User blog:SocialCasualty/People Change People

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"Just know you're not alone,

Cause I'm gonna make this place 

your home."

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For a while now, DARP’s community has become diluted with hurt feelings, buried conflicts, and a general air of toxicity. The once relief-filled pleasure of role-playing has become a mine field of inclusion. The once joyful chats have become depressing arguments that entice hostility. The once all-inclusive user base has become a select group of cliques.

Now, all of that sounds really crappy and like DARP can’t be saved. But in fact, this is the reason it needs to be saved. DARP at it’s core never changed and doesn’t need to; however, the community has become a more hostile environment. Users are feeling left out. Group chats are created to rant about other users. People are too busy feeling anxious, depressed, and pissed to actually role-play anymore.

Of course, I’m not just venting with this blog. This is a call to action. I don’t want you to read this and then get angry too, or sad, or defeated. I want you to read this and want to do something about it. DARP is my home. It’s a lot of yours as well. And if not, at the very least it’s a community that you are a part of.

So help me save it. Help me be more inclusive. Help me be more positive. Help me make role-playing fun and enjoyable again. Help me face conflicts head on. Help me be more open-minded. Help me make every user feel important, valued, and loved.

Help me because the only way change can happen is through you. I can’t be the only one. I don’t wield that kind of power. You do. Together, we can make DARP better. People change people. So go change people. Make them better, and they’ll do the same for you.

So the main question is, how do we even start? And the answer is: one step at a time. I will be issuing challenges every week to entice change and, more importantly, growth. Try the challenge out, and come back to let us know how it goes! Did you learn anything? Was it helpful? Did you have fun?

Maybe by challenging yourself a little bit, you’ll find you’ve changed. I want you all to be happy. I want you all to feel included. I want you all to feel that anger or resentment for another user or users fade away. I want you to become a better you. Because the you we have now is already amazing. Imagine what change we can make when that amazing becomes even better.

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This weeks challenge: Find someone you’ve never role-played with, or perhaps someone you don’t role-play with often. Get to know the user a bit more and do a role-play with them. Just one, unless you get excited. Excited is good! After doing so, come back and comment any thoughts you had on the challenge. I hope it helps you become a better user and role-player. I’m excited to see what you guys will learn. Honestly, I’m excited to see what I will learn.

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Thanks for reading this drawn-out piece when you could have just ignored it. I hope you got something out of it, and I hope it will at least be a start to a better DARP. If you have any questions or comments, please leave a message. I want to hear what you guys think - good or bad. Both are equally important for improvement, so I gladly welcome both! Thank you again for reading this, and I hope it heps.

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''Note: I don't want anyone to be offended by this blog, and I also don't want to delude you into thinking that I am some Saint. I'm guilty of a lot of the issues I mentioned, and I will be participating in all of the challanges as well. I still have a lot to learn, and I hope this helps me. Please let me know if you have any concerns or qualms with this blog or myself, and I will try to help in any way I can to relieve any bad feelings. Thank you again!''===== <p style="text-align:center;">