As is tradition, legend inductions always tend to be some of the most controversial moments of the year. Last year was no different as the Legends Council was met with some valid criticism. Criticism came not just from the community at large but other legends as well. Thus, in an effort to create a stronger Legends Council, many legends of new and old came together to discuss the current state of legends.

Designed by Wynn

Before we get into this post, there are a couple things that need to be addressed.

• First and foremost, I, Mchappy, am no longer Head of the Legends Council. I decided to step down from this position to avoid any accusations of bias thrown at Club Penguin Armies. DMT will be stepping up as my replacement; however, I do intend to accept a spot on the Legends Council if they invite me. If you do not know, DMT has been an unaffiliated individual for quite some time, having administrator experience himself. Currently, he serves as one of the Club Penguin Armies’ advisors.
• Second, since I am no longer a Head of the Legends Council, it is not up to me to enforce any of the content that you will be reading about in this post. That will be up to those running the Legends Council this year.

Introduction

Controversies from last year’s inductions weighed heavily on my mind, even to this day. While it was certainly not my first rodeo, it was by far the most public I had been with running the Legends Council. Originally, I had thought that by being more public with what the Legends Council was doing that it would provide more transparency for those that did not fully comprehend the role it plays. Nevertheless, there were some controversies, but I truly stand by that the goal of that Legends Council was to get an accurate representation of who the active legends of the community were at that time.

As things began to settle down, on February 16, I reached out to newly inducted Aaronstone42 about hosting a meeting with as many legends as we could reach. At my request, on February 17, he suggested meeting times for the weekend and began sending out invites. I had dubbed this occasion as the “Legends Town Hall.”

This “Legends Town Hall” of sorts was brought together following conversations I had with 32op and Mustapha10. While they disagreed heavily with the way the most recent Legends Council was conducted, they were the only ones to respectfully try to discuss it with me in private messages. For that, I want them to know that I am appreciative. 

The hope was that the meeting would provide a bridge for the legends to get together and have open dialogue with one another in regards to the Legends Council. Ahead of the meeting, I had strongly advised against holding any “votes” as I did not feel it was appropriate to make decisions practically a year ahead the next inductions. However, it became clear that in order to show that the heads of the Legends Council value the opinions of past legends, there had to be some sort of tangible result that we could look back on as being productive.

Therefore, the “Legends Town Hall” met on Sunday, February 19, 2022.

Discussion

There were numerous topics at hand that I wanted to initially discuss. I will do my best to lay them out here for you all to read.

I began the meeting by providing my own reflection on the events following the inductions. I have firmly stated on multiple occasions that my top priority was to listen to the community’s concerns by selecting legends who were seen as active individuals in the year of 2022. Despite my best efforts, we, unfortunately, were not perfect. Many members of the community at large pointed out that there were some questionable activity levels included in that year’s Legends Council. Additionally, other legends that were seen as “inactive” felt overlooked and robbed of the opportunity to participate.

Although those seen as “inactive” did not make their voices heard until well after the fact, their concerns are– nevertheless– valid. As a community, I think we all agree that cherry-picking individuals on the Legends Council, based on activity, can blur the lines of biasness even if that is not its intention. I, alongside the other heads, deeply apologize for this.

Please consider reading my previous post on the 2022 inductions as I concluded the post by addressing the common concerns that were heard at that time.

Voting

While I had no intention to hold formal voting during the meeting, it became apparent that in order for us to feel like we are making progress that some sort of votes would need to be made. Since this was a pretty momentous occasion where we were able to get a healthy mix of past and present legends, the general consensus was that we wanted to make the most of it. Now, representing the Legends Town Hall, I am now presenting it to you: the community, as your thoughts on these matters are important to us.

Overwhelmingly positive

Since, in my opening dialogue, I mentioned my opinion of the community vote, we naturally started there. At the beginning, there were disagreements about the role that the community plays in legend inductions. Some felt that the community shouldn’t be included at all. Personally, I could not and refused to advocate abolishing the community’s voice within inductions. I view the Legends Council as a key component in preserving a sacred process that is dear to the community’s heart. And the best way for us to continue serving this purpose is if we put our best foot forward in showing the community that they can place their faith in us.

2022 was a year that saw many upset with certain individuals not being nominated. Thus, in a way to preserve that the community still gets a voice, the legends propose that the community vote is abolished and replaced. By getting rid of the community vote, it may tackle some of the rhetoric that legends is a “popularity contest.” Additionally, the last two years have seen multiple mass voting issues by fake accounts. Last year alone saw over 80 votes deleted.

Instead, community vote could be replaced with a “Community Nominee” where a Google Form of the same nature is sent out, allowing all community members to nominate three individuals of their choice. The individuals with the top two most votes would automatically be put on the nominations list.

We felt that this would be a welcomed change as it would make sure that the community’s voice is still heard and– hopefully– prevents any sort of prejudice baring someone from being able to get nominated. Note that the “Community Nominee” voting could occur after the Legends Council discussed their own nominations list. That way, if there is overlap, the next top two individuals who were not included in the initial list can be added. However, there could still be an incorporated rule of “you need X%” to be considered.

A majority forms

Even though it was the community’s wish, I think pretty much everyone is in agreement that choosing a Legends Council based only on “active” legends was a Legends Council perceived as struggling with recency bias. This gripe of “active” legends only being chosen has proven to be subjective as many individuals classified as legends wanted to participate in the 2022 Legends Council but were not asked to based off the perception of their activity.

Instead, the legends voted and a majority feel that any and all legends that want to participate should have the ability to do so as they can make conclusive thoughts based off of the biographies and discussions. Many pointed out that “being inducted by a council of legends from years past,” rather than only legends from the most recent years, is seen as higher of an honor.

A near majority

If you’ve been around, you know that for the past three or so years that the Legends Council has been ran by individuals such as Iceyfeet1234, Kingfunks4 and myself. Rest assured that every January, a hurl of insults (and sometimes even slurs) are thrown our way each time for our efforts in putting together the legend inductions. No matter how the legends process goes, it has almost become a sort of ritual of the inductions themselves.

While I am not saying that the criticism is unwelcomed, there was some discussion at the “Legends Town Hall” about if there should be a change in who runs the annual council. Even though I was a Head of the council at the time, I did not have a problem with this proposal. I understand that there are people extremely disappointed in the way that I have conducted things from time to time. Let it be known that even other legends have been giving me a hard time.

Nonetheless, I put it up to a vote and (as you can see) the vote stands that there should not be further voting regarding who is titled with being the Head of the Legends Council. At the moment, I would just assume this means that heads will find their own successors if they wish to step down; regardless, I wanted to be transparent with everyone that this discussion did take place and that it was valid.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the legends had a fairly productive meeting amongst one another. There was some bickering and fighting about “2022 legends need a revote” and “This person/that person are definitely a legend and should be here.” Let it be known that the 2022 Legends Council was actively against revoting or changing anything of the past. If anything, I feel that the 2022 Legends Council was focused on its objective and made sure to actively honor the councils and decisions that came before us.

Finally, if you’ll continue to spare some time, I’d like to take time to reflect. The first Legends Council that I was ever apart of was in 2013. It has now been ten years, on and off, that I have been apart of this process. Legend inductions being a controversial thing is not new. This has always been something that has brought about a lot of criticism and sparked heavy discussion in the community. In some of the first years I participated in the committee, we sometimes left inductions up to the community via a public WordPress poll. And if you knew anything, you’d agree that those polls were hardly secure. Before Discord, rarely was there ever actual live discussion on legend nominations. You’d log on to leave your votes in a WordPress comment; and, if you were like me, you’d see that many people would just vote friends in with no thought to who may actually deserve it or not.

We have come a long way since 2013. I cannot stress enough that this process will forever be subjective. As armies get older, so does its legends, and our views on what constitutes a legend and what doesn’t vary among every single individual. I have always provided my councils the option to vote “No” on every single candidate if they so please. The army gods know I’ve gotten close to doing that myself a many time.

My point is that armies will continue to live on. At least I hope so. As armies continue to hit new milestones and new generations of players, eventually we will have to be open to allowing future generations being on the same list among some of our “personal favorites,” or “The Greats.” I’m a firm believer that all of this– Club Penguin, armies, the community– is a way to find community and friends for those of us who may not have always had that accessible. Club Penguin is simply just fun. Nothing more. Nothing less. And with that I say, thank you. What do you think will happen at this year’s inductions?

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mchappy2

Mchappy is interning at Club Penguin Armies as the Chief Executive Producer. Max held him at gunpoint to finish his biography.