I Hate You!

I hate you!!!

How easy that is to say.

You killed me in the Arena, you insisted the boss was yours, you said mean things about my spouse, you're from another kingdom or clan or subpath. So I hate you!

I hate you!!!

How easy that is to roleplay.

I'll insult you and mock you by Sage, I'll start cruel rumors about you, I'll find ways to get you jailed, I'll get my friends to kill you in the Vale. You will never join my clan, my subpath, or anywhere else I hold power. It's fun for me because I hate you!

There is no second chance. You earned my hatred, and hate is a one-way street. I take care to never look beyond the pixels on the screen. If I did, I might see a real person. Never that. I don't want to know you, because I hate you!

You're bad, you're evil, you're ugly, you suck. You're all those things I would be arrested for posting. You're a newbie, you're worthless, a lamer, a leech. You're just scum.

So easy to hate. But can we forgive?

So easy to label. But can we understand?

So easy to forget, we're here to play a game.

People complain bitterly about the one-way justice system. Do something wrong, get a brand, scum for life. No chance for reform, no hope of forgiveness. No second chance. But are not so many of us doing exactly what we condemn, and with less justification, as we seek to destroy each other over petty, insignificant things?

We're here to have fun, all of us. On the other side of each keyboard is a person very much like you and me. In the same room, the same place, we would most likely be friends.

I just got off the phone with a Nexus friend. Someone I once loved to hate. Someone I tormented, and taunted, and rejoiced when they got in trouble ... for I'm no saint, I'm as guilty as anyone. That person is now a good friend, and worth doing painful things to my phone bill (international calls) to chat with for a while.

People change. Grow. Mature. Learn. None of us is the person we was yesterday, or the person we will be tomorrow. Only hate is static and unchanging and cold.

We're here to play a game, all of us. Look inside yourself -- can you say, in all honor, that what someone else has done to you is worth hatred and cruelty and taking from them the fun of playing this game?

Let it go. Leave it in the past. Talk it over, settle things, and give people another chance. And you might find, after all ... you don't hate after all.