Somewhere in the world, there is a park where there are an infinite number of basketball courts. Now, you have to pay a small amount of money monthly to use the basketball court, and it's really less a basketball court and more an area where you can set up hoops, and bring your own paint to paint the lines, maybe polish the floor yourself. You also want the people who play basketball with you to look cool, so you design the jerseys and shorts, too! Anyone who plays in your basketball court can bring their own ball, though, just in case you're not around with yours! But there are an infinite number of these courts, and anyone can have one if they have a little money and the motivation and time to put into it. This is not a public court at a park that needs to be shared. So if I pay for the court, and I put in the time and effort to make it nice and have the hoops and the painted lines and all that shit, and then I say: "Anyone who wants to play, can come play, but on this court, we only play HORSE," then guess what? If you don't want to play HORSE, you don't get to use the court. You also don't get to use the court if I don't like you. Why? Because it's my court. And if I want, I can make it as exclusive or as public as I want, applying whatever filters I want, and deciding whether or not certain rules of the game are applicable--or not.
Basketball is MUSHing. The court is a game server. The painted lines and hoops are setting and code. The rules are ... the rules. And the ball is plot. Sometimes I bring my ball out, sometimes you have to bring your own. Some courts require you to bring your ball more often than others.
This isn't that hard. If a game is promoting a type of play you don't like, don't play. It sure as shit doesn't sound like the people having a good time are actively going out of their way out of character to force other people into having a bad time. They're just playing in a way that other people don't like. Tough. Especially since I'm positive some of the people complaining have, in the past, decided that their fun was above other people's and they could just do whatever they wanted and be fucking dicks because "well, that's just my character".
Relatedly, no one needs a reason to dislike someone else. Some people just don't click. If Johnny and James are best buds, and James and Terry are good friends, but Johnny hates Terry, then if James tries to force them together so they can be a Power Trio, James is an asshole. Conversely, if James goes to a party with Terry, but doesn't invite Johnny, Johnny has no fucking right to be pissed off, because he hates Terry--why the fuck would James be an asshole and put them together in an uncomfortable situation?
Games work the same way, both with playstyle and with people. If I am in a group with Johnny, who hates Terry, I am not going to invite Terry to the same group. And if I play on a game that has a playstyle Terry likes, but Johnny doesn't, there is no reason to change the game, it's just not the game for Johnny.
This is kind of like going to a consent-based, traits-based superhero game and whining because they won't use a system. The only difference is that playstyle changes, grows, and is harder to recognize immediately. But it's still the same concept: if the game doesn't operate in a way you like, it is not the game for you. You can say "this is why it's not", but if staff says "well, then this isn't the game for you", then that's pretty much it, man.
This doesn't excuse people from being assholes, but this sort of "public games are for everyone, if they aren't, don't advertise them as public" bullshit has got to stop. Public games are public, but that doesn't mean they're for everyone. These things are not synonymous. Stop conflating the two, this isn't government and your taxes are not paying for someone's MU.
If we want to build a better community, we need to start by defining which parts of the hobby we all have in common, and which parts are particular. Playstyle is the latter.
