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Funny thing is, I remember specifically saying I'd never make a dev journal, but seeing as how that was due to how it'd cut into development time...
THE END OF MSC
All the games and social systems I have, willingly, been a part of, are designed to help people, see people, as people. The hope being they will help people communicate better, see eye to eye, better, usually regarding difficult topics, such as romance, grief, or politics. When I picked up the torch for MSC and aimed to turn it into a community built project, it was no exception.
Problem being, I decided this could be done by politics alone, as that was the target, and the players would just provide the emotional reinforcement themselves.
In the case of MSC, this method turned out to be fundamentally flawed, as is, well, politics.
I realized this pretty quickly, and tried to retcon lore to make it work, but alas... Rules and lore alone were not enough for a success, at least not in any way we could hope to integrate in a timely fashion in reverse order. Some of the early visionaries of the Internet had similar hopes that, through increased communication, certain social issues could be resolved. The invention of the "social media nuke", in addition to this game, should give you some idea as to how well that approach works.
Additionally, the game has reached a coding/scripting deadlock, where we can't patch it without wiping what seems to be every other character.
The decision that the game's time was limited was actually made back in 2016. The final ruling came late 2020, after failing to turn the situation around for an Olympiad, when threats and potential legal issues were added to the mix. The opportunity for execution, April 2021.
I can say many other retail games have tried similar experiments, without the community building aspect (though in at least one case with, but it was dumped for other legal reasons). It's actually a common game development tactic, save that it is usually employed to exploit, rather than enhance its player base, coupled with classic emotional conditioning addictions.
I'll name some exceptions, and some other projects of similar ilk I've been a part of, later, though nothing I've not said before elsewhere here. European laws are actually quite a bit more restrictive than American ones regarding "criminal social negligence", and most of those projects have been European or Asian based and in some instances, even government funded, but never continuous, like good ol' American MSC. Sadly, US laws here are rapidly catching up. So all this "show" and change, is ultimately for legal reasons, as well as my friend's family's safety.
That all said, it is also true I tried to save the project, and really did hit a wall resulting from lack of skill, skilled support, and lack of physical health.
So to make it clear:
I HAVE NEVER BEEN THE ONLY PERSON POSTING ON THIS ACCOUNT, save in PM's.
Many individuals have access to this desktop as it relates to our shared projects.
I'd say about 50% of my longer posts have gone through like-minded editors, some of which have been squashed outright, just for being hazardous, conceptually. For yes, my training is incomplete, and I am inept, my meritocracy is as weak as it is presented. I just have a "uniquely wide set of skills I've honed" - but unlike the other fictional character who uses that line, they are as wide as they are shallow, for the most part.
For the past few months all of my public posts have been monitored via a Discord or in person, as I read them allowed as I typed - and I was actually barred from posting as Thothie for quite some time, only allowed reactions. That's also why the final "show" sounded awfully robotic. That was going on in rapid succession, in real time.
@Lucifer Majiskus was not in on the plan or that Discord. He did indeed step forward, all on his own... However, social psychology is one of my deeper disciplines, so I, and others, did predict his response, and just found it too delicious that he chose that name and the date of @The Man In Black's birth. So yes, we manipulated him, to make him a better person, and PROVE to you all, he was the better person, despite all the repeated community calls to ban him, for being a "bully". We saw that he was a bully who KNEW his function, early on: To make people better.
That's what MSC was - an attempt to create a school that people came out the better for and moved on from to do greater things.
That's why we made no attempts to retain our most talented mappers and coders. They had already "graduated the class". In some cases, before they came in. We were wasting THEIR time.
But, sadly, some people just could not graduate, and increasingly, took that personally. Some, started to take that out on the school itself or even the inept headmaster, and TRIED TO TRACK HIM DOWN.
I leave a pretty good winding road, but six degrees of separation means they'd eventually find someone near me, as they always do.
I have similarly, divorced Thothie from MSR to insulate it from such reprisals.
Why?
Because the issues go beyond profession, they affect friends and family. The emotional energy I waste here, does not go unnoticed by loved ones, and it began to affect them, in addition to the real potential for a physical threat to their safety, and I had another profession, which provided several juicy targets, I have since withdrawn from.
That outfit had it on good authority there was a player "Red Flagged" by US state law, who had been with us long enough that their time here likely had a hand in his condition.
Yes, I really have a mother on the verge of death. Yes, I really have a live-in gal whom I'm getting married to after the funeral. Yes, she really is in physical medicine, and saw some SERIOUS SHIT during 2020/21... And came down on me and this project accordingly, as did several ex's turned business associates, and loves previously threatened by my forays into various social industries in the past.
I've never lied about who I am. I've just been vague enough and salted it with enough parables that it could be traced to any number of individuals.
So yes, I am pussy-whipped. Not a white knight though, at worst I play the part of tin dog, I've no issues alerting them when I feel they are wrong or taking unwise actions, if, sometimes, a bit robotically, if I too am uncertain.
Here, I play tin god. "Saint Thoth" So I couldn't take up that voice, until, well, April 2021.
I will continue to play that role in off-topic discussions and in discussions regarding the history of MSC, but as to be stated in the upcoming "play", no longer as lead developer for Master Sword. Only as retired failed headmaster of that school, once known as Master Sword: Continued. @Rhudeanlorat will be used primarily by me for any future the project may have, but the persona operates on a much stricter set of rules than @Thothie did. ...and Thothie may comment as a "submissive" when summoned, inside a dragon's declarations.
So, that's all there is to it.
BOTTOM LINE/TL;DR: The project became a threat to my family, my friends, and a potential future threat our gracious host. (From here on out only to be referred to as "THE HOST", who has almost no idea what goes on around here, for THE HOST hosts many things).
Thus MSC must end.
But graciously, we've been allowed the opportunity to start anew. The outpouring of support has been rather phenomenal. Not enough to break the development deadlock or undo the past, but we do have new fiscal and even legal support, and could start over - maybe having working elves and dwarves from day one, with an entirely new play style starting in Deralia and branch out from there until we have our near hundred maps back.
Even if, as always, we'd much rather you work on MSR under Unreal (or MSU or MSS, if that's where your skills lay and you feel unable to contribute to Unreal).
We'll consider other prospects, but the requirement is that the project must be forced to start from nearly scratch, and must be under an engine that has stood the test of time to evolve with Windows for near two decades. Lucifer or The Man in Black can make another GoldSrc Master Sword mod, but it cannot be connected to me or this place for the aforementioned reasons.
No one who hasn't been on this project for at least five years will be allowed onto the development board, without payment.
No one under 30 will be allowed unto the development board, period.
(Inverse of the old 'Never Trust Anyone Over 30' rule - believe me, it's a saying for a reason.)
Folks can donate all the maps and materials you want, as always.
But the requirement for developer tag is: 5 Years of Community Service and 30+
No more youth shall be wasted here for sake of greater authority.
That said, most of you remaining do indeed qualify by that first term, and a few of you by the second.
You know who you are, and so do we.
Over the coming weeks, there will be a play to say goodbye to Thothie as an authority avatar, and rather extensive forum rearrangement in preparation for MSC's "new deal". There will be a final release "MasterSword: Classic" under the NOV2015 build, with some fixes to the default configs and repackaging. Still debating what to call the new effort. Hopefully have a poll running before then.
THE END OF MSC
All the games and social systems I have, willingly, been a part of, are designed to help people, see people, as people. The hope being they will help people communicate better, see eye to eye, better, usually regarding difficult topics, such as romance, grief, or politics. When I picked up the torch for MSC and aimed to turn it into a community built project, it was no exception.
Problem being, I decided this could be done by politics alone, as that was the target, and the players would just provide the emotional reinforcement themselves.
In the case of MSC, this method turned out to be fundamentally flawed, as is, well, politics.
I realized this pretty quickly, and tried to retcon lore to make it work, but alas... Rules and lore alone were not enough for a success, at least not in any way we could hope to integrate in a timely fashion in reverse order. Some of the early visionaries of the Internet had similar hopes that, through increased communication, certain social issues could be resolved. The invention of the "social media nuke", in addition to this game, should give you some idea as to how well that approach works.
Additionally, the game has reached a coding/scripting deadlock, where we can't patch it without wiping what seems to be every other character.
The decision that the game's time was limited was actually made back in 2016. The final ruling came late 2020, after failing to turn the situation around for an Olympiad, when threats and potential legal issues were added to the mix. The opportunity for execution, April 2021.
I can say many other retail games have tried similar experiments, without the community building aspect (though in at least one case with, but it was dumped for other legal reasons). It's actually a common game development tactic, save that it is usually employed to exploit, rather than enhance its player base, coupled with classic emotional conditioning addictions.
I'll name some exceptions, and some other projects of similar ilk I've been a part of, later, though nothing I've not said before elsewhere here. European laws are actually quite a bit more restrictive than American ones regarding "criminal social negligence", and most of those projects have been European or Asian based and in some instances, even government funded, but never continuous, like good ol' American MSC. Sadly, US laws here are rapidly catching up. So all this "show" and change, is ultimately for legal reasons, as well as my friend's family's safety.
That all said, it is also true I tried to save the project, and really did hit a wall resulting from lack of skill, skilled support, and lack of physical health.
So to make it clear:
I HAVE NEVER BEEN THE ONLY PERSON POSTING ON THIS ACCOUNT, save in PM's.
Many individuals have access to this desktop as it relates to our shared projects.
I'd say about 50% of my longer posts have gone through like-minded editors, some of which have been squashed outright, just for being hazardous, conceptually. For yes, my training is incomplete, and I am inept, my meritocracy is as weak as it is presented. I just have a "uniquely wide set of skills I've honed" - but unlike the other fictional character who uses that line, they are as wide as they are shallow, for the most part.
For the past few months all of my public posts have been monitored via a Discord or in person, as I read them allowed as I typed - and I was actually barred from posting as Thothie for quite some time, only allowed reactions. That's also why the final "show" sounded awfully robotic. That was going on in rapid succession, in real time.
@Lucifer Majiskus was not in on the plan or that Discord. He did indeed step forward, all on his own... However, social psychology is one of my deeper disciplines, so I, and others, did predict his response, and just found it too delicious that he chose that name and the date of @The Man In Black's birth. So yes, we manipulated him, to make him a better person, and PROVE to you all, he was the better person, despite all the repeated community calls to ban him, for being a "bully". We saw that he was a bully who KNEW his function, early on: To make people better.
That's what MSC was - an attempt to create a school that people came out the better for and moved on from to do greater things.
That's why we made no attempts to retain our most talented mappers and coders. They had already "graduated the class". In some cases, before they came in. We were wasting THEIR time.
But, sadly, some people just could not graduate, and increasingly, took that personally. Some, started to take that out on the school itself or even the inept headmaster, and TRIED TO TRACK HIM DOWN.
I leave a pretty good winding road, but six degrees of separation means they'd eventually find someone near me, as they always do.
I have similarly, divorced Thothie from MSR to insulate it from such reprisals.
Why?
Because the issues go beyond profession, they affect friends and family. The emotional energy I waste here, does not go unnoticed by loved ones, and it began to affect them, in addition to the real potential for a physical threat to their safety, and I had another profession, which provided several juicy targets, I have since withdrawn from.
That outfit had it on good authority there was a player "Red Flagged" by US state law, who had been with us long enough that their time here likely had a hand in his condition.
Yes, I really have a mother on the verge of death. Yes, I really have a live-in gal whom I'm getting married to after the funeral. Yes, she really is in physical medicine, and saw some SERIOUS SHIT during 2020/21... And came down on me and this project accordingly, as did several ex's turned business associates, and loves previously threatened by my forays into various social industries in the past.
I've never lied about who I am. I've just been vague enough and salted it with enough parables that it could be traced to any number of individuals.
So yes, I am pussy-whipped. Not a white knight though, at worst I play the part of tin dog, I've no issues alerting them when I feel they are wrong or taking unwise actions, if, sometimes, a bit robotically, if I too am uncertain.
Here, I play tin god. "Saint Thoth" So I couldn't take up that voice, until, well, April 2021.
I will continue to play that role in off-topic discussions and in discussions regarding the history of MSC, but as to be stated in the upcoming "play", no longer as lead developer for Master Sword. Only as retired failed headmaster of that school, once known as Master Sword: Continued. @Rhudeanlorat will be used primarily by me for any future the project may have, but the persona operates on a much stricter set of rules than @Thothie did. ...and Thothie may comment as a "submissive" when summoned, inside a dragon's declarations.
So, that's all there is to it.
BOTTOM LINE/TL;DR: The project became a threat to my family, my friends, and a potential future threat our gracious host. (From here on out only to be referred to as "THE HOST", who has almost no idea what goes on around here, for THE HOST hosts many things).
Thus MSC must end.
But graciously, we've been allowed the opportunity to start anew. The outpouring of support has been rather phenomenal. Not enough to break the development deadlock or undo the past, but we do have new fiscal and even legal support, and could start over - maybe having working elves and dwarves from day one, with an entirely new play style starting in Deralia and branch out from there until we have our near hundred maps back.
Even if, as always, we'd much rather you work on MSR under Unreal (or MSU or MSS, if that's where your skills lay and you feel unable to contribute to Unreal).
We'll consider other prospects, but the requirement is that the project must be forced to start from nearly scratch, and must be under an engine that has stood the test of time to evolve with Windows for near two decades. Lucifer or The Man in Black can make another GoldSrc Master Sword mod, but it cannot be connected to me or this place for the aforementioned reasons.
No one who hasn't been on this project for at least five years will be allowed onto the development board, without payment.
No one under 30 will be allowed unto the development board, period.
(Inverse of the old 'Never Trust Anyone Over 30' rule - believe me, it's a saying for a reason.)
Folks can donate all the maps and materials you want, as always.
But the requirement for developer tag is: 5 Years of Community Service and 30+
No more youth shall be wasted here for sake of greater authority.
That said, most of you remaining do indeed qualify by that first term, and a few of you by the second.
You know who you are, and so do we.
Over the coming weeks, there will be a play to say goodbye to Thothie as an authority avatar, and rather extensive forum rearrangement in preparation for MSC's "new deal". There will be a final release "MasterSword: Classic" under the NOV2015 build, with some fixes to the default configs and repackaging. Still debating what to call the new effort. Hopefully have a poll running before then.
