Well, this certainly got a bit bigger than I intended for it to ever be. The last thing I wanted for this thread was for it to accommodate a flame war in a place that is supposed to represent the good side of the guild. I suppose the onus could in part be on me for facilitating that, since I consciously chose to make a public statement of my departure here in this thread, but I didn’t expect it to spark as heated of a discussion as it did. My original post was supposed to be just that, for that matter: to announce my departure and to at least let people know that the guild would move on in a different form, albeit a form I do not agree with.
It seems a lot of buried grievances have come to the surface as a result of bringing up the current culture of the guild. Whether every single one of them are right or wrong, I’m honestly not the best person to judge, seeing as a lot of different topics have been brought to light here that I’m not always involved in. So let me reiterate that all I mean to touch upon are my own experiences and views with the guild in its current form. In that regard, nowhere in my original post did I aim to insinuate that I was forcibly removed from the guild or that the GM position was taken from me unconditionally. I’m sure there was a time where I’d like to think that, had I asked to be given it back after having lost it due to an automated in-game mechanic, I’d have received it. However, by the time everything went down, simply receiving the GM title after such a demand wouldn’t have made much of a difference anymore in my eyes. To me, the overall culture and atmosphere in the guild had already been tarnished due to some implemented changes that resulted in the guild being split apart, my long-time friends having practically been ostracized and finding myself to be the target of insinuations that - to me - came out of left field as well. So let me be clear that I don’t wish to point fingers at anyone for directly stealing anything from me. Rather, my issue lies with a deeper, more complicated process.
The guild as it is now is building on the foundations, lore, characters, assets and history made by people some of whom have actively been mentioned to be despised or ostracised from their community. Members who helped make the guild into the long standing community that it is and helped give it the reputation that it has today. Having spoken to some of the people involved since, I can understand full well why they would find it difficult to return to such a community (had they even the chance) to begin with, as the same goes for me as well. It would be a tall order for me to be taken back in at this point and to feel comfortable in it, given how I know there are apparently people in there who look down upon me for being associated with what’s for some reason coined as a separate “old guard”-clique. A “clique”, if one could even call it that as it consisted of many different members who weren’t initially intrinsically tied to one another save for their love of the ORB-project, that in its own term seems to have been ousted by another “clique”.
Again, I can only speak from my own experiences, but having spoken to some of the people involved I’ve learned of things that transpired when I was still active and was not even aware of. For one thing, I know for a fact that if there is one person who would not consciously cause any drama in his WoW time, it is Karak. I’ve known him for as long as I’ve been in this guild and never have I known him to be the instigator of any OOC drama (IC is an entirely different matter, but that’s why we love him). To see even him come out of this feeling hurt tells me something went wrong at the end of the road. And perhaps some of the things that went wrong, like certain things mentioned by others in the thread above, may have been a matter of misinformation or miscommunication (for example how, in the end, it was my own choice to leave the guild, although it was the surrounding circumstances that led me to do so). But even so, the damage has been done by now, which I do deeply regret.
There’s no easy solution to this situation and there are only going to be losers coming out of this either way given the public character this whole discussion has taken, but the intent of my original post remains the same: While I myself bear no personal bad feelings towards Rykana or Verzan and do commend them for hosting all the events that they have and maintaining the guild, I cannot see myself returning to the guild in what it’s been shaped to be.
The question to me remains, simply, why some of the people presently in the guild are comfortable building on something made by people they have actively expressed to dislike or despise, even expressed relief at their departure from the community. I’ll be the first willing to admit that a guild is a living entity that constantly changes hands and members. As I said in my initial post, people always come and go. I didn’t start out as the GM of this guild either. But the core and soul of a community should remain the same. I can’t be so crass as to accuse anyone of wearing a dead carcass of the guild on their back, but… well, alright, it was certainly a very visual metaphor. I do think that’s what seems to be hurting a lot of people here. That the community they still wish to be a part of and historically have their names and identities interlinked with, has had its souls swapped out or at least changed colours.
