Help me internet, you’re my only hope

Last week I wrote about some guild drama that had taken place in my STO guild/fleet.  At the time, I was just annoyed and venting. I thought it would all go away. I was very wrong. Two nights ago, things came to a head and a group of fleet mates asked/demanded that I step down. I point blank refused.

This refusal led to people who were not initially calling for me to step down to say I should. The discussion was less than pretty.  I won’t bore you with the details about the drama. You’d only have my side of it and that wouldn’t exactly be a fair way to judge the situation.

The situation as it exists now is that many people have left the guild. A small subset has persisted, one of them a former guild leader. He was one of the ones who was pretty nastily vocal about my stepping down yesterday. But tonight,  we actually managed to have a real conversation as two people.

After our talk, I said i would think about stepping down and handing control over to him. I told him I would give him my answer the next time I log in. That means I can’t log in again until I decide.

So, internet, what should I do? Here’s the situation:

I find myself in sole control of a fleet with a starbase that is almost Tier 4. Across all my alts, I have donated more to the starbase than the next 4 highest contributors combined (approximately 11 million fleet credits worth).  After those 4, I don’t think the rest of the fleet combined would equal, or at least not far exceed, my contributions. I have quite a bit invested in this starbase.

I could keep the starbase, letting everyone else leave (or stay gone since most have already left):

• I could then have a fleet of 1 and play the solo game. This would be suboptimal but
• I could attempt to rebuild a fleet from scratch. This wouldn’t be the first time I’ve built a fleet from scratch. My SWG guild stayed together for, well we’re still hanging out on our old forums 4yrs after the majority of us left SWG.
• I could sell/give the starbase to a smaller fleet that would like a boost.
• I know this would be a violation of the Don’t Be A Dick principle. Whether or not I was in the right to refuse to step down, its still kind of a dick move to dismiss everyone else.

Or I can step down, trusting the other guys word that I won’t be removed and try and rebuild the group.

• While I trust his word, I’m not sure I want to group with many of these people anymore. Some of them got really nasty with their personal attacks against me. Regardless of anything else I might have done during all of this, that is one line I never crossed. Came up to and scuffed, but never crossed.
• The most likely outcome of this is my leaving the fleet. Even if not kicked, its not a friendly environment anymore. Some would forgive me if I make this gesture but it would still be there, hanging over everyone’s head.
• This would be the kind/mature thing to do. I may have donated the most to the starbase but a fleet is a collection of many people. I may feel that I’m not at fault for the situation getting to this point, but that doesn’t necessarily matter.

I’ve considered making, as a condition of me stepping down, the agreement that the two malcontents I view as responsible for this whole mess not be welcomed back. I don’t know if this would make things worse or be for the best. I also don’t know if its fair. I feel they’re primarily responsible for this whole mess but I am also biased. Others, obviously, feel fault lies entirely with me. I just know I don’t like these two very much right now and have no desire to share a fleet with them ever again.

So, dear readers, what do you think I should do?