The Watchers Outnumber the Members

On 16 December 2021 Kart opened the member list and did not like what he saw. “hey is it just me or is the watchers expanding fASTTTTTTTTTTT,” he asked. ¹ The Watcher role was the one handed to players who had stepped away from the server (see The Watchers), and it was growing faster than anything else on the roster.

His count: “5 members and 8 watchers.” ² He posted a screenshot of the list as evidence.

BotFragx took it personally, and asked the question that has become the event’s punchline: “Why am I not watcher yet?” ³ While the chat was still talking, the numbers moved again. Kart corrected himself: “make that 9 watchers and 4 members.” ⁴

Nothing dramatic happened that day, and that is the point. Looking back, it was one of the first visible signs of the drift that would eventually wind Season 1 down. When the people who had built the world were outnumbered by the people who had left it, the writing was on the wall, and Kart was the one who spotted it.