Original date of blog: March 13th, 2015
In a way, Clan Wars have started. Never mind that we can’t face one another on the battlefield yet. Yesterday, the drama officially started. Or actually, it started a long time ago. It just came to a head yesterday.
Now, the commander from the clan we see as our main competition, I’ll call Ratel. His second in command I’ll call Badger. Badger has been badmouthing us since the moment we actually became a Clan, saying that our Clan is led by little children and such, and other immature things. It’s quite sad. But that doesn’t quite amount to what Ratel does.
Ratel has actually been worse. He’s been inviting some of our members into his Clan, and, upon being told they’re in our Clan, has promptly removed them from his friends’ list. And that’s just the polite stuff he does. In a way, his inviting our members is a compliment to our Clan, because it means we’ve got a lot of great players (which we do). I felt like I was such a great player, when he added me to his friends list, and asked me to join his Clan (even if it was because I looked at his profile on the European blitz form, according to him). I thanked him kindly and explained that I was already leading a clan with my co-leaders. He asked which Clan that was, I told him LOCA.
There’s been a bit of a mystery around Ratel though. We’re not sure whether he’s a he, a she, or an it. At one point, one of our Clan-members said Ratel’s female, but we haven’t been able to find out if that was true or not. So, while I was talking to him anyway, I asked him straight out, also explaining why I asked. But according to Ratel, a normal person wouldn’t ask that, so he had to remove me from his friends list again.
Of course, this also happened to be right after I told him the Clan I lead is LOCA, so I wasn’t that surprised. And to be honest, if people were confused about my gender, I’d rather they’d ask me than assume I’m one or the other. But then, it’s never been a touchy subject for me anyway. The lack of answer to my question though, led me to believe Ratel is indeed a female, so from one female player to another, I wished ‘her’ good luck with ‘her’ Clan.
Later that day, he was badgering one of our own new recruits, Hawk, to be more active on their forum. Hawk recently left Ratel’s Clan and joined ours, and had explained that to Badger. Only, apparently Badger never told Ratel, so Hawk explained that to Ratel as well, calling us the better Clan. In reply, Ratel told Hawk that LOCA would dissolve as soon as clan wars start. And it’s not the first time he’s said something like that.
I have no idea how he got that into his head. The whole point of LOCA is that we’re all friends of one another – meaning our foundation is very solid. And though we are seriously looking forwards to the clan wars, we’re not actually taking things very seriously at all. Not yet, anyway. So far, we’ve only had one member leave us, and he hadn’t been active in the Clan since before we got our forum up and running.
I’m not sure what exactly the final drop was that made Chimp step in, but he did. He’s normally a very relaxed and laid back guy, that laughs a lot, and makes me laugh a lot too. He’s a good friend, and I think the thing he was fed up with most was the way Ratel and Badger have been talking to his friends. Yesterday, his patience and tolerance reached their limits. He went to Ratel and kind of tore him a new one. It had been building for quite some time, and I had figured that one way or another, the things that were said would be said one day. When I read what had been said, I confess, I laughed. I probably would have said things very differently, but I’m a Libra, and I’m always very diplomatic unless I expressly choose not to be (which isn’t often).
All of this wasn’t even that big a deal yet, until Ratel went and posted screenshots of what Chimp told him in the general discussion forum of the official WOTB forum (also stating firmly that he’s a he, for the first time ever saying he was a specific gender), which led to a number of reactions, both on that forum and inside our Clan-chat. A few had more problems with Chimp’s English than anything else, but there were some that talked down on both Chimp and LOCA. Which led to Chimp himself replying to the thread (a lot more diplomatically, too), explaining that Ratel forgot to mention one entire side of the story, and if he so wanted, Chimp could post up a bunch of screenshots too, that showed just how he and Badger had been behaving towards us.
And then, all of a sudden, Ratel didn’t want to continue the discussion anymore, talking about not wanting drama between the clans and that we’d duke it out in the clan wars, but that we should all be friendly – how hypocritical is that? If he didn’t want drama, then why post screenshots like that on the forum at all? He clearly wanted the drama, but just didn’t want things to be turned around on him.
Of course, his wasn’t the only reaction to that thread, and Chimp has felt obligated to respond a few more times – I’m not sure whether that helped or harmed matters, but he did do so in a much calmer way than he originally talked to Ratel, despite telling off another guy that had been badmouthing us as well. Which led to more dramatic reactions. I kind of hope it all blows over soon, because I believe people get a very wrong impression of LOCA because of the way this was spun out.
I’m not saying I don’t agree with the things that were said. To be honest, I really do agree with them, even if I do not agree with how they were said. But the cat’s out of the bag – there’s no way to put it back in. I’ve been sorely tempted to respond to the topic myself, explain our side of things. I’ve chosen not to, because I’m pretty sure that whatever I said, it probably would have made matters worse. Though Ratel knows I’m a co-leader of this Clan, no one else except for the Clan itself, seems to actually know that. So, for the first time, I’m not obligated to step in and defend the Clan or its members.
It makes me feel quite strange. Here I have a perfect opportunity not to dive into the drama pool myself, and it just feels wrong not to. I find I feel bad not stepping in and defending my Clan, and not defending Chimp, since he did this to defend all of us. And, being the Clan’s mother hen, I can’t quite convince myself that it -isn’t- my job to do so. I’ve always been fiercely loyal to what I’ve decided to stand for, and I stand for LOCA and its members. We’re not perfect, I mean, we’re only human, but overall we’re a tight knit group, and I feel like I’m letting them and Chimp down by -not- stepping in and giving my two cents. It’s an internal battle I do not know the outcome of yet.
Part of me is actually hoping everyone who has read that topic will read this blog, however tiny the chance is that they’ll do so. It might give them a better understanding of what’s happened and why it happened to begin with, and show that this isn’t just something that came out of the blue, and that it’s not something Chimp would normally do unless driven towards it.
Either way, I stand with and for my Clan, and despite the way it looks now, I’m glad Ratel now knows we don’t just sit back and take everything he throws at us. LOCA might stand for Lots of Cute Animals, but we have fangs and claws, and if needed, we will (and do) use them.
Battles fought: 4,790
Winrate: 60.81%
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