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Analyzing polarization throughout the Hytale community

Pearson Wright

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Dec 30, 2018
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Good morning,
Hytale Community! :)

Today I thought I'd put my thoughts to paper (or technically, screen) regarding what I and many others perceive to be major polarization and divisiveness within the Hytale community. While differing opinions and constructive criticism is a healthy component of any group of people, I feel that there are a handful of individuals who have exhibited behavior that is doing nothing but putting people at odds and spreading toxicity throughout various sub-communities within the Hytale space.

That said, It really wasn't until yesterday that I truly noticed just how bad this type of behavior had gotten, and how deeply rooted it had become. To be clear, I am not necessarily referring to polarization regarding expectations for the release date, but rather, polarization between groups who want to contribute in a meaningful and impactful way, and people who for some reason feel a need to tear down anyone with any type of dream or ambition as it relates to Hytale.

One of the most obvious examples of this is the difference in culture between r/hytaleinfo, and r/hytaleforum. r/hytaleforum is a relatively new subreddit which only recently began soaring in size with a large portion of the members who joined claiming that they felt mistreated at r/hytaleinfo, which is likely due to the toxicity that was instilled and promoted there in 2019. While, in a way, having two active subreddits is cool, it also goes to show just how divided we are. Nearly 2,000 people evidently felt so disregarded and bullied at one subreddit, that they migrated to another. That said, this is somewhat of a historical example, and my personal belief is that both subreddits (as of right now) are generally-speaking "on the right track" in regards to treating fellow users with a basic degree of respect.

I won't name anyone specifically (though I certainly could), but there are some people within the space who take it upon themselves to go around smearing and slandering other groups simply because they feel threatened by the fact that those groups have big plans for Hytale, such as creating their own niche website(s), starting a Hytale server, or in some cases, even creating Youtube content. This is Not Okay. What's worse is that some of these people have been put into positions of prominence so that the rhetoric they expound causes other Hytale fans to bandwagon, and the result is you have entire swaths of people attacking other groups. You can't pretend to be an ambassador of the community on one hand, and then turn around and start attacking people within it on the other. You can't talk about how much you "love" the Hytale community, but then go around creating defamatory videos about someone, or spamming negative reviews on someone else's content. The other day I attempted to speak in a voice chat to one such person, and his hatred and rage towards this community was so visceral and extreme that I was practically unable to speak for a full half hour because at every turn, he'd cut me off, raise his voice to a near-inaudible level, and when he couldn't effectively get his point across, would then resort to name calling and profanity.

At such an infant stage in Hytale's life, this shouldn't be an issue. Everyone should be working together and collaborating for the common good rather than bringing down people they're jealous of, calling them names, or making them feel excluded, or despised. We all need to appreciate the sacrifices and effort that we put into making the Hytale community what it is, whether that be creating Youtube content, contributing at the Wikis, creating art, managing a forum, discord, or subreddit, or anything else which ultimately betters the community in some way. It's unfortunate that this is an issue at all, and I really did believe that we were past this type of behavior after what occurred in early 2019. Accusing people of being "money hungry" or calling their content "garbage" or saying that they're "not relevant" is not how you build bridges, or sow the seeds of unity and togetherness. Anyone behaving in such a way is doing a disservice to this community, and to the game developers by attempting to undermine Hytale's future in such a negative way.

There is nothing wrong with wanting to do more than create fan-art. Minecraft was made great because of the unique inventions and creations of its community, the modding, the niche sites, the custom clients, the custom plugins, etc. Just because someone's idea is cool doesn't mean they're trying to outshine you. It's okay to give credit to people instead of trying to belittle their efforts. Just because someone is a fan of Hytale and also develops websites doesn't mean they're not human, or "in it for the money". By that logic, any Youtuber with Google Adsense enabled is also "only in it for the money", which is just ridiculous. Anyone who has remained highly involved over the past two years is clearly not "just in it for the money". I think it's time that we all universally acknowledge that as an objective fact. Anyone still here is here because they are genuinely excited for and borderline obsesssed with Hytale.

My personal belief is that certain people are afraid of vocalizing their anger and frustration about the game's release date delays towards the actual dev team, so they're taking this out on each other. It's very sad to see that happen. You have certain people clamoring for the approval and endorsement of the Hypixel Studios Staff, acting saintly and pious at one point, and then simultaneously ridiculing and belittling others and telling them that they are "less special" in some way because they didn't receive that same acknowledgement. This is really sad to see, and this type of behavior is ultimately going to do nothing but alienate the Hypixel Studios Staff from the community as a whole. My hope is that once we begin receiving more substantial updates, this type of divisiveness will taper off and we can come together to make the eventual release date something truly special and meaningful.

So in conclusion, before attacking someone's efforts, or belittling them, or trying to make them feel insignificant, ask yourself: "Is this what's best for Hytale?", and if nothing else, consider that you're speaking to another human being, not just your computer screen.

That's all guys! Remember to play nice/fair. :D
 
Last edited:

Weird

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We really should be united across all Hytale platforms to create an open and inviting community!
 

Ciaran

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I don't see the two poles. I see one community.
 
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