Some things in a local community have happened recently, and I want to take a minute and talk about what it takes to keep your gaming community alive.
First and foremost, there is no one individual in charge of a gaming community. Ultimately, it’s the players in the community that are going to keep it alive and strong, not one person who has deemed themselves the sole reason for it’s success. For a community to have success and integrity it takes a lot of people having the same goal, to play games and have fun. That’s why we are here right? War on the tabletop, not war among our community.
We all know those people who rage quit tournaments and leagues because things just aren’t going there way. This is a very competitive hobby, but if we all just take a step back and realize that ultimately it’s just a game those issues can be addressed. But the issues start arising when people start getting singled out and bullied. We wouldn’t let PETA bully our hobby, so why would we let anyone in our hobby bully the members in our community.
The fact is, there are bullies everywhere, even in tabletop gaming. Some of this bullying may come off as passive aggressive behaviors, or posts to the local community page, but it still shouldn’t be tolerated. It takes one person to stand up and take action, but if no one takes that role then nothing is going to change.
I’ve personally watched our veteran players opt out of leagues and tournaments locally here because of one individual. Yes the league stays alive because there is always going to be new players getting into these games, let’s be honest, but the community here has slowly been shrinking in size, and there’s a major rift now…
This can all be solved by rebuilding, everyone taking a step back, and realizing we’re all here for the same reason, to have fun! The solution is not yelling at individuals, or public humiliation, and anyone seen doing or threatening these things are the reason strong communities fall apart.
Who wants to play with someone that acts this way? Who wants to play with someone who constantly has an issue with you if you have a different opinion than theirs?
This isn’t anything new. In this hobby we see communities come and go. But we never actually take the time to see why the community failed. Instead of giving up on the community, try to find out what or who the problem is. Maybe the event can be reversed and handled differently, or the individual doesn’t know what they’re doing is causing a rift. Or maybe it’s just they think they know what’s best for the community, when in actuality they’re the reason for the fall and ultimate destruction of a once great community.
Truth is a lot of time it just takes one person to say their sorry to help get things back on track. The answer is not refusing to apologize, pushing blame back on others, and telling them to grow thicker skin!
This is OUR hobby, we don’t let outside influences tear us apart, why are we going to let something or someone inside our hobby tear us apart. We’re better than that. Stand up for your local community and the people in it. If you don’t who else will?
Pro Tip: Stay Stealth!
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About the Author: James Rodriguez
