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forest-of-thought · 6 years

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Just a reminder - regarding Stirpicus (kinda long)

Now before I get started i’m aware that most of the MCSM community is a really friendly and welcoming place, and that’s one of the reasons why we all love it. Unlike most groups for the Telltale games we have somehow managed to not end up in a silly internet war against each other or have resorted to being bitter or hate-fueled. I mean that as no shade towards the other fandoms, just that well... it’s true. Compare us to any other Telltale community and most of the time we seem quite harmonious by comparison.

BUT there are are some of you that tend to take things a little extreme at times, whether you are just being an asshole for the sake of it,or just someone extremely passionate of the series that perhaps you unknowingly become quite passive aggressive in your comments due to frustration regarding things you aren’t happy with in the game.

^ This is the reason why i’m making this post. I don’t wish to come across as preachy, but I feel like we need to address these issues so we don’t end up ruining this beautiful community like we did certain “other ones”.

Let’s not become a place where people fight over silly stuff like ships or characters, or send so much hate mail and death threats to other members and the staff of Telltale that even the people that work there refuse to interact with us anymore.

That’s not even a joke btw, on the Tellltale forums we actually got so bad that at one point we actually drove away voice actors who once used to talk to us on there because we became too much for them. I’m also pretty sure we were also the reason why the staff members who once used to appear and answer questions stopped doing it.

I’m aware that things aren’t that bad here. The point is that we risk becoming that bad if we aren’t careful of our actions.

Now, to get into the actual reason for this post;

Eric Stirpe has been getting quite a few passive aggressive comments on his Tumblr lately. Most of which is seemingly through his Ask box, and there’s no doubt more of those comments than what we see actually published on the blog.

Quite a few are just ones that feel quite bummed out about things such as the lack of branching paths and the choice system. Those ones are more questions, with a bitter undertone to them. Which is still pretty crap, but at least there is also some form of civilness there.

But then you get ones like this;

Okay, now we are kind of drifting towards flat out malicious territory and that’s not cool.

Guys, I get that you are probably frustrated by things regarding the game:

Maybe you don’t like how the game deals with branching the story or altering it?

Maybe you hate the fact that we no longer have the rewind feature?

Or that perhaps you just really badly want news on the upcoming episode?

All of that is perfectly reasonable feelings to have, and you are entitled to your own opinions.

But you should keep some factors in mind here;

Eric Stirpe isn’t obligated to tell us anything. He doesn’t have to answer our questions if he doesn’t want to. It isn’t his job to inform us of these things, but he does it because he’s a really cool guy that likes interacting with us and sharing things about the game with us. It’s a courtesy, and one of which we shouldn’t be taking advantage of.

He doesn’t know everything. I don’t know how Telltale works since I don’t work there or have a job in a game industry, but I doubt Stirpicus is in charge of the release date for the game or knows a ton about the soundtrack, voice actors (he probably does a little but he’s not in charge of that section), animation process or any other technical issues. Keep in mind that just because he is the lead writer of the game, that doesn’t mean he knows EVERYTHING that goes on regarding it. A lot of other people work on the game as well.

You shouldn’t be an asshole anyway. If you really want someone to take you seriously and listen to you, then you should probably not go sending douchey mail to them. Because then you just look stupid and immature and not someone worth even replying to. I’m not saying you can’t express your concerns regarding the game, in fact i’d probably encourage it since fan feedback is a great way for a game to improve. What i’m saying is that you should take into consideration your tone, and that if you’re going to be critical at least try and make it constructive so it’s not just needless whining.

Keep in mind the actual power that the staff member even has. This sorta ties into the “he doesn’t know everything” part, but basically keep in mind what role the staff member has in the company. You can’t go to Stirpe complaining about a game mechanic if he isn’t even in charge of it to begin with. What is he supposed to do? you might think “well he can tell the people who are in charge of it” and yeah you’re right, but also keep in mind that he can’t just leave what he’s currently doing constantly to go hopping around different apartments giving feedback to everyone every single time he gets a Tumblr comment from a fan. It’s a little bit ridiculous to be honest.

Make sure your question hasn’t been answered already. I know you probably don’t want to go surfing through pages of blog content, but I can’t even count how many times i’ve seen people ask the same questions that have been answered many times before. I’m sure Stirpicus doesn’t mind helping you with your questions on how to be a successful writer (as an example) but he gets that question asked a lot and it must be frustrating when you’re someone who has a lot of messages in your inbox every single day and a full time job, to have to filter through the same stuff constantly. (I guess in regards to Stirpicus, maybe he can add a “Tags” section to his blog so people can just click on a tag that will direct them to things related to what they want to ask).

I’m sorry if I went on a long rant there, I don’t mean to sound like i’m chewing you all out here. I just really care about this fandom and don’t want it to eventually become ruined like a lot of other ones have become (for me).

Please be wary of your actions, guys.

We want to remain an optimistic and friendly place that has nice things - like being able to talk to a writer of the game. So please don’t ruin that for other people who don’t often get get that opportunity. And also remember to treat staff fairly and keep in mind that they are just people like us. Don’t project your irritation towards the game onto them and even if you don’t agree with certain things, remember to approach it in a civil and respectful manner.

As a last note;

Thank you Eric Stirpe for helping make this amazing game and spending so much time interacting with us and going out of your way to be an active presence on here :) we really do appreciate you and no matter how many people direct their anger towards you, there are twice as many here that adore you. I hope you continue to create amazing stories for years to come!

(also thank you to the other staff that contribute to MCSM - it couldn’t be done without you either)

#mcsm #minecraft story mode #minecraft storymode #eric stirpe #stirpicus #telltale games #ttg #mcsm season 2

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