Behind Enemy Lines

I just wanted to talk a little bit here about some of the experiences I’ve had in the past few days as a tester. One, because I feel like it’d be an interesting story to tell, and two, because it may help to clear up some false perceptions, as well as touch on a highly controversial topic in GLB.

That highly controversial topic? Malachorn. First, let me frame the subject a bit.

For anyone who’s been around GLB since season 1 or 2, we’ve all seen this story played out time and time again. Malachorn is a rebel and a malcontent. In earlier seasons he would push the envelope far beyond the breaking point, and constantly dared to question the system. He was the first to invite tons of GMs to his team just to give them the trophy, for instance, something that irked a lot of people. In fact, having the “League Champion – Season 3, Eastern Europe AAA #1, GM of Scotch Cocks” trophy has come to be known as the “badge of shame.” What finally led to his lengthy ban has never really been discussed, but as far as I know it boiled down to an “unhealthy exchange” of PMs between him and an Admin. Mal was banned for quite awhile, I’m not sure exactly when the ban started, but I think it lasted close to 6 full seasons. Over these seasons Mal’s legend grew as a kind of martyr, the hero for the cause. Eventually the “Free Mal IMO” craze began, and everywhere you turned you were seeing avatars and posts of users begging the administration to unban him.

They claimed that he had changed. They claimed that he was ready to be a responsible contributing member to the community. They claimed that he was ready to apologize, make amends, and move on.

I was skeptical. I’ve dealt with his type before in other games, and the fact is usually that people never change, they just get better at hiding it.

I’ve spent a lot of time since the Tester “scandal” broke trying to answer questions and allay any fears that the community might have about the test server, and things had just started to quiet down when Mal was eventually “Freed.” And he attacked it like a bulldog.

I was immensely annoyed. There were still some malcontents determined to argue the evils of the test server till they were blue in the face, but the majority of the game was ignoring them, so it wasn’t a problem. But this was Malachorn, and that makes it an entirely different story. You can’t ignore the guy, he flat out won’t let you. And to make things worse, people will flock to him.

In an effort to somewhat control the situation, and to keep from saying the same things over again on the forums yet again, I sent a PM to Malachorn. I made it clear to him that although I did not like him, I was willing to answer any questions he or his friends had. Eventually we decided that it was a good idea to invite me into his private forum. To be honest, I was a little worried. I was expecting to encounter flaming, attacks, and endless tearing apart of my posts no matter what I said. I mentally prepared myself, and entered the forum.

Have you ever bent down to pick something up, and braced yourself because you thought it was heavy, then when you pick it up it’s actually light and you nearly fall over because you were expecting it to be heavier? That’s about the reaction I had upon entering the forum. I can tell you as an absolute fact that during my time in his forum I encountered less flaming, less attacks, and better discussion then I had dealt with in any other forum in GLB. If anything, I felt welcomed, and in return I honestly gave them the best answers that I could. It was actually a great experience. I think that both sides went into this with a certain level of skepticism – I know how I felt, and I know that they felt it wouldn’t be productive at all – but I feel like in the end it was worth it, and I hope that they feel the same.

My perception of Malachorn has changed completely. He’s still a rebel and a malcontent, he’s still loud and obnoxious, and he’ll always be a major thorn in the sides of the admins and moderators. But, when it comes down to it, he’s a lot like me, in that if both sides are willing to be grown ups about it, then a satisfactory middle ground can be found. Hell, I almost started to like the guy, and I certainly don’t dislike him now.

Malachorn has gone against my general rule, and he has changed. Not necessarily because of the suspension or anything like that, but rather I think that he has realized how much more he could accomplish by playing within the rules. He still has a brash personality, so his reputation will always follow him, but I feel like his intentions are much better, at the very least.

I don’t have access to the forum anymore, which I understand. I am, after all, the enemy. I’m a tester myself and I have friends who are moderators, which puts me clearly on the wrong side of the Mal vs Mods war in their eyes. But, for the short time I spent “Behind Enemy Lines,” I can honestly say that I’ve at least gained a better perception of that Enemy.

Maybe one day we’ll find a resolution to all of the problems surrounding GLB, or maybe we’ll just be caught in this endless spiral of bad soap operas until Bort & Co. decide to give baseball a shot and the game is left to rot, who knows. What I do know is this: We all care about the game. We have different ways of showing it, but nobody would put forth the effort to work on the game, complain about the game, or debate the problems of the game if they didn’t care.

At least we can agree on that.

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