2023 SWAG shutdown

The ServerWide Association of Gamers (SWAG) was temporarily shut down by the server administrators on October 8, 2023, until October 25 (17 days). Prior to the shutdown, a "huge influx of new players" had caused "dramatic shifts in voting", leading the admins to pause all new SWAG proposals while they implemented stricter voting regulations. It was the first shutdown since SWAG was founded in January 2022.

During the shutdown, players were prohibited from proposing new SWAG resolutions, although existing proposals were allowed to resolve. The last resolution to resolve during the shutdown was SWAG Resolution 56.2 on October 10.

## Background

Several factors contributed to the admins' decision to freeze SWAG. During the week preceding the shutdown, many new players were invited to the server by convicted terrorist TBDerpo. These newcomers included Galaxyturtle105, TBDNautica, pandadanyt, BubbahTays, Spaceboy682, Amethylst, and DubMike. At the time, the new players were granted immediate voting rights in SWAG, and many of them began to vote in lockstep with Derpo. His former ally, Unknown\_Err0rXD, testified that many of the new players were from Derpo's "clan": "He has invited his friends and clan members so he has control ... He can basically control all the votes."

Veteran players began to take notice of the new voting patterns on October 7, when SWAG Resolution 40 failed. The resolution, an anti-corruption measure designed to curb bribery within SWAG, was overwhelmingly supported by veteran players and widely expected to pass into law. However, TBDerpo and his allies lobbied against the proposal, as many of them had benefited from bribery during controversial votes such as Resolution 47. At the last minute, Res. 40 failed by only one vote, with 17 votes in favor and 6 against.

Following the shocking failure of Res. 40, supporters of the proposal-- including LegalLemon68927, Unknown\_Err0rXD, ratat0ing, YourLuckyStars7, Toria, skinwclker, and others-- banded together to raise awareness of TBDerpo's new political power. "The only way they will be stopped is for us to unite forces against them," said ratat0ing. "We need to act now to stop them before they amass too much power." Unknown\_Err0rXD warned that "this is something that should not be taken lightly".

Soon after, Server Leader YourLuckyStars7 vetoed TBDerpo's Resolution 50.2 in retaliation: "Some information has come forward and it's been made apparent that [TBDerpo] is attempting to take over the SWAG votes by gaining a large amount of people and trying to target certain individuals," she said.

The moderators soon took notice of the public's escalating concerns. At 10:15 PM on October 7, admin trailhopper27 locked down the Discord server, restricting all new invites for 24 hours.

The next day, the admins collectively announced new restrictions on SWAG voting to curb the influence of new members. The admins' plan would include a much higher bar for new players to earn the right to vote in SWAG, requiring 150 hours of active playtime and 2 months on the server before earning access to SWAG. Admin SlammerDoc said that the plan would "prevent a total collapse of the system".

Also on October 8, the admins imposed the first-ever SWAG shutdown while the changes were being implemented.