Did ultima just ignore my argument because it made too much sense or? Let's try this again...
Whether you believe in it or not, game designers do actually have an ethical responsibility that if somebody is going to invest time (and/or money) in our experience, that we need to make it worth the time, resources and effort they spend, in a manner which has been agreed upon. A good example of this is that if you are making a 3D Platformer and you decided to add in a First Person Shooter bit as a mini-game, it is considered bad practice if you are to make that mini-game difficult as it is not what the player had signed up for and goes against the grain of the experience you are trying to teach.
In a similar sense, when a player signs up for an interactive experience, they also have an expectation that there is a consistency in the way things are managed, and that if the experience is not designed as a means to push political agendas, then it shouldn't be used for that purpose at all. What you've witnessed is a single moderator acting without any authority or permission, essentially breaking the implicit rules that had been laid out between those in charge and the players (the idea of polling for big decisions that affect the world). How would you feel if this moderator made a Annoying Orange Rally inside the game? Or a Leukaemia walk? What if the mod was less moral, and organised a kool kids klub March? This mod apparently had the power to push whatever morals they wanted to on everybody else, in a manner that is not diplomatic or respectful to the playerbase, gameplay or game atmosphere.
If you want to tackle a big issue in a video game, you must do it in a game where the environment is designed so that the player is aware the game is about talking heavy issues, and you must do it in a manner that is tasteful within the mechanics and atmosphere. That is the only way to allow your message to get the regard it deserves.
What's become painfully clear is that you have no respect or understanding for the goals of the industry and the best practices our medium of expression. You only give a stuff about the political implications of a message applying to you, and don't even consider the fact that your message has better times and places to be shared, if it even need be shared in this manner at all (Presumably, Martis Gras is not a serious debate but rather a festival for those who want to participate, so why would you produce this event in a world that doesn't want this? It just makes people who were already negative about your means and your messages dislike them even more as you're now interrupting their time).
I can't wait to see how you break this all down to "it's just a video game it's not serious" and "gamers are evil because they're family men".
