The Truth About Sels And Bex
Why Write This?
"Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
- George Santayana
Rewind 11 years to 2009, browse through Syrnia forums till you find a post by Sels, and you might notice something strange. In her signature, you'll see the text:
"You have married Jop! What a wonderful day!"
"You have married Jop! What a wonderful day!"
Hang on a sec - Sels was married to JOP? I thought they were arch-enemies!
Sels does have a habit of making enemies, especially from the people once closest to her.
Why does this matter? To many of you (happily) it won't. But, to those of you who work for the game, or are thinking of doing so, it probably will do at some point. Take it from someone who's done the job for 8+ years. It's also surprising the 'mod-unrelated' damage Sels has done to players, friendships and clans since she joined in 2008. So it may affect you after all. The purpose of this article is to reveal the truth about Syrnia's most corrupt and narcissistic bully (Sels) and her protegee (Bex), so that the poison they spread might be drawn from the game forever.
Oh come on - it's only a game!
Yeah... except it's not only a game. Syrnia is both a game and an online community. As such, it can be used a platform for all kinds of bullying and abuse which have absolutely nothing to do with gameplay and are, in fact, banned by the game rules. To use an extreme example: if Wickerman reappeared and used Syrnia as a platform to groom underage children for abuse, would you say it's only a game? Of course not, because the game is entirely irrelevant to his behaviour. The same principle applies to Sels. Some of the harm she's caused has been superficial. Other things have been serious, such as damaging the physical health of an elderly lady (Gumby). Is that what you call a game? And she's been getting away with it for years. Some of these abuses are old, some are recent, and some are still going on today.
When this blog post is complete, it will catalogue abuses from 2009 to 2020.
When this blog post is complete, it will catalogue abuses from 2009 to 2020.
How Sels Rose To Power
It's time to be brutally honest. As in 'Simon Cowell' honest. Sels makes Frank Underwood look like Marie Osmond. She gossips about people behind their backs, spreads half-truths to blacken their names, NEVER takes responsibility for her actions, tries to control EVERYTHING, throws tantrums when she can't get her way, plays people off against each other, trolls players in chat, whispers and forum, and has incited more drama on Syrnia than you'll see in ten series of Jerry Springer. It is said that a Black Mamba once bit Sels... and died.
As well as malevolent, she's also incompetent. Sels has mismanaged numerous Mod events, failed to communicate clearly and precisely what she wants and punishes people inconsistently. So the question arises: how on Earth did she come to power?
Back around 2009, M2H was still active in the game. He'd learned that Sels was mother of a child who played Syrnia (Eragon33) and that she'd joined in order to make sure he was safe online. At the time, there weren't many adults of Sels' age who played the game, let alone concerned mothers. So Mike (M2H) thought it would be a great idea to make Sels a mod. At the time, Sels was also active in chat and in the game, and had yet to display many of her nastier qualities to the public.
Sels Poisons the Mod Team
Sels' first mod colleagues included Maggie, ladyraven143, Rami and Evert. Rami sadly passed away some years ago, so her voice has been silenced. Yet one need only learn the mind of aussiebeast, her former husband, to see how badly Sels treated her. There's an In Memoriam thread for Rami in the Syrnia forums. Despite the fact that Rami was one of the most upstanding mods we've ever had, Sels, her colleague, didn't even bother to write anything on her memorial thread. That in itself reveals the poisonous rift Sels crafted between them.
Sels backstabbed all four of the above colleagues, bitching behind their backs to people she confided in as allies, even to non-staff members of her own clan. How do I know this? Partly because Savanah and I were two of her early confidantes. Partly because others came to me and revealed the truth. Just ask Pyriel28 about Sels' gossipmongering. Sels also attacked ladyraven's decisions on a regular basis, attempting to enforce her own control over the game. Partly in consequence, ladyraven quit. At around this time, Jop and brogs were exposing widespread corruption in the Mod Team. Evert, who'd been grooming a 15-year-old girl for sex on the game, froze Jop for whistleblowing and Sels refused to back up her Syrnia hubby. THIS is what made Jop mad and this, in turn, led to countless attacks on the game by Jop. Over the course of the next 5 years, Syrnia suffered multiple DDoS attacks. Tlgrounds was hacked and severely vandalised. Cheat scripts for Syrnia were released and freely distributed. All due to mod corruption that Sels both allowed in others and took part in herself. And finally, Sels backstabbed Evert, which I'm sure he'll tell you all about if you ask him.
Most embarrassingly of all for Sels, Jop released Syrnia's secret chat logs, including texts of player whispers and *confidential* conversations in Mod Tools. For Sels, these logs proved highly incriminating.
Most embarrassingly of all for Sels, Jop released Syrnia's secret chat logs, including texts of player whispers and *confidential* conversations in Mod Tools. For Sels, these logs proved highly incriminating.
After reading the leaked logs, M2H said he was, quote, "shocked" at Sels' behaviour. He was shocked out how she'd been stabbing people in the back and poisoning players against each other. He was shocked at her constant naysaying and bitching. He was shocked at her favouritism and how she victimised her enemies. M2H told Sels, in no uncertain terms, to back off. Unfortunately for Syrnia, M2H was virtually inactive at this time and, when Hazgod quit, Sels became de facto admin of Syrnia. If M2H had kept a closer eye on things, this would never have happened. But, as the old timers among you probably know, M2H had long since lost interest in the game. This was why, in time, he sold Syrnia to Borneo.
At one point, Affliction expressed interest in buying the game and wrote to M2H to make an offer. M2H never replied. There's a reason for this - Sels got wind of Affy's notion of buying the game, wrote to M2H herself and did a hatchet job on him. Clearly no one deserves to control Syrnia, unless they meet with Sels' approval. Sels even told me Affy would make a bad admin (goodness knows how she'd know this!) and that she'd emailed M2H to warn him.
At one point, Affliction expressed interest in buying the game and wrote to M2H to make an offer. M2H never replied. There's a reason for this - Sels got wind of Affy's notion of buying the game, wrote to M2H herself and did a hatchet job on him. Clearly no one deserves to control Syrnia, unless they meet with Sels' approval. Sels even told me Affy would make a bad admin (goodness knows how she'd know this!) and that she'd emailed M2H to warn him.
Sels Poisons Her Own Clan
From a message from Kari to Foozard:
It would take too long to describe all the details of how Sels bullied Marley and (twice) ruined DRS, so I'll summarise as best I can.
In early 2011, I returned to Syrnia from a 2-year break. I was surprised to see that DRS had become a virtually extinct clan, with Sels the only active player. Her son Aarron also logged in, occasionally, and there were several other inactives. It was under Sels' leadership that this once vibrant clan had collapsed. Sels had antagonised many players in the game, including Jop and the creator of DRS (aussiebeast).
Aussiebeast was particularly angry with Sels, since Sels frequently persecuted his wife Rami (RIP) in Mod Tools. Due to these factors, and Sels' inability to recruit new members due to laziness, the clan had all but died.
I was subsequently given leadership of DRS and worked hard to restore it. During this time period, Marley joined the game.
In those days, Marley was extremely active on Syrnia. Her bright and positive attitude were a credit to the clan and she engaged frequently in Clanchat and quite often in Worldchat. The time came for me to pass over leadership, as RL was becoming busy and my game time became limited. I chose to pass clan leadership to Marley. At this time, DRS had an active membership of about 25, with around 15 less active accounts.
Marley was perhaps the most gifted clan leader I have ever seen, and I've said as much to the likes of Gumby and Prometheus. She continued to recruit members to the clan and to run clan games and contests. Clanchat was bustling and vibrant, and I've never seen Marley happier. At its peak, DRS was one of the busiest clans on Syrnia, with an active membership of about 35 and around 20 less active members.
But one person disagreed with my decision to make Marley leader: Sels. She constantly tried to undermine Marley's leadership and decisions, posting sarcastic lines at her in clanchat/ whispers and attempting to turn other clannies against her. This was genuinely painful for Marley, since she'd always looked up to Sels as a friend and as the mother figure of the clan. Sels even used to leave the clan (temporarily of course) in a huff, in order to make a point and to hurt the clan leader, knowing she could make Marley feel guilty at will.
The sarcasm, insults and negativity continued, as Sels continued to pound Marley in whispers over months. When I intervened to tell her to stop, Sels left the clan again for a brief while - playing the wounded victim. Sels basically wanted to run the clan as puppet master, without actually having to do any of the work - Marley even refers to this in one of the links I've posted as evidence below.
Eventually, Marley couldn't handle the bullying anymore, so she resigned as leader of DRS and left the clan. I left too, in protest of how Marley had been treated, as did a number of the clan's leading members.
But this wasn't enough for Sels. She kept on abusing Marley in whispers with sarcastic comments and attacks for well over a year. Evidence for this is in my second link below.
Sels then passed over leadership to a member who was all but inactive and who didn't really understand the game, simply because she'd been friends with this guy for a long time. This is a typical 'Sels' thing to do.
As you might expect, DRS withered and virtually died. Sels had run the clan into the ground... for a second time.
What Sels did to Marley was horrible, and Marley just wants to forget about it and move on - which I respect.
However, Marley's case is just one small example of the abuse and bullying that Sels has inflicted over a decade on Syrnia. She even caused Gumby's physical health to deteriorate considerably due to her relentless bullying, and, along with Deedar, is the reason why Gumby quit being a mod. I don't intend to talk about this forever - I too will move on. But first, I'm going to tell the truth to everyone who will listen. There are many out there who desire and deserve the justice that freedom of speech can afford. Thank you for taking the time to read all this. I've linked you to some evidence below:
Sels Poisons Bex Against Karisade
After Sels ruined DRS, relations between herself and her one-time friend Karisade deteriorated. In particular, Sels was jealous of Kari's ability to create fun games for Syrnians to play - something for which she had no talent. Around this time, Bex joined the Mod team and Kari designed 90% of Nem's Island - the 2014 Christmas contest. This contest provided hours of gameplay, attracted dozens of entrants and was the most popular and high-concept Christmas game that Syrnia had ever staged.
Following this success for Kari, Sels lavished praise on Bex at every opportunity, whilst criticising Kari at every turn. Sels deliberately played the two off against each other till finally Bex cracked. Sels intensified her attacks after Borneo appointed Kari in charge of the Legendarium. Now Sels, an envious narcissist to the core, had two reasons to hate Kari.
1) Unlike her, he could design fun games
2) Unlike her, he could write short stories in a variety of styles, with literary sophistication
Here is an (incomplete) list of some of the crappy things Sels did during this time (early 2015- early 2017): -
1) Asked Kari to recode a treasure hunt contest, then to add unnecessary security to it, then refused to release it. This wasted dozens of hours of Kari's time, for which Sels never apologised.
2) Attacked Kari for supporting Fabius's popular riddle games that Fabius staged in chat and deleted Fabius's contest post from forum, causing Fabius to quit with his riddle games forever.
3) Attacked Kari for not helping Bex with a contest. In reality, Kari had not only helped Bex but also volunteered to help some more. Kari asked Bex to email him contest entries so that he could mark them if she wanted. Bex said thanks but didn't email him any. Sels then attacked Kari for not having marked them. <-- typical Sels logic.
4) Tried to undermine Kari's 2015 Christmas contest, for which he'd done a tremendous amount of work. Not only did she refuse to participate, she also trolled Kari's requests for playtesters in mod forum. And this woman had the nerve to attack Kari for not supporting Bex!
5) Launched a sustained attack on Kari simply for logging into Mod Tools to politely ask if a mistake had been made with a mute on Prometheus (he'd been wrongly given 2 hours for using the f-bomb instead of 1). Sels basically wanted Kari not to log into tools but to ask Prometheus to send a ticket, so that she and the mods beneath her could routinely ignore it.
6) Refused to congratulate Kari on a single contest he made or a single story he wrote. Bex, on the other hand, only needed to log into mod tools before Sels was salivating over her.
7) Supported trolls such as Shinobi who accused Kari of making rape jokes (a complete falsehood) in chat. Even when Kari exposed this falsehood, Sels refused to retract her claws.
Bex first cracked when Kari offered to provide bonus prizes for one of Bex's contests. She sent Kari a hysterical message that attacked him in numerous ways, before saying she'd had enough and that she'd be quitting working as a mod. Kari wrote nicely to her and persuaded Bex to stay on, explaining he was only trying to help her out.
The sheer venom in Bex's message was solid gold proof of the poison Sels had, for months, been whispering into her veins. But things were about to escalate...
Bex Poisons Her Clan Against Karisade
Finally, behind his back, Sels, Bex and Deedar attacked Kari together in mod tools. A spiteful character assassination. During this trumped-up drivel, Bex stating that Kari should apologise to the entire mod team! (even though he'd done nothing wrong once again). Kari had finally had enough.
Kari sent Bex a message, calling her out for stabbing him in the back. In response, Bex got fraggelmupp, the leader of TLO, to kick Karisade from the clan, dragging staff issues into player relationships in a profoundly unprofessional and unethical manner. Furthermore, Kari had been a member of TLO much longer than Bex. He had also contributed massively to clan entertainment, coding such clan games as the Valkyrie and Sam quest that you can still play today (via the Syrnia Stats website).
In return for his kindness and commitment, fraggelmupp kicked Kari from the clan without even bothering to ask for Kari's side of the story. This was not the first time fraggelmupp had acted like a self-centred jerk. Valkyrie can tell you more about that.
But why did fraggelmupp do what he did? Simply check out the number of family members Bex had in TLO, plus their aggregate total levels and xp, and you have your answer. Fraggelmupp is one of those leaders that cares more about stats and pixels than he does about human beings.
But even this wasn't enough for them. A number of former TLO clannies of Kari - lizardking, Roguelicious and Joh - started trolling Kari in chat. Why? Ostensibly because a number of TLO members left TLO in disgust after Kari had been kicked. One of these was Sergeant Sam, one of the founding members of TLO, who also boasted some of the highest stats in TLO. One can easily see why a man like fraggelmupp would be deeply hurt at his departure...
Instead of taking responsibility for his actions, fraggelmupp threw a tantrum. He posted a notice on TLO clan forum, stating that he was offering bounties for any member of TSoH killed in the Outlands. (TSoH was the clan that Kari and Sam had now joined). In so doing, fraggelmupp fast cemented his rep in TSoH as a deeply unpleasant and overentitled prat.
Meanwhile, the TLO trio of trolls (lizardking, Roguelicious and Joh) kept trolling Kari. Interestingly none of them bothered, even once, to ask Kari for his side of the story. What men of great character! As you can see, their clan, TLO, is perhaps the least loyal in all Syrnia.
Sels Bullies Gumby Out Of Mod Tools
Sels once told Savanah, in whispers, that Gumby was, quote, "useless" as a mod. I know this because I was in a relationship with Savanah at the time. In actual fact, Gumby got on way better with the players than Sels ever did, which evidently aroused Sels' envy. Sels was also aware that Gumby was a friend of Prometheus, with whom Sels was conducting a feud that ended up lasting from 2010-2017. Why did Sels hate Prometheus so? Because, back in 2010, Prometheus had questioned the appropriacy of having an In Memoriam post for a deceased Syrnian, because said player had been a known cheat. I'm sure that many disagree with Prometheus' opinion. Sels, however, took this single incident as the basis for a seven year feud. During this time, Sels not only trolled Prometheus and spouted venom behind his back, but also attacked those who just happened to be friends with him. So Gumby found herself in the firing line, even though she'd done absolutely nothing wrong.
Like many people who live alone and struggle to deal with mistakes in their lives, Sels has a penchant for nostalgia. This includes favouritism towards long-time Syrnia players (those she hasn't yet fallen out with). One such player is M S Scott, who, though a decent enough man, has frequently had trouble controlling his temper in chat. Sels proposed making him a guide, which I cautioned against, citing Scott's history. Scott was, nonetheless, appointed a guide and, surprise surprise, ended up losing his temper in Helpchat a little way down the line. At this point, Gumby was the mod who supervised the guides. To his credit, Scott approached Gumby and stated he didn't feel up to the job anymore. He resigned, Gumby politely accepted his resignation and they parted amicably. Then Sels logged in, found out, and all hell broke loose.
Once again, rationality went out the window. Instead of accepting her own mistake, Sels blamed Gumby for kicking Scott from the guide team, even though leaving was blatantly Scott's decision all the way. Sels had been told of Scott's unsuitability for the post and she'd ignored the information. Gumby had dealt with the situation perfectly professionally and now she was taking the flak for it. Sels threw an extended, major tantrum at Gumby before flouncing out of mod tools. This, however, was just a drop in the ocean.
Sels bullied Gumby for weeks on end, to the point that Gumby's physical health declined. Gumby was already quite ill and the drama that she'd been subjected to on Syrnia was taking its toll. Aside from feeling stressed and panicky every time she logged into mod tools, on account of Sels, she also suffered internal bleeding that this stress exacerbated. Gumby tried to tell Borneo but Borneo wasn't interested. She and I spoke about this at length on Facebook, and I shall append a link below that logs our conversations. These include the spat between Deedar and Borneo, in which Borneo showed himself a poor leader, Deedar showed himself a petty man, and, in the fallout that followed, Syrnia was deprived of pirate invasions for a lengthy while (Deedar's revenge on Borneo).
Conversations with Gumby on Bullying and Mod Corruption
"Never outshine the Master" - a rule worth remembering if you seek power anywhere. Yet, for some, not shining is a default position rather than a strategy. Enter Bex.
In terms of competence, Bex wouldn't be anyone's choice as a leader. She has no impressive skills or qualifications, little education, a weak will, a temperamental personality, poor management skills, can't code and can't take criticism. She is quite good at designing simple games where you see a picture and have to guess which Syrnia player that picture represents. I'll give her that.
Here's a brief guide, for the mediocre who can't be bothered to better themselves, on how to rise to power on Syrnia.
This is Bex's story. Of course, there's a considerable downside to this route to power. It relies on you having virtually no life outside Syrnia. It relies on you sucking up to people in power, even if they behave in a morally reprehensible fashion. And, if you have talents or skills, it relies on you suppressing them. None of this proved any problem for Bex.
There was another factor: being in the right place at the right time. Sels just happened to be in power when Bex became a mod and soon sought someone on the mod team whom she could confide in and infect with her poison. By mid-2015, Sels was pretty much isolated in mod tools, so she started lavishing praise and attention on Bex, who became her willing apprentice.
Following a complaint I made to Borneo about Sels in 2017, Sels drew up the most ridiculous hierarchy of power and posted it in mod forum. It may still be there today, so mods - please do check it out and take it as a warning. Sels placed herself and Bex in charge of virtually every single department - chat, forum, bugs, multis, contests, you name it. As an added slight to me, she didn't include the Legendarium department at all (I added this later!) She then announced that if anyone had a problem with anyone in future, they should contact the head of the relevant department (not Borneo). One doesn't have to be Sherlock Holmes to perceive the rather obvious flaw here. Sels hated people going to Borneo directly; it interfered with her control and meant her authority could be overridden. Yet, if complainants had to go through either herself or her puppet, it meant that Sels could, directly or indirectly, control EVERYTHING.
But then the unexpected occurred. Prometheus, an enemy of Sels, became a Guide. Deedar, an ally of Sels, quit modding in late 2017 due to his spat with Borneo. Bex became increasingly unwilling to side with Sels after Sels bullied Gumby out of modding. This was partly because I'd made a heartfelt complaint to Borneo, detailing reams of abuse Sels had inflicted on players and staff over the years, including Gumby. Around that time, Sels started behaving more politely towards me - she'd evidently had her wings clipped. And now Sels had a new job in real life, where she was finding plenty of easier outlets for her darker nature.
And so, in early 2018, Sels took a humongous break from Syrnia and Bex rose to replace her as top mod. Around the time, two new mods were recruited to replace Gumby and Deedar (Scary Bacon was one) and Bex began to mentor them. At one point, I happened to be in mod tools and casually gave the new mods a hint or two from my years of experience. Bex really didn't like that. She started criticising and bossing, stating that it was her job to mentor the new mods not mine. I calmly stated that I was simply giving them tips and mentioned that I have real-life teaching experience (I taught at a leading independent school and have 7 years' experience as a private academic tutor), which might prove useful. Bex liked that even less. She pronounced that my teaching experience meant nothing and that it was her job alone to mentor the new mods. This is what happens when someone with little skill and no qualifications feels threatened. If I'd sought power, I should have kept my mouth shut!
Yet I didn't seek power. There was a time, years ago, when I thought of becoming a backup coder for the game. Instead, when Borneo came to power in 2016, he chose Latvian Knight for this role, Cradle being the main coder. Latvian Knight soon got bored and quit and Borneo never bothered to replace him. By 2017, I was content with my work on the Legendarium and on developing a fan site for Syrnia (Syrnia Stats), whose purpose is to supplement (not replace) the info on TLGrounds. A while later, I began concentrating on real life, working at my writing skills, finishing my first novel, getting married, spending time with family, and doing preparatory work for my PhD, which I've now commenced. Thus, in 2018, I spent hardly any time on the game. I consequently switched from chat mod to forum mod, a less active role, and, in 2019, I resigned from my role as forum mod due to my focus on real life commitments. I still ran the Legendarium, but that was all. On the flip side, Borneo gave Bex admin perms in 2019 and Sels, though she'd been inactive on Syrnia for over a year, remained a senior mod. Things could have worked out well from there, if Sels and Bex had basically accepted they'd got what they wanted and behaved like decent people. We could all have just put the past behind us. It would have been wonderful, yet it was not to be.
Before I continue, I'd like to make two important points. So far, I've only addressed historical injustices that happened over 2 years ago. Many have responded, saying things like:
My first point. None of these responses ever claim:
My second point: these injustices are still going on today, and people are still suffering from them. That makes it kind of hard to move on, and also, I dare say, ethically wrong. At the very least, the truth should be aired as a warning to all about certain corrupt and abusive staff members on Syrnia. Let us now explore more recent injustices...
Bex's Folly
Mid-2019. Bex is acting admin, with power to do virtually anything she likes. But why did Borneo give Bex admin powers? Few small indie games have two admins, so why Syrnia?
Let's have a look at Borneo's tenure of Syrnia. The phrase "absent leader" springs to mind. Since Borneo took over, in early 2016, the only impressive update he'd implemented till late 2019 was the revamped donation system, which allowed him to take our money in a fascinating bricolage of ways. That's three and a half years. During that time, Borneo would vanish with trace and at times without explanation, only to reappear months later. He'd refuse to answer important messages sent to him by game staff (more than once he refused to answer mine). He'd barely log into the game and be present to communicate with. When genuine trouble flared up, he'd usually blame the players instead of investigating it. "Why can't you all stop complaining! You're slowing me down!"
Yet Borneo needed no help slowing down. The man took three and a half years to add https (secure) status to Syrnia. This usually takes about 15 minutes. Borneo could have sorted it on his phone at the airport on the way to one of his exotic vacations, but no. It swiftly became clear that Borneo was bored with his new role. Just compare M2H and his brothers to Borneo and his team. The M2H bros achieved more in a fortnight than Borneo did in three and a half years. There are Legendarium stories, written in 2016, describing updates that have yet to happen. One of these updates is really elementary (a new creature). Borneo also promised to add stats to the countless useless collectors items that clog the game - another facile task he's failed to accomplish in four years. Even with decent Halloween 2019 events, Borneo falls far short of anyone who might be called a competent, focused leader. What's more, he insists on overseeing and controlling everything, yet can't code a lick. Cradle the coder, who's married with a young child and works full time, often can't coordinate with Borneo. So everything moves at a painfully slow pace. But, if Borneo appointed an admin to stand in for him, he might have more time to spend on the dev site working on updates...
Thus, in mid-2019, Borneo hired Bex. Why Bex? Bex is online and active for dozens of hours per month. Bex is unthreateningly mediocre. Bex does what she'd told. It didn't seem to matter to him that Bex is also angst-ridden and deeply insecure, that she can't take criticism and is prone to lashing out and overreacting. For example, when I offered to provide bonus prizes for a contest Bex had run, Bex had a hysterical meltdown and said she was quitting modding (see above). When she and I had a staff-related falling out in mod tools, Bex took the argument into the game. She went to fraggelmupp and threatened to quit the clan because of me, leading to fraggelmupp dumping me instead (see above). When I complained about Sels and told people in TLO how Bex had shafted me, Bex quit Syrnia for approximately six months. Is this the kind of person who's leadership material? I doubt Borneo cares. All Borneo seems to care about is having someone he knows he can rely on to be active and oversee Syrnia, even if they're prone to screw up and treat certain players like crap. Another example - BOOYAKA.
Now BOOYAKA isn't to everyone's tastes and was prone to lash out in Worldchat, leading to frequent punishment (fair enough). Hazgod used to say: "Just give him his mute." Bex, however, put him on a final warning and then froze him from the game for teasing Deedar in Worldchat. The teasing wasn't vulgar or explicit and is, ironically, the kind of behaviour Deedar often indulges in unpunished. I'm not saying BOOYAKA is anyone's example of a perfect player, yet Bex went way overboard on this one, as she so often does. In consequence, BOO, a long-time player, created alts which were identified and subsequently frozen. He then began to spam Helpchat with porn links using proxies that he and I (and other protestors) share. In doing so, some of you have even mistaken BOOYAKA for me. Yet all this could have been averted if Bex had, in the first place, been sensible.
We should have seen the signs. Years ago, the punishment system was being revamped and Bex proposed some seriously heavy punishments for repeat offenders. Draconian punishments. Punishments that massively outweighed the crime. A pattern you'll see in Bex's behaviour is that she hates conflict and criticism, and likes to abuse her powers to squash her opponents as quickly and painlessly (for her) as possible. In short, Bex is a very poor choice of leader for anyone who cares about player welfare. It's true that Bex has a 'sweetheart' rep among some players. This is because: -
So what caused the current drama? Many of you will have heard twisted versions of the truth. Now, at long last, I reveal my side of the story to all. I posted this on Syrnia Stats but the format didn't make for easy reading, so here it is in blog form.
Bex was now admin, but she didn't tell me. Loki wrote a story called Masters of Magic to introduce a clan-based game on Syrnia. The Syrnia Facebook page calls it: "Syrnia's first clan-based game." This is, in fact, incorrect. Syrnia's first clan-based game was devised and run by myself back in 2013 and involved many dozens of players. Yet another slap in the face!
Bex overrode my authority and posted her story as official Legendarium lore, without even letting me know. The Legendarium was the one tiny area of Syrnia for which I was responsible, but Bex wanted to control that too. She could easily have posted her story in the non-lore section of the Legendarium, seeing as her clan game was not an official game update. That's where such stories belong - the lore section is for game updates, as explained in the Legendarium intro. But no.
The Masters of Magic story was a sprawling, chaotic mess, attempting to explain a wide range of developments in Syrnia myth and doing it badly. For example, the highly unoriginal idea of portals between worlds was used to explain how Syrnia came to be populated. Apparently, when these portals appeared, people just wandered through from another world and started setting up shop. As you do. In reality, if such a portal appeared, and people dared enter it and vanished into nothingness, you'd avoid it like the plague! Bit of a plot hole there. The portals also contradict lore I'd written previously, which shows sloppiness and further disrespect on the part of Loki and Bex. Further, the standard of prose is poor. It's written in bland and artless English, the kind that could easily be knocked up by the schoolboy next door. The only potentially interesting conflict in the story - a fight between two Masters of Magic - isn't built up or exploited to any effect whatsoever. They have an argument and one zaps the other. End of. Schoolboyish and banal, to say the least.
This all wouldn't have mattered so much, if Bex had actually asked my permission beforehand. Or, as admin, she could have informed me that she now had admin powers to do whatever she liked, and told me of her plans. But no. Bex couldn't even be bothered to afford me that basic courtesy, in spite of all the crap she'd already given me on Syrnia.
Enough was enough. I was sick of being the nice guy all the time and getting shafted for it. This, for me, was the last straw.
I logged into mod tools and expressed my displeasure. Some variations to this story claim that I swore at Bex. Not true. I did drop an f-bomb, but it wasn't directed towards anyone as an insult. Rather it was an expression of my frustration. In consequence, what did Bex do? Did she think:
No. Bex saw conflict and criticism, which again she failed to handle. Massively overreacting, Bex removed my mod tools and kicked me out of the Legendarium. That's when the squish really hit the fan - squish that Bex and Borneo, once again, spectacularly mismanaged.
Escalation
Borneo was nowhere to be seen. I complained in Mod Forum and had my comments censored. I complained in tickets and received the weakest arguments in response. I complained in chat and got muted. Eventually, Borneo resurfaced.
I complained to Borneo and Borneo, despite having read my message, ignored it for two weeks. He then wrote back saying he basically didn't care and that it was time for us to part ways. Considering all the free work I'd done for Borneo, this dismissive and disrespectful response infuriated me even more. Borneo had a chance to be diplomatic and work out a compromise solution. Instead, his ingratitude and ignorance fanned the flames. He'd treated Deedar in similar fashion. Indeed, when Deedar complained about Borneo in chat, here's what Borneo said in response:
Now I'm no friend of Deedar, but at least I can sympathise, to an extent, with his plight. After all, here I found myself treated with similar disdain.
I kept complaining and Bex and co. basically fast-tracked me through the punishment system. They banned me, and everyone else, from advertising my fan site on Syrnia, which further enraged me. A first formal warning is usually only given after months or years of conflict. I received mine within weeks. Finally, Borneo surfaced in chat and I ripped into him. I didn't go mental or do anything uber-explicit. I just told him what a poor and corrupt leader he was. Then I received a message, stating I'd been frozen from the game. Never mind my final formal warning. Straight to freeze - do not pass Go, do not collect £200! The freeze had obviously yet to take effect, seeing as I was still logged in and could read the message. And yet, this was the last time I could exist on Syrnia as Karisade.
Hold on a sec - I thought you were frozen for multis!
No, that's another mod-perpetrated lie. I only created multis after I was frozen, by which time I felt fully-justified in doing so. Why would I create them beforehand without covering my IP? Their lie makes zero sense!
It was only after my freeze that I, and my sympathisers, really ramped up our attacks on the Bex machine. I'd been patient for so long and repeatedly been spat on and ignored, and at last unjustly frozen. There's truth in that old adage: "beware the fury of a patient man".
My real-life wife, Minerva, still played Syrnia. Sadly (but predictably), she found herself attacked in chat by players to whom she'd done nothing. She stridently defended me and my actions, for which she was subsequently frozen. Now if that's not corruption, I don't know what is: freezing someone simply for defending a wrongly-maligned former player against ignorant attacks. If you need any further proof that staff corruption is alive and well on Syrnia, you need only look to Minerva's martyrdom.
Another case in point regards a friend of mine from another game (Renaissance Kingdoms), whom I introduced to Syrnia and whom you may know as Lyssa. Lyssa too was unjustly frozen from the game, her only 'crime' being that she supported me in Worldchat. You may hear it said that Lyssa and I are the same person, which is false and easily proven so. Smeagol (Ancient Warrior) has seen proof that Lyssa's a different person, proof that includes Lyssa's 12-year-old account on Kongregate. But never mind that, Bex and co. rarely let piffling things like 'evidence' get in the way of their 'justice'. Further, Integral, who's no friend of mine but who was kind to Lyssa, even donated real life money to Lyssa's account to help get her started, for which both she and I are grateful. If you're reading this, Borneo, perhaps you'd be decent enough to give Integral a refund? Hmm... probably not. Refunds aren't really your style, are they? Oh well.
The Future
So what now? First let me address two misconceptions.
Let me continue now by stating my future plans. It is my intention to spread this blogpost to Syrnians past and present, so that all may learn the truth. This blog will remain alive for as long as Syrnia stands. I, myself, shall continue to play Syrnia, albeit under the radar, for I signed up to the game before Borneo, Sels and Bex were even heard of, and, despite their best efforts, I'll still be here when they're gone, or till Syrnia falls. Syrnia Quest 2 will be released and widely distributed (for a brief time for free) in 2020. I shall then re-release the game for commercial sale, which was not part of my original plan. But, seeing as how I've donated so much time, money and effort to Syrnia and been royally shafted, I figure I deserve a little financial compensation. Finally, I may also have a few sweet surprises in store, but, for now, I'll keep them under my hat! 😎
A la prochaine...
Related Links
Syrnia Stats Fansite
Conversations With Gumby On Bullying And Mod Corruption
Sels Bullies Marley
Sels' Irrational Hatred
Valkyrie and Sam Game
Nem's Island Game
Fixed Treasure Hunt Contest (Sels refused to release it, so I released it as a clan game instead)
Syrnia Quest 1 (Download and play!)
Like many people who live alone and struggle to deal with mistakes in their lives, Sels has a penchant for nostalgia. This includes favouritism towards long-time Syrnia players (those she hasn't yet fallen out with). One such player is M S Scott, who, though a decent enough man, has frequently had trouble controlling his temper in chat. Sels proposed making him a guide, which I cautioned against, citing Scott's history. Scott was, nonetheless, appointed a guide and, surprise surprise, ended up losing his temper in Helpchat a little way down the line. At this point, Gumby was the mod who supervised the guides. To his credit, Scott approached Gumby and stated he didn't feel up to the job anymore. He resigned, Gumby politely accepted his resignation and they parted amicably. Then Sels logged in, found out, and all hell broke loose.
Once again, rationality went out the window. Instead of accepting her own mistake, Sels blamed Gumby for kicking Scott from the guide team, even though leaving was blatantly Scott's decision all the way. Sels had been told of Scott's unsuitability for the post and she'd ignored the information. Gumby had dealt with the situation perfectly professionally and now she was taking the flak for it. Sels threw an extended, major tantrum at Gumby before flouncing out of mod tools. This, however, was just a drop in the ocean.
Sels bullied Gumby for weeks on end, to the point that Gumby's physical health declined. Gumby was already quite ill and the drama that she'd been subjected to on Syrnia was taking its toll. Aside from feeling stressed and panicky every time she logged into mod tools, on account of Sels, she also suffered internal bleeding that this stress exacerbated. Gumby tried to tell Borneo but Borneo wasn't interested. She and I spoke about this at length on Facebook, and I shall append a link below that logs our conversations. These include the spat between Deedar and Borneo, in which Borneo showed himself a poor leader, Deedar showed himself a petty man, and, in the fallout that followed, Syrnia was deprived of pirate invasions for a lengthy while (Deedar's revenge on Borneo).
Conversations with Gumby on Bullying and Mod Corruption
Rise of an Insecure Tyrant
In terms of competence, Bex wouldn't be anyone's choice as a leader. She has no impressive skills or qualifications, little education, a weak will, a temperamental personality, poor management skills, can't code and can't take criticism. She is quite good at designing simple games where you see a picture and have to guess which Syrnia player that picture represents. I'll give her that.
Here's a brief guide, for the mediocre who can't be bothered to better themselves, on how to rise to power on Syrnia.
1) Play obsessively, for an average of at least 6 hours per day non-afk.
2) Play with several members of your family, who are also willing to put in serious non-afk time.
3) Once you all have high levels, join a powerful clan and use the clout of your combined levels and pixels to get your own way.
4) Find a powerful ally and mentor, one who's at least senior mod rank, whom you never challenge and who doesn't feel threatened by your talent or intelligence.
5) Be patient. Let your mediocrity shine. Play the waiting game. Wait until others get bored with the game and the admin chooses to rely on your dependably obsessive gameplay.
This is Bex's story. Of course, there's a considerable downside to this route to power. It relies on you having virtually no life outside Syrnia. It relies on you sucking up to people in power, even if they behave in a morally reprehensible fashion. And, if you have talents or skills, it relies on you suppressing them. None of this proved any problem for Bex.
There was another factor: being in the right place at the right time. Sels just happened to be in power when Bex became a mod and soon sought someone on the mod team whom she could confide in and infect with her poison. By mid-2015, Sels was pretty much isolated in mod tools, so she started lavishing praise and attention on Bex, who became her willing apprentice.
Following a complaint I made to Borneo about Sels in 2017, Sels drew up the most ridiculous hierarchy of power and posted it in mod forum. It may still be there today, so mods - please do check it out and take it as a warning. Sels placed herself and Bex in charge of virtually every single department - chat, forum, bugs, multis, contests, you name it. As an added slight to me, she didn't include the Legendarium department at all (I added this later!) She then announced that if anyone had a problem with anyone in future, they should contact the head of the relevant department (not Borneo). One doesn't have to be Sherlock Holmes to perceive the rather obvious flaw here. Sels hated people going to Borneo directly; it interfered with her control and meant her authority could be overridden. Yet, if complainants had to go through either herself or her puppet, it meant that Sels could, directly or indirectly, control EVERYTHING.
But then the unexpected occurred. Prometheus, an enemy of Sels, became a Guide. Deedar, an ally of Sels, quit modding in late 2017 due to his spat with Borneo. Bex became increasingly unwilling to side with Sels after Sels bullied Gumby out of modding. This was partly because I'd made a heartfelt complaint to Borneo, detailing reams of abuse Sels had inflicted on players and staff over the years, including Gumby. Around that time, Sels started behaving more politely towards me - she'd evidently had her wings clipped. And now Sels had a new job in real life, where she was finding plenty of easier outlets for her darker nature.
And so, in early 2018, Sels took a humongous break from Syrnia and Bex rose to replace her as top mod. Around the time, two new mods were recruited to replace Gumby and Deedar (Scary Bacon was one) and Bex began to mentor them. At one point, I happened to be in mod tools and casually gave the new mods a hint or two from my years of experience. Bex really didn't like that. She started criticising and bossing, stating that it was her job to mentor the new mods not mine. I calmly stated that I was simply giving them tips and mentioned that I have real-life teaching experience (I taught at a leading independent school and have 7 years' experience as a private academic tutor), which might prove useful. Bex liked that even less. She pronounced that my teaching experience meant nothing and that it was her job alone to mentor the new mods. This is what happens when someone with little skill and no qualifications feels threatened. If I'd sought power, I should have kept my mouth shut!
Yet I didn't seek power. There was a time, years ago, when I thought of becoming a backup coder for the game. Instead, when Borneo came to power in 2016, he chose Latvian Knight for this role, Cradle being the main coder. Latvian Knight soon got bored and quit and Borneo never bothered to replace him. By 2017, I was content with my work on the Legendarium and on developing a fan site for Syrnia (Syrnia Stats), whose purpose is to supplement (not replace) the info on TLGrounds. A while later, I began concentrating on real life, working at my writing skills, finishing my first novel, getting married, spending time with family, and doing preparatory work for my PhD, which I've now commenced. Thus, in 2018, I spent hardly any time on the game. I consequently switched from chat mod to forum mod, a less active role, and, in 2019, I resigned from my role as forum mod due to my focus on real life commitments. I still ran the Legendarium, but that was all. On the flip side, Borneo gave Bex admin perms in 2019 and Sels, though she'd been inactive on Syrnia for over a year, remained a senior mod. Things could have worked out well from there, if Sels and Bex had basically accepted they'd got what they wanted and behaved like decent people. We could all have just put the past behind us. It would have been wonderful, yet it was not to be.
Before I continue, I'd like to make two important points. So far, I've only addressed historical injustices that happened over 2 years ago. Many have responded, saying things like:
Oh, it's all in the past!
That was yeeeears ago!
Let it go man. No one cares. It's ancient history.
Grow up and move on.
Forget about it. It's all old stuff.
My first point. None of these responses ever claim:
It didn't happen.
My second point: these injustices are still going on today, and people are still suffering from them. That makes it kind of hard to move on, and also, I dare say, ethically wrong. At the very least, the truth should be aired as a warning to all about certain corrupt and abusive staff members on Syrnia. Let us now explore more recent injustices...
Bex's Folly
Mid-2019. Bex is acting admin, with power to do virtually anything she likes. But why did Borneo give Bex admin powers? Few small indie games have two admins, so why Syrnia?
Let's have a look at Borneo's tenure of Syrnia. The phrase "absent leader" springs to mind. Since Borneo took over, in early 2016, the only impressive update he'd implemented till late 2019 was the revamped donation system, which allowed him to take our money in a fascinating bricolage of ways. That's three and a half years. During that time, Borneo would vanish with trace and at times without explanation, only to reappear months later. He'd refuse to answer important messages sent to him by game staff (more than once he refused to answer mine). He'd barely log into the game and be present to communicate with. When genuine trouble flared up, he'd usually blame the players instead of investigating it. "Why can't you all stop complaining! You're slowing me down!"
Yet Borneo needed no help slowing down. The man took three and a half years to add https (secure) status to Syrnia. This usually takes about 15 minutes. Borneo could have sorted it on his phone at the airport on the way to one of his exotic vacations, but no. It swiftly became clear that Borneo was bored with his new role. Just compare M2H and his brothers to Borneo and his team. The M2H bros achieved more in a fortnight than Borneo did in three and a half years. There are Legendarium stories, written in 2016, describing updates that have yet to happen. One of these updates is really elementary (a new creature). Borneo also promised to add stats to the countless useless collectors items that clog the game - another facile task he's failed to accomplish in four years. Even with decent Halloween 2019 events, Borneo falls far short of anyone who might be called a competent, focused leader. What's more, he insists on overseeing and controlling everything, yet can't code a lick. Cradle the coder, who's married with a young child and works full time, often can't coordinate with Borneo. So everything moves at a painfully slow pace. But, if Borneo appointed an admin to stand in for him, he might have more time to spend on the dev site working on updates...
Thus, in mid-2019, Borneo hired Bex. Why Bex? Bex is online and active for dozens of hours per month. Bex is unthreateningly mediocre. Bex does what she'd told. It didn't seem to matter to him that Bex is also angst-ridden and deeply insecure, that she can't take criticism and is prone to lashing out and overreacting. For example, when I offered to provide bonus prizes for a contest Bex had run, Bex had a hysterical meltdown and said she was quitting modding (see above). When she and I had a staff-related falling out in mod tools, Bex took the argument into the game. She went to fraggelmupp and threatened to quit the clan because of me, leading to fraggelmupp dumping me instead (see above). When I complained about Sels and told people in TLO how Bex had shafted me, Bex quit Syrnia for approximately six months. Is this the kind of person who's leadership material? I doubt Borneo cares. All Borneo seems to care about is having someone he knows he can rely on to be active and oversee Syrnia, even if they're prone to screw up and treat certain players like crap. Another example - BOOYAKA.
Now BOOYAKA isn't to everyone's tastes and was prone to lash out in Worldchat, leading to frequent punishment (fair enough). Hazgod used to say: "Just give him his mute." Bex, however, put him on a final warning and then froze him from the game for teasing Deedar in Worldchat. The teasing wasn't vulgar or explicit and is, ironically, the kind of behaviour Deedar often indulges in unpunished. I'm not saying BOOYAKA is anyone's example of a perfect player, yet Bex went way overboard on this one, as she so often does. In consequence, BOO, a long-time player, created alts which were identified and subsequently frozen. He then began to spam Helpchat with porn links using proxies that he and I (and other protestors) share. In doing so, some of you have even mistaken BOOYAKA for me. Yet all this could have been averted if Bex had, in the first place, been sensible.
We should have seen the signs. Years ago, the punishment system was being revamped and Bex proposed some seriously heavy punishments for repeat offenders. Draconian punishments. Punishments that massively outweighed the crime. A pattern you'll see in Bex's behaviour is that she hates conflict and criticism, and likes to abuse her powers to squash her opponents as quickly and painlessly (for her) as possible. In short, Bex is a very poor choice of leader for anyone who cares about player welfare. It's true that Bex has a 'sweetheart' rep among some players. This is because: -
1) They've never seen her other, darker side. Most of this stays in mod tools, where her underlings, including her mod husband, cover for her. It reminds me of the way the old studio system used to protect its Hollywood stars. Many would lead lives of drunken debauchery while the studio squashed scandals and projected for them an all-American image. But, in my above link to Conversations With Gumby On Bullying And Mod Corruption, Gumby references Bex's paranoia as early as 2016.
2) It's easy to be a sweetheart when you're mollycoddled beyond belief and when everything's going your way. But, if Bex had been mistreated like myself or Gumby (among others), she'd have quit Syrnia years ago.
So what caused the current drama? Many of you will have heard twisted versions of the truth. Now, at long last, I reveal my side of the story to all. I posted this on Syrnia Stats but the format didn't make for easy reading, so here it is in blog form.
Bex was now admin, but she didn't tell me. Loki wrote a story called Masters of Magic to introduce a clan-based game on Syrnia. The Syrnia Facebook page calls it: "Syrnia's first clan-based game." This is, in fact, incorrect. Syrnia's first clan-based game was devised and run by myself back in 2013 and involved many dozens of players. Yet another slap in the face!
Bex overrode my authority and posted her story as official Legendarium lore, without even letting me know. The Legendarium was the one tiny area of Syrnia for which I was responsible, but Bex wanted to control that too. She could easily have posted her story in the non-lore section of the Legendarium, seeing as her clan game was not an official game update. That's where such stories belong - the lore section is for game updates, as explained in the Legendarium intro. But no.
The Masters of Magic story was a sprawling, chaotic mess, attempting to explain a wide range of developments in Syrnia myth and doing it badly. For example, the highly unoriginal idea of portals between worlds was used to explain how Syrnia came to be populated. Apparently, when these portals appeared, people just wandered through from another world and started setting up shop. As you do. In reality, if such a portal appeared, and people dared enter it and vanished into nothingness, you'd avoid it like the plague! Bit of a plot hole there. The portals also contradict lore I'd written previously, which shows sloppiness and further disrespect on the part of Loki and Bex. Further, the standard of prose is poor. It's written in bland and artless English, the kind that could easily be knocked up by the schoolboy next door. The only potentially interesting conflict in the story - a fight between two Masters of Magic - isn't built up or exploited to any effect whatsoever. They have an argument and one zaps the other. End of. Schoolboyish and banal, to say the least.
This all wouldn't have mattered so much, if Bex had actually asked my permission beforehand. Or, as admin, she could have informed me that she now had admin powers to do whatever she liked, and told me of her plans. But no. Bex couldn't even be bothered to afford me that basic courtesy, in spite of all the crap she'd already given me on Syrnia.
Enough was enough. I was sick of being the nice guy all the time and getting shafted for it. This, for me, was the last straw.
I logged into mod tools and expressed my displeasure. Some variations to this story claim that I swore at Bex. Not true. I did drop an f-bomb, but it wasn't directed towards anyone as an insult. Rather it was an expression of my frustration. In consequence, what did Bex do? Did she think:
1) Well, I can see where this guy's coming from. It's not the first time he's been shafted here. Can we seriously expect him to have unlimited patience when some of us have so little?
2) Well, I had a far bigger meltdown over something less than this, when Kari had the gall to offer bonus prizes for one of my contests. Perhaps I should practice what I preach and give him an apology, just as he then apologised to me?
3) This guy was a moderator for 8 years. He's designed and coded a useful fan site for Syrnia, that includes new skill calculators and a Syrnia SatNav. He's donated over £200 to the game. He's enlivened chat and helped countless players in Helpchat. He's designed and coded minigames and contests for Syrnia, such as Nem's Island, The Legacy of Eorec Songbreeze, Valkyrie and Sam, and Syrnia Quest 1 (which alone has had downloads from over 700 different players). He's written the Legendarium in a sophisticated and stylish hand, and encouraged others to write for it. He deserves a little bit of respect.
No. Bex saw conflict and criticism, which again she failed to handle. Massively overreacting, Bex removed my mod tools and kicked me out of the Legendarium. That's when the squish really hit the fan - squish that Bex and Borneo, once again, spectacularly mismanaged.
Escalation
Borneo was nowhere to be seen. I complained in Mod Forum and had my comments censored. I complained in tickets and received the weakest arguments in response. I complained in chat and got muted. Eventually, Borneo resurfaced.
I complained to Borneo and Borneo, despite having read my message, ignored it for two weeks. He then wrote back saying he basically didn't care and that it was time for us to part ways. Considering all the free work I'd done for Borneo, this dismissive and disrespectful response infuriated me even more. Borneo had a chance to be diplomatic and work out a compromise solution. Instead, his ingratitude and ignorance fanned the flames. He'd treated Deedar in similar fashion. Indeed, when Deedar complained about Borneo in chat, here's what Borneo said in response:
1) You were useful to me then Deedar, but not now.
2) I basically used you for your knowledge of the pirate system and your input on updates, as well as the countless hours you spent chat modding when we had a staff shortage.
3) You are now irrelevant to me and my plans.
Now I'm no friend of Deedar, but at least I can sympathise, to an extent, with his plight. After all, here I found myself treated with similar disdain.
I kept complaining and Bex and co. basically fast-tracked me through the punishment system. They banned me, and everyone else, from advertising my fan site on Syrnia, which further enraged me. A first formal warning is usually only given after months or years of conflict. I received mine within weeks. Finally, Borneo surfaced in chat and I ripped into him. I didn't go mental or do anything uber-explicit. I just told him what a poor and corrupt leader he was. Then I received a message, stating I'd been frozen from the game. Never mind my final formal warning. Straight to freeze - do not pass Go, do not collect £200! The freeze had obviously yet to take effect, seeing as I was still logged in and could read the message. And yet, this was the last time I could exist on Syrnia as Karisade.
Hold on a sec - I thought you were frozen for multis!
No, that's another mod-perpetrated lie. I only created multis after I was frozen, by which time I felt fully-justified in doing so. Why would I create them beforehand without covering my IP? Their lie makes zero sense!
It was only after my freeze that I, and my sympathisers, really ramped up our attacks on the Bex machine. I'd been patient for so long and repeatedly been spat on and ignored, and at last unjustly frozen. There's truth in that old adage: "beware the fury of a patient man".
My real-life wife, Minerva, still played Syrnia. Sadly (but predictably), she found herself attacked in chat by players to whom she'd done nothing. She stridently defended me and my actions, for which she was subsequently frozen. Now if that's not corruption, I don't know what is: freezing someone simply for defending a wrongly-maligned former player against ignorant attacks. If you need any further proof that staff corruption is alive and well on Syrnia, you need only look to Minerva's martyrdom.
Another case in point regards a friend of mine from another game (Renaissance Kingdoms), whom I introduced to Syrnia and whom you may know as Lyssa. Lyssa too was unjustly frozen from the game, her only 'crime' being that she supported me in Worldchat. You may hear it said that Lyssa and I are the same person, which is false and easily proven so. Smeagol (Ancient Warrior) has seen proof that Lyssa's a different person, proof that includes Lyssa's 12-year-old account on Kongregate. But never mind that, Bex and co. rarely let piffling things like 'evidence' get in the way of their 'justice'. Further, Integral, who's no friend of mine but who was kind to Lyssa, even donated real life money to Lyssa's account to help get her started, for which both she and I are grateful. If you're reading this, Borneo, perhaps you'd be decent enough to give Integral a refund? Hmm... probably not. Refunds aren't really your style, are they? Oh well.
The Future
So what now? First let me address two misconceptions.
1) Kari is basically the new Jop.
Wrong. There are similarities, in that both Jop and I were mistreated by an abusive system and that we struck back. However, there's a striking difference. Jop attacked the game itself. I've only attacked players that attacked me first, and that's my only intention. It wouldn't be hard for me to organise, in time, a massive DDoS on Syrnia. It's not rocket science. Yet I've no intention of doing so.
2) Kari wants to ruin Syrnia.
Wrong. I've spent literally hundreds of hours actively helping to build Syrnia. I still have friends who play Syrnia. The last thing I wish to do is ruin it. Rather, I wish to liberate it.
Let me continue now by stating my future plans. It is my intention to spread this blogpost to Syrnians past and present, so that all may learn the truth. This blog will remain alive for as long as Syrnia stands. I, myself, shall continue to play Syrnia, albeit under the radar, for I signed up to the game before Borneo, Sels and Bex were even heard of, and, despite their best efforts, I'll still be here when they're gone, or till Syrnia falls. Syrnia Quest 2 will be released and widely distributed (for a brief time for free) in 2020. I shall then re-release the game for commercial sale, which was not part of my original plan. But, seeing as how I've donated so much time, money and effort to Syrnia and been royally shafted, I figure I deserve a little financial compensation. Finally, I may also have a few sweet surprises in store, but, for now, I'll keep them under my hat! 😎
A la prochaine...
Related Links
Syrnia Stats Fansite
Conversations With Gumby On Bullying And Mod Corruption
Sels Bullies Marley
Sels' Irrational Hatred
Valkyrie and Sam Game
Nem's Island Game
Fixed Treasure Hunt Contest (Sels refused to release it, so I released it as a clan game instead)
Syrnia Quest 1 (Download and play!)
