Personal responsibility. Our culture gives it a lot of lip service, especially if you've ever read self-improvement websites. Sometimes we as a community talk about it. But what does it mean to take personal responsibility as a team player? It sounds discordant for a team member to discuss this as though it only affects the person making the choice. It needs no outside recognition, the process happens internally. Yet it reflects externally as well. It is of little importance to a person in the moment and of potentially great importance to the group.

And it's at the heart of what we do here at TTP, be it in game or on the forums.

We work as a team, but the only way we can do that is if every single individual chooses to do so. Every aspect of this is a personal choice: which games to play, what class to pick, following the call. Choosing to accept blame when you fuck up (and you will fuck up), choosing to fix problems as you can rather than wait for someone to tell you that you should.

You can decide you're going to play spy, because that update is just so cool - or you can decide to go medic, because there are never enough good medics. You can decide to follow the call, squad up, or lonewolf it. You can decide to whine over how it's not REALLY your fault, or you can admit to what you did wrong and work to gain back the respect you lost. (Hint: see most successful unban requests. What do YOU think works?)

So you happen to like flying in BF2, but you're having a bad day and you fly into an enemy tree, killing everyone inside and wrecking the plane. Apologize, say it was your fault, and move on. (Maybe let someone else fly the plane on respawn.) Don't blame the lag or your squad for being distracting or the tree for jumping up out of nowhere. Just accept that sometimes you screw up and keep pushing the objective. If your teammates won't stop bitching at you after you apologize, first check your apology for sarcasm. Then ask an admin to intervene - that kind of behavior isn't tolerated on TTP servers.


Teamplay begins on the field and only ends when you decide it does.

You can look at that poll that needs to be changed and decide, "oh, a high will get to it, I don't need to do anything." Or you can do it and not make a fuss about it. You can make something an article before I come nag you. (The quickest way to my heart, I assure you. I do too have one!) Teamplay relies on personal responsibility from at least a sizable minority in order for the servers to run, the site to function, and TTP to continue. It is made up of individuals saying, "yes, this is the way I want to do things, and even if I don't agree with all of the rules all of the time this is better than chaos."

We have rules set in place that determine the consequences of your actions, yes. It is always your choice whether or not to follow those rules. It is also your choice to make a logical, reasonable argument for changing a rule. We can only enforce the rules. We cannot make you choose to follow them. TTP is by and large a democracy stacked atop a meritocracy: prove yourself and rise through the ranks. Get the votes. Make your voice heard. That, too, is part of personal responsibility - you have to be willing to be in the spotlight. But that should not be your goal. Your main goal should be for the fun of it, or to feel better about the community you're a part of - the spotlight comes and goes, but you have to live with your actions forever.


Who, me?
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Personal responsibility isn't just about doing, though. It's also about knowing what you can't do, or don't know how to. Admitting weakness, I've noticed, is difficult for a lot of people. But it's just as important to ask someone else to fix the servers when you're sick as it is to know how to do it in the first place. Working on something you don't know how to do is a pretty good way to first off, break it and second off, get yelled at for screwing around with it. Go on, ask me how I know.

It takes guts and self-honesty to acknowledge that you can't do something, and more guts to go looking for the person who knows how and ask for help. But if you don't ask for help and something doesn't get done, the community is weakened. Taking it to the logical conclusion, you also have to admit when you're wrong. Learn from your mistakes, pick yourself up, and don't do it again, sure. That admission, even if only to the person who you yelled at or who's helping you fix your screw-up? Is the first step to learning. If you're denying what you did was wrong, you have no room in your head to learn how to do better.

For a close to home example: I was up much later than normal working on this article. Instead of getting up at the normal time and trying to work on five hours' sleep, I acknowledged that I'd made a decision and the consequence of that was going to be a later day. I slept in, because adequate sleep makes me a better writer and less cranky. I win, because I write better and faster and feel less crappy - I spend less time fighting the writing and more time doing it. Arreo wins, because he doesn't have to deal with me being cranky. And TTP wins, because it gets my best potential writing instead of something slipshod tacked together at the last minute.

And I've managed to get several hundred words into this thing without talking about what my personal responsibilities are. Funny how that works! For me, it's pretty simple. It's getting up every day and submitting bids for freelance projects, posting ads, making flyers, applying to normal jobs, and dealing with all the administrative crap that comes from trying to run your own business. Those are my choices. I chose to make my first post here an article, and from there became an editor, and now I have the responsibility to find articles, edit, and publish them every week. I've decided to fill my life with writing, editing, and crafts projects, and I work every day to make those things make me money.

Reputation is what others know about you. Honor is what you know about yourself.* Are you honorable enough to take responsibility for your decisions as a teamplayer?


*Lois McMaster Bujold