User:Mister Nathan Marbles/Beating a Dead Horse
This page was split off from this page because we were entering a size range that might have broken the page on some browsers, and also because this is just getting silly now. I am archiving these things here more to avoid accusations of deleting others' statements than anything else.
Seriously. Don't bother reading this page. At the very least, read this page first.
The following section was 9A's contribution to this page, under the header "Postscript".
9A makes another "statement"
In my defense, it was a bit of fun. I'm from LA, I work long hours, and one day I found myself in hospital for two weeks. No small pain and being forced to rest still in a bed 24/7 lead me to reboot a character I signed up for months previously. I scoured the Wiki looking for an interesting project to freelance for. The horde was the The Big Bash (headed directly towards Shearbank at one point, but since changed direction. Yes, I was a GK/RK troublemaker. It was therapy. Yes, I extracted the urine via radio broadcast, chiming in with the Ranahan Radio slurs on /zom/ (And I was not the Ranahan Broadcaster: I object vehemently to this trial by inference: it was the Envoy). I got shot, I shot back. It all got nasty, people got really evil in their personal attacks on me ("I raped your mum" - "You're a pussy", "...faggot", "...psychopath"), as opposed to seeing it for what it was, a lark as you say in England. Who cares, really? Nathan Marbles cares. Finally I closed the whole thing because it was just getting stupid. Did I lose an argument? Given that it was all in jest, does it matter? Do I know how to edit Wiki? Is this important? Am I less of a person because style tags are unfamiliar to me? It became clear to me that what was a diversion for me was a very serious business for someone else: possibly, their whole life. My last words on the subject were not "No More". They were "Tabula Rasa." At which point I wiped my page. And I really wish you all the best. I'm back at work now, and I don't have much time for UD. It was sad that it all ended up so humorless. I think if you read through my original page entry, you'll see I was just laughing it all up. But I've learnt my lesson. /zom/ people take things way more seriously than could ever imagine. Peace to you all, wish you the best of luck. --9A 22:06, 9 February 2008 (UTC)
This is mostly repetitions of statements I've already responded to. For example my response to his radio denials is at the end of this section. Also, 9A wasn't shot (at least, not originally), he was stabbed. A minor quibble, but since almost nobody uses knives for PKing, the distinction does matter a tad. That information came out in the middle of the same section. It would be much easier to get somewhere in these discussions if the other party didn't periodically insist on re-starting from scratch.
As regards last words, that's not really a rebuttal. What I said was "9A replaced all text on the page with the words 'no more.'" The fact that he then replaced the words "no more." with the words "language is a virus." and eventually arrived (three edits later) at "tabula rasa" has nothing to do with anything. Those weren't his last words, either:
language is a virus.
- "Ahh. I understand how you operate now:
- Start an argument
- Lose the argument
- Delete the argument
- ????
- Profit!
- I can't help but note that attempting to erase all records of one's own defeats is a hallmark of totalitarian dictatorships. Who exactly is supposed to be the fascist here?--Mister Nathan Marbles 02:45, 19 January 2008 (UTC)
- -tabula rasa. --9A 04:10, 19 January 2008 (UTC)
- So you want a clean slate? After targeting my group for serial murder and harassment for the stupidest of reasons? And without even so much as an apology? How about 'no.'--Mister Nathan Marbles 04:21, 19 January 2008 (UTC)
- -tabula rasa. --9A 04:10, 19 January 2008 (UTC)
9A responded to the above several times, each time wiping his own previous statement to implant a new version:
- tabula rasa: I'm going to clean the slate of /zom/. --9A 04:34, 19 January 2008 (UTC)
- imagine an empty space where /zom/ once stood. --9A 04:34, 19 January 2008 (UTC)
- yeah do what scoutboy said. see you in the junkyard. tabula rasa- think laterally.--9A 04:41, 19 January 2008 (UTC)
Those responses add up to the conclusion that he wasn't asking for forgiveness, but threatening /zom/ (and me personally) with more in-game violence. And we're the ones taking this too seriously...
The text of the following section is a different discussion which occurred on 9A's user talk.
9A "Quits" Urban Dead
Or I guess you're just a troll with too much time on his hands. Take up a hobby. Russian Roulette, for example.--SeveredChild13 21:56, 9 February 2008 (UTC)
- Please, you people... are so weird. I'm not the one with a group and an IRC. For fucks sake. I play once every three days. Less even. --9A 22:02, 9 February 2008 (UTC)
- Now we're weird for having a group? Do you even read the things you type?--Mister Nathan Marbles 05:13, 10 February 2008 (UTC)
- No, because you think I'm a troll. Anyway, this is my last day of play, so I reiterate: it was meant to be fun, a diversion. I am very sorry that I have upset you so much that your group members need to keep coming to my page long after I have stopped even using it, telling me how wak I am because I don't know enough about wiki-editing or UD history or truth or civility or politics, and that I'm going to die, and you're going to rape members of my family, and I'm a pussy, a faggot, a psychopath and should go play Russian Roulette, or that I don't understand basic English or read my own words. It's very depressing to scout about the game and find so many of you have my name (my character's name, I should say) with cold words of hate around it. I guess that's the truth about violence though: kill and you will be hated. I never actually gave a shit about /zom/. I gave a shit about the illiterate knuckleheads who went too far in their adolescent machismo, and made it personal. After a while it became impossible to tell any of you apart, as you seem so hellbent on defending each other. I like you, Marbles, actually: you're a bit weird (but then so am I) and apparently into Goth-stuff (where we differ greatly, because I'm not really down with all that, too maudlin for me), but you're clever and creative with it, and you can't ask more of a person than that. I never put any real effort into the debate, mainly because I really didn't expect any level of intelligence from any of you. But you proved me wrong. That was my bad, because mistakes were made, and I left holes in my argument (it was all reactive, off the cuff and improvised). I could have done a much better job of it if I'd actually cared and put any effort in (they said the same thing on my school report cards).
- Now we're weird for having a group? Do you even read the things you type?--Mister Nathan Marbles 05:13, 10 February 2008 (UTC)
- So, final lessons here: maybe UD is less of a game than I thought: maybe it's a model for life, a reflection, and not the amusing free-for-all I imagined it might be. I honestly never foresaw such bile, nor did I intend it. Thing is, my job is seriously stressful, and I was looking for a way to let off steam, to banter a bit, find a worthy opponent, laugh, not start a hate-tank. Looking back over it all I can see where I went wrong: I am guilty of baiting your group (but I will maintain till the very last that I was not the Ranahan Radio Broadcaster, and I have absolutely no idea what you are on about when you talk about UD history and a Ranahan Library "truce"). I did go into it thinking I was most probably dealing with a bunch of UK shut-ins and adolescents, which was an error in judgment, and arrogant of me. I imagine you probably play for the same reasons I did, as a safety valve from reality, a way to get stress out of the bloodstream. But as it's dragged on, I've become increasingly depressed by it all and have ended up wasting my valuable downtime giving a shit about people I've never met and hopefully never will: I find myself reacting to things that have no real meaning at all, like imaginary identities living in imaginary junkyards with imaginary guns talking loud about how they gonna cap my ass. Virtuality- how easy it is to get dragged in to the dangerous space of an anonymous identity. It's been an experience, really. But I'm out. I wish you all the best.--9A 10:04, 10 February 2008 (UTC)
- This is the fourth or fifth time you've claimed to be quitting something UD related and the longest you actually stayed quit (if memory serves) was about 12 hours, so you'll forgive me if I'm a bit skeptical. In the interests of conciliation though, I'll skate past most of what you said and just talk about the reaction you got from us. You literally played (I'm giving your resignation from UD the benefit of the doubt here by using the past tense) a "freelance terrorist" who targeted a disorganized, inexperienced, and innocent group of people. Your stated reasons for doing so were roughly equivalent to seeing that one refugee who took shelter in a particular place was wearing a Star Trek t-shirt and concluding based on that that all the refugees there were members of the Borg. The Borg who don't exist in the universe under discussion.
- So, final lessons here: maybe UD is less of a game than I thought: maybe it's a model for life, a reflection, and not the amusing free-for-all I imagined it might be. I honestly never foresaw such bile, nor did I intend it. Thing is, my job is seriously stressful, and I was looking for a way to let off steam, to banter a bit, find a worthy opponent, laugh, not start a hate-tank. Looking back over it all I can see where I went wrong: I am guilty of baiting your group (but I will maintain till the very last that I was not the Ranahan Radio Broadcaster, and I have absolutely no idea what you are on about when you talk about UD history and a Ranahan Library "truce"). I did go into it thinking I was most probably dealing with a bunch of UK shut-ins and adolescents, which was an error in judgment, and arrogant of me. I imagine you probably play for the same reasons I did, as a safety valve from reality, a way to get stress out of the bloodstream. But as it's dragged on, I've become increasingly depressed by it all and have ended up wasting my valuable downtime giving a shit about people I've never met and hopefully never will: I find myself reacting to things that have no real meaning at all, like imaginary identities living in imaginary junkyards with imaginary guns talking loud about how they gonna cap my ass. Virtuality- how easy it is to get dragged in to the dangerous space of an anonymous identity. It's been an experience, really. But I'm out. I wish you all the best.--9A 10:04, 10 February 2008 (UTC)
- Translate that to the real world: Someone is running around killing people because he thinks they're involved in an evil conspiracy to take over the world. His evidence? Well, one of those people thinks the fictional badguys from a popular TV show are really cool. That killer would get hunted down by the authorities without a second thought. At the very least, the group he was psychotically fixated on wouldn't take too kindly to his "attentions." I'd say the reaction you received was exactly appropriate.
- Put more simply, people don't like batshit insane murderers. That holds true for RPGs just the same as the real world. If that isn't the kind of game you want to play (whether in UD or elsewhere), maybe you shouldn't take violent actions for bizarre reasons. Just a thought.--Mister Nathan Marbles 10:56, 10 February 2008 (UTC)
