Of Breakaways and Splinters

Recent events in one of the MMOs I play have given me pause. Specific details aren’t necessary, and I wasn’t there for the actual arguments that preceded the fallout, but suffice it to say, it ultimately amounted to a difference of opinion on how the group was being run.

The fallout from the argument resulted in several long standing and core players of the group breaking away and forming their own group and for me personally, resulted in several people I consider friends leaving. Now I’m left with the decision to either stay with the friends who stayed or leave with the friends that left, but that’s not why I’m writing today.

The thing that has shaken me is the fact that something like this actually happened. I can’t help but think that everyone involved in the initial conflict has overreacted to what took place. When I take a step back and look at the big picture all I see is that something very minor in something as trivial as a game has caused two people with conflicting personalities to come to verbal blows. This spiralled to the point of drawing the proverbial “line in the sand”, that people who were there at the time felt they needed to choose sides. Several days after the initial conflict that started it, there are still ripples of this effecting others in the group as more and more people decide to leave or stay based, not on the argument itself, but on those who have left or stayed. Others still have been brought almost to tears because of what once used to be a cohesive group are now being splintered. In the last handful of hours, other members have left, not for the initial argument, but rather for the way it’s been handled by the group leader, one of the people in the initial spat, enforcing the policies set down for the group on some members but not others, particularly himself, adding an element of “Who Watches the Watchmen” to the whole affair. All this over something as trivial as a game.

We all like to cry foul at politicians for playing these sorts of games at the level of influencing government and policy. But it seems that, given the chance, ordinary people will do the same in things far more benign, such as an online game and the workplace. What does all this politicking get you? Well, once all is said and done it can net you quite a bit of power and/or influence, but at the sake of real friends, is it worth it? I’m sad to say that for some people, it really would be. This leaves me with one final question. Things can function quite well without all this crap, so why do we persist in doing it anyway?