Some Moonshadows
In the aftermath of finishing up my history paper, I've been able to do a little bit of work on Moonshadows today. It's mostly been creature creation and placement, as well as a little bit of "busy work" scripts to make the game function correctly. I have a feeling all the combat in the game is going to be exceedingly difficult in this first round of testing, so I may have to tone things down or allow for a higher starting level for the player (whichever one ultimately makes more sense). I have a feeling it may end up being the latter due to the nature of the story...but don't take my word on it, yet.
Also, it seems there's been a rather long thread over on the Modules Forum in response to my blog entry highlighting the AME. Personally, I thought the entire thread was ridiculous. The AME hasn't even done anything yet, and already it's being treated as some huge evil empire of an organization that going to...well...commit a vast array of unspeakably corrupt deeds which haven't yet been quite pinpointed. Consider this: it's made up of individuals who are highly respected (as individuals) in the community. There's absolutely no reason to think that, once a bunch of well-respected individuals gather for some purpose, their actions as an organization will suddenly become corrupt; on the contrary, the whole point (in my view) is that this is a group dedicated to rewarding content creators by having a panel of people whose opinions are respected and valued doling out the awards. And here's the best part: if you don't respect the opinions of the committee members, IGNORE THEM! Sheesh. It's pointless, ignorant arguments like these (which, I've noticed, frequently attract the attention and participation of several specific individuals) that have made me start avoiding the forums more and more.
Also, it seems there's been a rather long thread over on the Modules Forum in response to my blog entry highlighting the AME. Personally, I thought the entire thread was ridiculous. The AME hasn't even done anything yet, and already it's being treated as some huge evil empire of an organization that going to...well...commit a vast array of unspeakably corrupt deeds which haven't yet been quite pinpointed. Consider this: it's made up of individuals who are highly respected (as individuals) in the community. There's absolutely no reason to think that, once a bunch of well-respected individuals gather for some purpose, their actions as an organization will suddenly become corrupt; on the contrary, the whole point (in my view) is that this is a group dedicated to rewarding content creators by having a panel of people whose opinions are respected and valued doling out the awards. And here's the best part: if you don't respect the opinions of the committee members, IGNORE THEM! Sheesh. It's pointless, ignorant arguments like these (which, I've noticed, frequently attract the attention and participation of several specific individuals) that have made me start avoiding the forums more and more.
Labels: AME, Moonshadows
posted by Alex | 8:09 AM
4 Comments:
I think a big part of the problem is all the unnecessary secrecy surrounding the group. I'm sure you folks are going to do your darndest to make this a positive thing. But while we keep hearing representatives of the group saying that the people involved are "highly respected," we're not even allowed to know who is in the "academy." Furthermore, as far as we can tell, it's basically just one person selecting all the members. The more transparent you folks are, the more relaxed folks will be about it. But if even a list of who is in this supposed "elite group" is off-limits, it's bound to create a lot of ill-feelings.
Didn't you folks learn anything from the Bush administration? :) Transparency, transparency, transparency...
-B
Hugie,
We've never spoken before, but I know who you are and your contributions to the community. I also follow your stuff here periodically, but have never commented.
Anyway, odds are that when the AME finally reveals it's membership, I will know who a lot of them are and value your opinions like you are expecting. Surely you can see that getting a roster of "big" names on a project will attract a lot of attention from the community, correct?
So I stated my point of view on the topic, that something like this is probably going to have a large impact on the community and the award recipients. I wanted first that this was acknowledged as a possibility, and secondly some assurance that handing out the noteriety that comes with the award will be handled in a judicious way.
Instead, the chairman comes in and mocks the critics and says he doesn't care. How would you feel about that if the situation were reversed?
As much as you don't like the instant assumption that it's some kind of conglomerate of politicking knobs (which, for the record, is something I never said anyway), I don't like being labelled an ignorant jerk because I'm not instantly supportive of the idea. We're not that different, both groups are just looking out for ways to better the community. And peep this: all it took to squash it was the AME chairman being honest about their intentions!
Just some perspective for you.
Anyway, good luck with your project and Harvard. I'll keep reading.
-dirtywick
@berliad:
Heh, believe it or not, I don't really know who's in the academy either; at least, I don't have any say in who's being selected. I know who has accepted invitations to become members, but not who was invited and/or who rejected the invitation. I definitely see why the secrecy could prove problematic and/or breed hard feelings towards the group...but at the same time, there's a public forums devoted to the organization where everything is listed out as clear as can be (everything besides members, of course, the list of whom shall be revealed once all the replied are in and 21 have been found).
@dirtywick:
First of all, good to meet you. :)
I'll see if I can respond to your points in a satisfactory way; it seems you know where I'm coming from, and I'm pretty sure I see what you mean as well.
First, regarding the matter of wanting it acknowledged that 1) the award would inevitably have an impact/garner attention and 2) this attention would be handled responsibly: I would have had the same concerns/questions had I been in your position. They are, after all, logical and completely valid concerns to have. I guess where we disagree somewhat is on Mokah's response(s). I personally haven't even ever spoken with the guy, but I remember reading through his posts both on the AME forums (and the ones on The Thread, as I will now refer to it :) ) and nodding my head in agreement. I would have handled the situation in much the same way, I think; I mean, it's not like he went and announced that he was going to make this group and that the community was going to have to deal. On the contrary, he was just minding his own business. It's well within any of our rights to try to organize a new way to recognize talent in the community; if he feels like selecting 21 members that he feels are in a position to best help him to make his vision a reality, I frankly say more power to him. I'm honored to have been selected as one of the members, but I honestly would be just as supportive of this endeavor had I not been invited. I just think of it as a new, different way to say "thanks" to content creators...and while it may contain traces of elitism (as any sort of invite-only committee is bound to possess), I guess I just don't mind that. If it turns out that what the AME is doing isn't what I thought it would be doing/I disagree with the way things end up going, I'll leave...but in the meantime, I think it has the potential to be a cool addition to our community, and I want to do what I can to help that potential be realized! :)
And yes, I agree that the naysayers and the supporters of the AME both have the best interests of the community at heart. This is just a game, after all, and we're just trying to foster a fun community in which to enjoy it. :) I just feel like if every effort that has the "potential to become corrupt" (as long as an equally-substantial potential for beneficial results exists, obviously) gets squashed before it's even allowed to finish gathering members, we would never make any progress. Heck, if everyone posted their ideas for a module in a thread before creating it and then waited to hear what community members said about it before building said module, nothing would ever get built because someone would always find something to nitpick about. I sort of feel like the same thing has happened in The Thread, only to a larger extent. I'd have preferred if the AME had been allowed to get off the ground before people started criticizing. I'm aware It's partly my own fault (stupid blog post) that it's already taken this place in the spotlight at this overly-early juncture...but still.
Hope this has been reasonably clear...I guess it's a bit on the long side. :P Perhaps it'll help to make it clearer where I'm coming from--that's my hope, and I'm doing my best!
And thanks very much; I'm SUPER excited about Harvard. Good luck to you with your beta testing for Subtlety of Thay!
Alex
Heh, believe it or not, I don't really know who's in the academy either; at least, I don't have any say in who's being selected. I know who has accepted invitations to become members, but not who was invited and/or who rejected the invitation.
And there, I think, is the problem.
Like it or not, this group is, by appearances, being sanctioned by the Vault (it is hosted on a Vault-run bbs, and includes one of the two people who have access to post news on the vault: QSW).
And yet, again, there's essentially one person who is choosing who gets to a say in this new award. And this person is doing everything in secret, for no apparent good reason (the reasons I've seen haven't made much sense to me). It is good to hear that the list of members will actually be revealed at some point, because that at least provides *some* transparency to the process. But this whole thing has had a tone of secrecy that seems really unnecessary. And it's that secrecy--and the elitism that goes along with it--that has bothered me from the moment that the idea was floated a month+ ago.
I probably shouldn't be making the post, because there's a way in which I don't much care about this. I'm not really interested in participating in the academy, and I'm probably not going to give the awards a lot of creedence unless they successfully seem to recognize content that I personally have felt was underappreciated (who knows, maybe they will). But elitism has always been something of an issue in this community (builders vs. players, etc, etc), and I guess I'm just sensitive to that.
Unless something remarkable happens that compels me to comment in the future, however, I do intend this to be my last post on the subject for quite a while. I've more than had my say in this, and it's time to move on to more enjoyable matters. -B
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