oh, hi there. i will be using big girl grammar and even capitalization for this one!
Before we begin, I’ll recount a bit of history. HAM - Heroes Assembled - is a splinter, or more appropriately a revenge game, derived from UH, United Heroes.
United Heroes was originally run by Claremont, a serial sex pest, had a wizard named Ditko who was an incredibly aggressive sexual harasser, and was filled with staff who knew that these things happened but actively gaslight, attacked, or outright banned anyone who brought them up.
This status quo persisted for several years, interrupted only when Ruby, Claremont’s chief attack dog and TS partner, decided she didn’t want to TS with him anymore. Claremont responded by undoing all the things he had let her get away with because of her position, which was a step too for. Sexually harassing players was one thing, but a friend? That won’t do, sir! THAT is unethical!
And, so, much of UH’s staff, until now not simply fine with how the game was run but willing to viciously attack anyone who aired their dirty laundry, their morals at last outraged, quit en masse and created a new game - Heroes Assembled.
HAM was in all but name run by Chaucer, someone who actively despises comic books and was never shy about letting everyone on this comic book game know if, God forbid, they wanted to do something from a comic book. He was demeaning and insulting to the vast majority of the player base, and complaints were routinely filed against him only to be ignored or for the person who filed them to be quietly kicked from the game for vague reasons.
Recently, HAM reached the same breaking point UH did. It’s fun when it’s done to players, but it’s unconscionable when it’s done to someone else. And, so, Chaucer was fired. Which triggered this series of posts:
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Message: 2/529 Posted Author
Dismissed from Staff Mar 10 2024 Caitlin Fairchild
I have been dismissed from Staff.
I want to make it very clear, to everyone, that I am not leaving staff because of you players. I love working with you. I love getting to help tell your story. I am greatly fulfilled when I help someone turn a rough idea into a diamond of a character. Or discover deeper connections to our lore than they knew their character had. You have been there for me through rough times, and I am truly grateful to have been there for you. Coming up with our IC lore and theme has been one of my proudest accomplishments as a writer. We have taken this game and built it into something totally unique. Not just a sandbox, but a coherentworld* where your character’s actions leave a permanent set of footprints in the sand.
Shakespeare has informed me that we simply do not have ‘compatible visions’ for how to run a game. And to be honest, I have run out of gas. The last four years on staff have been a constant struggle. There have been too many times where I have seen her unapologetically lash out at players and staff because she is tired or upset or angry. I am tired of enforcing and explaining policies that don’t make sense to me. Of watching standards be inequitably applied, with Shakespeare’s buddies getting preferential treatment. I keep proposing ways to address the problems players bring to my attention but I have learned that changing anything, anything at all, starts an immediate uphill battle. Whether it is recognizing that policy can’t cover 100% of all concepts, or even something as simple as opening Space! up to you players, the biggest obstacle to change is always Shakespeare’s stubborn insistence that her policy is above criticism.
[6:26 PM]
At a recent sit-down, I (rather flatly) told Shakespeare my problem with her is how she hurts players in her fits of pique or anger. How stubborn she is and how hard she clings to policies that the players themselves disagree with. I came to that discussion in good faith, wanting to find a way we can work together. I realized right away that she came to that ‘talk’ not with the intention of finding a way forward, but to get me to resign from my position. I learned her problem with me is that I don’t just roll over when she insists her policies are inviolable and sacrosanct. That my sense of fairness, my judgement, has no impact on what she feels like doing in the moment; that there are no exceptions to her rules except the ones she allows. In years previous she has promised to change, to grow up, to share the load and work with me than against me. I have concluded that she never really intended to stick with those promises. I tried to tell her that she can’t just rule this game by executive fiat. To quote Shakespeare: “I do have final say. I have always had it. It is my game, and invited others to come help and be part if they wished to. That that hasn’t been accepted by you has been one of the biggest sources of friction.”
I feel like I am letting you all down, and I am very sorry for it. I feel defeated. That my ideas aren’t welcome as a staffer. Shakespeare says I am the problem, that I’m causing her too much stress and frustration. Still, I don’t intend to give up my characters. At the end of the day, I am a player here, too. This post is to ensure you folks understand that you aren’t the cause of my disaffection. I wish you all the best of luck, and I’m still here to help you with lore, chargen and storytelling to the best of my ability-- staff bit or no.
Yours,
-The Player Formerly Known as Chaucer.
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Message: 1/171 Posted Author
Chaucer leaving staff Mar 10 2024 Shakespeare
Hey folks. I asked Chaucer to take a leave from staff tonight. We’re not going to ax grind about it, so I’ll give you as neutral an explanation as I can.
There has been ongoing friction for a very long time, over different views on the game. It is only getting worse. And it finally hit a point that it wasn’t healthy for anyone involved to continue.
I asked him to take a leave. He responded poorly. And that’s where it is. The game will continue.
I have a lot of respect for what Chaucer’s done even as we’ve had major disagreements. I wish it hadn’t ended up like this, but this is where it’s at. Thank you for patience.
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Message: 1/172 Posted Author
Resigning from Staff Mar 24 2024 Coleridge
Hello HAMmers, It's your friendly neighborhood staffer Coleridge here, saying goodbye. No, I'm not leaving the game, but I am stepping down as a staffer. Some of you are no doubt wondering if this is connected to Chaucer being removed from staff, and I'll get to that. First I want to say it has been fun. I've worked to help a lot of you on details of plots, or applications for new characters or +sheet updates, and seeing the ideas and imagination out there is great. I've tried to treat the staffing job as if I was an editor on a comic title, helping writers to integrate their ideas into the greater comics universe they are writing in and providing them a sounding board. We've got a fun bunch of writers here.
So on to the elephant in the room. Chaucer and Shakespeare have been the two biggest driving forces for what made HAM such a fantastic place to RP. As is so often the case, they complemented each other's strengths, and balanced out each other's weaknesses. Removing Chaucer from the equation was in my opinion a poor decision. It was also one that was done without consulting staff as a whole, and that was the worse decision.
Had Chaucer been removed by majority vote of staff, or just resigned (which was very likely) I might not have felt the need to resign myself, but I'd still be discontented with the situation. Since I started as staff a year and a half ago I have been pushing for improvements to policy, and it has been a struggle to get any traction. On top of that there have been a number of decisions lately that I have been unhappy about, but I won't go into details. Stepping down seems to me the best way to make it clear how I feel, in the hope that improvements will be made.
I'll still be around as Donna and Colette, and on Discord as Colette_1. I don't intend on airing any dirty laundry, but if you want to talk, I'm around. More importantly, I'm here for that lovely RP!
Lastly I'd like to remind everyone that this is all just creative differences. In this community we've seen all seen games go horribly wrong, and many of you will remember older games with problems that were far deeper and nastier than these. In this situation there are no villains; just good people who disagree how things should be done.
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Shakespeare Commented:
I’d like to thank Coleridge for all she’s done for the game. She’s been a good voice in our discussions, and frequently made good recommendations on feedback on characters, events and theme issues. Staffing is never easy and brings on stress and extra work. I’m very grateful for Coleridge’s contributions, and appreciate the honest discussions we’ve had including today around her choice to leave staff. Thank you, Coleridge.
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Message: 1/175 Posted Author
Resigning From Staff Apr 02 2024 Stoker
Hey Folks,
Rejoice!
For I am going to be stepping down from staff. I know that I have not been the greatest and if I ever did anything that upset you, please accept my apologies or hold a mush career long grudge, your choice!
I was really hoping that I could get myself to stay for the players and I just can’t.
I am nothing but stressed when I log into Stoker and it has been that way for the last couple of months. I come from a different style of staffing and I’ve felt like the odd person out at times on situations. Completely my hangup.
There have been a lot of missteps the last few months and those are also effecting my decision. There also seems to be no change on the horizon, so before I pull all of my beautiful hair out of my head, I will resign and focus on my characters here.
I will leave you with some parting wisdom:
https://i.imgur.com/N2gdXlZ.jpeg
Protect Your Mental Health,
Stoker (Wendigo)
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Message: 2/541 Posted Author
Stoker Apr 02 2024 Donna Troy
We can't +bbcomment on board 1 posts, so in the wake of her resignation (+bbread 1/175) I'm posting here to thank Stoker for all the hard work she put in over the years as a staffer.
Stoker had been helping the game from the start by running Happy Harbor, so she was a great choice to invite onto staff. She always more than pulled her weight in staffing duties, and if you've ever put in a +request for an app, a vacation or pretty much anything else there's a high chance she contributed. Even if you never saw the contribution she would often add informative and helpful staff comments to jobs other staffers were handling, and was active in the staff discord channel, trying to help steer HAM in better directions when it needed it.
Regret nothing, Stoker. Your hair is worth more than the frustration of trying to roll that boulder uphill.
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Just as HAM began, Chaucer and his friends are busy making a revenge game of their very own, one that will even allow plagiarized apps from HAM and use the same, 500-plus page theme/timeline Chaucer has spent years writing to grind everything recognizable about Marvel and DC into a homogenous grey paste that appeals to no one but him and his friends who are written into it. Several of them remain staff on HAM for the moment, the better to recruit players and undermine Shakespeare.
Now, I was one of a number of people banned for filing a complaint against Chaucer. With all the right people seeming to be outraged, I figured - why not ask? (Okay, you know why, but I wanted to prove it to my friends.)
Well, here’s why:
You paged Shakespeare with ‘Hi, this is Prototart. I was, to directly quote your page, kicked for “past acrimony, including issues from games that predate HAM.” This happened after I filed a complaint against Chaucer for insulting me and telling me I was not worth his time over the last character I applied for prior to briefly claiming Raven, a character that had until then been played by a friend of his, an action I have been told enraged both of them as well as several others. Given that the people who have not been fired or resigned are explicitly remaining here to insult you to anyone who will listen and steal players for the revenge game they’re making during occasional breaks from non-stop badmouthing you, your character, and your intelligence in a Discord that isn’t nearly as private as they think it is, does that judgement still stand?’
Shakespeare (S) pages: I don’t have all the details of the incidents fresh in my head. But I think I recall that there I didn’t sense a willingness to work out a resolution, to where I didn’t expect there would be future problems. That’s a hard thing for me to overcome. Definitely for now where I am not fresh up on events anymore, I think the judgment would have to stand, yes.
You paged Shakespeare with ‘I mean, the ‘incident’ was me pushing back on Chaucer when he started to demean me in an app and him telling me he wasn’t worth anyone’s time and to never apply again. I can literally cut/paste the exact statement you made to me, if you’d like. There was a problem that couldn’t be resolved only only because of someone you fired for being abusive.’
Shakespeare (S) pages: It wasn’t a good situation from any angle I agree. But the resolution was as much about how it was handled. People have to be able to resolve conflicts and coexist and sometimes it’s necessary to just sever connections when that doesn’t seem likely to happen. And the way it went, that was the feeling I was left with that any future conflicts would not be resolved either. I’m sorry, but going to be sticking with the decision for the time being.
It might be worth mentioning, at this point, that they DID welcome back someone who was banned for sexually harassing female players, someone banned with a bbpost and all - one that simply vanished one night not long before that player’s OC returned to the grid.
So, remember: being a predator might be bad, but it’s way worse to follow the recommend steps for resolving conflict with staff.
A link to the last thread on HAM, which I didn’t bump because it’s been dead for over a year:
https://brandmuday.mythicus.net/topic/114/comic-games-are-fun
