Well here I am, on the Petty Train with no brakes, and no filter. So listen up MCU Roleplayers. Or Read up. Whatever.
I was debating on going to TikTok with this, because it's so much easier to tell the story there. I still might. But let me tell you. I've been hearing things about people with really big egos trying to gatekeep other players or even worse, holding them to standards that are absolutely unfair. It's not looking good and it's one of the reasons I'm dipping out for a bit.
TL:DR- Stop the gatekeeping, attention seeking shit, uplift and make personal connections that benefit everyone, and find your self-worth.
Simple, easy to remember.
Over the past couple of months, I (along with several others) have noticed that the community has become very stale. You all know me as a person who loves to bring in stories for everyone to have fun with and no one is really having fun. That isn't fair to you guys. I've seen a lot of people dip out and crash out because of this. Guys, I hear you. I absolutely do. I have tried my hand at bringing some fun back into the storytelling aspect of it, but I'm being choked out of my own creativity because it feels like a competition on who is better than who.
That is absolutely not what Roleplay is about. It's about expressing yourself, making friends, having fun, and above all else having the choice to play a character how you see them (even though we have our personal pet peeves). It should not be about who has more followers, who did what first, or who was friends with who first. That is narcissistic behavior and I don't go for that. So my ride on the Petty Train is going to be a long one, and I encourage everyone to read what I have to write.
#1: Gatekeeping is fucking rude.
Recently, I was told that I wasn't allowed to do something in the community because it was 'their thing first' and that they wanted to keep interactions separate. This concerns making my own team (I had done before when I first started up with James (@the-revolution-official) upon roleplaying. Unless you are DIsney, Kevin, or Disney's lawyers, you do not own the rights to the IP. You as a fan, can and have the power to create whatever you want if you are not making monetary value off of it. Therefore, if I want to create my own team of Thunderbolts, I fucking can. It's not stepping on anyone's toes, it's not yours to claim, and it's definitely not going to hurt you. Also, saying that I can keep the Revolution moniker for my version of Bucky isn't your decision either. But thanks for giving me permission to something I had already been doing for months anyway.
So, being told that this will make you upset upon first hearing it, doesn't do anything. I will make you upset just because someone told me no. Your ego isn't my problem.
#2: Attention Seeking is not making Connections.
Oh yeah, I'm going there. Another problem I'm seeing is the attention seeking. Let me explain the difference between wanting to make connections and seeking mass attention. One Benefits everyone, the other only benefits one person. Let that sink in. ONE BENEFITS EVERYONE WHILE THE OTHER BENEFITS ONE PERSON!!!
If you want your community to thrive, you will uplift and seek connections by actually encouraging everyone to have freedom of creativity and choice. Putting out inspirational posts only work so well if you are doing it with the benefit of bringing more people into your fold. I rarely do those posts because I would rather reach out to the individual and talk to them rather than going to a mass post. Or I will do this in RP where it's one on one and it gives the other person a chance to deal with their emotions. Not mine. I usually deal with mine later. But yes, uplifting and encouraging people is always going to be a plus in any community. You want it to thrive without conflict, you raise each other up.
#3: The Bully is almost always someone you know.
Yep. This is very true. I've been on the internet longer than most of you have been alive. I have encountered all sorts of people and have done a lot of questionable things online. For those of you who have been getting bullied, it is most definitely someone you are connected to. It always is. They hid behind anon asks because it's easy to get away with it, however you can always narrow it down to one person. I hate bullies and I'll be the first one to jump down someone's throat if they are bullying someone. The bully is someone who also claims to be innocent all the time but constantly claims to be bullied themselves. We all know this story. It's a classic. It's gaslighting and manipulation into getting attention.
#4: You are not obligated to RP because someone wants you to.
We all have lives outside of the internet. If you are feeling like this because someone keeps guilt tripping you, GET OUT. You should not be feeling this way. It takes away everything that is supposed to be fun and creative out of you. It becomes a chore because you are being made to please someone else. Don't do it. (And I joke about this all the time with a friend of mine when she totally has the freedom to do what she wants.) You should do what you want and if someone is pushing you, don't do it. Make the choice for yourself. You are your own person and this is the fucking internet. Real life is more important.
#5: It's the internet. You should not put all of your worth into it.
I can't stress this enough. I've seen so many people get hurt that I hurt with them. Obviously, I'm a real person, but the amount of people I see putting validation into people they can't see instead of themselves kills me. You're worth is not determined by the people behind a screen. Your worth is determined in yourself. The things you do, your creativity, your autonomy, your beliefs, and everything else that makes you who you are. Your worth should not be placed into someone who will be in your life for a very short time and who you may never meet in person. Find it in yourself. See what I see, which is a human being with feelings that needs connection and to know their worth.
In short, the MCU RP community has some problems that need to be addressed. I've tried reaching out to the other party involved to fix some of the issues, but it's VERY clear to me now that the problem isn't the rest of us. I'm tired of it. The Discord server that was supposed to be a safe place was invaded and then mocked. I was targeted, but we see how that goes. People are being bullied. The gatekeeping is fucking absurd, and the attention seeking is ridiculous. I've been in enough communities to know that attention seeking is everywhere, but I have not ever seen it on this level. It's ridiculous.
Anyway, if some of you read this, great! I'll put the TL:DR at the top.
-Story
