Restorative Justice

[Wrynn 1349]

Restorative Justice Within Lord of the Craft

 

Hello all, some of you may know me, some of you may not.

Before you read any further, I want you to know that this post is not referring to Restorative Justice within our IRL's society today, but rather Restorative Justice within LOTC. No further.

 

Now that we have gotten that issue cleared out of the way, we can proceed onto the subject matter.

Restorative Justice

What is it? And how is it used?

 

What Restorative Justice Is.

1. Restorative justice is an approach to justice that focuses on the needs of the victims and the offenders, as well as the involved community, instead of satisfying abstract legal principles or punishing the offender.

(google defintion)

 

As stated above, restorative justice focuses upon the needs of the victim.

It states at the end of the definition that the offender should not be punished, however I feel that if someone has broken the rules within LOTC they should be banned, in correlation to their offense, given a suitable length of time to be banned for, and rethink their actions.

 

However I feel as if the first part of this definition needs to come into play within LOTC, as, if you know anyone that has been banned and returned to LOTC, you will have most likely seen them being greeted with slurs, poor communicated messages and often ignorance.

Personally I feel as if this should not be the case, as the offender will have served their length of ban and been granted access to the community, only to be greeted by people who take them as a joke, and see them as something petty.

 

I myself have seen this happen a lot on occasion, with several different players.

Watching them be provoked and treated with the least bit of human decency.

Recently, AfricanGlasses submitted a post, trying to clear his dishonest actions and  bad remarks. He did so by writing a few paragraphs on his actions and how he regretted what he had done, saying sorry to the community that he had upset, resulting in his ban.

 

However, certain replies to this post, shocked me, as what I saw was AfricanGlasses being treated with no respect atall, and no decency, people regarding him as scum and taking him for a joke, when he wrote these paragraphs to apologies for what he had done.

I believe that the reply; "Lol, I can't read." Was left upon this post, clearly poking fun at AfricanGlasses' sympathetic post.

(https://www.lordofthecraft.net/topic/125896-starting-over-is-hard-work/)

 

This behavior among people as ourselves, a tight community, is abhorrent to me, it repulses me and makes me physically sick.

 

This is why I believe that some form of Restorative justice should be brought into LOTC's society, to make sure that things like this do not happen.

 

This system could simply involve staff members looking out of newly unbanned players and making sure they are being treated with respect, and being treated fairly. It has a simple solution and I do not see why it cannot be stopped.

 

How Restorative Justice Is Used

Restorative Justice is achieved by working with the;

Offender,

Community,

Defendant.

Our main impact here is the community and how the community views unbanned players.

The offender would work with the community as normal, through normal OOC and IC means, and a stable and mutual relationship between the two sides would have to occur.

This means that BOTH sides would have to co-operate with one another to see eachother's views, and understand how one another feels.

 

In my opinion, with the offender already having served a ban, should be brought back the same respect that they were given before they were ever banned, for they have served time for their offense and have decided to re-commit themselves to the server, by coming back and trying to reapply themselves to the community as done before.

 

However the two sides would have to co-operate, and this would have to be monitored, to make sure 1 side is not taking an advantage of another.

 

The communication between the two parties would continue with an apology from the offender to the defendant, owning up to their offenses and truly apologizing for what they have done.

 

Hopefully a system like this, (With moderation from such officals) could help unbanned players hopefully be integrated back into our community as they were before, being treated with the same amount of respect and tolerance as before.

 

I have very strong feelings towards this subject and truly wish that something like this does happen, as recent events have shown me how abhorrent some people can be towards unbanned players.

 

-Luke.

[Rethai 163]

This deeply touched me. Thanks Wrynn. Since you being a WS befriending you was one of the best decisions I made on this server. I appreciate what you've done for not only me but for the present and future of LotC and any potential offenders of broken rules or misconduct. :)

[lawnmowerman 3040]

He's been given three chances or something and I'm not surprised to see those replies due to the fact of AfricanGlasses' poor conduct. I hope he comes back with a new attitude, for his own sake.

[Rethai 163]

 

He's been given three chances or something and I'm not surprised to see those replies due to the fact of AfricanGlasses' poor conduct. I hope he comes back with a new attitude, for his own sake.

 

This is irrelevant to the post at hand. He used me as an example. If you agree with the comments then reply on the post which the comments are written on. He's getting at the fact that people can also play telephone and get out of hand with it.

[lawnmowerman 3040]

This is irrelevant to the post at hand. He used me as an example. If you agree with the comments then reply on the post which the comments are written on. He's getting at the fact that people can also play telephone and get out of hand with it.

 

And I used you as an example as well, no need to reply with a hostile attitude like this.

[Wrynn 1349]

@TheBigPoppa

This is the point of Restorative Justice, it is a system in which someone can be allowed back into society, no matter the offense at hand, it can be used. I feel that the Restorative Justice system would cease conflicts as you and African just had.

Most of the offenses on the server are forgivable, and can be worked through easily, we just need a better communication system between defendant, community and offender so that was can resolve small conflicts and forget about the wrongdoing that the offender did, allowing us to continue with roleplay communications and OOC communications with ease.

Of course we shall not forget about the wrongdoing without punishment, as I feel a system of punishment still needs to be set into place so that the offender can rethink their actions, but that is the punishment. It should not trail into abhorrent communications RP or OOC.

I believe that with a Restorative Justice system in place this could be achieved easily.

 

Note: Restorative justice can also be seen as "Everyone should be given equal opportunities, no matter the offenses they have committed"

[lawnmowerman 3040]

@TheBigPoppa

This is the point of Restorative Justice, it is a system in which someone can be allowed back into society, no matter the offense at hand, it can be used. I feel that the Restorative Justice system would cease conflicts as you and African just had.

Most of the offenses on the server are forgivable, and can be worked through easily, we just need a better communication system between defendant, community and offender so that was can resolve small conflicts and forget about the wrongdoing that the offender did, allowing us to continue with roleplay communications and OOC communications with ease.

Of course we shall not forget about the wrongdoing without punishment, as I feel a system of punishment still needs to be set into place so that the offender can rethink their actions, but that is the punishment. It should not trail into abhorrent communications RP or OOC.

I believe that with a Restorative Justice system in place this could be achieved easily.

 

I've never had a personal problem with him to be honest, I don't specifically like him due to the fact he's threatened to Ddos one of my friends and told my other one to kill themselves. I've got no beef, as I said on this thread and AfricanGlasses', I hope he comes back with a fresh and nice attitude.

[Wrynn 1349]

Well, it is nice to me that you are willing to see him come back, with the ability to change and hopefully that you will still regard him as a person with feelings and morals, just like each and everyone of us.

[Koger 9]

I applaud you sir, a topic such as this brings me a smile. :)

As it is said, forgive and forget, this topic brings a great example of that.

 

Now everyone enjoy some tranquil volk musik.

 

[Overland 349]

  Honestly, I don't see the point of how it will change anything. People should be willing to work things out together instead of having staff members intervene - which will merely be a band-aid solution for the short term. Coming out and saying you want to change is one thing, actually proving that you are is another. I assume most people who would undergo this would merely resume hostilities afterwards unless both sides were really wanting to work it out. 

 

  AfricanGlasses, 'tis a shame, but there's not much you can do except try and prove that you've changed and try and recover some friendships and a bit of your reputation. 

[Rethai 163]

  Honestly, I don't see the point of how it will change anything. People should be willing to work things out together instead of having staff members intervene - which will merely be a band-aid solution for the short term. Coming out and saying you want to change is one thing, actually proving that you are is another. I assume most people who would undergo this would merely resume hostilities afterwards unless both sides were really wanting to work it out. 

 

  AfricanGlasses, 'tis a shame, but there's not much you can do except try and prove that you've changed and try and recover some friendships and a bit of your reputation. 

Again he used me as an example as we are close friends. I've mended several relationships and some of my reputation from the first of this year. My ban was from ONE person. I dont find this year to be a shame what so ever. Sorry you feel that way. When I only helped in WS chat and wasnt even apart of OOC chat people claimed that I was even more toxic. At this point as I said in my initial post I feel the community will never change views on another unless they were of high influence.

[Wrynn 1349]

-Bump-

(Bumping this due to recent events)

[Heff 2460]

maybe we should just stop snitching and filing ban reports

[Cyndikate 2303]

Or we can stop coming up with systems that staff won't bother following and ignore the jackasses who like to act toxic and poke fun of you, because who cares what they think? Find people you enjoy being with and you'll enjoy the game more. They'll see the good qualities you have that they don't.

[christian2142 79]

I will never quite understand why the concept of respect is so misunderstood. It is not by decision of those in the position of power or authority as to who deserves to be treated with respect. Ones actions and communication is responsible for the reputation they make for themselves, and the impression they leave on our community. If you screw up, make amends with those who wrong you, and do so through long-term genuinity, as opposed to sucking up, passive-aggressiveness, etc. Grudges are held accountable on both sides, whether it's for the same reason, similar, or none of the above. I myself have had lots of negative encounters with people both online and offline. It took lots of time, but I worked to earn their respect, acquire cooperation, and put the past behind not just myself, but both of us. Not directing this towards African, but rather to anyone complaining they are treated with indecency, and 'deserve' better without making a genuine effort in achieving what they are supposedly entitled to.

Moral of the story, and to take me back to the beginning of this post: Respect is earned, not granted, and is dictated by ones actions before and after any wrong-doings. We don't need some silly server law to dictate who it is distributed to, and how. Nobody will listen anyway.