- Do you know why you were banned? If so, state the reason.
No. - Do you admit to what you did or do you disagree with the mod?
Doesn’t apply to this case - Why do you think you should get another chance?
I’ve never even had Omega and did not participate in any raids towards Omega, having also never joined their discord server. I genuinely don’t know where the ban came from; I installed the app today and it said my discord account was already banned despite never being anywhere near an official Omega discord server.
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Thank you for reaching out to us regarding your ban from our platform.
Firstly, I’d like to reiterate that our game was developed by a diverse group of volunteers, each with unique backgrounds, experiences, and values. Our core principle has always been to create an inclusive environment for all players, and the accusations of racism, transphobia, anti-semitism, and other forms of discrimination are deeply concerning to us. They not only misrepresent our team’s intentions but also the foundation on which our game was built.
When the chat feature was initially implemented, we believed in empowering our users to self-moderate and make choices in line with their comfort levels. We had a disclaimer in place emphasizing user responsibility. However, we understand the concerns raised and have since implemented a chat filter as an added measure against hate speech.
It’s important to acknowledge that while the challenges of content moderation have been debated at various levels, from indie developers to tech giants, the intent is always to strike a balance between free speech and a safe user environment. Taking things out of context or spreading misinformation only compounds these challenges.
Your previous actions, including demanding the ban of our lead developer and promoting a false narrative about our game, contributed to a hostile environment, both for our team and our users. Innocent people were caught in the crossfire. The actions of one mod does not represent the opinions of our entire team. While we respect your right to have an opinion and voice concerns, it’s essential to approach such matters with a willingness to understand and engage constructively.
Considering the above, and the values we uphold, your ban was implemented not out of malice but as a protective measure for the community we cherish. If you genuinely wish to rejoin our platform, we ask you to reflect on the sequence of events and approach our community with respect, understanding, and empathy.
Otherwise, you should not play a game where you disagree with the policies of that game and/or believe that the team who made it are not good people. There are many simulators out there for you to try where your freedom of speech will not be hindered without any policy. I wish you all the best.
as opposed to the hostile environment created by your mod team and the hostile environment on your platform created by your policies?
You can say what you want about your intentions. But the fact of the matter is that you were unwilling to ban people for racism/hate speech but are more than happy to ban people who opposed that dog-water policy decision. Especially, in this case, people who had nothing to do with actually creating the “hostile environment”.
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First, if you believe that our platform creates a “hostile” environment for you, please choose any other platform where you feel safer. The policies in our platform were clear since its inception and they are not foreign to gaming. Baldur’s Gate 3 for example does have a policy for self-moderation as does every version of ygopro. It is hypocritical to criticize our policy without criticizing other games that have implemented the same policy since 2012. At the same time, we realize that we can do better and we did - we implemented a chat filter. This is a bigger issue than just one game but rather an attack on any game’s policy that has self-moderation for chat. Nonetheless it was addressed. The “hostile” environment was created when mods were being harassed online through dms repeatedly causing real life mental damage. Several of our mods have always been against hate speech and were wrongly accused based on screenshots taken out of context. As someone who has created both the DU and Ignis servers, this has never happened before in our history even though our policies have been the same. The lead dev was in the hospital recovering from surgery at this time and she was still harassed by people who made assumptions. Jokes were made about racism when those jokes were harmful to our community. Several people who have been in our community were attacked by new users who raided the discord on July 18. Criticism and feedback are fine, making jokes about racism is not.
Second, people have been banned for hate speech for years and it is done as a case by case basis. Whether you are aware of it or not is another matter. We don’t announce every ban publicly. There is a method of reporting. If the same user is reported by two or more people, we do take action. However, you assumed based on the response of one moderator without any information about the platform or its history, that we don’t. The actions of one moderator do not represent the views of the entire dev team. Discrimination starts when people make assumptions about a group whether it be race, gender, religion, etc. If one assumes that the views and actions of the entire team are the same as one individual’s, then you have already discriminated - the very thing we are fighting against.
Lastly, if you do not agree with our policies, PLEASE uninstall this game and play another game where you feel safer where you do agree with the policy. Don’t force yourself to play a game you don’t like. Problem solved.
Have a good day.