Community Art/Project Guidelines

[Saxturian (OP)]

Hello all,

Here are some possible guidelines for community sponsored art and projects, anything directly belonging to Villagecraft really. Please note these are not applicable to the server as a whole.

1. Any hateful speech that is directly targeted at a specific race, otherwise known as a racial slur, will not be tolerated.
2. Any hateful speech that is directly targeted at specific religions, will not be tolerated.
3. Any hateful speech that is directly targeted at transgenders or LGBTQ+ will not be tolerated.
4. Any hateful speech that directly symbolizes any of the aforementioned rules is also not allowed.

Please feel free to make suggestions about these rules. If you have some you'd like to add or if you want more clarity in the wording, or if you disagree with a given rule. Should we come to a general consensus on these rules, then they will be moved to a parliament vote. Also, to restate, these will only apply to community art or property directly owned by Villagecraft.

I look forward to your feedback!

[TheLegend12369]

Looks good to me! Thanks for putting them together!

[Naomi]

These look great Saxxy!
I just think we should clarify punishments, like the first 2 offenses result in the structure being removed and a verbal warning. The 3rd offense a temp ban for a few days. That might be harsh but I think the punishment for breaking the guidelines needs to be laid out

[gerrit70]

Community art should reflect the community. Let people put whatever they want on there, if people do not like it than they have the right to remove it or build over it. I see no need for additional regulation or to put more work on staff's shoulders just to please a certain vocal group. Free speech has always been part of the server, I think that any rules limiting free speech are unnecessary. 

[Naomi]

I understand where you are coming from Gerritt and I think you're valid in thought, but I personally think having a set of protections like listed above will help our players overall. You are still allowed to put whatever you want in your villages and private projects this is just for community builds and the community art. I think having guidelines laid out protects the groups mentioned above from feeling unwelcome or disliked.

Let's say we have a young lgbt+ player join and someone thought it was funny to write FAG across the community art. That new player might feel like they aren't welcome to play and I know VillageCraft to be welcoming to all. These guidelines help people feel safer and less harrassed overall imo

[Shensley]

VC is becoming so soft 

[gerrit70]

https://imgur.com/a/pjk3Zl1

Here is the community art map as of this moment. I would be pretty hard pressed to find something obviously and immediately offensive on there. Sure there's a hidden swastika, a couple of dicks, and a screwed up swastika; but these are not immediately obvious to a new player, who would likely not even initially see the art board. The arguments that it will scare away new players is very shaky. People have not ever, and probably will not ever put things on the community art board just to scare or intimidate people from staying on the server.

People have said to me many times that the community art board should reflect the community. This community is built upon, and continues to exercise freedom of speech and freedom of expression. Why then should the community art board not reflect those freedoms?

[MutluMali]

I've abstained from inviting a few of my friends in the past because of how in-your-face VC is about its acceptance of slurs, uncomfortable topics, etc. I understand that to many players, VC's freedom is something that makes the server special, but I don't think that removing slurs from community art will really impede this, and for me and many others, it's a welcome change. 

The things that people feel the need to debate over in this server have really at times astonished me. At one point, a player refused to stop saying the N word despite SunShine asking them not to, and it felt incredibly uncomfortable to me that this was just... allowed. I've also seen people openly use slurs like tr*nny and f*ggot as non-obviously joking insults to LGBTQ players.

People sending porn to me and openly talking about sex in detail while I was an 11-13 year old also comes to mind. I understand that this is what makes VC fun to many of you, but especially considering that there is no age barrier and I had expressed my discomfort to the subject multiple times, this is awkward to me.

I appreciate that we are making steps to remove slurs and hate speech from community art, but the fact that there is an ongoing debate over this, and that people who dislike it are considered "soft" is ridiculous to me. I personally would love to see more steps made in this direction. VC will most likely never become a child-friendly, uncontroversial, and safe space to those easily offended, if that's what you guys are scared of. But I think there needs to be a minimum of unacceptable that isn't illegality.

[gerrit70]

I'm sorry those things happened to you, however, it is still a free speech server and that is the way it should remain. I believe the person who was sending the porn and such was banned, that obviously crosses the line and banning them was the right thing to do. The rest of your examples are frankly nothing outside what should be expected on a server that has free speech. Furthermore, none of this is illegal as you seem to claim in your last sentence. If the issue is the age of people on the server than maybe we should be considering an age limit instead? I was personally fine with everything when I was 11 and on here, but I can see how it would beneficial.

I will again poise the question if anyone in favor of these rules would like to answer it. Villagecraft is a free speech community, should the products of said community not reflect such?

[Shensley]

If the issue is the age of people on the server than maybe we should be considering an age limit instead?

I agree. I'm not willing to change the rules for free speech just because young kid's want to come play on the server and get upset when certain words are used.

[Naomi]

I agree with you all that free speech is what makes VC such an interesting place, and I for one have enjoyed that in the past. I think these guidelines are not prohibiting your free speech in regards that you can still send whatever you like in chat and build whatever you want in your own villages, you're free to express whatever you feel.

These guidelines are just holding VillageCraft build projects and things, such as the community art, to a higher standard that protects people from harassment.

I am personally fine with the guidelines as I believe they are representative of our VillageCraft community, and they still allow free speech everywhere on the server.

I am also fine with having no change as Gerritt brings up an excellent point that if something bothers you on Community Art, you are free to remove it.

As someone that has represented this community since May, I can say that truly hateful speech is not representative of our community.

[Shensley]

The problem I have with this is it seems like one of those scenarios where first this is changed then next thing you know you're trying to get the chat censored. I understand that isn't your goal rn but in a couple months who knows.

[gerrit70]

I agree with Shen, slippery slope is in most cases a fallacy, but it does make sense here. People have already expressed support for censoring things beyond the community art board. How long before that is also being seriously discussed?

I would not consider jokes- even if they are not immediately evident to be so- harassment. Harassment is targeted and continuous intimidation. I find it hard to believe that a hidden swastika or a slur on the community art map constitutes harassment in any way.

Hateful speech obviously does not represent myself or the vast vast majority of people who play on here (Although the opposite has been foolishly implied.)

I will reiterate that there is absolutely no reason to add these rules. They simply put more burden upon the shoulders of staff, infringe upon what makes this server fun, and are the equivalent of slapping a band-aid over the supposed "issue"

The beauty of free speech is that if someone says something you dont like, then you can go express your disagreement to that person. As of tonight, none of the supposedly offensive structures have been removed from the community art board. So, if you disagree with the aforementioned structures, instead of passing these ineffective and worthless rules, go exercise your rights and remove or build over them.
 

[MutluMali]

If putting swastikas on the community art board is the sole reason that this server is fun, then perhaps we need to find another form of entertainment. Also, the n word written in large cursive across the bottom of the board has been removed since this discussion started, so people have been taking initiative.

[MutluMali]

I'm sorry those things happened to you, however, it is still a free speech server and that is the way it should remain. I believe the person who was sending the porn and such was banned, that obviously crosses the line and banning them was the right thing to do. The rest of your examples are frankly nothing outside what should be expected on a server that has free speech. Furthermore, none of this is illegal as you seem to claim in your last sentence. If the issue is the age of people on the server than maybe we should be considering an age limit instead? I was personally fine with everything when I was 11 and on here, but I can see how it would beneficial.

I will again poise the question if anyone in favor of these rules would like to answer it. Villagecraft is a free speech community, should the products of said community not reflect such?

No, a person who sent scat porn to me was banned. But that was the culmination of an ongoing joke in which people would send normal porn to me to make me uncomfortable. And again, it's my personal opinion that VillageCraft should have a higher standard of what's not okay than illegality.

[gerrit70]

I was not aware of that, thank you for updating me.

That proves my point, if anyone finds anything offensive on there, they can go remove it.

I am not saying that the sole reason that the server is fun is the swastikas on the art board, although I do find them funny. Free speech as a larger rule is a big part of why the server is fun, and these rules would infringe upon it.


That is an incredibly fucked up joke- if it can even be called that. However, I see no solution to that besides outright monitoring chat. Perhaps an age restriction is the best course of action.

[MutluMali]

I was not aware of that, thank you for updating me.

That proves my point, if anyone finds anything offensive on there, they can go remove it.

I am not saying that the sole reason that the server is fun is the swastikas on the art board, although I do find them funny. Free speech as a larger rule is a big part of why the server is fun, and these rules would infringe upon it.


That is an incredibly fucked up joke- if it can even be called that. However, I see no solution to that besides outright monitoring chat. Perhaps an age restriction is the best course of action.

The point of having guidelines for community projects is so that there is less of a need for players to go around tearing down slurs and hate symbols, not to shift this responsibility to staff. I do understand that free speech is part of what makes this server fun, but I don't think it's much of an issue to minimize the problems arising from this freedom, such as slurs/swastikas being on full display in community areas for no reason other than just to be there. It paints a bad image of VillageCraft, whether some consider it funny or not.

[gerrit70]

But shifting the responsibility to staff is exactly what this would do. I don't think players will have to continually 'Tear down' hate symbols. They can probably just go take 30 seconds to remove them. Your definition of a bad image is different than mine inn that case, I think that having such symbols on display very obviously outlines the nature of the server and although the majority of us do not condone them they are there nonetheless because the rules allow free speech within reason. I have not seen any of the issues that you are mentioning arise from the art, besides one person freaking out and calling me a Nazi before promptly leaving when it was revealed that the script was flipped.

I truly see no reason to remove the symbols, and if people do take issue with it, they can take the prerogative and take them down.

[MutluMali]

But shifting the responsibility to staff is exactly what this would do. I don't think players will have to continually 'Tear down' hate symbols. They can probably just go take 30 seconds to remove them. Your definition of a bad image is different than mine inn that case, I think that having such symbols on display very obviously outlines the nature of the server and although the majority of us do not condone them they are there nonetheless because the rules allow free speech within reason. I have not seen any of the issues that you are mentioning arise from the art, besides one person freaking out and calling me a Nazi before promptly leaving when it was revealed that the script was flipped.

I truly see no reason to remove the symbols, and if people do take issue with it, they can take the prerogative and take them down.

You say it as if it would be a great burden on the staff to tear down these builds, yet you go on to say that it only takes players thirty seconds to remove them. However, I don't believe that it would create a greater workload for the staff, because far less players would be making these sorts of things in the first place if it were against the rules.

[gerrit70]

The difference is I would assume that staff dont really care either way and have therefore not removed them yet. Why would we want to make other people do what the people who disagree with the symbols should be doing?

[MutluMali]

I have removed the remaining swastikas. If staff are opposed to removing any structures that appear after these guidelines are hypothetically implemented due to the workload, (though I expect far less players to create them in the first place,) then I will gladly do it for them on their request.

[Airbongo]

2. Any hateful speech that is directly targeted at specific religions, will not be tolerated.

[Saxturian (OP)]

2. Any hateful speech that is directly targeted at specific religions, will not be tolerated.

alright listen i think this shit is dumb af but i dont wanna get bitched at cus bitches trippin, so i typed up things that i assumed people get offended about lol