Hello all,
Disclaimer: The views in this e-mail are the opinions of Josh de Lioncourt, and
do not reflect
the views of Draconis Entertainment or any of its divisions or staff as a whole
or individually.
I would just like to make a few observations. Much, maybe even most, of what I
am going
to say has been covered fragmentarily in many posts and by many contributors.
However,
we may have reached a crossroad with this community, and I hope to see the list
and
associated community activities move forward down a beneficial path, rather
than watch
them slowly self-destruct.
First, as another developer, the flaming and bashing that James North has had
to put up
with in recent weeks is not only tiresome to read, but childish and immature as
well.
When I worked for Adora, I had to contend with the same exact sort of behavior
from the
exact same sources, and Adora had never taken pre-orders for anything. I
endured
personal attacks, flames, and all sorts of other nonsense. While it wasn't
quite on the scale
of what James has put up with, it was quite disheartening to deal with.
This is why I am not an active member of this community these days. Draconis
has a new
game that will be released very soon, and we have made no public announcements
about it.
gee, I wonder why that might be. I seldom if ever contribute to discussions on
this list,
though I do try to keep abreast of developments in the community.
There are a handful of members who get the masses riled up. I suspect that
many of those
who spout off are doing so in response to these handful, and wouldn't normally
have been
so venomous on their own. And yet, these few continue to cause trouble just
for the sake of
it.
Like so many others in the VI community at large, these few, and I suspect some
others who
are less vocal about it, feel that *quote* "Oh, I'm blind. The world owes me.
everyone's out
to get me. I've gotta be an ass because whether they show it or not, they're
out to get me."
*end_quote*
Granted, that's an exaggeration in most cases, but that doesn't nullify the
fact that the basic
mentality is out there. It certainly isn't all blind and visually impaired
people. Gods know I
hope it isn't the majority, being a blindee myself. However, I do think it is
a much higher
ratio than is healthy or appropriate.
I hope Kevin does not step down as a moderator, and I hope that those of you
who have
caused the problems over the years eventually grow up.
Whether or not James has handled circumstances in his life well in regards to
Alchemy is
totally irrelivent. There is no excuse for abusing any member of this list, be
they a
developer or not. Most of the opinions expressed against James and/or Alchemy
could've
been done so civilly and maturely. Many were not, though.
But before anyone says something to the effect of *quote* "Oh, James is such a
baby for
leaving the list..." *end_quote* which I know many of the less mature members
of this list
are thinking, even if they've yet to voice such a thought, bare in mind that
James isn't the
only developer who you've driven underground.
And, let's be honest folks, how many developers do we see posting regularly on
this list?
Phil Vlasak and Liam are the only two I can think of. Anyone seen Philip B.
posting lately?
How about David Greenwood? Justin from BSC? You might see the odd e-mail from
these
guys once in a while...but not often. And I only post when I have Draconis
news to report.
I've been around long enough to remember when there was a lot more discussion
between
gamers and developers. These days, all I see is a lot of bickering,
back-stabbing, and
bitching.
And, for the record, the vast majority of the world ends their week on Sunday.
It's only in
the USA, (and maybe Canada, since a lot of goods are shipped into the Cannucks
from the
Yanks), that we've seen fit to idiotically start our week's on the sabbath. As
the world
becomes a more globalized society, I think we'll see more streamlining of such
things, and
hopefully the Americans' need to be different, even if that means stupid, will
slowly die out.
For the record, I was born and bred in the United States, and I consider Sunday
the last day
of my week.
So, here's hoping that the accessible game community, its games, and its
members can all
mature. Here's hoping that Kevin stays on as moderator, and that those of you
causing
chaos and flame wars learn what truly is important in life.
Josh de Lioncourt
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