Thoughts On Sceptile

Review by geoff on Monday, January 16th 2012

I don't normally do this, but since the site is in an uproar over Sceptile getting banned, I thought I should step in and say a few things. This will also provide a forum for those who feel strongly about this situation to comment directly to me.

First, the story as I see it. Sceptile is a very talented game maker, but has had a checkered past here at Sploder. I personally enjoy his games, and have been amazed at some of the things he has made. I welcomed the mix of art and game elements in unique ways, along with his sometimes off-color humor. I also enjoyed seeing him rise in popularity, and others getting ideas from his creations. Unfortunately, this rise in popularity also caused other problems.

Recently, another member, Jaden964, has been getting more popular because of his game, Temple Run. Now, most of his views were coming from outside Sploder, but they were getting to be more views than Sceptile. Sceptile seemed to take this competition as a threat to his popularity. He asked Jaden964 to take down his game in exchange for 20 gold awards. Now, I do not condone this kind of behavior. It is not good sportsmanship, but it technically does not break the rules.

Our moderation staff has had issues with Sceptile's dealings with others in the past, and this was the breaking point for them. Sceptile using his popularity to pit his fans against another member was simply unacceptable and something had to be done. So, it was decided that he would be banned for the time being.

Sceptile's response was to take out his fury on the site by creating an alternate account and making some extremely inappropriate and obscene games. These games broke the site Terms of Service in a very extreme way. I have a zero tolerance policy for this, so I permanently banned Sceptile and his alt. I will ban anyone who does this, no matter how popular they are.

The truth is, we've been very forgiving of Sceptile's behavior in the past, and we were willing to listen to his side of the story and lift his temporary ban. Had he come to us in a mature way, we could have reached an understanding. But now, Sceptile has crossed the line and there's no easy way to come back from that.

In an ideal world, I would like to be able to have Sceptile back making great games on Sploder. I truly enjoyed his games, and it makes me very sad to have to ban him. In the end, though, I am the one who must guarantee that this site remain a safe, fun and healthy place to be creative. No one is allowed to get in the way of that.

Thank you for reading, and have fun making games!