Boogaert's Revenge(event)

**Boogaert's Revenge** or ***The Fall of the Night's Watch***(*Frontier146's video*) was a retaliatory strike from user boogaert after his previous clan, the Night's Watch, issued a Warrant for his death. The reasons of which, were for mentioning that he planned to make a PvP montage on an Empire news thread.

The subsequent events after his pre-emptive retaliation became a source of increased prestige for the **UNKNOWN [?] Trading Company**, who, according to Irishkaiser:

"... *Literally did nothing at all and yet we get both the blame and the credit...*"

The event also sparked heightened suspicions by players on admins and admin relations, the increased political awareness of Generation Chill and it confirmed the influential position of the UTC as it was defended by many players, both healers and bandits, regular and premium.

Senior Company Members likened it to the Cassmich Controversy of 2013, with the sole exception of not even starting it.

## Background

The **UNKNOWN [?] Trading Company** was previously friendly with the Night's Watch and had an agreement with them. This is outlined in the main clan page. After the June Reforms however, the UTC dissolved their "free stuff treaty" with the Night's Watch, and also declared their dislike for premiums. This lead the Watch to decide to finally formally cut ties with the UTC, as well as begin to be more hostile towards them. More UTC members began to become vocal critics of the Night's Watch being admin-backed and also criticized their legitimacy as a clan. Night's Watch members took great offense to this and began banning and removing the UNKNOWN [?] Trading Company as they became known in the subreddit. The UTC however, kept growing in influence in Shotbow servers and forums, in contrast - the Night's Watch stagnated and became increasingly inactive, creating jealous emotions in the latter. These emotions were shown through downvoting any posts making fun of them on the UTC subreddit, as well as making fun of them in their private chat rooms, and even celebrating when Irishkaiser was banned from Shotbow.

The Night's Watch's decline as a clan was due to heavy inactivity and rigid policies that censored or alienated certain members who merely thought what they were doing was right. Anything questioned or debated about the system in general was eventually consulted with NavarrB, the clan's true leader and a server admin.

Many of the alienated members were at first loyal Night's Watch members, but began to defect after numerous abuses. Earlier examples include christophe\_genie, who also attacked the Watch on multiple occasions after being kicked out (although he became fed up with the leadership while he was still a member and provided intel to his friends who attacked them). One member in particular: boogaert, was described as one of the most loyal players in the Night's Watch who made many efforts to revive the clan, such as writing the Crow, writing sticky threads and or suggesting non-mutinous ideas or suggestions that wouldn't change the current system but provide activity. Many of these ideas were culturally influenced by the UNKNOWN [?] Trading Company's intellectual and social life on their subreddit, which was visibly distinct or unique in comparison to other Shotbow communities. The Crow was inspired by The Empire and he also proposed the idea of a homeserver, although it was not accepted.

The Night's Watch moved over to MineZ 2 and after became inactive. Boogaert found he preferred MineZ 1, and decided to try PvPing, something he was never allowed to do before. Boogaert asked Night's Watch council member lovelandmonkey for permission to join another clan, who confirmed his request. boogaert joined Potato Group and began participating in a few Suicide Saturday events, but he found it hard to become a part of a group that was made up of people who were all already good friends. His activity in MineZ and Shotbow dithered for a few months until he decided to start playing again.

boogaert, who had always been friendlier to the UTC and had talked to Irishkaiser in mumble a few times, as well as having always been interested in the UTC's affair asked Irishkaiser if he could join the UNKNOWN [?] Trading Company. Boogaert asked to join and was at first greeted with suspicion so was given the task of recruiting, using three friends as a base for this new group. However, after being betrayed by NavarrB and the Night's Watch by publicly denouncing him and everything he ever did as well as removing his Public Relations Staff membership from Shotbow, many in the UTC began to realize he wasn't lying and started to empathize with him.

   boogaert was subsequently kicked from the Night's Watch, after attempting multiple times trying to rejoin, using the MineZ Classic clause as his legal defense. User krabbby, who was acting leader at the time did agree that boogaert technically should have been let back in, but did not allow boogaert to rejoin. Navarr made a new rule that Night's Watch members would not be allowed in the UTC. The Watch also moved back to MineZ Classic, cementing the fact he could not rejoin (although on his last attempt to rejoin he was offered the option to leave UTC and be able to rejoin).

boogaert's kicking from the staff, though it was kept a secret, incited ire from many players, both premium and regular. They began to unite against the admins(Navarr in particular) and called it a disgrace. In an attempt at damage control, threads and PMs were twisted and censored and Lazertester addressed the situation differently to different groups, but fearing the drama and uproar it would generate if Irishkaiser and or other UTC members found out, was eventually forced to address the UTC who was beginning to realize what was going on.

Seemingly saving themselves from the issue, Lazertester left it at that and orders were made to tell people who asked to vaguely say that the issue was "already concluded" and "had no further need for discussion. Whether or not who gave the orders is a subject of debate, but the damage control method was rampant and all admins who were asked about it after some people found out said the same thing: "*It's concluded. No need to talk about it.*"

boogaert stopped trying eventually and continued life in the UTC, beginning to rebuild his reputation and start having fun in MineZ again. It was at this point when boogaert was completely accepted in the UTC and already recognized as a full and trusted Company member, that he toyed with the idea of making a PvP montage, since he had never done it in MineZ. Navarr saw this through reading the UTC subreddit, and ordered a Warrant for boogaert's death. Boogaert, seeing this as an unfair and unjustified attempt to hurt him decided to attack first.

## The Attack on Crowmure.

Boogaert acquired information on the Night's Watch's soonest event - a gearing ranging from the Grimdale Tree to Crowmure. He asked members of the UTC to help him, along with former member TheCerealKill3r. Three UTC volunteered to join boogaert. After the attack, Navarr painted the picture that this was an attack from the UTC, it was actually a separate event, and some older UTC members even opposed it. Even so, boogaert decided he would go through with it. He planned out what would happen, and where to meet and got geared in the best gear possible.

On the day of the attack, five people were able to come. ArgoArcher, Hotkek007, TheCerealKill3r, YakuzaFour, and boogaert. They met at Grimdale Tree at first but, decided to catch them further North at Crowmure where they would not be able to regroup as easily after death. There worry, particularly from boogaert about if they would be able to find the Watch, however their worries were resolved when the logged in.

At Crowmure, boogaert's men logged in all at once. They were Grey Bowed to remove their slowness. They charged the Night's Watch group (in what Irishkaiser would later say was a wedge formation) and quickly gained the upper hand. MinezNW (the alt of Krabbby) escaped and logged as soon as possible, while the rest of the Night's watch members fled from the attackers, giving boogaert the advantage. During the fight, one member of the Night's Watch got away (at the fault of boogaert) and the rest were chased down, and easily killed. Boogaert ended up not getting a kill, which got him criticized when he posted his video on

shotbow.net. The battle ended up being a 5v8 fight which was also a point of criticism from the community as the odds of winning were guaranteed. Boogaert explained that they had over 20 members RSVP'd for "attending" or "Possibly Attending" on their website, causing the attackers to believe more numbers would be present.

## Shotbow.net Threads and Community Response

After the attack, some Night's Watch members who knew or thought boogaert was friendly questioned why boogaert was placed on the KoS to which krabbby responded "*because of this kind of stuff*", which irritated boogaert because

they ignored their own provocations. boogaert and TheCerealKill3r both edited and uploaded videos to Youtube, and boogaert posted his to Shotbow.net and the MineZ and Shotbow subreddits. His title, "*The Fall of the Night's Watch*" was honoring previous attacks by locoa531 and Christophe\_Genie who both titles their videos the same way.

On the subreddit, Navarr attacked boogaert for his strike Watch, with the similar title of previous videos, as well as stating that his attack would not bring down the Night's Watch. Boogaert responded criticizing the Watch for their lack of activity and inability to learn from their mistakes. Navarr's replies stopped after that. The posts on both subreddits gained little attention. This is most likely due to downvotes from Night's Watch members, as well as reddit's different format (every message on the forums threads "bumped' them up to the top of the forum).

The first response on the forums came from user demon\_peanut who attacked boogaert for killing the Watch, bringing up the point that he killed "a clan who's aim is to help new players and kill zombies" and said boogaert looked like "an absolute nob." This would become a trend throughout the ensuing drama - players who were not fully aware of the situation, and saw it as the "evil UTC" attacking "good, friendly Night's Watch". The thread got other types of responses as well, ones criticizing boogaert's PvP skills due to the fact he got no kills, and some supported him. Boogaert's thread gained almost 1000 views and three pages of replies - but the thread posted by Navarr later that night gained far more attention very quickly, topping it at 1,200 views within 24 hours alone and 3,400 views within two days.

Navarr posted a thread under his player alt LC\_Navarr titled "Warning: The UTC is a clan of bandits." In the thread he attempted to make the UNKNOWN [?] Trading Company look like bandits, and called for a boycott on their goods. This thread quickly became a drama-sink, with members of both sides (and neutrals who had come to support sides) arguing with each other. As the thread progressed, it became clear that the majority of the community discussing was on the side of boogaert and the UTC, and many went against Navarr for a myriad of reasons, mostly realizing his efforts at attempting to control affairs in MineZ and his past history of bullying boogaert.

His position of power made many feel that it was unfair that he posted a thread against another player/group in the game, as his words hold more weight in the Shotbow community due to his position as a high ranking admin. As previously stated, the thread became a drama-sink fast, yet it remained unlocked despite the fact that other threads that have been tamer were locked quickly. It also could have been interpreted as public shaming towards a group (the UTC) and player (boogaert). The thread remained unlocked, until the arguments stopped and Navarr stopped his replies. Navarr also used very selective words to twist the truth and make boogaert and the UTC seem worse than they were. He referred to boogaert as "a leader of one of UTC's regiments." This was technically untrue, since boogaert's "regiment" was not considered one as of that time, and boogaert was still a new member to the UTC and his words made him seem like a more senior member. He also referred to the UTC as a "clan of bandits" which likens the UTC to a bandit clan, when in reality the clan holds a neutral status, and the majority of members are healer/friendlies.

In the thread, many members called out Navarr for myriad reasons, some stated above and sided with boogaert. Some of these people were well regarded members in the community, such as popular forum goers Braiti and OneZedArmy and even a YouTuber MineReepers. A few pointed out some moderator manipulation to the discussion.

Navarr eventually stopped replying on his player account, however he did post on his admin account, saying that boogaert was not let go from staff for joining UTC, and the reason for that should not be posted publicly. Upon further investigation, the reasoning was posting a recruitment thread for the UTC as a PR team member. Boogaert himself felt this was another example of very specific word-play, as Navarr made it sound like he did something unspeakably bad, when in reality is was still for something relating to his membership in the UNKNOWN [?] Trading Company. UTC members considered the thread a positive boost in prestige with its results, having woken many to what Irishkaiser for a long time has claimed of admin-corruption, with admin-backed clans in particular.

## The Second Attack

After the first attack on Crowmure, boogaert felt the there was a need for a second strike. He felt that it would not only drive home the point that he (and the UTC) were not to be messed with, but also make up for the his lack of kills in the first attack. He decided after the second attack, he would attempt to make peace with the Night's Watch.

The second attack took place over forty days after the first. This was due to boogaert's waning activity in MineZ, as well as general mistakes and incompetence gathering intel by both boogaert and the people who helped him. The first attempt at it was only a week later, and the plan was to attack the Watch during their attempt at Suicide Saturday, although they did not show up. Boogaert instead just participated in the event with the people who had come.

The opportunity for an attack, did present itself. It was a recruiting and protection mission starting in Grandfather's Curse and moving along the coast. Boogaert found this out the day of the event, and as a result of that and confusion with time zones, ended up with no support during the event. Luckily, only two initially logged in - Lezalith - the leader of the event and Nalacion. They saw him, but did not initially attack him - likely due to confusion over his relationship with the Watch and if he would be friendly or not. Boogaert then proceeded to kill them both, and was once again lucky by having them separated and only having to fight one at a time. He gained the gear, and went to Carmi to see if anyone would respawn there. He saw Lezalith and proceeded to kill him twice. He then moved on to Romero. He ended up getting killed by two random people who had a mix of chain and iron. He later admitted that this was a mistake on his part, as there were other Night's Watch members who had not yet made it to the south. Ten to twenty minutes later, he respawned and found them again, but was promptly killed twice due to his weak gear. The Watch later described this as "coming back with vengeance" in their report on the event.

The aftermath created almost no drama, unlike the first attack. The only backlash boogaert got was dislikes on his Youtube video, and a few negative comments on his Shotbow.net thread he posted containing the video. Boogaert tried to make peace with the Night's Watch by PMing the council on reddit, and asking for them to lift the death warrant on him. Navarr responded, but only called boogaert an idiot for calling the death warrant a "KOS." Krabbby discussed the issue with boogaert, but in the end refused to lift the warrant as boogaert did not want to give away his sources of information.

## Third and Fourth Attacks

Both boogaert and the Watch stopped playing MineZ as boogaert became more focused on school and needed a break from MineZ. The Watch was also inactive and did not have an official event for four months from November to February. In March 2016 the Watch began to become active. Navarro made the following announcement:

> [17:47] <Navarr> I am hereby rescinding all open death warrants. Encountering a deserter should result in caution, but do not hunt one at this time. Thank you.
>
>

Although this meant that boogaert no longer had a warrant for his death, he felt that Navarr was avoiding stating explicitly that it was about boogaert and boogaert wanted him to say this publicly or to give him some sort of apology. He PMed Navarr these feelings on reddit and Navarr responded telling him to fuck himself. Navarr tried to convince boogaert to not attack by saying that they should each just focus on their own clans. This did not deter boogaert and he called on the help of FPShater's MineZ group (AKA Potato group). On March 11 the Watch planned on exploring the new areas of the map and meeting at the "Love Shack" near Romero to do so.

Boogaert and Potato group (as well as the then UTC member princessdreya) were ready to attack. They logged on with eight people and charged the Love Shack where four Night's Watch members were. They

chased them away and swiftly killed three of them, with boogaert securing a kill. The last one got away, and boogaert received intel that there were more members that were not yet at the Love Shack. Despite the mistakes, boogaert was still satisfied with the attack. He chose not to post the video anywhere, as he felt people would not care.

Boogaert felt that the conflict was over after that attack and made a post on the Night's Watch subreddit (on a throwaway as his main is banned) stating that the conflict was over and that he was done attacking. The post was deleted which angered boogaert as he felt Navarr had no legitimate reason to delete it. He then PMed Navarr telling him that his new terms for the end of the conflict were that Navarr allow boogaert to post on the Night's Watch subreddit stating the conflict was over. Navarr refused and boogaert responded that he would continue the attacks.

Boogaert attacked again soon after, this time in Carnival town, again with members of FPS' group, and again they quickly killed all Night's Watch members quickly.

## Failed Attack and Conclusion

Boogaert was not done, so he yet again called on premium friends and planned to attack in Sirus in the cave system, however; he failed to find the Night's Watch members, and instead ran into premiums who killed him and the friends he brought. It is very likely they were called upon by the Night's Watch to kill boogaert.

The conflict came to a conclusion when boogaert, trying to kill Night's Watch ended up in a conversation with member Lezalith. At this point boogaert realized he had already proven his point and by attacking he was hurting random players who had done nothing to him. He decided to make peace and met up with a cautious Lezalith at sacrificial pit where they agreed to terms.

Today the Night's Watch and the UTC do not have much interaction. There have been times UTC members have killed NW members, but they have also had friendly interactions. Furthermore, a few Night's Watch members are imperial citizens.

## References

1. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/UnknownTradeCo/comments/3i5rtz/the\_empire\_the\_companys\_official\_news\_source\_122/cudk2m8
2. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/TheNightsWatch/comments/1jgy76/cutting\_all\_ties\_to\_the\_utc/
3. ↑ https://shotbow.net/forum/profile-posts/270937/
4. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/UnknownTradeCo/comments/39d335/hello\_utc/
5. ↑ https://shotbow.net/forum/threads/warning-the-utc-is-a-clan-of-bandits.323614/
6. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Khhwb3aOc3Y
7. ↑ http://pastebin.com/TnxAcEm0
LC\_Navarr's Thread