I have not had time to read it before, and did not even know that the discussion was going on, but I'm glad that to happen because I believe something like this event needs to be talked about openly, or he will remain a ghost, haunting us forever.
I've been busy this past week and even paused a few characters. Among the last messages that I saw in the EC was one sent by Alex, one OOC message saying something about me and it was so unimportant that I could never imagine that that message would start this mess.
Now I had read it all, and I am sad because more people left the game, and others are angry about all this.
I am sad to see Alex go, because he is a old player, obviously dedicated to the game, someone that was a reference for many players, but also someone that was so involved with the game to a point that he harmed some people.
I was sad also when Jason (Dobromir) left the game. After this, Alex and I never talked again. He knew I did not like what he did and we had a silent agreement to keep distance.
I choose to play at same realm as him to try to see that other Alex, the one that is loved, great strategist and etc., and I need to say I was not disappointed with him.
Recently I started a topic to thank Tim, Tom and the devs but specifically Tim, for the WI and his continuous work at BM, that allow us to play this awesome game. I started it after reading some OOC talks from some players, including Alex, where they insinuate that the Titans and the devs had favoritism for players or realms.
What I was trying to say is: If I play this game, and I trust you to be the developer of it, I trust you also to make the rules, and to make decisions to make the game better, even if this means that you will ban someone.
I am posting this again here because I think this is the main point. In all those years that I play the game, I never saw a unfair decision by the devs. This last one, is not unfair. Is strict, yes. Is definitive and I am sure that is hard for them too to see a 10 years player going away but, they gave him more than one chance to change.
What is important now is that, if Alex love this game as much as I believe he does, he can try to come back, with a new account and start over. To start over is not a issue, and shouldn't ever be a issue to anyone. He did a huge investment in his family, did he create a awesome char? He is more than capable of creating a new one.
Is not easy, I know that, but is not like he is really dead, right?
What I believe is important, is that we need to try harder to separate IC and OOC and try to play each char as a totally new one, leaving behind the old tricks and failures of the old chars. Also try to give to the other players a new chance, every time we meet them IC. We still have this huge eye over here to remind us that we need to play nice with each other.
I can imagine how hard it is for everyone that invested so much time on this game to see the numbers of the database going down, but, I am sure, they do everything they can to change this. What is important now, is to help them to do this.