Disaster Den

Disaster Den was an online gaming community that primarily hosted public SCP: Secret Laboratory (or SCP:SL) servers. Northwood Studios granted Disaster Den the ability to host official servers in the U.S West region. It was shut down on September 3, 2023, with hosted servers turned off on September 11.

Disaster Den

General Information
Established	2018
Owners	Kira (2018-2022) Archer (2022-2023)
Registered Members	4,911 (as of July 12, 2022)
Joining Process	Participation
Social Media
Discord	Discord server
Patreon	Patreon

Member parodies

The Walking Den

The Walking Den (a play-on-words referencing the post-apocalyptic television series The Walking Dead) was a series of parody videos created by Archer. They featured the profile avatars of members from Disaster Den overlayed onto the faces of characters from various fictional properties, such as from the anime television series Fate/stay night and Attack on Titan. Some episodes were tied together with dialogue and plot, while others focused on the hilarity of certain members being personified by the characters and their situations.

The series was primarily produced through key framing and the purposeful inaccurate translation of Japanese spoken word as the onscreen subtitles.

The earliest mention of the series was on October 4, 2018 by Archer in the general channel of the Disaster Den Discord. 2 spinoffs were produced by Archer, being Heaven's Den (referencing the anime film series Fate/stay night: Heaven's Feel) and Fear the Walking Den (referencing the spin-off television series Fear the Walking Dead).

The episodes originally released on the YouTube channel Zabivodka, owned by Archer, but were deleted. A Google Drive folder containing all episodes for The Walking Den and it's spinoffs, out of order and unmarked, was made known on December 31, 2019.

Known Episodes of The Walking Den

Season / Episode	Title	Runtime (minutes)	Link
Season 1 / Episode 3	Nate VS Vesper	2:49	Link
Season 3 / Episode 1	Donald VS Archer	5:09	Link
Season 3 / Episode 3	Another Intro Parody	1:31	Link
Season 4 / Episode 1	TED's Obsession	N/A	N/A
Season 4 / Episode 2	Vesper Goes Rogue	2:21	Link
Season 4 / Episode 3	TED's Death	N/A	N/A
Season 4 / Episode 3	Good Admins	N/A	N/A
Season 4 / Episode 3	The Furry War	1:29	Link
Season 4 / Episode 4	Project Peanut	4:35	Link
Season 5 / Episode 1	NSFW Box	0:15	Link
Season 5 / Episode 2	Bagel Really Leaves	1:37	Link
Season 5 / Episode 3	Admin Showdown	N/A	N/A
Season 5 / Episode 4	Archer's Secret	3:12	Link
Season 5 / Episode 5	Jason's Death	0:37	Link

Heaven's Den

Heaven's Den was a sequel to The Walking Den.

Known Episodes of Heaven's Den

Episode	Title	Runtime (minutes)	Link
Episode 1	Something Is Out There	3:53	Link
Episode 2	They're Summoned	5:58	Link
Episode 3	The Reveal	3:01	Link
Episode 4	???	N/A	N/A

Fear the Walking Den

Fear the Walking Den was a sequel to Heaven's Den.

Known Episodes of Fear the Walking Den

Episode	Title	Runtime (minutes)	Link
Episode 1	They Return	N/A	N/A

Finances

The primary method of income was Patreon, encompassing a single US$2.50 tier. The total number of patrons and received income was made public. There are 98 patrons donating $136.4 per month as of September 30, 2023.

Policies

Discord

While the community has shutdown, the Discord server is still active and accessible. The rules are presented in a designated channel called #discord-rules where at the top they are listed off in a single message. Subsequent messages explain certain rules in greater detail. The following are the listed rules.

• Malicious links: Members are not allowed to post links which are malicious in nature.
• Spam: Members are prohibited from spamming, with spamming reactions on Discord messages being included.
• Not safe for work material: Members are prohibited from posting NSFW material.
• Ping-spam: Members are prohibited from spamming pings to a person or role.
• Common sense: Members are advised to use common sense.
• Image permissions: The posting of media in the server's global #general Discord channel is restricted. Members are advised to ask for permission from a staff member and that abuse will result in revocation.
• Ping-spam raids: Members are advised that "raids" of ping spam will result in an automatic ban.
• Blank name/picture: Members are not allowed to have a blank Discord name or profile picture.
• Harassment: Members are not allowed to harass one another.
• Structured discussion: Members are advised to have discussions in channels created for the topic in question.

For rule violations that are met with a mute, which prohibits a user from typing in any channel, the initial mute length is 3 hours. Subsequent rule violations result in longer mutes with each step being called a tier. At the 4th rule violation, or 4th tier, the member is muted for 1 day (same as the 3rd tier) and they also lose the ability to post in channels designed to get assistance from staff members. The 5th rule violation results in a ban. The tiers reset after 365 consecutive days of no rule violations.

For targeted harassment, are 3 tiers of punishment for violations: a 12 hour mute, 24 hour mute, and then a permanent ban. For bigotry, which is defined as the use of "racial, homophobic, transphobic or anti-semitic slurs or espousing hateful views of the sort in a derogatory manner or in an excessive way", there are 2 tiers of punishment for violations: a 24 hour mute and then a permanent ban.

Topics deemed by staff as sensitive, political, or controversial are required to be held in the designated channel #hot-takes.

The community provides detailed explanations for it's prohibition of NSFW material. The following material is considered to be allowed:

• Depictions of violence which are unrealistic, cartoony, or otherwise have no basis in reality.
• Depictions of gore drawn in a style that is "excessively" cartoony and unrealistic.
• Depictions of blood with no visible gore or wounds.
• Images or video that are clearly pornographic or NSFW in nature but cropped in a manner which hides anything which would be revealing. The presence of bodily fluids, regardless of cropping, makes the media ineligible.

The following material is not prohibited but may be removed based on context by staff:

• Depictions of genitalia or nipples or bulges, but which are clothed. Removal will depend on if staff judge the clothed area to be the focal point of the media or not.
• Depictions of vomit, artistic or real, as a general rule are prohibited by exemptions may be made for comedic effect.

The following material is prohibited:

• Artistic depictions of excessive violence, such as depictions which are clearly extremely painful or which are torture.
• Hyper-realistic depictions of gore or violence.
• Depictions of blood, gore, or violence where it is unclear to the viewer whether it is real or fake.
• Images of real or fictional people/creatures with visible full frontal nudity.
• Cosplay or similar images wherein it is not clear at a glance whether the material is NSFW or not.
• Images of real human nudity wherein only breasts and genitalia are obscured.
• Pictures where it is not obvious at first glance whether it is depicting animal cruelty or death.
• Images or depictions of sexual bodily fluids.
• Real world depictions of excessive violence, gore, or blood regardless of whether it is real or fake.

Members are advised that if they are not completely certain the material they wish to post is complaint with the above they should ask a staff member. An addendum was added on June 3rd, 2022 prohibting members from posting links to servers or communities that revolve around NSFW content.

SCP: Secret Laboratory

The rules were presented in a designated Discord channel called #server-information. It was archived when the community shut down. The game had 2 separate rule sets depending on if the player was on an official server or not.

For official servers the rules included the following:

• Hacking and cheating: Players were prohibited from using 3rd party tools to gain an unfair advantage over others. This included being out of the bounds of the map or using mechanics broken beyond their intended function.
• Harming members of the same team: Players were prohibited from deliberately killing or harming members of the same team.
  • Exception for hindrance of progression: Players were allowed to kill members of their team if their behavior was hindering a teammate's progression, such as repeatedly closing doors on them, stealing facility keycards, and the like.
• Round delaying: Players were prohibited from delaying the timely conclusion of a round through inaction.
• Instigation of killing members of the same team: Players were prohibited from taking actions which may inflame a teammate to kill them.
• Killing AFK players: Players were permitted to kill players that appeared AFK if they were in the area that the player's team usually spawns and a 15-second verbal countdown, within microphone range of the player in question, was completed. Players were asked to not deliberately AFK for extended periods of time.
• Intentional hindrance of team progression: Players were prohibited from actions which would impede the round progression of players on the same team, such as repeatedly closing doors on them, stealing facility keycards, and the like.
  • Exception for the D-Class team: Players on the D-Class team were permitted to hinder one another while in the Light Containment Zone portion of the map prior to the Chaos Insurgency team spawning, though members of their team were permitted to retaliate against such behavior.
• Kill on sight allowed for specific teams: Players on teams which oppose the Scientist and D-Class teams were permitted to shoot them on sight if they were not in handcuffs.
• Protection for players in handcuffs: Players on teams which oppose the Scientist and D-Class teams were prohibited from killing such players while in handcuffs or deliberately allowing them to escape and join the opposing team if they were being cooperative. Uncooperative players were allowed to be killed. Players in handcuffs were freely allowed to choose whether they were cooperative or not and they were not beholden to this rule.
• Submission of false reports to staff: Players were prohibited from deliberately sending a false report of a rule violation to the staff team.
• Prohibition of vigilantism: Players were prohibited from taking action in-game for the purpose of punishing rule violators.

For servers maintained by the community personally the rules included the following:

• Hacking and cheating: Players were prohibited from using 3rd party tools to gain an unfair advantage over others. This included being out of the bounds of the map or using mechanics broken beyond their intended function.
• Harming members of the same team: Players were prohibited from deliberately killing or harming members of the same team.
  • Exception for the D-Class team: Players on the D-Class team were permitted to kill and hinder one another while in the Light Containment Zone portion of the map prior to a player on the Chaos Insurgency team physically arriving in that portion of the map.
• Round delaying: Players were prohibited from delaying the timely conclusion of a round through inaction.
• Instigation of killing members of the same team: Players were prohibited from taking actions which may inflame a teammate to kill them. This included a player deliberately appearing AFK for an extended period.
• Killing AFK players: Players were permitted to kill players that appeared AFK if they were in the area that the player's team usually spawns and a 15-second verbal countdown, within microphone range of the player in question, was completed. Players were asked to not deliberately AFK for extended periods of time.
• Staff authority: Players were advised that a determination made by a staff member in-game was binding without possibility for review. Players were reminded that judgment calls would not be the same across staff members since they are based on the person.
• Staff obstruction: Players were prohibited from deliberately making known to the server at large that a staff member was in-game for the purpose of investigating a rule violation or looking out for rule violations.
• Cross teaming and mic usage: Players were advised to follow the rules on cross-teaming and mic usage which were specified further down in the Discord channel.

The following behaviors were prohibited in relation to using the microphone:

• Spamming, including playing music/video over any chat which was not based on proximity or the map's intercom.
• Spamming slurs.
• The expression of racist, antisemitic, homophobic, or transphobic slurs or points of view.
• Jokes involving inappropriate conduct with minors.
• Solicitation or advertisement to another community through a chat that is not based on proximity or the map's intercom.

The following specifications were presented regarding different teams working together:

• Situations wherein it is clearly mutually beneficial to work together were permitted, such as being locked in a room or taking down a threat to all involved players. Maintaining a positive relationship after the relevant situation had passed was prohibited.
• The SCP and Chaos Insurgency teams were prohibited from cross-teaming aside from the aforementioned situations.
• The Scientist and D-Class teams were allowed to team freely. Working together in a combat situation was only allowed against the SCP team, however, and not against the NTF or Chaos Insurgency teams.
• The SCP team was only permitted to choose not to kill the Scientist or D-Class teams, and they were not permitted to maintain a positive relationship aside from simply choosing not to kill them and leaving when they clearly could have done so.

History

Disaster Den does not have official documentation or statements from community leaders as to when it was established. As such, editors place the establishment of the community to be in 2018 as derived from the oldest available message on the community's Discord server.

Disaster Den had 2 owners. Kira was the first owner and stepped down in 2022, succeeded by Archer, who remained as owner until the community shutdown. As of July 12, 2022, Disaster Den has 4,911 registered members.

Chronology of events

May 10, 2018

Kira announces the Discord server attained 500 members.

June 24

Kira announces that one of the SCP:SL servers was granted US-WEST official status by Northwood Studios.

July 29

Kira announces the Discord server attained 1,000 members.

September 24

Trails - a former head administrator - announces that he is leaving, citing SCP:SL going stale and the community being "cancerous".

October 8

Kira submits a ping to a generic role advertising a server run by their girlfriend. They submit another advertisement on October 9 with a ping to all server members.

December 11

Kira advertises the Kurva Gaming Discord server, citing that "inner drama" caused them to lose a chunk of their member base.

January 10, 2019

Kira announces that the results of a poll indicated that a NSFW channel would not be created.

January 17

Kira sends an announcement asking certain members to stop "pretending to be furries/degenerates". The cited motivation for the announcement was due to the behavior causing prospective members to be dissuaded from joining. They note that this does not apply to people who are genuinely exhibiting the relevant behavior.

February 2

Kira announces that the ability to post media in the server's #general channel is revoked and requires a separate permission that staff must assign.

April 7

Kira announces the Discord server attained 2,500 members.

June 12

Kira announces that a member named Face won a contest to design a Discord banner and animated logo. They allegedly won a $20 Steam gift card.

June 18

Kira announces that until the traditional summer vacation period ends members with "freebie steam accounts" will be prohibited from joining to curb an influx of hacking players.

July 24

Kira sends out a staff application. This is notably the first time that staff were petitioned for in a public manner. The application closed 2 days later on July 26.

December 7

Kira announces the Discord server attained 3,500 members.

January 7, 2020

Kira announces that a DDoS attack against Disaster Den was repelled with little effort.

March 20

Kira announces that due to consistent complaints of toxicity, and bad actors taking advantage of leverage in the rules, that they were updated so as to "tight up the way [Disaster Den] handle[s] things".

April 7

Kira announces the Discord server attained 4,000 members.

May 4, 2021

Kira announces that they are taking a hiatus due to dissatisfaction with how members handle issues regarding Disaster Den. They return from this hiatus 5 days later on May 9.

May 5

Hynx announces that the role of administrator is splitting so that there will be administrators specifically for Discord and SCP:SL, rather than administrators acting the same across all services.

August 28, 2022

Archer announces the Discord server attained 5,000 members.

September 16

Kira announces that he is stepping down and transferring ownership to Archer.

April 4, 2023

Archer announces that they are taking a hiatus due to a family member passing away.

September 3

Archer announces the shutdown of Disaster Den, citing that the lives of leadership staff had become too busy to maintain it's upkeep - among "other reasons".

September 12

Archer sends an announcement requesting the community to read a Google Doc titled "End of Disaster Den SCP SL".

Controversy

2020 rule change on slurs

On October 10, 2020 Kira announced that the rules governing usage of slurs were changed. Previously, the usage of "racial, homophobic, transphobic or antisemitic slurs" were only disallowed if used in a derogatory manner. The change made the usage of such slurs, regardless of context, disallowed.

The cited reason for the change was to address users who would use the "in a derogatory manner" provision to justify the usage of the slurs "all the time". Vesper would later clarify that slurs were never intended to be used as frequently as they were. The offenders leaned on the leniency of staff members who would not take action since the usage was not derogatory, resulting in the slurs becoming more casual than staff desired.

Kira would comment in the general channel later that morning that freedom of speech as a concept was important to them, but that they remained firm in their decision, not wishing a minority to cause prospective members to "shy away".

On October 14, Kira angrily stated in the general channel that members FreedomEagle and Slime were the "root of [the] problem", citing that they were "ruining the rule for everyone else". Bovix, an administrator, commented that they disagreed. Kira threatened to demote Bovix from staff if they did not "stop fucking talking", to which Bovix took offense, stating that Kira's reaction to their statement was unproportionate and disrespectful. Bovix would later express understanding, commenting that Kira was angry, and that they had faith Kira would not action the threat. Kira did not comment on the incident further.

On October 30, a new announcement by Kira declared that the rule change was mostly reversed. It was identical to what it was prior with an additional provision that "excessive" use was also disallowed. Kira clarified that they were changing tact on how they wished to handle the issue, changing from blanket banning slurs to simply removing the problematic members.

As a result, the members Slime, FreedomEagle, SpaceCat, Ted, and DK Crab were declared by Kira to be permanently banned.

2020 pedophile

On November 13, 2020 Kira made an announcement that a community member named Anim had been banned permanently from the Discord. They went on to assert that the staff team had received evidence that Anim solicited sexually explicit photographs and messages from members that were underage, and so labeled them a pedophile.

2 members, 1 being an administrator, commented that the reveal was shocking as Anim was close friends of theirs.

Another member criticized the announcement as getting too many people involved in the event. Kira responded, stating they felt it was necessary to state their position on the behavior, to avoid the perception they were protecting Anim, and to bring awareness that people can always go to staff for such issues.

2023 Northwood influence on shutdown

On September 12, 2023 Archer made a follow up announcement to the one made on September 3 regarding the community's servers shutting down. The message contained a link to a Google Doc titled "End of Disaster Den SCP SL". The document went on to state that while the lives of leadership staff becoming busier was a contributing factor to the shutdown, the main reason for the shutdown was "due to [Disaster Den's] relations with Northwood [Studios] as a company".

The document proceeded to detail a variety of alleged behavior that Disaster Den took issue with.

The first grievance expressed was the adoption of the "Official Server Agreement" (OSR) by Northwood in 2021. Disaster Den stated that the rules set forth by Northwood for official servers existed "for the sake of it" and that they clashed with the community's ideals, which resulted in various Disaster Den staff members resigning in protest.

A representative of Northwood was stated to have organized a meeting for hosts of official servers to discuss the OSR. The representative was stated to have communicated with the hosts and "[found] the middle ground on a few situations", which Disaster Den viewed favorably.

The document then alleges that Hubert Moszka - the owner of Northwood Studios - overruled the aforementioned representative, claiming they acted without sufficient authority. Hubert's response was stated to have been "everything discussed was being shot down/reverted". Disaster Den characterized this as their "hands being tied" due to a majority of their player base only playing on the official servers. They further alleged that Hubert reiterated his stance repeatedly that those who disagreed with the OSR had no recourse but to leave the program.

The document would later specify 2 regulations from the OSR that Disaster Den found objectionable. The first was that each official server could not have more than 25 player slots, which caused Disaster Den to remove reserved slots as a form of monetization, a stated "integral part of the upkeep". The second was that the OSR prohibited gameplay altering plugins.

Northwood was alleged to have acted aggressively towards official hosts. The document asserted that Northwood would frequently "threaten official warnings" resulting in a "narrative [where] [official hosts] have to treat officials [sic] as some sort of privilege". The relationship between Northwood and official hosts was characterized as toxic.

Northwood was alleged to provide "very short notice" to communities when an update to the game was releasing. A particular instance cited was the release of 12.0, which went public 3 days before Christmas. The development team was stated to have immediately gone on holiday, and Disaster Den stated that they were incapable of using plugins "essential to... upkeep" for a week. 13.0 and beyond were stated to have broken other core plugins, such as the queue management and banning systems, with all mentioned updates coming with "little forewarning".

Shortly after the announcement from Archer on September 12, discussion regarding the shutdown started on the official SCP:SL Discord in the #scp-discussion channel.

Soon after, Northwood studio manager The Lord of Baguettes replied to the conversation, which was to explain what the OSR was, that communities with official servers may run non-official servers adjacently, and that they can opt-out of the program at any time. Shelter stated that for Disaster Den in particular, due to their player base mostly being those that played on the official servers, the loss of the official servers was the same as the community dying. The Lord of Baguettes replied that while official servers have high player turnover, the size of their Discord servers showed a strong community base, and then cited an anecdote of how another community left the official program and had participation increase.

Their final comment reiterated that those in the program may leave it if they are dissatisfied, and that the stated goal of the program is for the servers to align with what the Game Design Team considers a vanilla experience.