@Trix said in Mobbing in Text Games:
How can we not join 'mobs' and better pinpoint the actual person(s) being an issue? What other things can we think of here?
Been giving this some more thought.
I think the first step is to really understand the concept that drives a lot of this. I personally think it's: "I need an escape, I want to have fun, and I don't want people to negatively impact my efforts to find it."
We tend to see a lot of sleuthing to determine intent, and that's based on a culture of dishonesty and lack of communication. Some people overshare their personal details, which ironically then becomes the very information that leads to accusations of sanity and assumptions of mental status. There's a whole lot of judgment being flung about, and in many cases the most judgmental of others are also the most thin-skinned to judgment of themselves.
Not everyone is ethical about their approach to this, but in the end a lot of the finger-pointing about intent and who is or isn't a bad actor seems to come down to "I have identified this person as a roadblock to my enjoyment of the hobby, and thus they are a problem". Some players whisper and make up stories to result in others being shunned to their benefit, but in my experience very few are actually deserving of that kind of treatment. Lots of people share other people's personal information. Ive been told by 3rd parties of 1 or 2 regular posters on this site who have dogfucking fetishes. Pretty sure that was petty bullshit.
So, I've said it before, but I think acknowledging the reason for this negative behavior is one of the first steps, as is identifying where you have partaken in it. Also, as @surreality said (shes right) that the majority of dogpiling actually takes place against people of differing opinions who really aren't bad people, but some just seem to love attacking others for not being a walking automaton copy of their own personalities. Cliques love clones, and I think some people feel a little threatened when they come across people who disagree with their outlook on things because it could impact their ability to enjoy the hobby. It's turf is some cases that is fought over, and in a lot of cases it's really unnecessary or trite stuff.
Honestly, I think the best thing people can do is just fucking let go. The iron grip some people have on aversion to differences of opinion or differences on story content is squeezing the blood out of the social collective in the hobby. The social climate isn't going to get better until some of the more brutal personalities stop assuming their intentions are so noble when the "justified" behavior is anything but.
This is why my stance for some time has been "Talk here all you want, but dont carry who you are here to your game. The animal farm is in effect."