I'm sad the mascot had to fall, folks like Leonidas/Kleopatra/Raziel/Crapo are annoying but are kinda cute in their childish behavior. Shame that true originators of grief are still on the loose. If Fin/Shanks were banned 4 years ago like they should be, cRPG wouldn't turn into what is today and maybe mod population would still be healthy and growing. However, that is chadz's problem and he'll certainly reap what he sow in his new game where this kind of behavior will continue and grow and eventually will have negative impact on game popularity.
When a new player start playing cRPG there are few stages he's going through. At first, he's shocked by the fact how much better other players are than him. Most can't cope with this and they stop playing after few days. Nothing can be done about this, it is nature of the game.
Those who stay try to get better and become competitive. After some time, they can get into particularly nasty situation. Still new to the game, without contacts among regular players, they can fall in a trap. Trying to play the game the best they can, sometimes they will witness their teammates staying aside hugging while their opponents gank them, round after round. They'll even be attacked by their own teammates if they dare to attack an enemy who is "friend" of theirs. This is the point where people split into two groups. Those who stop plying and leave the mod forever and those who will try to become part of the "cool" gang that is essentially running the server.
That would be cool and dandy if people on server and among the "cool" gang were equal. But they are not, there is hierarchy. Which means this is nothing else than typical mobster mentality which is ruining the whole community. Societies that want to grow and prosper condemn this kind of behavior, same goes for game communities which have same goals.
