Coronavirus is a difficult topic to get rid of-oops, you are reading an article about this. The country where I live is currently only one step away from the mandatory military separation zone. Last week, all deposits prepared for health care providers and supermarkets were closed, and this week a fine was imposed on groups of more than two people. Grocery store shopping is like playing "Social Evacuation Whirlwind". Even if I just take care of my business at home, I always linger in my mind.
Convinced that sometimes the only way out is to move forward, I bought Kind Words, a developer duo Popcannibal. Behind the principles released last summer Good words It's simple: people post and view requests anonymously, and small notes that can be seen everywhere. Whether you have a problem at work, a problem in love, or you ca n’t sleep at all, you can write an e-mail and someone will respond to you and provide support. There are only two rules: Don't post identifying information about yourself or others, and most importantly, be friendly.
Many of my friends have reassured me that the Kind Words community is where it should be now, and being able to express my own anxiety in an unjudgmental space suddenly becomes tempting. Not only that, but I also see good faith as an opportunity to regain control. I want to help others, but don't let myself be overwhelmed. This is my attempt on other platforms such as Twitter and Facebook and it fails.
To my surprise, Kind Words, I think the community will definitely be plagued by uncertainty anxiety related to COVID-19 and seems relatively unaffected. Ziba Scott, creator of Kind Words, confirms this. He told me in an email: "The pandemic has undoubtedly become a topic in similar vocabulary, but it is not a topic of widespread concern." People have always brought very personal, personalized thoughts into cordial words. Even if the context is a virus, they often write very personal questions. They worry about a specific relative. They should have started a new job, but this is problematic. They felt that their friends had let them down because they did not check in. All the extra homework is painful. "
Actually, that's great. I can't do anything with the virus, but I can tell other users how to keep the room tidy. I can tell them about the time I also thought I would never find a job, which was my ironic experience during the 2009 recession. For almost a week, I spent two hours a day learning "good words" and crazyly answering any questions I encountered. I think I can help. For a while, I felt like I was getting rid of the sound of washing my hands and people became armchair virologists, but Scott soon clarified that the "good words" were not affected by current developments.
"What I'm seeing is that the pandemic exacerbates & # 39; normal issues & # 39 ;, so I'm not surprised that the number of these epidemiological discussions exceeds expectations. It would have been more difficult if funding had previously been tight Oops. If your previous long-distance relationship was overwhelmed, now you do n’t even know when to see them again. Everyone who is already worried about their own health or the health of others now has a concern about this multiplier."
For some ti me now, the "kind words" I got from video games gave people the same feeling, madly answering the request for satisfaction, but although it allows you continuous access to unlock new songs and gives you some stickers for collection in When answering requests, "goodwill" is designed to strictly prevent the gamification of goodness.
"You'll notice that there are no steam achievements. It's not just me being lazy. We try to avoid all the quantitative rewards you get from other social media platforms. No likes count, no friends count. You don't know how many people saw your request. There are not many records with the same label. For us, the important thing is that the return you get from "good words" comes directly from the actions you take, not from the indicators that give you a sense of inflexibility. Scott explained.
It felt like it was me, and it didn't last long: After a few days, I started to notice another problem with my method. Spending just two hours a day trying to solve other people's problems has begun to frustrate me. I met people who were obviously frustrated and I bleed for everyone. This is where the reporting function comes in. In-kind reporting is important, not only to protect people from being scammed, but also to make moderator Ziba Scott and his co-developer Luigi Guatieri themselves aware of the users you are concerned about. "So far, we have received about 50,000 reports, and we will review all reports," Scott said. "97% of the content submitted to Kind Words is good for the community or neutral. About 2% is noise While 1% is trolling. No review is needed, all we have to do is to minimize the visibility of such content. So far, user reports have been successfully managed in combination with some automated measures to identify abuse 3% of what needs attention. "
No matter how you think about it, dealing with a lot of worrying reporting is no small feat, so I asked Scott if Popkanibal had ever felt stressed. "Gentle speech means reading the private thoughts of many stressed and depressed people. It can be shocking. Especially in our first few months. Keep reminding us that we invite people to treat their most vulnerable selves Bring it into our digital space. Therefore, as the host, we have a responsibility to continue with the necessary maintenance so that every player has a chance to hear and care about them. "
Obviously, Scott knows what area he is entering, and even the global pandemic has not changed the way he deals with the community, including Subreddit, Discord Channel, Steam Page and Twitter.
"People are talking about COVID-19, but I wouldn't say that it is very different because of the current pandemic. Although that may change. Before the pandemic, people felt stressed and fearful. This is an important part of humanity."
When I told him that I was trying to do something useful to control myself and solve other people's problems to get rid of my own troubles, I talked to him and thought it was banal and impossible, he would make me feel relieved.
"Don't underestimate the value of acknowledging someone's fear. We get a lot of feedback from players, just to make sure it's meaningful to hear their voice. I don't think many players come to" good words "to find suggestions from others" Fix "they. Most of them want not to be alone, to listen and listen."
I can't do anything about the virus, but I can.