State of the Game

[iyashikeimods]

State of the Game

Good day, Iyashikei players, this is Roxy.

I wanted to bring attention to an issue some of you may have heard, or seen, about myself and another prospective player who had reserved a character I was interested in playing but did not end up reserving in time. I had reached out to them afterwards, asking them to rescind their reserve, and I had even communicated with their canonmate/app partner some weeks prior to my interest in applying for that character. After reflecting on the situation, I agree that my actions and language were incorrect and I should not have, as both a player and a mod, especially, asked that person to rescind their reserve. I was hurt and upset at the time, and let my emotions get the better of me, but that is not an excuse. I take full responsibility for what I did and want to express my sincerest apologies to the playerbase at large who view my actions as unjust and offensive.

You are correct, and I am sorry.

After the conversation with that player, we allowed their reserve and I took it upon myself to abstain from judging their application altogether, and let the other two mods make their judgement on the matter with a neutral third party to assist in judging the app in my stead (as the other two mods are not canon familiar). Based on the judgement of that third party individual, the decision was made by the two other mods - Jax and Xae - to reject the application.

I am sorry for the upset this has caused amongst our players, and I will strive to be better as a person and a mod. It is what you all deserve for putting your trust in us.

Thank you for reading.




Due to this situation, it has come to our attention that our Invitation and Reserve system has several flaws.

We were not clear enough that you must have your Invitation approved by the mods before you Reserved, and it is now all marked clearly on both pages to reflect this. We have also made some additional changes which we will mention below.

Starting with: Invites will still open on the first of every month, the TDM will be open on the first of every other month and used for the following month, but reserves will open on the third of every month. This means invitations are open for the full seven days while reserves are only open for five.

This is being done for two reasons:
1. It will allow the mod team to process invites better and focus only on the invitations rather than try and manage invites and reserves simultaneously.
2. This allows perspective players to tag around or top level around the test drive meme and gauge whether or not they wish to follow through with a reserve as a top level is not required for the application, but 5 comments from the TDM is.

A new line has been added to the invite requests themselves, asking what character prospective players intend to apply for as well. This will allow us to know if more than one person is vying for the same character and we can respond to the invites accordingly to better facilitate open and constructive communication between two individuals.

Furthermore, we as a mod team will be introducing a warning and strike system to the game. Once we have that more finalized, we will be adding it to the rules page and sharing it with the game as a whole. Suffice to say, and for what it is worth, we as your mod team are well aware we have messed up and this is a Warning to ourselves.

We understand that this has caused undue stress, mistrust, and concern within our game. As your mod team, and especially from your head mod, we apologize for this. Iyashikei was created to be relaxed and chill both in setting and atmosphere ICly and OOCly amongst the players, and we have broken that trust between mods and players. We will endeavor to regain that trust.

I, especially, as a head mod, am learning as I go and I know that I will continue to make mistakes, but I will endeavor to hold myself accountable and maintain a fair and welcoming game. However, the mod team understands if this has made you feel you cannot trust us again, or do not want to put your trust in us again, and understand whatever decisions you make following this announcement.

We as a mod team will learn from this, grow from this, and strive to do better.

We have left comments open below if there is anything you would like to say.

Comments

[unbalances]

I have a few concerns going forward.

Roxy has a repeating pattern of behavior in regards to harassing people when it comes to playing certain character / ships. This was done in several other games where action was taken with strikes and bans. I personally have not had that issue with Roxy but it is concerning to see it rear its head now in this game.

Now with this I cannot in good faith accept them as the mod in charge of applications. There is a clear bias and abuse of mod power, while I understand that this is an invite game and mods can accept or deny whoever they want this just looks bad on all fronts.

If Roxy truly wanted the reserve they could have asked another mod or player to place the reserve when they opened. You guys as mods are given that right to put in reserves before they open, that's a totally normal thing since again you're mods and it's not a soulless job and you should get to have fun to. But, she should have accepted that another player wanted to app and just accepted the situation and moved on. It really comes off as if I can't play my barbie how I want then no one can!!

I would prefer if there were another mod in charge of applications going forward or at least a second mod in regards to assisting in applications to avoid power being placed in one person.

[basedas]

Hi! So... Look, I'm new here. I literally haven't even gotten started playing yet except on the tdm. I just got here, so I don't know if my takes have any weight here. But.

This does feel like... Nothing? Like nothing. Like... "a warning to yourselves" is meaningless when there's no system for strikes or warnings yet. The apology is a whole lot of words and not a single bit of action. How are y'all gonna make sure this doesn't happen again? Are y'all going to reach out and apologize to the person who you did this to?

The change to the system of reserves also doesn't feel like it actually addresses the real root of the problem, which was that a mod harassed a player to rescind their app, then rejected the app on the flimsiest premises imaginable, especially given that the third party says they requested revisions, not rejection. So... What's the plan for going forward? You can say "you'll grow and do better" but after this bad a look, it... doesn't feel great to have nothing concrete.

[basedas]

Also, I'm going to agree with what everyone else said- I don't know basically anyone involved in this whole thing, but I don't think Roxy should be a mod, or part of the game at all if that's her behavior. I feel bad saying that, but if it was a player who did this, that would be a ban-worthy offense, at least.

[composalvation]

Rule Number One of the game is "Be Respectful and Considerate to ALL."

In most games, behavior of this kind would result in an instant removal, if not a ban. Guilting the player for simply putting a reserve in and asking multiple times for them to rescind it when they didn't want to is terrible behavior for a player, let alone a mod. This isn't a screw-up, this isn't mods stumbling as they're trying to find their footing setting up the right rules and stepping on some toes, it's harassment, and harassment should be dealt with accordingly.

That's all I have to say.

[stealthpun]

I've already dropped, but I will leave my two cents here.

I'm someone who believes in transparency that is as reasonable as possible. I went out of my way to communicate with a couple of players over some various concerns and reached amicable conclusions on those fronts. Basically what I'm getting at is that I respect two things: clear communication, and taking responsibility to endeavor to not repeat behavior.

I came into this game in good faith that surely we've all learned from our past mistakes and respective histories. Unfortunately, I've ended up disappointed to learn about all this. Maybe not surprised, but disappointed.

I truly hope the mod team will improve their behavior from this, even if I won't be here to see it. Good luck.

[somethingfucky]

This isn’t really a mistake though. Like as a mod you are held to a higher standard and I think in most games this would be subject to an expulsion or ban. And this apology is a lot of word salad snd empty blanket fluff without much on actions on what’s being done to rectify THIS SITUATION. Has an apology been issued to them personally, Will they be allowed to reapply?

As it is I don’t think that Roxy should be in charge of or allowed to judge apps. This is an abuse of power and I think that me and many others would feel better seeing them have some consequences because otherwise this is just a mod abusing their power and getting away with that. There should be a system in place that discourages players acting out and that should include mods.

I’ve enjoyed my time here and want to keep enjoying it but I’m not sure that I can with this hanging over the game as it stands. It disturbs the balance and creates an air of distrust between them and honestly, that sucks.

+1

[basedas]

This is unacceptable behavior from anyone, but especially if you're gonna have the power to decide who gets in and out. Even if mods are only held to equal standards instead of higher standards, this is the kind of shit that would get a player kicked. The total lack of actually addressing the problem is disheartening.

+1

[composalvation]

Yup. I frankly don't feel comfortable with a mod, or even a fellow player, who has this kind of attitude. Especially considering there was a gamewide apology before a personal apology to the player who was harassed. It all feels like a whole lot of nothing to appease those who are rightfully upset, and does nothing to restore any good faith after this situation.

[soulmakingsound]

I don't like the idea of pushing someone into taking back a reservation. If they reserved first, then you have to respect that, even if it's technically your sandbox they're playing in. How was that player meant to know your intentions, even if you reached out to a canonmate? That's where you say "well shoot", communicate to the canonmate, and move on.

I agree with the other comments in feeling uncomfortable with Roxy working on apps, going forward. I'm fine with them as a mod in other capacities, but would rather the other two mods look at apps or perhaps bring in an auxiliary mod whose only job it is is to be a third opinion on applications.

I'm staying for now because I like the CR I'm starting to build, but I'm going to put a hold on considering a second character for the time being until I feel more sure of things.

[nicehacking]

A lot of what I'll be saying here is echoing a lot of what the above comments have already stated; what has happened is moderator to player harassment, plain and simple. And giving yourselves a warning basically means nothing because there is no tangible proof that we, as a playerbase can actually trust that it won't happen again.

I cannot, in good conscience, feel comfortable with having someone like this in a moderation position at all, if things go south like they have today? Especially since, as listed, there is only one proper applications mod.

And while I have personally seen who the supposed neutral party from hearsay on another person's plurk, and that is not where I should be hearing this from, not everyone has. You, as a moderation team, have broken trust and while I understand that you might have wanted to keep anonymity for the third party, how is anybody supposed to actually believe that this third party is neutral as you say it is?

I joined this game because I wanted a chill game environment to play my character in, and as it is right now, I can't say that it's very inviting when all I'm hearing is empty words that bear no proper consequences and let people get away with potential player harassment and moderator abuse of power.

Steps going forward

[iyashikeimods]

Hello, everyone, this is your head mod, Jax.

We thank you for your feedback and honest opinions. You have every right to be concerned and upset, and it is ultimately our goal as a mod team to earn back the trust we have lost, or accept that we may not have it again. We hope that you remain patient with us as we set things to right. Here are our next steps moving forward as a mod team.

To start, I have reached out to the player who was asked to rescind their reserve to personally apologize for my part and actions in this whole matter. This should have never happened. I have also reached out to our third party to apologize, but please understand, I am maintaining their anonymity, if they choose to come forward, that is their choice. We should not have, at any point, put them in such a position in any capacity.

Second, Roxy will be stepping down as a mod. However, she will be allowed to remain in the game with a strike for conduct towards other players, potential or otherwise.

Please understand we are still working on a system to address this, but in theory it will be one warning, one strike, and then banning from the game. We haven’t yet fully cemented this for reasons you can find below.

Third, this does mean we are in need of several mods to help us going forward. Up to this point, Xae, Roxy, and I have been doing a lot of everything from apps to coding to announcements, and we are simply stretched too thin.

Ideally, going forward, we would like for two to three app mods to manage the applications, where either Xae or I will merely act as tie breakers or offer our knowledge of a canon where possible. Additionally, we would like an Announcements, Invites, and Reserves mod to assist Xae and me with screening invitations, getting the OOC intro or activity checks up, or smaller fun memes posted. This can be a separate mod as the initial problem has been a matter of being spread too thin, so I would like to err on the side of caution and have it be its own mod position.

Finally, I do need to hold myself accountable in this. Thus I am looking for either a co-head mod or someone to hand the game over to as head mod. I do not want and have no plans to close the game as this has become a special place for myself and many people, but I recognize I cannot mod by myself and need help. The co-head mod or new head mod will be allowed to contribute to the warning/strike system that will be implemented soon.

We will be holding mod applications, though we do ask for patience as this takes time to create, screen, and accept any new mods.

Again, we understand if we have broken your trust, and we are endeavoring to make it right, but we understand whatever choices you make following this.

Thank you,

Jax







Hi, everyone, this is Xae, your coding mod.

I’d like to take this opportunity to explain why the changes to Invites and Reserves are being made in more detail, and how it can help. Due to my error of accepting the Reserves of two players without their Invites being processed, this situation was created. It has made us realize that we needed a better system in place to handle this sort of thing going forward and more help. We have pushed back the Reserves by two days to allow Invites the time to be properly processed and made it more clear how we expect the whole experience to be for everyone.

I have apologized to both of the people involved, and to my fellow mod and former mod for the mistake, and I would like to apologize to you players and potential players for not recognizing and addressing this issue sooner. I hope that more clear-cut instructions will prevent this from happening to anyone else.

As Jax said, we are looking for people to help us with the game in all capacities of mod work. We’d like to not only have the help, but others who can help us make big decisions and hold us accountable. Whether or not I stay on as Coding Mod will be dependent on what the new Co-Head Mod or new Head Mod will say once this has been processed. I accept the blame I played in this and will respect any decision made on the matter.

I’m sorry to our current players and any interested parties this has affected.

We will be going through responses one-by-one for anything we may have missed now that these other decisions have been made. This may take a bit of time as we work together to answer them. Please reach out to us privately if there’s an issue, our contact information can be found on the Mod Contact Page if you need to speak to one of us privately. We want to hear your feedback so that we can continue to take the best path forward.

Thanks,

Xae

[3_strikes]

Apologizing to the player and removing Roxy as a mod was the right move. I hope you guys can find people to fill the vacant spots.