Feed me – or maybe not

Just a short(-ish? maybe?) update on some stuff, and then some other stuff. Wow, I sound like Mizz!

As you may have noticed if you’re getting here from OurDDO, the site’s been “misplacing” posts. I mean, a LOT of posts. (Geoff Hanna recently blogged about having the same problem.)

I’ve done a fair amount of looking into this, and it seems that it’s a common problem with feed aggregators (the nifty little scripts that pull in assorted blog feeds and display them in one place). I didn’t write the script that OurDDO uses; it’s a Google script. Unfortunately it shares the problem that apparently pretty much all aggregator scripts do: Because it’s pinging sites, in this case blogs, on a fairly regular basis, it tends to get flagged as being potentially malicious. At least that’s what several people on various help forums have told me.

I’m not sure why it’ll pull some posts from a particular blog but not others from the same blog, or why it’s not finding some blogs at all, or why it does seem to find nearly everything from others. It may be an issue with the cron job. Sadly, while I know what cron jobs are, I don’t know much about setting them up. If I can find a solution – and yes, I’m looking for one – I’ll implement it ASAP. Meanwhile, at least SOME of the recent posts are getting pulled, and there are links to EVERY blog both in the blogroll and, courtesy of the lovely grimorde, also in the slider across the top.

But now for new and exciting stuff! I’ve long felt that DDO can be confusing when you’re new and don’t know what you’re doing, and that it’s hard to know where to get help when there’s something you just can’t figure out. So pretty “SOON* ™ (read: when I finish making everything look nice and all), I’ll be adding a new blog kindasorta linked to this one, but standalone, tentatively called “DDO Players Helping Players.”

The idea is not to tell people what to do, but rather to help them figure out the basics and show them how to find answers on their own. From time to time, I’ll be holding question-and-answer sessions ingame; I’ll be hitting all servers eventually, and will vary the days and times as much as possible. The schedule will be posted on the new blog, which will also have a section called “Ask Even,” where anyone can send in their DDO-related questions (anonymously, if desired) to be answered here. And sometime down the road, I’m hoping to also include how-to modules on everything from learning to read the map to using the AH to quest guides.

I’m also considering adding a forum… we’ll see, as that would be a considerable amount of work to maintain and moderate. Please note that none of this is intended to replace the official DDO forums or DDO Wiki, but rather to complement them.

I’d love any and all constructive feedback on this. I do have a pretty detailed plan, but I’m always open to suggestions!

And a quick(-ish? maybe?) toon update… on Thelanis, Even’s getting ready to stow away her handwraps and pick up a shield as she prepares to TR back to paladin for her first life as a legend build. I haven’t worked out the details of her build yet; considering going PDK and splashing two levels of fighter.

Winnie, now that she’s reached epic levels and can play with destinies, is turning out to be much more fun to play. She’s caught up to Meren at level 24, so she’s feeling kinda proud considering she used to be my “backup” FvS who never felt quite right. She also finally sheathed her Whirlwind in favor of a Thunderforged greatsword, which along with ED stuff has turned her from a mediocre healer/buffer to a lean, mean, DPS machine.

Tirae ran the extended version of Haunted Halls tonight with Slvr, Shin, and Comic, and got rewarded for successfully tanking Miior by finding a Necklace of Mystic Eidolons in the chest! Alas, that was the only named loot that dropped for anyone in the quest. My Thelanis toons are jealous – while they have assorted Radiant Rings and Manuals of Stealthy Pilfering, not one of ’em has ever pulled the necklace.

And I have a new toon on Argo, a druid named Fedelma (or “Del”). She’s an alternate alternate (yep, two alternates, not a typo) for the Summer Fling group that livestreams every Wednesday at 1:30 pm Eastern time. With Fling members Grim and Rach off to GenCon along with Samius and Lessah of DDO Cocktail Hour, last week’s run was shaping up to be just Bonnie and Cordovan, so Slvr and I got a chance to join in and run the Pit with them. Definitely a subject for a future blogpost; in the meantime, you can see our Pit run from Cordovan’s stream here, and from Bonnie’s stream here. Or if you’re pressed for time, you can see a “highlight” here!

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Under the bridge

I’ve been told that I’m too obsessed with the way some overly elitist people treat other players who they feel don’t measure up to their high standards.

Not surprisingly, the few people who’ve said that to me are some of the most overly elitist players I’ve ever come across. Yes, equality for all in DDO is a soapbox I’m happy to jump on. I’ve seen a number of my friends leave the game over the treatment they received from people whose egos far outstrip their intelligence.

For what it’s worth, ask anyone who knows me well and they’ll tell you I’m just as obsessed outside of DDO; I’m very committed to equality and safety for ALL. Race, religion, gender, orientation, nationality – bullies use all kinds of excuses to try to make other people feel bad about themselves. So if you think I’m overly obsessed, I think you’re the one with the problem.

Reading this post really opened my eyes to just how bad some Internet trolls are. In case you don’t want to read the whole thing (it’s a bit lengthy), the tl;dr version is that a woman discovers her husband has been bullying people online. When she confronts him, he admits it and refuses to stop, even when she tells him she’s leaving him. This guy chose to lose his wife – who happens to be pregnant with his child, btw – rather than stop bullying.

I’ve experienced bullying at many levels. I choose to say, “I’ve experienced bullying” rather than, “I’m a victim of bullying” because bullying is a reflection on the bully, not on his or her subject. I’m not defined by what any bully says or does to me. I’ve been bullied at one time or another by family members, schoolmates, co-workers, and yes, DDO players.

I’ve often heard that the Internet is a hospitable atmosphere for bullying because of the anonymity. Some people feel invulnerable when they have a computer screen to hide behind. But unlike some, I believe the Internet only facilitates bullying rather than causing it. Someone who bullies people, whether online or off, lacks basic human decency. Some people are just much better at hiding it in public, I guess; I’ve certainly never wanted to deliberately make someone else feel bad about him- or herself just because the Internet would make it easier for me to “get away” with it. Intentionally inflicting distress on another person is wrong. Period.

That’s no consolation to people who are being bullied. It’s hard to know the right thing to do. People who aren’t involved find it easy to say, “Oh, just ignore it.” In my experience, that really doesn’t help. Like, AT ALL. Most of the bullies I’ve seen in action are attention whores. The more you ignore them, the angrier they get. It’s as if they feel, “How DARE your world not revolve around me! I’ll show YOU!”

But even though ignoring a bully doesn’t help and may actually make the situation worse, it’s often still the best option. Trying to stand up to a bully on one’s own is largely futile; trying to reason with one, even more so. Bullies are very good at twisting your words around, completely ignoring the parts that make them look bad and taking the rest out of context. They’re also very good at lying about their behavior and denying what they’ve said, even to the point of deleting or heavily editing their posts.

In fact, bullies who are confronted about their behavior often paint THEMSELVES as the victims. “I didn’t mean anything by it! You’re too sensitive! Why are you picking on me?” It’s hard to call them on their bullying, because they have a million and one excuses designed to gain sympathy for themselves and make YOU look like the bad guy. Yes, they really do think that they should be allowed to say anything to anyone, no matter how hurtful, and that the only time there’s “bullying” is when someone tells them their behavior isn’t acceptable.

This kind of thing happens all too often in DDO. Players are ridiculed for having the “wrong” build or gear. They’re jumped on for honest mistakes.

Friday night, I led a Tower of Despair learning run. One of the guys who joined typed in party chat that he didn’t have sound so he couldn’t hear spoken instructions (which incidentally is something I’ve also seen players bullied over and even kicked from parties, because people are too lazy/conceited/whatever to take a few extra seconds and type stuff out if needed).

The LFM clearly stated that this was a relaxed pace learning run with my usual “gimps/first-timers welcome” clause, so I told the group, both over voice and in text chat, that I’d be taking a little extra time at the start of each phase to type out instructions. At this point, I got a tell from the guildmate of the guy with no sound. Turns out he’s deaf and had never run a ToD before, in no small part because no raid leader would ever take the time to type.

Well, we got him through it just fine, and he did very well. I can’t even begin to describe the feeling I had when he opened the end chest and pulled his first-ever Shavarath trophies. Seriously. Best ToD EVER (which was also because Slvr was tanking shadows for the first time ever, AND doing it on his “gimpy” – his words, not mine – hagglebard, and he rocked it! And because Bonnie ran with us!).

I have friends who take grief because they don’t use mics, although they do have sound. I can only imagine the abuse this poor guy has had to deal with. But now, I have some new people on my friends list, and there’s one more player on Thelanis who now knows how to do ToD.

If you’re wondering what you can do to support people who are bullied, my suggestion is pretty much what we did Friday night. No, you don’t necessarily have to host ToD, but BE THERE for people who are bullied. Make an effort to include them and make them feel welcome without patronizing them.

Publicly befriending a bullied person, IMHO, does far more to stop bullying than trying to deal with the bully. It also takes the focus off the person being bullied without putting it directly on yourself, AND lets the bullied person know he or she is not alone.

If you’d like to learn more about how this works and why, I suggest taking a look at an excellent article about Feminista Jones’ #YouOKSis campaign. While Jones specifically aims to stop street harassment of black women, the principle behind her idea works for any kind of bullying behavior.

Because of the nature of bullies, I’m aware that I’m likely to get a lot of hate for this post. Bring it on. And no, that doesn’t mean I’m bullying the bullies, although I’m sure some of them will try to paint it that way. The difference is that what I’ve said is not intended to shame, humiliate, embarrass, or otherwise upset anyone, nor is it intended to put anyone down. I could sit here and tell people about bullies, but that’s just my opinion. To really see a bully for what he or she is, you have to see him or her in action. So if you’re hatin’, let it fly. Show us your true colors.

And since I haven’t done one in a while, I decided to throw in a filk. “Under the Bridge” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers works well here. After all, trolls live under bridges. But it’s also appropriate because RHCP vocalist Anthony Kiedis wrote it to express the pain he felt at being ostracized by his bandmates after he got himself off of drugs. His struggle to still be part of the group while staying “clean” parallels the difficulty many of us have in being part of guilds or parties made up of people who troll or bully others.

Under the Bridge
(With apologies to Anthony Kiedis and Red Hot Chili Peppers)

Sometimes I feel
Like I can’t find a party
Sometimes I feel
I can’t get a chance
To join in the fun and
Be part of the action
Lonely I wander
With just an owlbear

I solo some sagas
‘Cause the groups are elitist
I work on my hit points
And beef up my gear
Still some parties shun me
They tell me I’m too gimped
I say it’s no big deal
But that is a lie

Why you wanna make me feel
Like I’m useless now?
Just because I’m not like you
Why’d you put me down?
Why you wanna make me feel
Like I’m useless now?
Just because I’m not like you
Why’d you put me down?
Yeah, yeah, yeah

It’s hard to believe
That some players are so cruel
It’s hard to believe
How they hate all the rest
At least I have honor
Kindness and compassion
Lonely is nothing
Compared to hatred

Why you wanna make me feel
Like I’m useless now?
Just because I’m not like you
Why’d you put me down?
Why you wanna make me feel
Like I’m useless now?
Just because I’m not like you
Why’d you put me down?

Oh no, no no, yeah, yeah
Grow up, I say, yeah, yeah
For once

Under the bridge the trolls
Laugh and sneer and smirk
Under the bridge the trolls
Flame and act like jerks
Under the bridge the trolls
Show their nasty sides
Under the bridge the trolls
Make up all their lies

Yeah, yeah, yeah
Oh no, no, no
Yeah, yeah

Stop the hate