Ok so this is an essay I wrote about our community because I'm the kind of kid to do that kind of thing. It is in this section because it is a creation of mine so yea, anyways, here you are.. Minecraft communities, and specifically the community I am involved in and manage are primarily structured by many components that result in one large whole, thus making it a complex system of entities rather than a complicated system. There is no common goal, and thus no common relationship, but instead built up upon many goals that are sub-groups of another goal, more specifically, there are many sub-groups of our community that are present. The first and most primary sub-group is revolved around social status and social hierarchy. This is one of the most complicated and in depth group of all that are present on the server, or communities in general. This group also has the greatest relevancy to specific techniques of achieving this status in their respective social groups or among the server itself. These techniques, for example, can be anything from specific psychological advances, being false sympathetic actions in either role, or very specific social activities, being roleplays or competitions and so on. The social structure also has very specific marks of progress, consisting of primarily ranks, or respectability within their respective groups or staff members. The most primary example of this, is that every member involved in this hierarchy, being the lowest, or the highest, often times finds a great interest in applying for a staff position, or being the highest rank that can be achieved through building, when this is necessary or relevant to the specific player. The players that are in the lower social position, or show no promising signs of advancement from their social caste, so to speak, often times execute techniques such as the classic "Leaving the server" gimmick, as well as the "I have many problems in real life" [Both instances put in common vernacular in order to achieve best comprehension and also for ease in identification within readers as well as the writer]. Both of these techniques are executed in no given correlation of sociability, thus are the most difficult and unpredictable when resolve is being performed, whether by the server or the staff/owners. Now, to be clear, both of these specific instances often reign to be, over time, feign in the sense that they don't leave the server, or show faults in their guises of their troubled life, respectively. This species, if you will, of players often have the most void of self respect and esteem, while not completely non-existent, are mostly flimsy at best. Overall, this sub-group in minecraft communities are the result and spark of most problems on the server, being griefing, advertising, cyber-harassment, and so on, and thus are the reasons that more than 1 staff member exists to fix technical problems, rather than many to "moderate" the community. It should also be stated that not all members of this group are deemed as a "problem", but those who are not are a small minority. Primary ways to tell if you are that minority is if you haven't participated in something or achieved a rank for the sole purpose of gloating or "showing off" to someone or anyone, and do something primarily because it is self-motivated. For example, you earn a rank because it is something you wanted to show for your work, instead of "proving" your worth to someone else, or showing up another person in any sense. Psychologically, many will fail to see themselves as guilty for this because they have the foil of the spotlight effect, in that everyone is focused on their greatest achievements, when in reality no one cares, and progressively, they think that their accomplishments are "for themselves" but are truly motivated for their social status, most prevalent with a foil or competition within the community, most often found in the "building" groups of people. The second, and least prevalent group of constituents in the community specifically are those are primarily on the server because they are looking for a community to enjoy playing the game with, and not focused on the social aspect of "playing" the game. This group often is void of commentary in the chat, and statistically speaking join with a friend or group of friends, thus have no need for social acceptance within the community, and often never speaks. This specific genre of people often produce the best of their respective interests, and often inspire surprise and confusion within those who overlook them, because of their lack of sociability. A small tangent, on this, is that staff members and owners alike often categorize all minecraft players into the first group, primarily due to "availability bias" which in this situation is referring to the idea that all they see is one group, instead of all, and falsely formulate the glazed perspective of all players as a whole. Progressively, this group often is overlooked, as previously stated, which leads into the primary thesis of fault, in that they neglect an entire aspect of a social community and thus fail to establish any specific individuality and separation from the caste system that is sub-consciously formulated in all communities. This section of people receives the smallest amount of writing, primarily due to the fact that there isn't much to say. The final group that is talked about consists of the players that are, in all senses, a happy medium of the respective groups of this essay. These players exemplify the ideas of being healthily social, and also enjoy doing non-social activities on the server, such as building, redstone work, and so on. Psychologically, most people reading this will see themselves in this category, because they refuse to admit to themselves sub-consciously that they have faults, especially in a social environment, due to the previously discussed hierarchy, and so on. The constituents of this group are often the players that are accepted to be staff members, or are the most renowned of the server, and only have enemies because they are well liked by generally everyone, and jealousy often formulates sub-consciously. These players are often void of insecurity, and have more exemplification of personality and self respect, shown throughout their interactions with other members of the group, or other groups. These players are also more statistically bound to have a long time relationship with players, and time on the server. The most prime examples of this group, respectively in time of joining, would be @Frendus, @Leebisa, and so on, ending with the most recent, being @BiduBR . People in this group often have more major contributions to the server, being builds and social interaction. The only downside of this group is that when given a position of authority, it is often times that, over time, their positioning can have the Stanford prison effect, in that they become more domineering and aggresive due to their authority over a more mass population. This effect is mostly hit-or-miss, meaning they either completely manifest into this, or foil the effect. Instead of a conclusion I want to write this little section to clarify a couple of things. I am writing this purely because I wanted to get my ideas and observations written down. I am not calling anyone out, nor did I list any specific instances with players unless in a positive light. Furthermore, if you feel I have listed traits about you in a specific section that is negative, you could be misunderstanding, or you could perceive it as an opportunity to evaluate your actions and, overall, self-evaluate your image on the server. I respect everyone on the server, and only wish for this to be constructive to everyone, including myself. I have found things I should work on, and in no way am I saying I am perfect, etc. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed.
I couldn't tell you, I haven't seen your interactions much on the server, but from what I have seen, you seem like a nice person in general ^.^
Well written Kadrek. I can't help but draw parallels between our own respective writing styles. Now more on topic... I think this does a great job of explaining not only our community, but the anatomy of basically any internet-based community. To anyone who saw the wall of text and didn't read it, shame on you.
I think that which group you see yourself in should be somewhat irrelevant, you know? Like, what I get from this is that I should be striving to be the best kind of player I can be, and thus, it wouldn't matter which group you're in, ya know?
I rate this essay: 9.99/10! You spelled "kind" wrong in the first sentence. Oh, and I was wondering... What group do I fit into?
