to each person that maintained a vent that Kellinath frequented. I think I sent them to three people -- I never sent a follow-up because I was too lazy to write again.

In my letter I pointed out that Kellinath had used vents to spread hate and that allowing him space to speak in a vent was condoning his views. I did not hear back directly, but word got back to me that I was "bullying" and "harassing" people over a "dead issue." If I mentioned the issue on the forum, I was told I had a "grudge" and I was frequently mass-reported.

Later, as always happens, most of Kellinath's defenders dropped him because he did something to them or they just decided they didn't like him as much any more.

People aren't moved by something as small as a racial slur, you know. You've got to do something really awful to be dropped as a friend on Moon Guard -- like be boring or talk too much. Much more important than some sense of decency, is the peace and quiet that a "no drama" forum allows. Where can we grow all those vital "rate my transmog" or "Would you date the previous poster?" threads.

This is, after all, just a game forum and we shouldn't have to deal with the realities of racism or homophobia -- but that doesn't mean we shouldn't be allowed to use racist or ableist slurs! What it means is that if we do use those slurs, no one should comment on it because then it becomes too SERIOUS.

It's okay to have a go at someone like Therapon -- that is part of the fun of the forum experience. Everyone can get together and attack him because he is a safe target -- he has no friends and he isn't related to an important guild which operates in our RP sphere.

When I see Kellinath's defenders attack Therapon and others like him for their hate, I honestly do laugh -- and not in a "no I find that you trashing me for days is really funny, honest" sort of way. I laugh because there really isn't much else to do but throw up your hands in wonder at the hypocrisy and smallness involved.

No one is going to hold The Stormwind Guard responsible for anything. For years, Adroby and his officers have trolled RP events, /emoted sucking ogre cocks in the Command Center, used racist, homophobic, and ableist slurs -- no one gives a fuck. Why would they?

There will always need to be a Stormwind Guard in the same way that there needs to be a Lich King -- it provides a framework for control that prevents the Scourge from overrunning all of Moon Guard. They have the holy guild tag so they are legitimate and all other Alliance guilds that seek legitimacy in lore positions must acknowledge that.

If we start holding people like Jarltor accountable for what he says -- where will it stop? Look at the arguments of his defenders: "Like no one has used a slur before" "I use them myself but in fun" and "All insults are the same." Why would people get behind criminalizing his behavior when they obviously do the same thing? Clearly, if they do it then it can't be bad.

No action will be taken against the Stormwind Guard because MG is a cowardly and selfish place filled by people who are motivated by their own short-sighted desires. They won't challenge their friends or anyone who isn't a safe target, and they want to preserve the "right" to be racist, ableist and homophobic in their own lives.

Not a thing was done to Kellinath because of his recorded use of a barrage of "N--." Nothing... Well, that's not true. He was actually defended and was given props for "standing up" to Vesp.

No moves were taken against Melyria for years of bullying and harassment -- until Melyria had already started to slide out of the "pillars of the community." It was very brave of the people who came forward with information about Melyria at the risk of their own reputations, but let us never forget that people had come forward earlier and had their IRL characters assassinated for making the same complaints. The difference was that people were willing to listen later on -- but that didn't help the first batch.

Nothing has ever been done about the Stormwind Guard's trolling. No Stormwind military guild has ever said "We just can't work with trolls" -- the only thing that stops them from working together is personal animosity.

So, don't expect change. As Maxen said, the cycle continues.

Save your outrage for people like Therapon -- the friendless, connectionless, outsiders. Join the crowds when it comes to decrying his hate, but not the hate of our friends, or people we might roleplay with.

The Scumbag Guard.