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Old 03-12-2010, 07:13 PM   #5
prof1515
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Re: Does not play well with others (RPI/RPE)

I, for one, don't get "enraged". I usually just laugh and then type out a post countering the errors in a post. Then I usually drop an IM or two to a few friends and we get a good laugh at the expense of someone else's ignorance.

However, I can't deny that I have little patience for people who are willingly ignorant and can't defend their position with facts. Sure, you're entitled to your opinion but if you can't back it up with facts and someone else can back up their position with facts that you can't disprove, my feeling is you should shut up and accept your error. I get tired of the same disproven arguments used over and over again. They weren't valid the first time they were used and they're certainly not valid once they've been proven to have no basis in fact.

The history of RPIs is something I've had an interest in for the last 10 years. For the first half of the decade I was relatively quiet, simply observing and noting things. Finally, I couldn't help but notice the abuse of the term, especially since it made using the term less effective and led to confusion for players coming into RPIs from elsewhere. Thus I began to speak up when seeing the term misused. Why? If the error was merely a case of ignorance, pointing out the facts might prevent a repeat of the mistake.

In regard to the RPI/RPE discussion, I've been challenged numerous times to produce evidence to support my position. Each time, I've met that challenge by producing the best available evidence to support it but some people just demand more evidence while they still have yet to provide anything but his opinion to back up their position. When a person's wrong, they should acknowledge it and move on with their life, not compound it in some desperate attempt to "win" an argument when they don't have a position capable of doing so.

Oh and for the record, just so you can compare fantasy with reality, I do own a RPI MUD which is still in early development (we tossed out our buggy old code in late '08 in favor of starting anew). I've admin'd on a RPI, turned down requests to admin on five other RPIs (well, four others since one request was from a staff member of SoI, the RPI I had been on before) and have played RPIs for over a decade. Of course, any argument that this adds legitimacy to the facts is irrelevant just as any argument that a lack of owning a RPI means one can not have legitimate facts. The only valid thing are the facts.

Some people are wrong about the term RPI. They're simply wrong. Their position isn't backed up by any facts. They may simply be ignorant or they may simply be unwilling to acknowledge that they're wrong which makes their decision to argue wrong as well. Sure they're entitled to their opinion but their opinion is wrong. Sticking their hands over their ears and shouting the same disproven claims over and over again doesn't make them right. That is the source of the conflict in the forums.

Last edited by prof1515 : 03-13-2010 at 01:57 PM. Reason: Typo
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