and I would like to see all of this change.
I would like everyone reading this topic to read this post entirely rather then skip through it just because it looks like a wall of text. This concerns the whole community as well as myself.When I came to BB, I had a vision of a community that not only shared projects, code, ideas with one another...but a community that also stuck up for it's members and helped new members with learning the ropes no matter how annoying they would be asking the same questions over and over and over again.
I have a gut feeling that everyone has forgotten that when we ALL work together everyone wins...but when we all go do the whole "lone wolf" thing, then everyone loses.
Now...I will go on to say that there are several members that have been very upset with myself for the fact that I refuse to share the code behind the now cancelled PSMM...as far as the core code goes. That is the only rule that I broke out of the rules I have pretty much laid down as a example to everyone.
I have this feeling that just because I refused to share that core code that certain members are now deciding for themselves that this is a sign that we have to go back to hoarding all of the very best mods and sources for each of ourselves...when in fact....I only have kept this specific code away from public eye for a few simple reasons: Due to the amount of work invested in it (a few years) and how hard it was to initially locate and actually figure out, BOTH Rise and I decided that it would be best for the community to discover this code on THEIR own the same way we did and NOT take the easy route to snoop through various bits of released mods to try and get lucky discovering it the easy way. Certain other bits of code we also decided to hold back due to the fact these bits of code are still being worked on and will be included in other mods being worked on now and only for that reason those bits of code are being held back.
There is also the simple reason that Rise believes that the community
"as it currently stands" does NOT deserve just being handed over that code (also the psmm mod) because of the fact that the community is starting to revert back to the way it was before I came here. People hoarding mods, refusing to publicly help others, secretly sharing things via xfire, youtube, email, pm, etc rather then publicly as I and a few others try to do. There is also the constant complaining by a LOT of members to myself via pm and xfire begging for early releases only to them, begging to be a beta tester, begging for the full sources to this or that mod because it wont be released or finished, etc.
Most of the members here (namely the newbies) have absolutely NO concept of just how difficult modding really is and the fact it is even harder for a game that has NO official modding support whatsoever and that WE have to come up with all of our own ideas, tools, code to modify a game that was never meant to be modded in the first place.
I myself have done a massive amount of work to make this game able to be modded on the scale it is today (along with a lot of work from
Rise, Red, Lemon, MadHattricK, Steman, and many others) and to help rebuild the modding community into a productive and active community that works together to benefit EVERYONE since we all are fans of this old but great game.
Things also would not be possible today if not for my silent partner Fred Tetra who is the one that made it possible to mod via the lua scripts due to partially decompiling all of the scripts, rewriting a few on his own and sharing all of them with me after which I shared all of these with the core members of the Biblio-Techa Mods team and since that time, I have released a few of the scripts to get everyone started and to see if I should even bother releasing the rest of the scripts.
What I would like to see now is for everyone to take what I have said here seriously and just take a minute to think about a few things:- What is the point of modding?
- What is the point of teamwork?
- What is the point of hoarding mods rather then sharing?
- Why all the fuss about which modder is the best?
- Is there any good reason for all of the silly arguments and fighting?
- What can be done to improve the community for youself and others?
Please ask yourself these questions and really think about them. I have been sitting back very quiet just watching and what I see I DON'T like one bit. This is starting to remind me of the gta modding community all over again. I swore to myself when I came here that I would do everything in my power to prevent this community from travelling down the same path and now I am going to step in and start making everyone really think hard about things.Now, I do realize that a lot of our members are kids or at least still under 18 and most of those members are not mature enough to understand all of the things that are required for a community to really stand out and be great. I also know that quite a lot of members here have zero patience when it comes to waiting for mods and that is where the constant begging and all that starts from....there is a saying: "Good things come to those who wait." This saying is very true and while there is a limit of just how long someone is willing to wait for that something good....there really should be no timetable on that. All of the points mentioned here are what led Rise and I to decide to cancel the PSMM and move on to working on other mods and why Rise does not exactly have much love for the community as it is. I really honestly cannot blame him for this since I have been thinking much the same for some time now.
SWEGTA posted some very good points starting this topic out and everyone really just needs to take a step back and think long and hard about all of this and ask themselves what they can do to help make this community better. I really want my vision for this community to come to fruition and possibly have this community catch up to the gta community on size and stand above it for having the most honest and helpful members around.
I know that there are new members that have just joined and several that have joined some time back who most likely initially joined thinking they can get instant overnight fame here for releasing this or that mod...or to somehow compete with me over who is more popular, more helpful, who can release the coolest or best ever mod, who can get the most downloads on this or that released mod, who can get more followers on their youtube channel ...whatever that may be....and quite frankley that is the wrong idea to join any community.
Most new members upon joining here really honestly should instantly head over to the tutorials section (if they never modded bully before) and have a look around the existing tutorials of which we have a nice sized library so far....and try to do some of these existing mods without any help to get the feel for modding this game. This is really a must. Then after getting a feel...start experimenting with things and maybe come up with other ideas to try to create something new that has not been done...or maybe find a way to improve something that already has been done.
I see so many newbies that are completely unwilling to even attempt to learn ANY of this on their own merits and they instead prefer to make begging posts for this mod or that mod without even trying to realize that maybe the current modders are busy enough with their own projects and don't have the proper time to attend to every request that gets spammed everywhere. Constantly spamming the same requests over and over will simply just get annoying and result in either being ignored, or flamed on the forum or via pm by another member/modder and that results in the newbie pretty much rage quitting the forum and never coming back.
Are new members really THAT lazy that they would rather everyone else just pop ideas out of their minds and get them done lickety split so that the newbie can take all the credit for it? I really do wonder sometimes since I see this trend in the real world as well ...everywhere. People would rather take the shortcut instead of just hunkering down and doing things the correct way and maybe learning something new along the way.
I will also mention that I have been hounded quite a lot by new members wanting to be part of the Biblio-Techa modding team. Membership to this team is NOT a simple open position NOR is it open to just anyone that comes along asking. We carefully handpick our members that show the following qualities that we all have:
- willingness to help others
- willingness to share
- ability to work in a team environment
- friendly personality
- drive to succeed
- willingness to learn new things
- being able to take constructive criticism
- willingness to try new ideas or suggestions from another team member or community member
Unless someone meets the criteria above, we will not consider adding another member to our current roster of team members since if we were to accept someone that had a ulterior motive (there have been a few in the past that have tried this) to join us for the sole purpose of getting ahold of all the script sources that I have as well as any other code that we are working on just so that person can release everything to the community for their own benefit...then this will totally destroy the whole point of even having a team in the first place. Teams have to have structure and I have a LOT of experience when it comes to the area of teamwork and I take this stuff VERY seriously.
I know that I am not always online or always on here and that is simply due to my rather busy schedule...but I do however try to make time for my friends here and the community when I can. I have always tried to be a man of my word and be honest with everyone about everything but there are simply times when even I am unable to snap to attention when asked to. I have never tried to ask anyone here to pay me for the work I have done nor will I ever. Where some modders in other gaming communities will actually charge money for any mods that they do since they are only in it for the fame and money. I am only in it for my love of the game and my love of this great community.
I also have noticed that not everyone takes SWEGTA as seriously as they should here. He is a good staff member here who has earned the position through his hard work and I personally hand picked him to take over moderating the modding section as a way of rewarding him for how far he has come since he first came here. I would like to see new members take him a bit more seriously since he answers to the global moderators who in turn answer to myself, Chrissy and AJ as we three are the main ones that pretty much set the rules and call all the shots regarding proper attitude(s) here. We as staff are very fair in our judgements and very open to talking to anyone about any problem they might have with another member or even if their problem may be with a staff member. I wanted to pop that little point in here too since it did not look to me like many of the newer members understood the whole chain of command structure that we have here. Like myself, even tho I am in a high position here...my bosses will always be AJ and Chrissy even though we three share the same position of power here...and that is because I have a huge respect for both of them. Even though AJ does not post that often here...he does keep close watch over the forum and keeps things running and does make sure anything that is broken gets fixed when he gets the chance. Just like each of the rest of us in the staff do...we try to make sure things run smoothly on our ends and this is a prime example of teamwork.
That all being said, I would like to see everyone try to do better at helping one another out. I know that there are always going to be those that come here only for seeking attention or trying to gain some type of fame or to try and compete with a well known community member. But I honestly believe we ALL can do better here. This also goes for me too since I also have sorta slipped somewhat on a few things and have gotten a little lazy regarding certain points...but I also will be trying harder too.
Hopefully this long post makes some sense to everyone and drives the point home that I am trying to make. SWEGTA has a lot of valid concerns and I felt it best to fully elaborate on some things that have been bothering me and hopefully help steer everyone onto the proper path.
