At a certain point ccs get big enough that they begin to dismiss anything negative as hate, regardless of the content. This makes a lot of sense: picking through every negative comment to see if it's worth considering or just someone being racist/xenophobic/bigoted/misogynistic would be devastating on a person's mental health and take too much time regardless.
Unfortunately, it also means the creators like Quackity and Philza will not consider any criticism of their work, their conduct, or their friends, unless serious accusations are made by other ccs or the person themself admits to a wrongdoing. I don't think Philza and Quackity haven't seen people's outrage about the workers rights violations: I think that they're too far into their careers to be able to analyze it in the way that it deserves.
I've definitely lost all faith in Quackity Studios actually doing the right thing here. I don't even know if they could at this point: I don't think they have the organization or budget that is required to properly pay their former workers and rebuild any semblance of trust with the people they have ostracized, abused, and disappointed. I would love to be wrong but I just don't see this happening.
It was an ambitious project that went too far too soon: without a clear way to financially support itself it still continued to bring on new people that it had no intention of paying despite promising that they would eventually be compensated for their time. They focused too much on making things new, exciting, bigger than ever before, when they easily could have (and imo should have) stepped back and let the extremely talented ccs and admins they already had take the reins and steer the servers story in a much more organic way.
I'll always love the positive things the qsmp was able to accomplish: the connections made by ccs and by fans that would have never happened without it, the amazing story lines that the ccs developed, the proof of concept that real time in-game translation can break down so many language barriers in an incredible way. But knowing that all of this stood on the backs of under and unpaid workers, pushed to work hard with unrealistic demands and unfair, hypocritical rules and restrictions, has definitely tainted the server.
It's genuinely so sick and twisted that quackity studios keep pumping out new content without any mention of properly compensating their former workers for the time and effort they put in to make the server a success.
so like either all these admins creating cinematics and roleplaying right now are being compensated while qstudios still has not contacted their ex-admins about their backpayment (something that multiple ex-admins have said is the case), or these admins are currently working for zero pay! both of which are bad! I hate it here!
This is why the admins speaking out is so important. They may have never learned that they worked on the same videos but only one of them got compensation. Fuck quackity studios and anyone who says the admins should just keep their mouths shut, really think about who that would benefit.
Another ex admin, head builder for the QSMP, has shared their experience working for the project !
You can find it on their profile @/DIMITRI3theboy on Twitter.
This is the admin who, amongst other things, built the cathedral for Mexican Independance day, the Purgatory 1 main spawn, the whole Purgatory two area.
(note : thread gets cut off at some point, at least on mobile so be sure to click on the last tweet to see the end)
It’s in Portuguese but the Twitter translation tool is working wonders. I encourage you to read it in its entirety, especially because they provided a lot of screenshots, but here are the main points being talked about :
-Trial period lasting longer than what was agreed to at first.
-Short deadlines leading to a lot of work needed to be done in a short amount of time (The entirety of Purgatory 2 was built in a week).
-Inconsistant pay : There were paid 10$ an hour while another builder was paid more, and another was paid 6$ an hour. They weren’t being paid for the work they did working on lore or on cucuruchito.
-Was demoted from some of their role and then kicked from the server with no real reason.
-Confirms that most of the issues came from that one High Admin.
Thanks for speaking up about Q, specially here on tumblr where everyone seems to believe his would no matter what. Also people keep using the doxing as a shield for criticism agains him. After watching his first stream I gave him the benefit of the doubt but after every new thing I saw coming up, specially the lea interview, the way he's behaving ever since and his constant contradictions, I can't believe a thing he says unless I see proof of it.
I do think a lot of people on Tumblr are giving quackity much more grace than I can right now.
It's telling that the only way his former workers (who were fired or iced out to the point of quitting, overworked and under a lot of pressure, and did not get fairly compensated) can get his attention and receive updates is by publically airing their experiences in hopes that he will do a 10 minute stream to respond. Obviously we as the public don't need to know what is going on in their but the current and former admins definitely do, and I think if they were actually getting that proper internal communication they would not be as inclined to release these public statements.
I think he's still treating this like a PR problem. He's been a public figure for a while now and he's good at mitigating damage and keeping his image clean. A lot of people are mad at him right now and he has been getting a ton of bad press and so he's in damage control mode. However, it's not a PR thing. It's a fundamental flaw in the structure and management of his company that has hurt a lot of his employees. In my opinion if he can't pivot to prioritizing that, the QSMP will not be able to survive as it currently exists, or possibly at all.
what you said about philza’s privilege in terms of the qsmp experience (and just in general) is a great point tbh. i believe that HE believes in what he’s saying taking into account that he has access to different information than we do (not necessarily MORE, just different — dudes not on twitter for example so may not have seen testimonies from ex admins, but has info from people still involved in the server that we are not privy to etc). ultimately he’s only intending to talk to his community and reiterates that he’s not a spokesperson for the project, just another guy playing on his friends server taking what’s been told to him in good faith, so his truth is his truth but not necessarily the objective truth etc.
one thing I’ll say about the ‘no rp actors’ thing is that probably that’s referring to those specifically hired to do full time rp. my thought is that some admins still on the project that have been doing rp (the ‘5 active’ ones) are doing it for fun in the downtime from their main tasks. this seems pretty indicative when you only really see them doing this with bbh, because if it was actually their ‘job’ they would be available for the other creators still playing too. (i saw a bbh fan comment that ‘these admins suck at improv’ which, yeah. not their primary job probably lol). the only admin I’ve seen hang out with several creators is ‘ollie’ who we now know is ricardão, and that speaks for itself really given how many hours he’s clocked on the server just for fun outside of his ‘work’ obligations. so it’s like, should the new team specifically be telling the admins not to rp on the server if this is the case, to strictly stick to their tasks, or is it better to allow them autonomy over their time regardless of the arrangement? idk. in the end i’m reserving most of my judgement for if/when they release a statement on what changes have been made after (/if) this ‘restructuring’ gets done.
Hi anon, thx for the ask.
Even if they are not rp admins specifically I personally don't think they should be playing on the server at all right now unless they are getting paid for it. Letting the admins do volunteer work like that sets a dangerous precedent moving forward for all admins workers. The studio will be more inclined to hire (or keep employed) people who will do extra just because they want to, without pay, and it will end up the same way it is now: people being underpaid and expected to do much more than they are reasonably able to.
It's easier to picture when you imagine that it's something more boring. There's a guy at this restaurant that hasn't been paying their staff for overtime but he keeps pulling overtime anyway because he loves cleaning dishes so so so much. Maybe he does, maybe he doesn't, but he still shouldn't be encouraged to do so until the restaurant gets their shit figured out.
"Autonomy over their time" would make more sense if they were being paid hourly wages or a fixed salary, neither of which we've seen evidence for. As far as I'm aware all employees who have come forward were paid in unrecorded one-time payments or as contractors for a fixed project/piece/job.
Quackity Studios is going to have to figure out how to pay workers who are often working overtime hours, whose hours are not fixed and fluctuate wildly and unpredictably, and who are living in many different economic climates, which is a task I do not envy them at all.
They also (best case scenario) will have to figure out retrospectively how much they owe all of their unpaid and underpaid workers from the past year. I do not have much faith in this happening given the size and scope of this task and the fact that there is no way, at this moment, that the QSMP has made anywhere close to the amount of money that cost to run it. I personally think that QS is going to fight very hard to not have to pay any of their workers for work previously done, although I would love to be wrong.
Even considering just those two things, not to even mention the logistics of a structural and leadership overhaul that we've been told is taking place, it is irresponsible and honestly self sabotaging to continue to allow those admins to rack up rp time on the server.
The RP admins are not essential for continuing to run the server. If they are being paid that is money that could go towards backpay for the under/unpaid workers. If they are not being paid their activity on the server is only increasing the potential liability QS has in regards to their unpaid laborers.
Phil briefly talks about QSMP, the admin situation, Quackity, the new team, and the harassment both Quackity and the admins have been receiving.
Please listen to the clip and read the transcript in its entirety. Keep in mind that things can easily be taken out of context (even this clip, though I did try to include everything he said).
If you'd like to see the full unedited conversation, Phil started talking about last week's interactions with YD and Bad ~1h 57m into today's VOD, which led into this conversation about QSMP.
[ Complete Transcript ↓ ]
—
Phil: Yeah, she's great. Another- another reason why QSMP is just like... fuckin' incredible. That was like, not even ever going to happen without QSMP. Like, obviously it's had its problems, it's go– it's had its problems. Those problems are being rectified. All the people that were wrong'uns have been fired [Laughs] And Quackity's put a new team together. So like, I'm so happy that I'm like– that Q is doing everything he can right now to make it like, right.
But I am still just sad that Chayanne and Tallulah are just asleep, that is just making me real sad. So I've been like, logging on whenever I can to just like, hang out and stuff and just, you know, be around. But I am- I am just sad boy now. [Laughs] I've like– throwing all those penguins into the- the Spawn area was like, my limit. And the like, laughing with YD and Bad kind of cheered me up a bit.
But yeah, I'm sure most of you can agree. It's like, once- once you've been making content on a server a certain way, it's- it's been like, 6 - 8 months of like, the same like type of content I've been making on that server. It's been very lore-heavy, it's been very Egg hanging out with the Eggs and just chilling. Like, not even like doing anything crazy. We would just hang out. But yeah, I'm sure everyone's in the same boat. Like, we all just like, miss that, you know?
So... just gotta wait around. Just gotta wait. Wait for things to get better. Trust in Big Q.
But yeah, moments- moments like the other day, Chat, where me, Bad, and YD were just hanging out just like kind of... you know, it just kind of like... What's the word I'm looking for? Like, drills home how important the QSMP is and can be for connecting people. Not just now, but in the future. And like, that- I feel like that is something that's definitely worth protecting, or something that's worth like, seeing happen in the future with other people. Not even thinking about like, if I'm gonna be interacting with anyone like, thinking about like other people interacting with other people in the future. It's fucking- It's so cool.
Like, imagine seeing like, brand new streamers that you might've not have heard of interacting with people that you know right now. Not necessarily me or people that I know, but like– like, the connections that we've all made.
Dude, Me and Kristin went to fuckin' Switzer-France to hang out with these people! [Laughs] Cellbit and Lore traveled from fucking Brazil to Switzer-France to hang out! The- these connections are like, mental. Just never would have happened without the server, and that's definitely something worth protecting. And like, ensuring it is done the correct way in the future.
That means a lot to us Chat, it does– [Briefly responds to Chat] It means a lot to us and like, obviously the admins being well-taken care of is like, at the fore-front.
And Quackity speaks very highly of this new team. He's like- he's chatted to us like, in calls and stuff. He's been keeping us up to date on everything that's been going on behind the scenes, everything that he can tell us anyways. And like, he is very happy with this new team. He pretty much said that they are like, very passionate about the project, and we can like, trust that he trusts them to do a very good job. So...
Yeah, I'm excited but like, we just have to kind of like, wait. Like, there's a lot being changed around, there's a lot of plans. But the good thing to know is that the people that caused harm have been removed. And now the people that are like, in charge are like, very passionate about the project and just want to see everyone happy and succeed and be taken care of. But these things take time. So we just have to hang about, we have to wait.
[Responding to someone asking about what happened with QSMP and the Admin situation] I'm not going to go into too much detail, you can find out exactly what has gone on, and it's not as simple as black and white. It's- there's a lot of gray areas in there, and it's like very complicated, so you can go look it up yourself, but ultimately, all you need to know is that the initial admin team, the like, head people at the top that Quackity put in charge like ages ago when the server first started were making decisions that were like, not good for the health and also the well-being of the actors, and like, admins and like, the staff. So like, some staff were fine, other staff had a shit fucking time, and it was unfair and terrible and went unnoticed for a while, and then it all came out and Quackity's been like, fixing it since.
Most recently, he stepped down from the team because of like, how serious shit was getting. Like, people online have been fucking awful. And it's very dangerous at the minute for like the ex- like, members of the team, and also him. It's like- it's terrible.
So it's very heated, very– it's– again— and it's not as simple as just like "This- this is– this is right, this is wrong." It's like- it's very- there's a lot of muddled areas, and it's not as easy as just saying "This is exactly what happened." I'm summarizing. I'm literally just summarizing. But all you need to know right now, the latest update is that the team that are in charge are very passionate about the projects and are like, much, much better and will take care of the new people and the admins and all the actors and stuff a lot better than the last fucking team because the initial problem was that Quackity kind of like, took a bit more of a step back and he wasn't like, overseeing every single thing that was going on behind the scenes, but now he's had to- he's had to take a step back, he's been forced to take a step back, but he's left it in the hands of a team that he truly trusts this time. Like, he's actually fully-vetted.
So HOPEFULLY– again: there's more things that need to be done behind the scenes, and I'm not an official spokesperson, I'm just a person playing on the fucking server that my friend has made, and I'm very happy to support him, and I trust that he will do and continue to do the right thing.
But yeah. Not as simple as just [Snaps fingers] "This is this." It's like– there's so much fucking like, middle ground and shit that's gone on. And that's all I'm gonna say on it! 'Cuz otherwise it's just gonna go on and on and on, and people are gonna be like, "What do you know?" and be like "I don't know shit!" And the stuff that I do know, I probably can't talk about right now. There's like, certain things that like, can't be said, for legal reasons and stuff.
This was incredibly poorly thought out. He is opening all of the admins who were let go to harassment over having apparently been "wronguns".
I can't stress how much I do not trust this one bit.
Phil had a great experience with qsmp. He was part of the English speaking group so he didn't have to struggle to communicate in another language with other ccs and new fans, he was already friends with quackity and he has a very large audience which both probably got him nepotism perks, he had not one but 2 eggs who everyone liked a lot, and I'm pretty sure they both would've permadied if not for the massive sway of his audience. He did not have to deal with xenophobia, with harassment based on gender, with racism. His lore was supported by the admins. His egg admins were not inexplicably removed from the project.
He is speaking from an incredible high place of privilege in terms of his QSMP experience.
He is taking Quackity's word at face value when Quackity has shown that, purposefully or not, his word can not be trusted. Remember at the beginning when he said that there would be no rp admins until they were paid? We have seen no indication that admins have actually been compensated for their time but there are at least 5 active rp admins. Quackity knowingly demanded incredibly strenuous turn around times with complete disregard for the health of his workers.
Quackity has no reason to tell Philza the truth if things are even going a little poorly behind the scenes. Philza was one of the FIRST ccs announced because Quackity knows exactly how much sway he holds on both other ccs and on audiences. He is going to fight HARD to keep philza on-board this project both due to his audience and because, to be honest, if philza officially leaves then I don't see most of the other eng ccs staying without him. He has every reason to tell Philza that things are going well, everything is being fixed, it's all going to be okay soon so just hang tight and keep playing on the server.
I would only trust that things were actually better if the admins who have been actively advocating for themselves said so. Currently, none that I know of have.
I fucking hate some of you guys. When ever was saying that an actual living breathing human person was just there to fill a "diversity quota" okay? You talk about xenophobia and then turn around and say that a Mexican guy is only included on a minecraft server (WITH HIS FRIENDS) to fill a diversity quota? Do you have any idea how dehumanizing that is? The hypocrisy runs DEEP
I cannot believe how much you guys protecting quackity after everything that has come to light? You'd rather waste time going after someone who frankly does not have that much power or sway, versus actually focus on the labor rights violations and abuse??
There's so much new shit that has been brought to light due to Léas interview: the 5 day prison turnaround, Lumi being fired before Léas statement, the unnamed boss that they couldn't know anything about, HUGE invasions of privacy via both personal Twitter accounts and direct messages?? This is all things that directly implicate Quackity, nullifying his previous statement that he was unaware of the situation.
Instead, you choose to fixate on what she COULD have meant when talking about your faves. Don't hide behind affirmations that you never meant to harrass people, you were just standing up for yourself. Nothing in her interview was an attack on any of the fans, and if you perceived it as such then you need to look inwards
Let's have some media comprehension questions, shall we?
1. Do we think that it is more likely that the admins new personal servers are split because of xenophobia than timezone and how close of friends they are?
2. Do we think that when Léa said other admins are in more difficult situations because 300 EUR is not a good wage in France but in Mexico it's different (5320.44 MEX) she was implying that they should be paid less?
3. When Léa mentioned Philza talked about messaging with Tallulah and Chayanne with no repercussions was she saying they should have been fired or was she pointing out that her being fired was unfair? Why would she want to bring up a specific, publically known example instead of making vague statements?
4. Léa responded to a chatter (who said that Richas should speak up) by saying that; if he didn't speak up it meant that he had a different experience, and he was probably still in the studio. When she followed this by saying that he might be part of the problem but he was also a victim; was she accusing Richas of workplace abuse? Is it possible that Léa as a French person would consider workers who do not stand in solidarity with their coworkers as part of the problem, even if they were not part of the labor rights violations?
andulkaphoto
jbbartram-illu
yousharknotpass
annaxmalina
pixelskylines
vaporwave
