Colonies, Case #246, "Rulers not making game fun?"

[Anaris]

Colonies
Complaint #246
Date: July 19, 2019
Title: 'Rulers not making game fun?'
About: Mephista Beldragos

A case was reported to the Titans regarding a ruler, Mephista Beldragos, making the game not fun by being very controlling about estates in their region. In the course of the investigation, it was discovered Mephista was not making the effort to engage the players in their realm but insisting on blindly following orders. More effort was expended being paranoid about a new character to the realm than attempting to welcome and incorporate them into the realm, going so far as to interpret "please" as demanding. Rather than being open to constructive criticism on more efficient estate allocations, they were immediately shut down. Furthermore, a long record of attacks on fellow players, including developers and Titans, was discovered.

The Titans judged this in violation of several Government Rules:
*Enforce the Community Rules
*Make Fun Their Responsibility
*Try to Guide Not Order
*Be Open To Criticismâ€"never believe they know everything
*Be Friendly and Courteous
*Make Failures Their Responsibility

As well as in violation of the Social Contract rule to not attack fellow players.

Given the player's record of past of Inalienable Right violations, complaining about player-developers, and our renewed effort at enforcing Government Rules, the Titans elected to apply the following punishment to the player of Mephista Beldragos: Removal from the position of Ruler & Banker of Lukon, Duke of Lukon, Lord of Lukon, a restriction against holding the positions  for 14 days.

There has been a lot of controversy revolving this case lately, so we have decided to post a public summary of how and why we reached the decision we did.

The Titans operate on a principle that players new to the game or to leadership positions deserve some leniency, but players with a history of rulebreaking should be treated harshly. Furthermore, we believe very strongly that many small acts that, taken individually, might not merit even a second look, can add up to the creation of a toxic, hostile atmosphere.

At the time of this investigation, the player of the Beldragos family had five complaints against them, ranging from violating the SMA on Dwilight, to violating the Inalienable Rights on two occasions, and several instances of publicly complaining about the Developers/Admins. In addition, punishments regarding Government members have been more strict lately, as we have noticed a slacking in the responsibilities that Government members are accountable for. These are the factors which dictated the severity of the punishment leveled.

There have been rumors that the player was targeted by the Titans due to some grudge. This is simply not the case. To be noticed by the Titans, a complaint must be lodged. There are simply not enough volunteers to supervise all interactions within BattleMaster, and even if it were possible, we would not want to do that.

However, once a complaint is lodged, an initial investigation is launched. We will verify whether or not an actual rule has been broken, and accept or reject the case. Once a case has been accepted, we conduct a full investigation. During the course of that investigation, if we come across further infractions, we will add them to the case, and thus increase the punishment.

That is exactly how this case unfolded. It stemmed from a simple complaint between two characters, but went on to reveal a long list of poor behavior. This, once found, is not something we ignore.

[Zakky]

So this is what I am getting from this report.

1) Mephista did not interact with other players that much. Mostly told people to just follow orders and not to question them.
2) Paranoid about new players for no reason
3) Did not listen to criticisms - guessing he threatened those who criticized him in some occasions?
4) OoC complains and attacks on both players and titans?

Sounds like he is lucky he didn't get a perma lock.

As for gov members providing fun, it is not always easy. If you can't provide fun, at least you shouldn't make things worse.