In regards to banned players

[Koi-Cricket]

I would like to address a situation and out some truths on the matter.

With the recent discovery of an ex-GM and player, there is a rumor being spread. I want to make sure the information that is out there is correct and honest.

Back in 2021-2022, we had to ban two players from the community for harassment, berating, and insulting players in discord. They were also removed from the GM team years prior to that for other reasons.

Here is a quote that outlines some claims;

"The community has harbored known predators, and time and again, concerns have been ignored or dismissed because these individuals were either in positions of power or were useful to those who were.
********* is not the only sex offender or predator within this space. For years, I and others brought forward evidence and personal experiences about individuals like "Bladeslayer" and "Harkyn," only to see them remain protected. Even now, known abusers remain in the community, unchecked."

There has been no abuse or patterns of neglect or harboring of any such kind on the team's part. These players have been long gone, banned from the community and game for years. It is -just now- coming to light that one of these players is now facing a variety of charges of sexual misconduct as these charges were made in January and again this month. At no point in time before last week was this ever known and was a complete shock to the entire community as we all found out together.

The GM team received the same harassment from these players long after the removal had taken place. We endured the abuse for over a year and steps were taken to stop one of them as best we could.

We have not received reports of this type of behavior as of late, yet a rumor circulates that "known abusers" remain unchecked. Since there's been no reports, abusers can't be known or checked. I would question the validity behind claiming anyone to be a "known abuser" without there being some evidence of an investigation into the accusations against any such person. Simply saying someone is an abuser, doesn't automatically make them guilty or qualify them as a "known abuser". There are two sides to every story, and we continue to encourage the community to report any such behavior so that there can be documentation of the complaint, an investigation can be performed, and infractions can be addressed.

I would also like to remind people that we are representatives of a Gamemaster team for an online video game. We are not law enforcement. If members of our community are acting in a predatory manner outside of services we offer, we can't do anything to stop that. The best we can do is ban people from playing the game. However, it is increasingly easier to circumvent these actions through VPNs, new game accounts, new discord accounts, etc. We run a public discord server where an open invite link is posted on our website. We can ban people from discord, but we cannot stop them from making new Discord accounts and joining our channel again under a different name.

Here is another quote that outlines these claims;

"The truth is, many in the community and on the team knew who and what he was long before any public fallout. They not only protected him but weaponized him when it suited their interests. They knew he was giving Underlight client access to his students—some of the same students he was abusing. But now, they want to rewrite history, framing themselves as victims of manipulation."

Once again, said person has been gone from the GM team for years and years. Has not been a part of the community in several years and will never be welcomed back. At no point in time was him allowing the use of students access to his client a thing, known about, or even in question. If someone knew, nothing was reported. Keep in mind also that the website and Steam is viewable to the public and accesable for download.

We are a small game and a small community. One which suffers greatly when people make it their goal to divide the community. Pushing unfounded personal opinions, lies, and rumors on any given person or group as "fact" is an attempt to get other people to quit too. Which is why we often see people leave in groups. Our community may be small but remember we have been around 20 plus years. Some of our community members have passed on, grown out of games, and just living life a different way. Each year we lose players, and each year we gain players. The player base tends to change over the seasons and years. We do not often retain newer players; it is the Lyra and SoT players that we depend on to drive the game. There have been some who have left because of incorrect information, or because they feel one way or another. It is import that you know that the team is available to discuss.

If you're being targeted, I encourage you to report it. If anything comes in to question that causes concerns, you are more than welcome to reach out to us. support@underlight.com. Also, any types of abuse that goes against the rules of Underlight, you may send in an email as well as use the abuse function in game.