Hey guys, most of you don't know me, and as StarVault is launching a competing subreddit, I felt it was wise to address the community directly and provide a bit of history about this subreddit.

This might be a bit long so strap in.

A bit of background information, I started this sub, roughly 12 years ago, when reddit was still a nascent entity, and most communication for this game happened either on the official forums and or IRC (oh yes the heady days). My intention for this subreddit, has always been to be a somewhat open atmosphere to be able to discuss this game and it's community openly and honestly, warts and all. I have kept a very light touch on this subreddit -- in the 12 years of operation, the permanent ban list only includes about 14 players. Most of whom crossed the line just a touch too far and had to be reigned back in to fall within reddit TOS.

When I started this community, 12 years ago, I was approached by /u/FarmerJ03 (Seb) and he asked to co-moderate the subreddit. I had gladly agreed, as I personally had a lot of respect for him, and plus reddit was so new at that point, that I was just happy that someone else was using the platform (especially a Starvault developer). As far as I know, and according to the moderation logs, Farmer Joe has BARELY enforced any subreddit rules, and has typically deferred most of enforcement to me. He did add a single other moderator, I believe with my permission at the time, but that moderator has been inactive for about 6 or so years (if I am not mistaken, maybe more).

Because of Farmer Joe's participation, I have always personally thought of this subreddit as "semi-official" -- it was sort of unspoken between the both of us, but all news and trailers and patchnotes and what not, have always been sort of funneled through here, for all redditors to ingest and discuss, free from overbearing censorship and in a manner similar to the culture of the game, unabashed, free and raw. In a way, I always thought, this subreddit had imbibed and carried the spirit of the game, with all of its faults and beauties.

However, with the freedom and the culture of the community, comes toxicity, and for a corporate entity, it might be antithetical to a degree of what they are trying to achieve as a business. Therefore, they have taken the step to try and reign some of this in, and create an alternate official community, that will most likely be more carefully moderated, to align with Starvault's goals and vision and in their eyes, give them the ability to centralize and create more cohesive messaging. I have personally resisted adding additional members of the Starvault team, because I felt it would just create a duplicate of the official Discord and the official forum, and those venues already exist for players to use and utilize. I fully understand why Starvault would want to be able to have full control of the discourse and the ability to curate what new and potential players might see.

To Starvault's credit /u/FarmerJ03 recently about a month ago or so, reached out to me, acknowledging the longevity of this subreddit, and everything it has been, he seemed sincere and to a degree I can tell he seemed to share my vision for this subreddit. However, it does not appear that the rest of the Starvault company agrees with him, nor shares this vision. I had in that same correspondence agreed to help them out if they needed it, but I haven't heard anything back from /u/FarmerJ03 to this day, so I'm not sure where we stand.
Edit: Funny enough and purely coincidentally, /u/FarmerJ03 did actually reach out to me again, about 10 minutes before I posted this, but I didn't see this until I had already posted and refreshed the page to double check my post. I would be more than happy to openly discuss this further in the thread if anyone is interested for full transparency.

I would like to continue this subreddit, and let it compete directly with the "official" subreddit, as I believe subreddits should be ran by the community and free from influence of officials from the game company, because it inherently thwarts and stifles genuine opinion and free discussion, creating nothing but hollow echo chambers full of carefully curated opinion that have become oh so common across so many platforms and brands. I believe these kind of communities lack authenticity, and are in a way duplicitous caricatures of the actual player base and community that they supposedly represent. They mask the problems of the game, and the sentiment of the people that play it, simply to deceive potential players who might otherwise be dissuaded from playing the game. On the flip side, if players genuinely enjoyed the game, and said so without official moderation, it would serve as an amazing tool to boost not only the active population but also the credibility of this project.

To me, this game is about freedom, it is about self actualization, and the ability to manifest and forge your own destiny, through sheer will, determination, and a stubbornness to submit to those that seek to control you. It is free from external forces that shackle your ability to do what it is you want, and gives players the ability to play how THEY want, even though it is not always in the developers vision. In a way, it is a true sandbox, and I firmly believe that the subreddit, and discussions surrounding the game, should both reflect and embrace that. This subreddit IS the community, it is real and it is free from manipulation, and while it maybe chaotic and off putting at times, it is exactly representative of what the population of this game truly is. In my eyes, there can be nothing better than that, and it is why I will continue trying to run and maintain it, until it falls into disuse.

I have nothing against Starvault, nor their desire to be able to control their own communities. I fully comprehend and understand their perspective on this matter, and I hold no grudges or ill will towards them or their game. I have nothing but love and admiration for Mortal Online, and the people that make it the game that it is. This post is not an indictment on them, it is just an honest reflection of my core beliefs and observations that I have noted over the course of 12 years.

I am open to suggestions from the community on how to best achieve this vision, and what direction you guys would personally like to see this subreddit go in, I also welcome input from SV officials on how we can both coexist moving forward.

If you have any questions about content moderation, or if you feel this subreddit doesn't live up to anything I have stated, I would be glad to address that in this thread.