EXILED: Crooked Rose Woods

Note: I wrote this as a draft originally for the thread about Campbell’s experience, but I did not want this to flood that topic, so I have created a new one.

I have tried not to get engaged in this topic, because I think it’s silly and takes away from what is important, but I’m stating my piece here and leaving it in the hopes that it is dropped.

I understand that we were told to trust no one… but what has been posted to IG lines up with what Cammie has told us. There would be nothing to lie about here. This game of trust between players is just damaging for the people involved and derailing what is important.

This is a horror experience, but that doesn’t mean doing things as players that can affect others in a negative way. I have been very goofy and silly this whole experience, and I feel like I can be underestimated because of that. I am aware of what this is, this is not my first rodeo. I think that enough has happened to prove that Cammie is a player, and we should just focus on the information that was provided to us instead of questioning everything. At the end of the day… if she was a plant… a story is being told, information is being relayed. Saying the information given is a lie just makes things confusing and muddy, and just leaves us with nothing.

I have no interest in playing this game. This is not part of the experience I signed up for or have any interest in partaking, but I am writing this now to hopefully get this trust game closed between players before a LOT of things start happening.
I had to get this off my chest and out into the universe. This is not an attack on anyone or trying to stir the pot, but this has been a discussion long overdue.

Very well put. We have no reason to work against each other here. I also have been pretty lackadaisical about participating, I'm not a codebreaker or a theorist, I'm here to have fun and enjoy the ride. (For my first immersive, I'm having a great time.) If I get tidbits, I'm more than happy to share what I've experienced to the group, because we're all in this together.
Xoxoxo

These are some very well put words, ladles and gentle-spoons.

Well spoken. There is no need for us to be against one another. We are all having our own experiences in a way. No experience is the same. The logistics behind things isn't as important as the information we have been given.

Thank you again Kass.

Absolutely couldn't agree more!

I also want to add that you win more flies with honey than you do DMing them on Instagram in private like a spineless bully. If you think someone's a plant, and you want them to give you info you think they're withholding, getting drunk and harassing them out of game isn't the way to get it. Sleep it off, drink some water, look in the mirror in the AM and maybe dissect WHY you were so aggressive to someone who didn't deserve it. Heck, maybe even apologize once you've unpacked it. For best results, add therapy!

Not that that happened. I'm just saying.

I've sat in my thoughts on this long enough to be able to respond in a collected manner.

Respectfully, of course, I think this whole thread is a bit off base. “We are all having our own experiences in a way.” Is this not a courtesy that extends to me for some reason? Does that the fact that it makes you a little uncomfortable negate my right to play my game the way I think it should be played?

Let me oversimplify this experience so far from my perspective, as it relates to this:

• We are told explicitly to trust no one.

• Cammie almost immediately sells out, choses to be Exiled in favor of knowledge and information. She is the only person to do this that we know of. She comes back and, for some reason, nobody really questions anything about that whole experience and takes it at face value.

• Cammie gives me (and you, I might add) a legitimate reason not to trust her when she kept the details of our competition to herself.

• When discussing the results of the competition, opie asks me if I sense anything, leading me further into the thought that she shouldn't be trusted.

• She writes down some cheesy, forced note about wanting to stay friends with me and makes sure everyone knows it.

• Opie tells me I’m being too nice.

• She makes a self-proclaimed game jacking attempt.

• She attempts to insert herself into my coffee date with opie.

• She is given one set of directions, to meet in Shawnee, and takes it upon herself to name a completely different meeting point, where the Elites just happened to be.

As I’ve thought about this over the past couple days, I realize it may not be a matter of trust at all. She is just playing her game, I get it. It may just be that I don’t particularly care for how she’s going about it. I’ve done my best to let my feelings be known without trying to convince anyone to join my camp. That said, I am not the only one feeling this way.

As for the note on bullying, I have to say that I agree. It’s much better to bring your bullying to a public forum. For instance, calling someone fake for playing their game the way they want to play it.

someguyinKC wrote: ↑Wed Sep 11, 2024 11:52 am I've sat in my thoughts on this long enough to be able to respond in a collected manner.

Respectfully, of course, I think this whole thread is a bit off base. “We are all having our own experiences in a way.” Is this not a courtesy that extends to me for some reason? Does that the fact that it makes you a little uncomfortable negate my right to play my game the way I think it should be played?

Let me oversimplify this experience so far from my perspective, as it relates to this:

• We are told explicitly to trust no one.

• Cammie almost immediately sells out, choses to be Exiled in favor of knowledge and information. She is the only person to do this that we know of. She comes back and, for some reason, nobody really questions anything about that whole experience and takes it at face value.

• Cammie gives me (and you, I might add) a legitimate reason not to trust her when she kept the details of our competition to herself.

• When discussing the results of the competition, opie asks me if I sense anything, leading me further into the thought that she shouldn't be trusted.

• She writes down some cheesy, forced note about wanting to stay friends with me and makes sure everyone knows it.

• Opie tells me I’m being too nice.

• She makes a self-proclaimed game jacking attempt.

• She attempts to insert herself into my coffee date with opie.

• She is given one set of directions, to meet in Shawnee, and takes it upon herself to name a completely different meeting point, where the Elites just happened to be.

As I’ve thought about this over the past couple days, I realize it may not be a matter of trust at all. She is just playing her game, I get it. It may just be that I don’t particularly care for how she’s going about it. I’ve done my best to let my feelings be known without trying to convince anyone to join my camp. That said, I am not the only one feeling this way.

As for the note on bullying, I have to say that I agree. It’s much better to bring your bullying to a public forum. For instance, calling someone fake for playing their game the way they want to play it.

I’m not going to try to convince you to trust me or not trust me. That decision is up to you.

I want to make it very clear that any decisions I made I had permission from the players. I respectfully told you that I would not ruin your experience by being there for your coffee date. I simply offered in case you did want me to be there.

Because I dislike lying to people and holding on to things, because I valued your friendship and kassidys and EVERYONE involved, I made a point to come clean about how the game was rigged because I knew about the situation beforehand.

Did you forget to tell everyone the part where I offered you and Kassidy each a third of my winnings from the competition because of my guilt that I held? Did you forget that you told me we were good?

I made a point to keep you updated with everything and then you told me to not keep you as updated because you didn’t want it to ruin your experience.

I want to make a point now that I harbor no hard feelings towards you. I’m simply stating my side of the things that occurred.

campbellstruts wrote: ↑Wed Sep 11, 2024 11:59 am
Did you forget to tell everyone the part where I offered you and Kassidy each a third of my winnings from the competition because of my guilt that I held? Did you forget that you told me we were good?

I did not forget either of those things. I addressed them both immediately in my poem. You offered a third of your winnings before I even knew the results had been posted. As for being "good", I have no ill will towards you for that offense. But, like I also said in the poem, "Always forgive but never forget."

All I am saying is that we need to be respectful of each other. Because ganging up on people has had ACTUAL consequences and can form legitimate hatred, bullying and harassment that is not at all necessarily.

You can choose not to trust her. I don’t care. What I am saying is that constantly starting witch hunts and getting on her ass for things constantly, and getting upset that she doesn’t respond to said accusations right away is harmful and not right. She doesn’t owe anything to anyone. Furthermore, this game of trust is pushing people out of the game space, because they can’t even socialize or play along with everyone else because they are constantly being hounded. This game of trust has created a hostile environment to those deemed as untrustworthy. That is not fair. Just because people have decided to not trust someone, doesn’t make it right to create an environment that is not welcoming and hostile for them to engage with.

Making the conversation focused about trust and not about the information provided is silly. That is why I have spoken up and tried to get us to drop it. If you have questions, you can ask, and she has the right to decide if she answers them or not. If she doesn’t answer, then she doesn’t. Making comments like “we have to rely on her for information when she is untrustworthy” is damaging, mean, and not productive to the topic at hand. You are welcome to have your opinion, but realize that you are saying these things publicly about another person, not a character.

You can have your opinion. But I am not going to stand around and not call something out when it is damaging another person.

I have not engaged with the forum related or discord the past couple of days. I don’t know if I want to anymore. We signed up to be bullied and harassed by the actors, not other players.

I honestly don't think that I've been disrespectful at all. I may have taken on a bit of a devil's advocate role but that was only after being told, in game, by the game master himself, that I have been too nice. Even then, the only person I've pushed back on is Cammie, and I just laid out pretty plainly the reasons for doing so.

This is my game as well. And to expect me to not play my game so that someone else can play theirs just isn't going to fly.

I also said you will need each other.

I recommend you break bread and let bygones by bygones.

We all venture into dark, hostile territory with different stances. You have all been pushed to explore far outside of your comfort zones.



Some of my greatest friends were first my enemies, or at least people with significantly opposing thoughts and views.

You have reached the start of something magnificent.

Find it in yourselves to burn the frayed ends and tie things back together.



You started together.

You have drifted.

Now finish together.



Blessings.

Thank you opie, we all say in unison.

someguyinKC wrote: ↑Wed Sep 11, 2024 12:32 pm I honestly don't think that I've been disrespectful at all. I may have taken on a bit of a devil's advocate role but that was only after being told, in game, by the game master himself, that I have been too nice. Even then, the only person I've pushed back on is Cammie, and I just laid out pretty plainly the reasons for doing so.

This is my game as well. And to expect me to not play my game so that someone else can play theirs just isn't going to fly.

Cammie has the right to push back when she has felt attacked. Her feelings are valid, whether you meant to be disrespectful or hurtful or not, you have been told that it is coming off that way.

If i was told I was hurting someone’s feelings, whether I meant to or not or if I was “acting”, I would stop saying those things or doing things that would hurt them. No one has the right to tell anyone how they should feel.

Just because the game master himself came down and told you that you are too nice, doesn’t mean he said you can start saying hurtful or mean things to other players. Play the game however you want, but that doesn’t give anyone else the right to be mean to ANYONE, players or the actors.

Its not gonna restrict your game experience to not be hurtful. And this thread was not made exclusively about you. Even what I am saying now is not just towards you. But others who have not spoken up. They know who they are.

opulens wrote: ↑Wed Sep 11, 2024 12:37 pm Some of my greatest friends were first my enemies

And vice versa.

Regardless, heard.

Right there with EVERYTHING Kassidy has said. Your experience can be all yours with all your doubts and suspicions, but don't try and take others down with you and interject your speculations.

You can't flip the pages of someone else's "choose- your-own-adventure" book and get mad that its not how you'd have done it.

For the record, *I* told her she had the bargaining chip and could have Maddy meet her wherever. She chose to not make it difficult, having read the room and knowing what likely was ahead after I pointed out sharing on the forum post. Just because you're TOLD something, doesn't mean you have to concede to it. They expect a certain amount of predictability out of some of us. They know Cammie would be eager and jump to help. This new approach helped her gain a bit of an edge, despite the probable and inevitable end.

The areas outside of here are filled with constant guesswork and what-iffery and I've stopped chiming in even half as much as I was. The atmosphere is often that of a freshly chummed piranha pond and I've said that a few times. What's relevant gets shared when folks have time and info. Expecting it, or questioning its proximity, is going to lead to more frustration than it's supposed to be.

Wise words as always opulens, my friend.

You said something to me once, when I was in the same place as Matt is now, all those weeks ago, and it stuck with me and I share it often. Now I will share it here because people need to hear it:

“Being outraged at the situation that occurred is a mirror upon yourself; It is not their actions you should focus on, but your own reaction.”

It was hard to hear at first. But it is true for all of us.

This may not feel like the “real world” at times, but it’s not that different. There will be people you like, people you don’t, people you care about that often mystify you with their actions… people will like you or they won’t.

We can’t be all chummy and in the cuddle puddle all the time. That’s not normal.

We are getting towards the end. We are stressed and anxious. Many of us don’t feel like we have enough information to go into this as prepared as we would like… again, much like “real life”. So it is natural that old grudges may arise or new grudges be formed.

People have a right to speak their truth. People have a right to be upset by that. That’s what freedom of speech is. It’s not the right to say (or do) whatever you want without consequence. All should be held accountable. By themselves. For themselves.

Focus on your own actions. Sit with your own reactions. Grow.

There are bigger horrors than this awaiting in those woods.

I’ll say this.

That note I wrote during our third experience about wanting to stay friends was not manufactured. It was real. It applies to everyone.

opulens wrote: ↑Wed Sep 11, 2024 12:37 pm I also said you will need each other.

I recommend you break bread and let bygones by bygones.

We all venture into dark, hostile territory with different stances. You have all been pushed to explore far outside of your comfort zones.



Some of my greatest friends were first my enemies, or at least people with significantly opposing thoughts and views.

You have reached the start of something magnificent.

Find it in yourselves to burn the frayed ends and tie things back together.



You started together.

You have drifted.

Now finish together.



Blessings.

Thank you, opie. I hope everyone, EVERYONE, comes out of this experience with what they were hoping to find and get out of it. Whether you are searching for answers, something within yourself, new friends, or just simply to experience. It has been stressful, heartbreaking, hilarious, aggravating, and emotional all at once. A lot of us have a lot of feelings about how things have gone down in all aspects. Each player involved has their own story to tell on what brought them here, their own stories on what they experienced, the good, the bad, the ugly, and the downright disturbing. The core of this experience and immersives in general is to share our stories and our experiences with each other and work together to solve whatever it is we signed up for, if there is anything to solve at all.

I cannot wait to hear about everyone’s experience and finish out this journey with you all.

Sorry Haley. Not sorry Erik.

I'd really like to address something and I think this is the best post for it. We need to stop referring to this as a game. It's not a game. There are no winners or losers. We are not players, we are participants. Nobody is keeping score; there are no rules.

We are a part of a story being told. Some play larger parts than others, sure, and at the end of the day; the story isn't really ABOUT us, it's FOR us. We are merely the witnesses and observers. Yes, the things we witness may make us feel things or want to take action, but the idea that it's YOUR game is false and I would even say dangerous, because it will ultimately lead you down a selfish and destructive path where your feelings are the ONLY ones that matter to you.

You NEED other people in this experience to tell you about theirs. They don't owe it to, but they share it because without it, there is no full story, only tidbits of dialogue or narrative that get tossed your way. Which you share, because once again, without it, we don't get the full story; we cannot see the grand scale of narration careful written and interwoven between all of us. Imagine it like we're all being given a letter, and we have to come together to make the word.


So I ask and encourage that moving on, we stop referring to each other as players in a game, but use a more accurate description of what we are- participants in an experience. We are so fortunate to be a part of this world that not many will ever get to see. Let's not take it for granted by trying to "out-play" one another or "win"

If you get something out of this, you're a winner. If you feel seen or like you're a part of something, you're a winner. But we can only be winners if we stop playing games.