Thread by @sorrel123456789

The Multi animator project (MAP) community is becoming unhealthy. Consider this thread an anonymous letter from a MAP veteran with over 10 years of experience in the community. 🧵(1/13)

#MAPcommunity #multianimatorproject #warriorcats #warriorsmap #ocmap

“MAP HELL” is a concept many of us are intimately familiar with, but the actual damage of this phenomenon is rarely talked about. We need to be able to have a discussion about the ugly underbelly of the community. (2/13)

I lost my passion for animation years ago due to burnout. The mere idea of joining a MAP brings me great anxiety, and my ability to create art has been severely damaged to the point I’ve considered completely giving up on anything creative. (3/13)

I'm not alone in this experience. A disturbing amount of people have suffered panic attacks, anxiety, fear of social media, and even long-lasting damage to both their body and mind. The normalization of "MAP Hell" has always been harmful. (4/13)

It’s an open secret that everyone lies about their progress. We all do it, and know that others do it as well. It’s almost expected yet frowned upon. Why does this community make us feel like we can’t be honest with our peers? (5/13)

These problems have always been present in the community from early on. However, I believe they’ve only gotten worse with time and as the community has grown larger. I’m extremely worried for the people still active within this community, newcomers and veterans alike. (6/13)

Too much is demanded from the participants while the conditions only get worse. Hosts cannot expect the participants to prioritize their parts over other responsibilities. It’s also no secret that many members live with disabilities, yet it’s often not taken into account. (7/13)

Nowadays MAPs feel exploit of free labor. The deadlines are quite often incompatible with the quality expected. I cannot enjoy MAPs anymore because the conditions in which they are made are nauseatingly obvious to even those not involved in the project. (8/13)

The current culture of MAPs is unsustainable and the animators will suffer for it. Almost no weekend/72 hour MAP gets completed in time, yet they keep getting made. To expect a busy (and possibly disabled) person to finish a high quality part in a few hours is unrealistic. (9/13)

MAPs are attached to big names. That’s unavoidable but we need to hold hosts accountable for any unrealistic expectations and the hostile environments they create. Participants should not feel ashamed to drop projects or stress about their progress. (10/13)

Nowadays too much credit is given to the host over the participants similar to a movie director. MAPs used to be comparable to zines; mostly low-effort and done for fun. MAPs can be high effort and serious but the conditions should always reflect that. (11/13)

Participants who fail to meet the unrealistic expectations are sometimes shamed and sometimes they gain a bad reputation in the community. I don’t see this as a failing on the animators’ part - but the host and on a larger scale, the community. (12/13)

Healthy environments by good hosts absolutely do exist but they should be the norm and not the exception. MAPs should be fun and free of stress, as any free labor should. (13/13)

The original idea behind this account was to finally speak up about these issues and I'd love for this account to be an outlet for people to share their experiences. Anonymous or not. My DMs are open. 🍀

If someone wants me to undo a retweet, don't be afraid to let me know! It'll be done with no questions asked.

I'm making a thread about mapathons. I however don't have any personal experience with them, so if anyone wants to anonymously contribute to said thread, don't hesitate to DM me!

#mapathon

on mapathons* sorry about the typo

I'd like to make a quick statement now that my thread took off. My thread is not and was never meant to be a callout or refer to one person only. My personal experience predates many now-popular MAP hosts. These are community-wide issues that have snowballed recently.

I admit that many of you are correct to assume that my thread was inspired by certain projects, I want to emphasize that my thread is NOT targeted towards a single person. This person in question did not start these problems. (cont.)

The environment was going towards what it is now already several years ago. This was an inevitable outcome and not the fault of a single person. I want the community to get better which won't happen if we don't give people the chance to change. (cont.)

This community is very passionate and sometimes that passion makes it hard to see our mistakes before they're pointed out. I'm sure we all just want to make videos and be part of a fun and creative community. So, again, this is not a callout. (end)

Anon sharing their thoughts and experiences in the community: tinyurl.com/3t8e73vb