I have never really been one to care about ‘server lore’ enough to ever be for or against it. I have had people in both Tauren and surprisingly Scarlet Crusade guilds try to inundate me on it but it just doesn’t stick in the brainspace.
However I do understand the appeal of it, especially in the commodifyimg of player stories through wiki entries and what not. If these fortify or aid in building cliques is up for debate, because quite simply cliques are part of human nature and it maybe shocking to learn that every single role playing community has them.
What may be even more shocking to hear is that the lower or smaller a player base is, the more rigid those cliques become and the more pronounced the positive and negative traits of said social stratum become.
Server lore or whatever doesn’t really foster or prevent their formation. The only thing that really does in my experience is either in group drama, leading to the natural destruction of the tribe, or a particular person or event of eccentricity changes it.
On the other topic however, qnd bear with me here this is going to ruffle some people.
Ideology also has a very pronounced effect of bolstering these positive/negative expressions within cliques that immediately filters/gatekeeps/excludes just from the mere act of expression.
I like to call it “standard carrying” or “banner waving”.
The simplest and easiest expression of this is TRP3/MRP ideological tagging like putting ‘LG[B]TQIA+’.
In a progressive environment this is usually just a way to signify that you are an ally as well as display your orientation. Its become a pretty normalized thing to signal to others and find like minded people.
However, by doing so, everyone else neutral to the topic or otherwise might passively avoid you because of the connotations and stereotypes associated with that ingroup. Many of those stereotypes being, unfortunately, a pronounced habit of fighting, harassment, and doxxing.
You usually don’t witnesses these things because you are unintentionally surrounding yourself by those of a like and similar mind and creating a positive feedback loop.
There is a commonality between the people you surround yourselves, and in essence form a clique.
Now, this is where I get to the point of how ideology pronounces negative or positive traits, coming from things ive witnessed personally.
Banner carriers tend to notice when others are not waving flags. Instead of suspecting neutrality, the more ideological someone is the greater their tendency to otherize. Intentionally or not.
A profile not showing pronouns? Thats a dogwhistle.
No LGBTQIA+ in their profile? Clearly they are anti LGBT.
These are fringe mindsets, but they still exist. I frequently have to clap down on them pretty hard in my role playing groups to the point of unironically makes me a centrist authoritarian at times [lol].
And primarily this is what I mean when I say I experience a few minor frustrations in a progressive environment. Ten years ago I was dealing with the exact same thing on the right hand of the spectrum and dealing with the same bull.
Now what point was I trying to make again…
Oh right. I tend to see less expressions of the above on WRA, and the player base is usually mature enough to understand my reasoning whenever I clap down on strict rules to try to truly be inclusive to everyone.