This is a follow-up post to the confusion created by a drama caused by three people within the DPS community.

Two players and one admin – RyanSTO, Felisean and Omegashoker (creator of the combat log reader) – broke away from the DPS League on Thursday, and under the cover of the weekly patch and attempted to arbitrarily shut down the DPS Leagues with the goal of replacing it with something they could control.  Working from the Tribble Servers, they kicked 7500+ players from the league channels. RyanSTO then posted an ‘official’ statement about the reorganization.

The ‘new league’ became known as DPS-Metal, named in part after the new bronze, silver and gold certifications.  Invites were sent to all DPS members.

The reason for the break – a change in the governance of the DPS League that would have separated ‘artificially-buffed’ high-dps results from the regular tables, effectively making ‘some’ high scores irrelevant in terms of ranking. Six of the seven admins agreed that this was the appropriate way to deal with people who ‘stacked’ their results to artificially create unrealistic scores.  Only admin Ferisean disagreed.  RyanSTO was not part of the vote.

By mid afternoon we had seen the official response from a League admin on Reddit, and what followed was a free-for-all of behind the scenes offering insight and details.  A full copy of the audio recording of the meeting was released. By noon it was clear that the three had done this without the consent of the league.

Omegashocker reponded this afternoon with a post on the forums (which was immediately shut down by the community managers).  In it he claims ownership of the DPS leagues because ‘he’ created the program that tracks scores:

The DPS-League is not only a table with a bunch of numbers in it. The DPS-League is a service. A service I offered to the STO community to easily compare to each other in damage or speed, to see their progress while levelling up the leader board and getting help, tips and inspiration from the players on the top. I implemented this service as part of my program, I hosted it on my own (paid) server and I opened it for everyone who wants to become part of it. It was Agresiel, who first asked me to build it and to use it for invitations to the DPS-Channels. Yes, I worked with him and he made some suggestions, but it were still my work, my efforts and my time, which made the League possible. Nothing he or someone else did to it, gives them any right to claim different. If there is any owner besides me, it’s the community as a whole.

It’s with this sense of entitlement that omegashoker shares belief that they can delete an entire league and start over.  The Admins that created this league years ago have no say. The players and support people who have helped thousands improve their game play, have no say, because in his mind – he’s the sole owner of the experience.

Reminds me of a quote from The Undiscovered Country, and Kirks response at dinner. (Yes, that was intended to be a back-handed, passive-aggressive comment).

All three of them could have left and started something new.  Instead, they attempted to destroy something that had been supporting 7500+ players all in a vain effort to protect what?  Control?  High Scores?

At the end of his post Omegashoker offers an olive branch, offering to support both leagues, but only if everything currently is dissolved and a new league comes out of it.  While I’m supportive of ending this manufactured issue to protect artificial high scores, the real truth is I can’t trust RyanSTO, Omegashoker or CLR.  And as for Felisean, his actions speak volumes about the character of a player more interested in protecting a score than building our community.

Now we’re waiting for RyanSTO’s comments on why he felt he had the right to kick 7500 people from the league.  I wonder how he will justify this travesty.