Tynian
March 27th, 2008, 09:30 AM
I have decided to formally step away from my day to day responsibilities on TFC. I have arrived at this difficult decision over the course of the last several months.
Many things have changed for me since my co-founders and I opened TFC to the public in March 1994. When TFC started, I was a 24 year old college student… and not much of a college student at that, working on everything but my school work. TFC is an excellent example of my “everything but school” philosophy of the time.
Prior to TFC, Maurice and I played a mud called Challenger. He and I both became Immortals on that MUD. When Challenger was shut down without notice, Maurice moved on to another mud (might have been “Rivers of MUD”). I drifted around a bit from MUD to MUD, but found none that I really liked, so I quit mudding.
In September 1993, Maurice and I decided to create a MUD based on Challenger. IvoryTiger joined us to help with the implementation. TFC was born, and launched to the public in March 1994.
Since that time, I quit college, gotten a full time job, gotten married, gone back to school, gotten my Bachelors degree, and had 4 wonderful children. My life at 38 is much different than my life at 24. In short, the demands on my time now are much more varied and insistent than they were when I started. At time has gone on, it has become more and more difficult to balance the needs of the game against the needs of the rest of my life. In recent years, time working on TFC has meant not meeting the other demands in my life.
My motivations for working on the game have changed over the years. For a while, my primary motivation was to create a place that reminded me of the best aspects of Challenger – a world that I would enjoy playing as a mortal, and refugees from Challenger would feel at home in. Later, I had aspirations of creating a top-tier MUD, and I imagined regular online player counts of a hundred or more players online. That dream faded, and it became more difficult to find my motivation. Nonetheless, I wanted the game to continue. I remembered how I felt when Challenger went down. I even went so far as to track down one of the Challenger Implementors to find out what was going on back when it was shut down – does that make me a stalker? I didn’t want TFC’s loyal players to suffer that same fate. There have also been high personal costs for me -- friendships have been lost and relationships damaged or destroyed as direct and indirect results of my involvement with this game. I hate not being more involved, especially after all that has happened.
These days, my principle motivation has been two-fold. First, I feel a sense of duty towards TFC. I feel responsible for the game and its well-being. Unfortunately, my ability to focus on the game comes and goes. I’m sure some of you have noticed that there are periods of time when I am around a lot, followed by periods of lesser or no activity. Over time, the periods of motivation and focus have become shorter, less intense, and spread further apart. Even if I were inspired, I don’t have much time… and there just hasn’t been a lot to inspire me. It often seems that no matter what I do, it ultimately makes little difference to the game. I think if I were that 24 year old college student, there are things I would try, and I would tenaciously keep trying. But this 38 year old knows that he is capable of short bursts of energy and activity, and frankly, the time and energy I have left has done nothing to slow the decline of the player base.
One other reason for maintaining my presence on TFC is purely personal. There were certain people I knew in real life that I wanted to be around for, should they want to find me. But they are gone from the game, and won’t be back.
There’s a certain amount of guilt involved, too. If I am less active, what will happen to the game? But whether I like it or not, I just don’t have a lot of time to give.
I don’t plan on taking TFC down. I will continue stopping by. In fact, I may work on code or other things from time to time. I’ll keep the system updated, and the operating system and supporting application software current as time allows.
God+ will handle day to day issues as they arise.
Tokugawa and Tamar will continue to coordinate area building. For more information about area building, go to http://finalchallenge.net/tfc/world/index.shtml. Do your part to give something back to the game!
Schwartz is the principle coder. Please continue to post code suggestions on the forums (http://forums.finalchallenge.net). The forums are a great venue for discussing ideas, since they give people the opportunity to weigh in on a given idea, and how it might affect them.
What will I be doing? Whatever I feel I have time for. What won’t I be doing? I won’t be resolving disputes or following up on complaints. God+ staff will take care of those. If you need anything, please see a god+.
Since my role is changing, I would like to take this opportunity to say some things.
There have been so many that have contributed time and energy to make TFC an awesome destination for the past 14 years. There would be no TFC today without Maurice and Ivorytiger. Maurice took on the responsibility for shaping the early TFC world. Maurice and I also worked together to provide the vision for TFC, based on our collective experiences and memories of Challenger. Maurice retained hard copies of god rules, maps, and other documentation for Challenger, so we did not have to start from scratch. Ivorytiger answered my call to assist with early TFC code. He spent a lot of time adding and improving skills and spells, as well as other aspects of the game. Ivorytiger, not being a Challenger native, also brought in ideas outside of what Maurice and I were looking at, and put TFC on the road to becoming its own game.
If not for Madman’s hard work, TFC version 3 (October 1997) would have looked much different. I cannot overstate the work Madman put into version 3. Not only did he facilitate a large amount of code changes, he personally wrote many of the areas that comprise the southern continent. He also added a lot of functionality for area special functions. In fact, Madman is TFC’s most prolific area writer (42 areas are still in play!), and ran many quests during his tenure.
Speaking of areas, several players have made a lasting, long term impact on TFC by writing areas for the game. Our most prolific writers with areas still in the game? (co-writing credits not included in count): Madman (42), Molo (13), Nayr (13), Sirak (8), Ath (5), Nalya (5), Kaern (4), Thaygar (4).
My thanks to my current god+ staff (Tokugawa, Tamar, Natilena, Schwartz) and past god+ staff (Maurice, Ivorytiger, Madman, Khore, Nayr, Sirak, Nalya, Jaxxon, Darkmoon, Bliss) for their efforts to improve the game and keep it running smoothly.
Speaking of Darkmoon, who is my wife in real life, she's done a lot for TFC just by her patience. She has never complained about the time I've spent on TFC, and has always been supportive of my work on TFC, even in light of competing demands. She has never questioned my time or commitment to the game, and that has been huge for me.
We’ve had many outstanding followings over the years. The code and areas provide the game’s framework and scenery, but the followings provide the “face” for TFC. I would like to single out Molo, who has far and away the longest tenure ever as a Following Level Immortal, and whose following has been very influential over the years. He is the only active Immortal remaining that started his Immortal career prior to the introduction of version 3. Carrying forward Sirak’s following concept, Molo built his following to one of the largest and most deadly in TFC’s history. Molo’s following has been around so long that few players know a TFC without Molo’s Black Conclave in it.
Cordir has also been around for a long time. She was promoted shortly after version 3 went live. Her following has seen a lot of changes over the years. She had one of the longest standing pacifist followings for many years. Cordir’s following also put a special focus on role-playing.
Please accept my apologies if I’ve left you out. It’s difficult to summarize 14 years, and my memory isn’t what it used to be.
I am grateful for the time that each of you has spent on TFC. The players make the game, and I am humbled by the number of you that have been around for YEARS. THANK YOU!
It’s been an experience of a lifetime.
Many things have changed for me since my co-founders and I opened TFC to the public in March 1994. When TFC started, I was a 24 year old college student… and not much of a college student at that, working on everything but my school work. TFC is an excellent example of my “everything but school” philosophy of the time.
Prior to TFC, Maurice and I played a mud called Challenger. He and I both became Immortals on that MUD. When Challenger was shut down without notice, Maurice moved on to another mud (might have been “Rivers of MUD”). I drifted around a bit from MUD to MUD, but found none that I really liked, so I quit mudding.
In September 1993, Maurice and I decided to create a MUD based on Challenger. IvoryTiger joined us to help with the implementation. TFC was born, and launched to the public in March 1994.
Since that time, I quit college, gotten a full time job, gotten married, gone back to school, gotten my Bachelors degree, and had 4 wonderful children. My life at 38 is much different than my life at 24. In short, the demands on my time now are much more varied and insistent than they were when I started. At time has gone on, it has become more and more difficult to balance the needs of the game against the needs of the rest of my life. In recent years, time working on TFC has meant not meeting the other demands in my life.
My motivations for working on the game have changed over the years. For a while, my primary motivation was to create a place that reminded me of the best aspects of Challenger – a world that I would enjoy playing as a mortal, and refugees from Challenger would feel at home in. Later, I had aspirations of creating a top-tier MUD, and I imagined regular online player counts of a hundred or more players online. That dream faded, and it became more difficult to find my motivation. Nonetheless, I wanted the game to continue. I remembered how I felt when Challenger went down. I even went so far as to track down one of the Challenger Implementors to find out what was going on back when it was shut down – does that make me a stalker? I didn’t want TFC’s loyal players to suffer that same fate. There have also been high personal costs for me -- friendships have been lost and relationships damaged or destroyed as direct and indirect results of my involvement with this game. I hate not being more involved, especially after all that has happened.
These days, my principle motivation has been two-fold. First, I feel a sense of duty towards TFC. I feel responsible for the game and its well-being. Unfortunately, my ability to focus on the game comes and goes. I’m sure some of you have noticed that there are periods of time when I am around a lot, followed by periods of lesser or no activity. Over time, the periods of motivation and focus have become shorter, less intense, and spread further apart. Even if I were inspired, I don’t have much time… and there just hasn’t been a lot to inspire me. It often seems that no matter what I do, it ultimately makes little difference to the game. I think if I were that 24 year old college student, there are things I would try, and I would tenaciously keep trying. But this 38 year old knows that he is capable of short bursts of energy and activity, and frankly, the time and energy I have left has done nothing to slow the decline of the player base.
One other reason for maintaining my presence on TFC is purely personal. There were certain people I knew in real life that I wanted to be around for, should they want to find me. But they are gone from the game, and won’t be back.
There’s a certain amount of guilt involved, too. If I am less active, what will happen to the game? But whether I like it or not, I just don’t have a lot of time to give.
I don’t plan on taking TFC down. I will continue stopping by. In fact, I may work on code or other things from time to time. I’ll keep the system updated, and the operating system and supporting application software current as time allows.
God+ will handle day to day issues as they arise.
Tokugawa and Tamar will continue to coordinate area building. For more information about area building, go to http://finalchallenge.net/tfc/world/index.shtml. Do your part to give something back to the game!
Schwartz is the principle coder. Please continue to post code suggestions on the forums (http://forums.finalchallenge.net). The forums are a great venue for discussing ideas, since they give people the opportunity to weigh in on a given idea, and how it might affect them.
What will I be doing? Whatever I feel I have time for. What won’t I be doing? I won’t be resolving disputes or following up on complaints. God+ staff will take care of those. If you need anything, please see a god+.
Since my role is changing, I would like to take this opportunity to say some things.
There have been so many that have contributed time and energy to make TFC an awesome destination for the past 14 years. There would be no TFC today without Maurice and Ivorytiger. Maurice took on the responsibility for shaping the early TFC world. Maurice and I also worked together to provide the vision for TFC, based on our collective experiences and memories of Challenger. Maurice retained hard copies of god rules, maps, and other documentation for Challenger, so we did not have to start from scratch. Ivorytiger answered my call to assist with early TFC code. He spent a lot of time adding and improving skills and spells, as well as other aspects of the game. Ivorytiger, not being a Challenger native, also brought in ideas outside of what Maurice and I were looking at, and put TFC on the road to becoming its own game.
If not for Madman’s hard work, TFC version 3 (October 1997) would have looked much different. I cannot overstate the work Madman put into version 3. Not only did he facilitate a large amount of code changes, he personally wrote many of the areas that comprise the southern continent. He also added a lot of functionality for area special functions. In fact, Madman is TFC’s most prolific area writer (42 areas are still in play!), and ran many quests during his tenure.
Speaking of areas, several players have made a lasting, long term impact on TFC by writing areas for the game. Our most prolific writers with areas still in the game? (co-writing credits not included in count): Madman (42), Molo (13), Nayr (13), Sirak (8), Ath (5), Nalya (5), Kaern (4), Thaygar (4).
My thanks to my current god+ staff (Tokugawa, Tamar, Natilena, Schwartz) and past god+ staff (Maurice, Ivorytiger, Madman, Khore, Nayr, Sirak, Nalya, Jaxxon, Darkmoon, Bliss) for their efforts to improve the game and keep it running smoothly.
Speaking of Darkmoon, who is my wife in real life, she's done a lot for TFC just by her patience. She has never complained about the time I've spent on TFC, and has always been supportive of my work on TFC, even in light of competing demands. She has never questioned my time or commitment to the game, and that has been huge for me.
We’ve had many outstanding followings over the years. The code and areas provide the game’s framework and scenery, but the followings provide the “face” for TFC. I would like to single out Molo, who has far and away the longest tenure ever as a Following Level Immortal, and whose following has been very influential over the years. He is the only active Immortal remaining that started his Immortal career prior to the introduction of version 3. Carrying forward Sirak’s following concept, Molo built his following to one of the largest and most deadly in TFC’s history. Molo’s following has been around so long that few players know a TFC without Molo’s Black Conclave in it.
Cordir has also been around for a long time. She was promoted shortly after version 3 went live. Her following has seen a lot of changes over the years. She had one of the longest standing pacifist followings for many years. Cordir’s following also put a special focus on role-playing.
Please accept my apologies if I’ve left you out. It’s difficult to summarize 14 years, and my memory isn’t what it used to be.
I am grateful for the time that each of you has spent on TFC. The players make the game, and I am humbled by the number of you that have been around for YEARS. THANK YOU!
It’s been an experience of a lifetime.