Re: the popularity stuff! Being an old RPer from the days of journal RPs, I came into FFXIV excited for the chance of really immersing myself in a game I loved to play. I honestly had no idea popularity contests were even a thing- if it’s alright, and if it’s not too painful for you- could you elaborate on what exactly that meant? Like all I’m coming up with is that... people just want to get more notes on tumblr? And I’m sure it’s more than that if it actually *hurt* people.
It’s not really a ‘contest’ - at least not entirely. They don’t mind sharing the top of the food chain so long as it’s with people they feel neutral about or even like. It’s also definitely not all about notes.
It’s about recognition. It’s about attention. It’s about being known, revered, and ultimately feared by the community. Consider what Tumblr is notorious for. Think about why people are afraid of popular users on this website. One person being a dipshit is annoying and offensive, but tolerable. One asshole and his massive hoard of angry followers is can be a fucking nightmare.
Now imagine a subsection of the community that is acutely aware of that and very much gets a thrill over having that kind of ‘power’ over the community. The power to crush whoever they don’t like. The power to make people afraid of crossing them. The power to chase people out of the community if they really want to. And if they can’t have that, they’ll at least start small and exert power over a tidy group to grow from there.
The hurt comes in when these people realise they don’t quite have all the tools to get where they want to go - but that other people do. Different people have different talents that they lack, so they draw close to the people who have the things they need. The artists and creatives that are good at getting attention. The social butterflies with lots of connections who are good at drawing lots of people together. The content-creators and event makers creating the stories that they need.
They find their targets and then they take and they take and they take, until their target either gets the fuck out of dodge or is too broken to be useful anymore. And than then they move on.