Hey all, just wanted to explain my recent absence from the server and what you can expect going forward.
 
In September, n0m and I entered into a contract where I would assume ownership of RSCRevolution including the domain, server, PayPal, and mailing listserv starting October 2018. In lieu of a down-payment, we agreed I'd pay royalties monthly, plus more for work completed.

When the time came, n0m directed the donate button to my freshly created business PayPal account, but retained the domain, server, and listserv. To ensure I would be a man of my word and would stick to the contract, I was asked to treat October as a trial where I would run the PayPal but not announce the new ownership. With a successful Halloween and no issues with payment on Nov 1, the trial period should have been coming to a close. I requested transfer of the remaining interests, citing the agreement. n0m transferred the domain, but declined to transfer the host server. I nervously realized that I was now liable for the income of a private server without actually having any control over it. But I tried to stay optimistic that n0m would stick to his agreements and eventually transfer the host.

With the clock ticking on a much needed November newsletter, the rest of the staff team decided that we should announce the new ownership for transparency's sake. My first instinct was to keep it secret until absolutely everything was handed over. I suppressed that instinct after n0m gave read over the newsletter, asked for tweaks, then personally okayed the [url=https://www.rscrevolution.com/viewtopic.php?id=15390]final version[/url]. He even had me demod his forum account, and removed himself from our Discord server, announcing that I would be running everything. I had the previous owner's public blessing! For the first time since the deal was struck, I felt relief.

That relief was short lived. Only a few days after the announcement, the host server went down for 12 hours and n0m could not be reached. It turned out he'd forgotten to pay the host bill. Frustrated, I saw this as a prime example of why the full transfer of interests was still necessary. I again asked for help setting up the server host under my account, arguing that RSCR would not have experienced the downtime if I were the one in charge of paying the bill. n0m refused - then asked for double the royalties we had agreed on. Now it was my turn to refuse. I asked that we stick to our contract, but mentioned that it already provided for the requested percentage as long as certain responsibilities were met. As I refused, I noticed I could no longer access the administrative tools I’ve enjoyed for years. When I asked if the passwords had been changed, n0m replied “that’s so weird”. I felt as though admin access had been intentionally locked out as a retaliation for my wanting to stick to our contract.

Now I lacked the ability to deliver on the updates promised in our newsletter. Feeling coerced, I expressed my discomfort with this tactic and said I would step back until my access was restored. 

It never was.
 
Left with no choice, I said I was willing to agree to the new deal for double the original monthly royalties. Nope, n0m said, that offer expired. I was told to give up my ownership completely, or else be removed from RSCR. The donation button was quietly deleted, leaving no way for players to support the server. I was told I could remain and assume my old responsibilities, but not be allowed to dictate any of the terms of any new deal. 

Despite putting up a tough face, I considered it. I love this game. I love RSCR. I’ve always loved the community we have here since I joined 3 years ago from a now defunct server. As weird as it sounds, designing content and helping run things here since 2016 is probably the best thing I’ve done in my adult life. And it’s incredibly painful to walk away especially when I was so excited to helm this project and bring our shared vision to reality. But it's time for me to take a break. I don't think I can stomach someone with whom I so strongly disagree having the final say on all of our creative, development and staffing decisions.

With a heavy heart, I am returning this domain to the previous owner's possession, and I hereby resign all of my staff duties effective immediately.

This is the best team the server has ever had. You should expect that RSCR will continue to be on the cutting edge of development in this scene, as it always has been. Christmas is such an exciting time for rscrevolution - there is always something wonderful for winter and around the corner. I'm looking forward to sharing these experiences with you, this time as just a regular player.

And if I don't see ya - best of luck to you all in your RSC and IRL adventures.

Billy

I am gonna tell some stories of what has happened in past couple months and in the end analyse and refute Billys arguments on why he allegedly got forcefully removed from ownership position. And I still hope that in the end we will be square with Billy and he will return Discord and PayPal funds for November, to my knowledge, he is still holding them for himself, we did however get the domain back. Billy, if you leave, get square with everyone.

Sorry for the wall of text, but a lot needed explaining.

When we first talked about the ownership change with Billy, we discussed possible percentages and other details. After a short chat, Billy made an initial suggestion, but i said no and since i was busy irl, i suggested to talk about it later when i'm free. We did not talk about anything afterwards, got a reply "yeah makes sence. no need to rush". One day when I connect to RDP, I see that our websites payment files are opened in the text editor. I found out that nothing is broken, but Billy is changing PayPal to his, because he struck a deal for the ownership. At that moment i had a very sickening feeling of realisation, that after two years of working together, when there was a MAJOR change in something that highly affects us both, I was kept in the dark completely. I don't know if you guys think the same, but I think it was the worst way of doing business. But it just got worse, when i called out the bullshit, Billy told me "you didn't say no...". I did not like what he offered me in the end, but i was fine with it, expecting good in the future. But in the end he got way more than me, while, in my opinion, i created more value regularly for RSCR.

During the negotiation I told this in our chat, to tell him what i expect of him in his position, most of the negative stuff I say came true: 
"Well I have expressed my concerns about lack of activity on your part, I don't think that it can be denied that over past few months your activity was not up to par of what you are capable and what RSCR needs. I am spending time on RSCR daily, I do my tasks, help mods and long story short, i do my part. I really want you to do it too, because I know what you are capable of, but idk where is your motivation sometimes. I'd agree with the changes being done if you are ABSOLUTELY committed to do more work than you are doing rn and I can say you now, if that does not happen over time we will just grow apart and i will quit the scene. With only me doing my tasks we will remain on the same level, if we all work together and make more content, we all win."
This conversation happened on october 8th.Yes I wrote ABSOLUTELY in all caps, to hopefully get the message across. 

Four days earlier, I was already missing the upcoming halloween quest script, we have agreed to start work on it early. Last Christmas, there was already a problem with when we started on the quest, so i was seriously anxious to start. To avoid trouble I asked Billy to start writing the script on Google Docs, so I can track progress and start on some parts of the quest, since it's written piece by piece anyway, what i said was: 
[11:32, 10/4/2018] Tomas: I dont want you to start writing on the last day before i should start working on it.
[11:33, 10/4/2018] Tomas: To remove the trust issues, please post it on google docs so we know the exact progress.
[11:33, 10/4/2018] Tomas: If you delay the job too much, im worried about you not writing it to your full potential.
He declined the offer and said "u ain't seeing shit till it's done".

Well I did not see shit till 3 DAYS BEFORE HALLOWEEN, leaving me to work full days in an attempt to release the content on time, which i could not do. I did not see much effort to help me develop the quest, he only replied to my PM's, while the staff team was the only quality control and testers AND I don't think he did that quest once.
So last xmas and on halloween we we're working on impossible timelines, at least on xmas N0m was the developer, this time, quest was our job. Billy was not around enough, mods did all of the events and dealed with the influx players we always have on holidays. He is doing this while just becoming the owner of the server, on trial.

Please try getting in my shoes at this point in time, when I basically was bullshitted all over by the closest person working with me, and I'm sorry, it left a pretty shitty taste to this day and the trust, that was already pretty cracked, started causing me serious stress. I would be in no position to push Billy in any direction down the line. When Billy screwed up on xmas, n0m gave him a payment penalty, what can I do now, I have only a bitching an moaning card, when Billy has everything, while completely under performing. We all know how amazing Billy can be.

So after all this, my confidence in him was not the best. He took substancially largest piece of the pie financially, while not sticking to what he promised. When n0m was paid this month, he expressed the need to adjust the deal. Yea, changing deals does not sound good at all, and when you say "n0m changed my business agreement","doubled amount", it sounds awful. But there is more to it. What he was offered, was way too low for giving a way a fully running business for free. Even though he pays royalties, it's still an income generator and your income has increased because it. Yes, it was not the initial deal, but when you spoke to n0m at the time, he was in a mindset that he simply wants to unload the server ASAP and get out of public crosshairs. With all this in mind, i don't know what took him over, but in my opinion, he sounded and acted way too greedy and unreasonable. He lacked self criticism and, in my opinion, looked for too much benefit for himself. When n0m realised he had trust issues from the red flags about Billy's behaviour, he wen't into a protection mode and we lost access to the dedicated server. I supported n0ms request, because i think it was absolutely fair and I don't think any of us three should be singled out and getting way more benefits while being able to chill. This was not some written and signed deal with lawyers, n0m gave away the server in good faith, did not expect to get fked in the process though.

The whole situation is completely blown out of proportion and everything started going downhill when we tried to negotiate for money Billy did not deserve, to be given to n0m. That is fucking it. We may talk about love to the server, but imo, that was just simple, straight cut, GREEDY SHIT.

Another issue that escalated the situation, was that it seemed that Billy sometimes had his ears plugged up and we were talking to a brick wall. Everything I mentioned above and more, I have told to Billy himself, and it super frustrating to talk to someone who has no self criticism whatsoever. He barely acknowledged anything about his behaviour that we brought up or simply ignored those messages, just replied to what suits him or isin't a sensitive subject. I don't think it's a good trait, that a person may go out of his way to not accept his faults or admit that they is in the wrong in any way. Billy must be able to see the whole picture, and the whole picture is what matters. He should not show any entitlement and needs to be fully capable to listen to others. The server is not his and it does not really belong to anyone, it's ours, the team, the players we all affected, shaped it in what it has become. And Billy comming and saying "you work for me now" to both us, I take this as saying stfu, you agreed. This is litteraly just plainly saying I AM IN COMMAND NOW!!!, but it's not how a leader acts, this is more getting closer to a dictator. I think Billy still has some growing to do, he needs to grow, because after 2 years of working with no major arguments, but as soon as money is involved, it all started going to shit relationship wise and now in other all other fucked up ways.

This is a lighly edited version of what I wrote to mods when they went on strike. It explains how some issues became major ones and ended us right here where we are now. Yesterday, after reading what he has posted, I believe it perfectly fits again. What I will add is, analysis of what billy has said, and once again, I'll show the community why Billy ultimately lost his position.

"With a successful Halloween and no issues with payment on Nov 1, the trial period should have been coming to a close." - You delivered the script for Halloween quest 3 days prior release date after I had requested the script for weeks prior to that, I had to work full time for days on the quest to deliver anywhere near the actual release date(which we couldn't do). So yes it was successful but don't take credit for it. Halloween was successful, with delayed, briefly tested fresh written content, with the new owner barely around to help.

"I nervously realized that I was now liable for the income of a private server without actually having any control over it." - If anything happens we will be simply forces to seize operations, just like any other server. Grow some balls, jesus fkin christ.

"That relief was short lived. Only a few days after the announcement, the host server went down for 12 hours and n0m could not be reached." - Yes it sucks, but shit happens, if you criticise him for fucking up, look in the mirror and think a bit.

"n0m refused - then asked for double the royalties we had agreed on. Now it was my turn to refuse." - n0m asked for 1/5 instead of 1/10 while offering to be at service at all times, and in my opinion it was fair request even if he didn't lift his finger. his whole reasoning on why he was passed for getting the ownership, according to Billy is D.O.U.B.L.E.(says twice) the percentages, thats the only reason deal was broken and as he did not agree that is that. Sounds pretty fucked up if you are blink and can't get any other information about the situation. But there is plenty. I already said it. And after all these arguments, that took place for two+ weeks, he writes this bullshit letter just throwing shit at n0m and leaving his "beloved" staff to deal with a shit storm. Thing is, the amount was so small, it basically went from a shit amount, to an ok amount that is okay as a royaltie for years of service in developing the backbone of what he have now. 

"Nope, n0m said, that offer expired." - because it was obvious you are not fit for the job, at this point we had already argued for a week over something that shouldn't have been.

"I was told to give up my ownership completely, or else be removed from RSCR." - you were told let's go back to the work relations we had before the change, as we saw this is not working for us, all senior staff agreed. This was after 3 weeks of you resisting, stalling and trying to work with you on your terms, as a last resort solution.

"The donation button was quietly deleted, leaving no way for players to support the server." - this one really grinds my gears, after 2 weeks of getting nowhere, billy went silent for a week or so after a major argument, there were times where we did not expect for a resolution to be made. We decided to speed things up by disabling donations, at least there won't be any of many donations disappearing if things go south (to my knowledge, we still have not received the PayPal funds he owes us). This was also a last resort decision made against him due to his own incapability of taking criticism in a healthy way or working together.

"I was told I could remain and assume my old responsibilities, but not be allowed to dictate any of the terms of any new deal." - we wanted to go back to the way it was, without eliminating n0m from decision making process, since we already had many trust issues with Billy that have been mentioned before.

"Despite putting up a tough face, I considered it. I love this game. I love RSCR." - you love RSCR but you leave the server with the biggest crysis it faced since Fate left, you did not care what your closest colleagues were saying, you were manipulated mods, now you are manipulating players with this bullshit letter.

Cherry on top is, that Billy has broken our NDA agreement that he himself introduced. I personally became very angry when i found out that contents and screenshots of admin chat have been made public and was looking for some junior mod who leaked information to public. Turns out it was Billy himself LOL.  He's really hard trying to get all support he can get to feel better about himself . whether it's playing 'im still with rscr' card or leaking pics without context from admin chat that only make himself look better. 

I think it's also worth a mention that we patiently waited for him to show up to deal with the situation and displeased staff without doing anything behind his back any further than n0m locking him out of database, but our patience had limits. All in all, Billy kept resisting until the point where decisions had to be made against him and he did this just so he can play the victim card afterwards. 

Take some time Billy, grow up.