As many of you probably have heard by now, FMXII has been ended prematurely due to a particular group of our more immature members of this community. I would like to take some time to talk about what happened, and why.
Early into Night 2 yesterday, upon learning that jester lynching forced jailor to execute, Claw gave up his role and his mafia to the jailor and ragequit. This would not have been an issue on it's own, because I had caught it pretty much immediately upon it occurring. Furthermore, being able to see invisible players, I also knew that the jailor had not. It would have ended there, and the only thing anyone would have missed out on was the jailor being able to talk to him. But of course, that didn't happen, because immaturity will always trump reason. Due to this, Claw decided he would battle the injustice of me modkilling him for gamethrowing(which he claims is WIFOM, but is one-hundred percent punishable in-game on sc2), he decided to tag it to his signature on his actual account as well. I am unsure of the details of what exactly transpired first, but when the smoke cleared, Claw was banned and FalseTruth had linked the information to TheWaaagh, and Muso. Somewhere along the lines, Ambient and Philie also saw it. So that is the first thing I'd like to clear up; the blame does not rest solely on Claw's shoulders, but FalseTruth's as well. Damage control was possible and had been done until the issue was forced by a third-party.
This was not the first incident that had occurred to this effect, as I am sure you are aware. The matter began when I removed False from my FM after he made it abundantly clear he would cause me problems(which, no surprise to myself, he has). Despite the game not even having started and having every right to do so, Muso and Claw took immediate offense to it. The whole altercation ended in an "impasse" of sorts, but I decided to allow the others to play because at the time I saw it simply as a very odd development of loyalty for no discernible reason.
Then the game started, and being a bit unknowledgeable as to how parent board permissions give access to children boards, as well as a miscommunication between Muso and myself on what he meant by "we can't post", I ended up accidently bestowing him with vision of all of the night boards. However, he then made the personal decision to click on each of them, and then click on their stickies, learning of all of the night chat identities and effectively destroying my game a first time. Frustrated at his complete disregard for the integrity of my setup, but ultimately resting blame on myself, I decided I would reroll and continue to allow him to play. Again, if I knew at the time what was going on, I probably would not have.
The reason, however, for me writing all of this, is that shortly before this incident with Claw occurred, I finally learned why these people who had pretty much no respect or interaction between each other a month or so before had suddenly banded to closely together. You see, and as a handful of you are already aware, FalseTruth, Muso, Claw, TheWaaagh, and, for some unexplainable reason, Yayap have decided to create their own forum to directly oppose DR and to drain his ad revenue, which currently is likely the only thing keeping him afloat. It can be found here: https://playmaf.com/forum
This fact is where this entire conflict stems from. Of that, I have no doubt. Be it a personal attack against me(Jack), despite it being pretty much unprovoked, or an attempt at lowering the perceived quality of the FMs hosted on this board in order to prepare to offer a "better" alternative, I do not know the answer. But what I do know is why these individuals should not be given the time of day because of it.
You see, them destroying my game for whatever selfish reasons they had does me no harm. My part in the game was done the moment I finished setting it up. Who they did harm, however, was anyone who cared about the game or the time they invested in it. The same people, you'll find, that they no doubt wish to pitch this new forum to.
But allow me to pose a question to you: Why should you support people who care so little about you that they would waste all of your time and effort, to spit directly into your face, in order to try and exact some sort of pitiful revenge at me before leaving COM forever? Why should you support a gamethrower who cares so little about others that he did not even stop to think about the fact that he was committing the same act that had been committed against him? Why should you support those who once thought that what Crimson did was warranting of both a ban and complete barring of participation from FM for months to come, but now both help propagate gamethrowing(FalseTruth), but also choose to work with them in the same trade that they committed a heinous crime in?
The answer is, if you have any sense of moral duty or self-respect, you shouldn't. What they did was apt to, to use a WoW analogy, looting the entire guild bank, before quitting the guild to form a new one. That action is generally looked upon by open disgust, and not by jumping ship afterwards and joining theirs because you thought it was so cool that they did so.
Now, the question is, and I will leave this up to you as a community, what should be done now? Should FMXII be ended, as restarting it for a second time is simply grating on the nerves of some. Should it be restarted, without those who cannot handle maturity in my presence? There are enough reserves that it's certainly possible to do so.
That choice is ultimately up to you.