4Game

I am struggling with how to begin this post, but I think I need to state unequivocally that I do not know who lordsheen is. I know nothing about him beyond his actions in World of Tanks. I am however going to suggest that lordsheen is something which very well may not be the case. I do not think that changes my argument much either way, but its worth noting that I do not even believe what I am about to suggest is necessarily the truth. The mere possibility that it could be accurate is enough.

There seems to be this assumption going around that lordsheen is some sort of troll. He very obviously suicides every match, and nets himself a truly ridiculous 40% win rate, but what if that is just an unfortunate side effect? What if the affect on other people is not the intent of his behavior? I can very easily imagine a neurodivergent lordsheen. Let's assume that he is just a kid with severe autism. He could just find great calm in the repetitive monotony of suiscouting every match. Have you ever watched his stream? There is something oddly serene about it, from the lack of game sound, to the calming music. I'm certainly no expert on neurodivergent people, but I could very well imagine finding some sort of peace out of that behavior.

If this is the case, the well done everyone. You built an angry mob to hurt some poor dude just trying to have fun his own way. I happen to know this dude. He is every bit as bad for his teams as lordsheen. I don't know him well, but its very clear to me that he is just a sweet dude who loves shooting at tanks. I don't know lordsheen, but the mere possibility that he is just a sweet dude who loves suiscouting makes me ashamed of the community and the company that has specifically targeted him.

The crux of the anti-sheen mob's argument seems to be something to the effect of "he ruins the game for 14 other players." This is absurd to me. The person I know up there clearly has the capacity to ruin the game for 14 other players and I hope none of you would call for his ban. But there are so many hostile behaviors in this game which are very explicitly allowed. Artillery are allowed to target one individual and ruin their entire game. Deathstars are allowed to 1-shot people instantly. My personal favorite example are unicums. I'm a unicum, and I'm in a unicum clan. I can get 2 of my buddies together and we can run a platoon of 3 chieftains spamming gold ammo for at least an 80% win rate. I have done this before. Its fun. I'll probably do it again. Let me tell you that we typically ruin the game for our 15 enemies far more effectively than lordsheen ruins the game for his 14 team mates.

"Ah but you play for the win!" you might say. Well not always. I have a certain fondness for terrible tanks. As of this post I have played over 700 games in the WZ 132-1 (which is almost certainly the worst tier 10 in the game). I have a substantially lower winrate in this vehicle than any other light. Every time I bring it out, I am actively hurting my teams chances. Should I be banned for this? Obviously not. I can make it work. My teams can make it work too. You know whats funny? You can make lordsheens tactics work too. I recently spent a lot of energy on some tier 10 light 3 marks. Having lordsheen on my team was a blessing. He absolutely guaranteed a few shots of damage right at the start, as well as the ability to get some damage off on enemy light tanks so that they had a harder time countering me later in the game. Honestly, I liked seeing him on the enemy team too. I could absolutely either avoid him or farm him, and then I knew I wouldnt have to worry about another light tank. Lordsheen frankly improved my World of Tanks experience.

So now to awkwardly segue into the Wargaming side of this. Wargaming seems to have written these new rules specifically to target lordsheen. Obviously, given how little we know about him, I think this is potentially disgusting, but furthermore, these rules are horrible. They are so comically vague that they can be used to target absolutely anyone. "Repetitive behaviours designed to hamper or annoy others" Good luck determining intent. Oh and say goodbye to artillery players. "Deliberate suicide during battle" Well I have absolutely done this. Typically its to get 4k spotting damage on camping TDs, but oh well, guess I get banned. Again, there is this ridiculous intention problem as well. How about those behaviors which are "extreme, repetitive, and affect a large number of other players?" There go my chieftain platoons. Oh well.

Obviously having vague rules can be a powerful tool for wargaming to make their game a better experience, but these are just ridiculous. They seem to be specifically tailored for lordsheen, who very well may just be some dude who really enjoys suiscouting in the same way I really enjoy my WZ (thats not true actually I hate that tank but I cant stop playing it send help).

I say let him have fun in his own way, just like me, just like you just like that guy whose stats I linked.

And more than anything shame on all of you for attacking someone you dont know, and shame on wargaming for kowtowing to the angry mob. Try to have some empathy.

TL;DR #FreeSheen