Where's the respect?

[Skullifer]

I've heard a lot of talk regarding toxicity and bullying in Growtopia recently, and so I thought I'd make a post about it to bring out my view on it. I think we should discuss the topic as it's quite important, so let's remember to keep the conversation civil and on-topic, with respect for one another.


I'm sure we all know what bullying is and why it's wrong. What most don't seem to understand though, is how much it can affect the target. Not all people can take a hit and move on, we all handle stuff our own way. Good friends can easily throw some at each other, it does make the bond stronger, but doing it too much might hurt. Especially if the words touch a subject that the other feels insecure about.
It doesn't always hurt for a brief moment. It can last for years, and years, and years on end, with a snowball-like effect. Some of us hide the pain and pretend like it's okay, and it kills them inside continuously. It's important to talk about things that hurt us, but we all learn it at our own pace, you can't expect someone to just tell you their weak spots right away.

Let's say you're friends with someone. You say something 'edgy' to them, and they break into tears. You didn't know they would feel that way about it, you can't really blame yourself for it, it was unintentional. That's why it's important to apologize and learn from it.

Online, you might not know who you're talking to. That's why you can cuss at them freely, they're just pixels, right? Wrong. You're talking to a human being, just like you, who has feelings and is capable of being hurt. That's why you should always consider what you can say to them, and what you can not. It's really not too complicated, treat others as you'd like to be treated. With respect.

"Therefore whatever you desire for men to do to you, you shall also do to them"
Matthew 7:12


Back in 2015(I think) Techy and BrayBrick225 built a world by the name of BEHEARD. It's about bullying, and goes over the different categories of it. Though it's fairly old, it still serves the purpose and I think you all should visit it to learn more. It's a great world for sure, and has helped me a lot.
Growtopia could definitely use more spread of awareness regarding this topic, we're hastily losing grip of our manners, and are starting to idolize a form of 'edge'.
Dark humor is dark humor, and it's okay, I personally enjoy dark humor a lot, but it doesn't mean that I'm allowed to just belt out controversial jokes whenever I want to. You have to read the room and gain an understanding of what's okay for the moment and what's not. Not everyone appreciates dark humor, and that's fine. We're all entitled to our own opinion and sense of humor.

Even if you've got an opinion on a specific race, religion, or political party, it doesn't mean you're allowed to attack people with different thoughts. That's why it's illegal to discuss such topics in Growtopia, which is awesome. It greatly reduces the amount of pointless arguments.
You don't have to voice out every opinion you have.


Now, to the last thing I want to go over on this post. The hate on Ubisoft.
As we all know, Seth and Mike aren't around anymore. They sold their game to Ubisoft, and moved on to make new games.
Even if the "new" staff has made somewhat bad decisions, you shouldn't attack them personally for it, in fact I don't think attacking is the right approach at all. If someone doesn't know how to do something, you shouldn't just tell them they suck at it, you should help them learn!
I haven't been satisfied with every move our staff has done. There have been a lot of issues regarding updates, and that's understandable. The update discussions sub-forum is for discussing the new updates, and giving your opinion on them. There's even a feedback thread for every update they release! Use it! And if you've got an idea on how something could be improved, bring it up! Feedback is important.
While there's a team running the game, it's our responsibility as the community to help them at it. We're the players, after all.

I want to get back to the topic of attacking the staff personally. It's definitely not okay. Under the status of a moderator/developer/guardian is a person, just as vulnerable as you. Just because you might not like them for something doesn't mean you should give them hell for it. It must be insanely stressful to get so much for trying to help the players.

I'm going to end this by asking you all to take part in making the community better. We're all role models to each other, so treat others with the same respect you'd like to be treated with. /ignore the ones hurting you, don't hurt them back.

Let's change the game,
Cheers



Oh, and since we all loved Seth so much, let's listen to what he had to say on this back in 2015.

(Pic taken from BEHEARD. Seriously, go check it out.)

[HugeLock]

That's the thing. Back in 2015 the game had more people over the age of 15, and people weren't that ignorant.
But now, most of GT is under the age of 15, and as we all know, little kids are really ignorant, and they have no
morals, respect or common sense.

I don't want to be a boomer, but the community part of GT really was better back in 2015, as we all know.
You have some interesting points, I fully agree with them!

[Chronel]

Well, i agree with this post. And that is what almost every sensible person will comment here, the same sundry stuff.
But let's be serious, i'ts not bad that you're taking an initiative to stop this stuff.

We're the forums, the part of the playerbase that really cares about the game, YET were the minority, and what's the probability of a bunch of people like us winning over the tides of edgy indonesian 5 yos, who are probably too young to understand what they're doing is bad, because..well they're edgy just for the sake of being edgy.
I could go into great detail of players persecuting others.
Only if the higher-ups really take initiative we will be able to thrive, not that they aren't, i just think it's being done poorly.

What's more important:
1. Scammers, spammers, phishing websites, etc.
2. Toxicity, bullies, racism, etc.
It's difficult to tell. You can make valuable arguaments for both.

Sure, you can have spammers, scammers, etc. But with a toxic playerbase, is it even worth playing? If we eradicate toxicity, which is impossible, illegal activities will take a hit too, because they are perpetrated by the same 5 yos.

We could eradicate crime, which is also impossible, while it would turn gt towards the right side, toxicity would still be a problem.
They play into eachother.
If REAL action isn't taken, if we don't crack down on these issues, then nothing will happen.
But what happens if we crack down TOO hard?
Chat is limited to certain sentences, you get the point.
It's difficult to find a solution.

Maybe we could find more sensible people if we make gt get popular, but that in itself in a difficult task.

We will never fully eradicate these issues, we can only quell them for some time.

[Skullifer]

That's the thing. Back in 2015 the game had more people over the age of 15, and people weren't that ignorant.
But now, most of GT is under the age of 15, and as we all know, little kids are really ignorant, and they have no
morals, respect or common sense.

I don't want to be a boomer, but the community part of GT really was better back in 2015, as we all know.
You have some interesting points, I fully agree with them!

As far as I'm concerned, while kids are ignorant, they're still easier to teach than adults. I see your point though, definitely.

The community was a lot friendlier back in 2015, of course there were some bad apples here and there but they weren't as noticeable. Complaining doesn't make a difference though, that's why need to act.

- - - Updated - - -

Well, i agree with this post. And that is what almost every sensible person will comment here, the same sundry stuff.
But let's be serious, i'ts not bad that you're taking an initiative to stop this stuff.

We're the forums, the part of the playerbase that really cares about the game, YET were the minority, and what's the probability of a bunch of people like us winning over the tides of edgy indonesian 5 yos, who are probably too young to understand what they're doing is bad, because..well they're edgy just for the sake of being edgy.
I could go into great detail of players persecuting others.
Only if the higher-ups really take initiative we will be able to thrive, not that they aren't, i just think it's being done poorly.

What's more important:
1. Scammers, spammers, phishing websites, etc.
2. Toxicity, bullies, racism, etc.
It's difficult to tell. You can make valuable arguaments for both.

Sure, you can have spammers, scammers, etc. But with a toxic playerbase, is it even worth playing? If we eradicate toxicity, which is impossible, illegal activities will take a hit too, because they are perpetrated by the same 5 yos.

We could eradicate crime, which is also impossible, while it would turn gt towards the right side, toxicity would still be a problem.
They play into eachother.
If REAL action isn't taken, if we don't crack down on these issues, then nothing will happen.
But what happens if we crack down TOO hard?
Chat is limited to certain sentences, you get the point.
It's difficult to find a solution.

Maybe we could find more sensible people if we make gt get popular, but that in itself in a difficult task.

We will never fully eradicate these issues, we can only quell them for some time.

I agree with you, we can never get fully rid of toxicity. Every game has it, the real world has it, it's everywhere. We can try to make a difference though by paying attention on our own behavior, and spreading awareness in-game, so the non-forumers might learn to do so as well.

[Shawn Wilson]

As far as I'm concerned, while kids are ignorant, they're still easier to teach than adults. I see your point though, definitely.

The community was a lot friendlier back in 2015, of course there were some bad apples here and there but they weren't as noticeable. Complaining doesn't make a difference though, that's why need to act.

- - - Updated - - -



I agree with you, we can never get fully rid of toxicity. Every game has it, the real world has it, it's everywhere. We can try to make a difference though by paying attention on our own behavior, and spreading awareness in-game, so the non-forumers might learn to do so as well.

The dark side of Growtopia has existed as long as I have played this game. It will probably exist as long as the game does. The temptation of making real money from selling world locks or getting YouTube fame for self gain is very strong. The people who live on the dark side of Growtopia don't care about the game or the community. They only care about themselves. They will only be your friend if you have something they want. They will spam bot, auto farm, scam or exploit every avenue possible for personal gain.

The truth is that your message of positivity will not reach or effect the people it's intended for. Don't make the mistake of thinking these are just misguided people that just need a message of positivity and hope and poof magical change happens. I made the mistake of thinking those type of people can change and be motivated. The only thing the players on the dark side will learn to respect is the smack of the ban hammer. Even the ban hammer won't change them most times.

Honestly they are unworthy of your care or effort to help them be positive. In my opinion they are the filth of Growtopia. You are welcome to waste your time on them. I won't throw pearls to swine.

Build cool world's. Invent positive ways to interact with good players through events and activities. Build your own community within the game. Don't worry about the many and focus on the few.

[Skullifer]

The dark side of Growtopia has existed as long as I have played this game. It will probably exist as long as the game does. The temptation of making real money from selling world locks or getting YouTube fame for self gain is very strong. The people who live on the dark side of Growtopia don't care about the game or the community. They only care about themselves. They will only be your friend if you have something they want. They will spam bot, auto farm, scam or exploit every avenue possible for personal gain.

The truth is that your message of positivity will not reach or effect the people it's intended for. Don't make the mistake of thinking these are just misguided people that just need a message of positivity and hope and poof magical change happens. I made the mistake of thinking those type of people can change and be motivated. The only thing the players on the dark side will learn to respect is the smack of the ban hammer. Even the ban hammer won't change them most times.

Honestly they are unworthy of your care or effort to help them be positive. In my opinion they are the filth of Growtopia. You are welcome to waste your time on them. I won't throw pearls to swine.

Build cool world's. Invent positive ways to interact with good players through events and activities. Build your own community within the game. Don't worry about the many and focus on the few.

That's an interesting reply. I don't disagree with you, but I don't really feel like I agree either. I made this thread inspired by some social media drama that went down recently. I don't think we're allowed to discuss it here, but I'm sure some know what I'm talking about. It's quite easy to forget that there's a person behind a name on your screen, so I think it's important for us to acknowledge that we can't just say anything we want to. Most of the forumers are already quite well-behaving, and so I think we should lead the path to the in-game players. Not all of them are bad, some are in fact misguided.

It's quite easy to see the difference between a misguided(god I love this word) player and a player with 0 interest to the game whatsoever.
I believe in change, and I hope you'll learn to do so as well. We need to act before things get completely out of hand.

[Skullifer]

Bumping

[Pokekid123]

It’s sad how NekoRei is affected and suffering from those cyber bullies and the amount of hate she is getting in game - just simply to get her attention. It’s really a huge change on Neko’s part, I feel that whenever I see her in-game, she gets frustrated easily with toxic players. From my perspective, I don’t see any respect coming from the community towards the moderation team, or even with each other.

After I made that deleted Guardian thread, I basically got hated. People didn’t want to work with me anymore, saying that that would ruin their reputation and credibility. Sad. Really. Is everyone just playing Growtopia just so that they could apply and probably be a Guardian and Moderator? Is that what’s Growtopia is truly about?

[Skullifer]

It’s sad how NekoRei is affected and suffering from those cyber bullies and the amount of hate she is getting in game - just simply to get her attention. It’s really a huge change on Neko’s part, I feel that whenever I see her in-game, she gets frustrated easily with toxic players. From my perspective, I don’t see any respect coming from the community towards the moderation team, or even with each other.

After I made that deleted Guardian thread, I basically got hated. People didn’t want to work with me anymore, saying that that would ruin their reputation and credibility. Sad. Really. Is everyone just playing Growtopia just so that they could apply and probably be a Guardian and Moderator? Is that what’s Growtopia is truly about?

Yeah I don't understand why people have to be toxic just to earn a bit of attention. No one should ever have to go through such harassment. Neko has done a great job at keeping cool, though, so we can definitely be proud of her. I think she could use some positive comments now, though, so we should probs make an appreciation post towards the entire staff at some point

What'd you say in your guardian thread? IMO Growtopia's all about socializing and having fun, while I can see why people want to be moderate, it's definitely not the purpose of this game, or any game in general. If I were in charge of choosing mods, I wouldn't choose a player who doesn't enjoy the game as a regular player.

[MystZ]

this is seriously an issue
literally
no respect


also annoying how people think showing that they have more wls makes them right/superior t you

[ChickyBro]

Really agreed. Toxicity cannot be removed but it can be reduced. People think they can act immature as much as they want because they don't know each other. They be like "Hey, it doesn't affect me irl. That won't get me in trouble."

There are lots of adults who act like jerks on the internet, and that really sucks. It's a big problem in our generation. Respect always comes with maturity.

Well, cussing is fine if not for insults and not repetitively. It's different from respect but they're connected to each other.

I don't know what I should say but our world is real sick.

- - - Updated - - -

It’s sad how NekoRei is affected and suffering from those cyber bullies and the amount of hate she is getting in game - just simply to get her attention. It’s really a huge change on Neko’s part, I feel that whenever I see her in-game, she gets frustrated easily with toxic players. From my perspective, I don’t see any respect coming from the community towards the moderation team, or even with each other.

I can also see her changing a lot in-game. :c I feel like kids think that making her rage is fun, and some of them actually don't know it is cyberbullying. In real life, many people do bad things because they get attention but when they do the right things they usually don't. Everyone is hungry of compliment.

[Skullifer]

Well, cussing is fine if not for insults and not repetitively. It's different from respect but they're connected to each other.

Cussing's fine if you know the people around you are fine with it.

This game isn't 18+, there are definitely kids around who might not need to learn the habit.

[ChickyBro]

Cussing's fine if you know the people around you are fine with it.

This game isn't 18+, there are definitely kids around who might not need to learn the habit.

Definitely. I was talking about it in generally though.

[Corrects]

Wishing Neko recovers, she deserves a break!

[Skullifer]

bumping