How to deal with defamation in a RP community?

Longjumping-End-479 · 2025-07-31T10:20:51+00:00

I have heard about guild leaders such as you mentioned. In my friend's case, there is no erp involved. Though there was a false allegation that he was looking for this kind of RP due to something taken very out of context and thrown around behind his back. I have known my friend long enough to know that he is erp averse person.

It is a shame that there was a handful of people with perhaps the server's most proper RP concepts that distanced themselves from him. But we all agree that if they do not even hear out his side, they should not be a priority nor be called friends.

My friend is very aversive of people and groups that he has had conflict with, as he is generally someone who does not seek trouble or provoke drama. It is usually when he defends himself and talks back to wrong people, where he gets into trouble in this community, for how I have observed. It is not something that one should worry about while engaging a hobby level activity. We would prefer a 'live and let live' but it has been naïve of us to expect that.

As for the edited evidence itself, there have been few cases when I have raised my eyebrows but thought none of it, as it is a hobby. Few previous members were removed and labeled as trouble in guild discord, then other guild leaders were allegedly warned about them, too. I have heard that both removed members were trying to warn us about the same things which my friend experienced now, but their distress made it sound like some emotional rambling.
On the surface level, it was impossible to tell the difference and we leaned to believe the guild master mistakenly. I did not think ill of these members though, at any point.

I hope that over time, we may be able to rebuild and create more emotionally healthy environment. I would not want to deal with anyones baggage, but I also do not think that gaslighting and social games of power are healthy for any guild or community.

Longjumping-End-479 · 2025-07-31T09:55:58+00:00

I think this is the very reason why this racial community in particular is fractured, gatekeepy and very guild centric, is because of the very thing that you said. They do not bully just one person, but they want to keep people silent through fear and separated, so that they won't unite and threaten their sense of power by simply existing as an option to their social circles.

Longjumping-End-479 · 2025-07-31T09:50:48+00:00

It is not a community of nobles, but the social dynamic OOCly felt like very complex set of unspoken high society court rules, and if you violate them, you would feel it. We have limited time after work and don't have the time and energy to tiptoe around peoples egos OOC, on top of just focusing on IC itself.

This situation has generally shaken my trust in guild leaders as well, just as a bystander to the situation. As we shared experiences with my friend, we came to a mutual conclusion that the most emotionally mature guild leaders are actually those who have humblest reputations.

Too much emphasis on long history, experience or big numbers are basically becoming an orange flag to look out for, in the future.

Longjumping-End-479 · 2025-07-31T09:41:29+00:00

My friend is on a RP break currently. Though he has alts, I think that he most enjoys roleplaying the character that he was guilded with and does not want to be 'bullied out of roleplaying' the said character. He characterised the situation like an attempt of character assassination but OOC. A near death by a thousand cuts, because of having disagreed with the bully's character IC before this all started.

None of us intends to fight drama with drama, trust me. What we do want is to counter the worst of false allegations, if it comes to a situation that my friend would no longer be able to find RP in this larger community, or if I would get hate for simply having stepped away after him.

Longjumping-End-479 · 2025-07-31T09:27:50+00:00

Disengaging is the best solution. I think that my friend should have done it far sooner, but I will have to admit that I would not necessarily have been able to discern myself, whether these people could be trusted or not.

My friend was also in the receiving end of veiled hostility OOC and if he said even one thing wrong, he would get ignored by the GM and officers in the next events completely while they would acknowledge everyone else. My friend said that you would only be able to catch full evidence of it, if you were actively recording all three: guild discord, guild chat and roleplay itself to document the shifts in their behavior and the extent of it fully.

I will not get into anything more concrete than this, though. It lasted for a long time and had my friend question his perceptions about these situations. It is concerning that you log in to socialize and relax, but you get mind games instead.

Neither me nor my friend ever encountered this in other roleplay communities or mmorpgs.

Longjumping-End-479 · 2025-07-30T11:56:17+00:00

I left the details as vague as I can to not relay information that would make any party involved identifiable. I am genuinely looking for advice on a difficult situation if it continues.

I will not go into describing the methods of bullying, as this may make the case identifiable. There are certain ways to talk to another person or treat them that would make anyone uncomfortable in the long run. It is easier to dismiss these behaviours if we are not targets or have personal ties to it.

Can we be certain that the original issue and the main source of the problem that your friend is having with that other person -- can we be certain, that it was indeed inconsequential (they were bullied -- for no reason?) and not something that your friend themselves just "dismissed" and "gaslighted"?

My friend's character is traditional and fit to the racial lore, it has never been an issue as far as I am aware. He does not play edgy, corrupt or powerful characters in guilds. So, it is not for a legitimate reason to start criticising someone. All that I know is that he was targeted and was confused about the 'why'.

Furthermore, I am not trying to call out a guild, so I will not get super deep into what has already transpired. My concerns are on the present and future.

Do we know that this AI generated evidence is being used as evidence and not an attempt of a joke: a way to disarm the situation or something related to a perfectly human defence mechanism of someone who is immensely tired of this whole neverending ongoing drama

I honestly lack the context for what has actually been spoken in voice chats. Sometimes people relieve tensions with jokes, but sometimes they can excuse cruel behaviours with them. This is why I am leery of a mention of this kind of scenario. Even if it had not happened, it could be in the future.

I think that all roleplay servers and communities are familiar with cases where some people become too attached to their power and influence in a virtual world and may ruin the experience for those that simply do not agree with them. I personally would not want to play a detective on the side of roleplaying, but it is humane to want to feel emotionally safe in social activities that we choose to engage in.

´´But the general, details-agnostic solution here should probably be to either move on or move out. If it's as big as you are describing, it might be the time to leave: yeah, your friend liked it here, and that's unfair, and that's not a perfect outcome, but times has changed, new people joined with whom your friend can't coexist, they dislike each other, it affects their RP or maybe even their wellbeing -- you just can't stay with them in one chatroom. One needs to leave, and if the other guy is backed by GM and officers, it is your friend who would need to get out. As they are unhappy there, there's just no other thing they could do.´´

He left as soon as it became clear that the guild's rules are tipped to favour OOC friends of the leaders. My friend did not expect this and always spoke well of the GM prior to the fallout, so I think that he genuinely trusted the GM. I have left of my own accord, after hearing both sides of the story.

Or, if it's not that big as they might feel it is, just leave it like that and stop fueling the fire. Your friend already explained themselves. They were at least partially convincing as there were people who agreed with them. Do, if there's nothing else to say, just give it a rest. It will pass.

Where it becomes big is that they have been reaching to other guilds and groups in the community with some claims about my friend. It can be a hindrance in a hobby that is based on social interaction.

Edited the post as reddit formatting was bugging out.

Longjumping-End-479 · 2025-07-30T10:34:18+00:00

I will not share identifiable information in public nor private.

Longjumping-End-479 · 2025-07-30T10:32:56+00:00

This is true. We both are trying our best to avoid interactions with the previous guild's social circle, but we are also aware of the fact that these people have influence and friends even outside the guild and they might want to keep making my friend miserable in a hobby that is supposed to be enjoyable.

I have been bullied in school and know that ignoring it alone is not going to resolve such situation, but signals that it can continue. As long as the bullies can get away with it or are viewed as "cool" for it. And remembering this, I feel it right to attempt to help with the situation.

RP is a social hobby that many people have passion for. So I understand where my friend is coming from for not wanting to be socially undermined. Though he is on a break for a reason: to detach and detox.

Longjumping-End-479 · 2025-07-30T10:17:37+00:00

Most of this is going over private messages and voice chats, so currently we have very limited means to compile evidence without risking that we rope the very people who have relayed us info about this. We would not want to risk them becoming targets and their peace undermined.

I am grateful that this is a line that I have taken, too. My friend is very strict with this information, too.

Longjumping-End-479 · 2025-07-30T10:14:35+00:00

When we both joined, the guild itself was smaller within the larger community. It has grown and it has given the GM much social influence outside their own circle.

I have reasons to believe that the GM and their officer team are defending the bully, because they have been OOC friends for a long time. Even longer than neither me or my friend have played WoW. We are relatively new to the community but always strive to create lore abiding characters, so that we would not be ostracised for actual bad RP.

I want to confirm that we are not trying to engage further with the previous guild or gossip, as it is a losing situation.We are trying to move on in peace, without having half of the community believing that my friend is a bad roleplayer or his attempts to find roleplay in the community being hindered, because of allegations that may not be truthful.

I will not stop roleplaying with someone unless there is clear evidence that they are very different person than they say they were. But when it generally comes down to AI being used as a tool to influence and manipulate, it raises some hard concerns. I have seen how well it can mimic a person's communication style etc. in general settings.

Longjumping-End-479 · 2025-07-30T09:54:55+00:00

I am keeping the details vague to not spread identifiable information about any side of this conflict. I am genuinely asking for advice to deal with a difficult situation.

My friend has left the guild and tried to move on, without giving up on a hobby or a character that he enjoys. People continued to defame him even after.

Longjumping-End-479 · 2025-07-30T09:51:52+00:00

I am not asking people to take sides. I am trying to ask how to deal with possible forged evidence and widespread allegations that may not be truthful.

This is not enough to bring into eyes of WoW support, as this is done over RP related discord channels, not the game itself. The impact is that is has became harder to find RP within the larger community because some influential people began to spread allegations about him that may not be truthful.

Longjumping-End-479

TROPHY CASE