Postby QuintC » Sun Aug 09, 2009 7:19 pm
Hey, guys. I'm on on-and-off Cantr player who is currently getting into FTO, and I'd just like to say a few things, if that's all right.
First of all, I like Cantr a lot, although for various reasons I've never gotten into playing it for long stretches. I also really like FTO. People here should really give FTO a chance, and the people on FTO should really give Cantr a chance, I think.
However, I'm a little disturbed by all the rudeness over on the FTO forums, a lot of which seems to come from Cantr players. Not to say that none of it is reciprocated over there, just saying that I feel that a surprising amount of the hostility originates from players from over here.
The way I see it, FTO is a cool game with a cool community. The statements about the community being made over here, I feel, aren't really applicable to how the FTO community acts normally. Right now, things are pretty heated over there, and when things get heated, any community will act poorly.
That being said, I feel that a lot of the heatedness over there is the result of actions from a few people over here. Dudel, I know that Vaylon's and others' comments about how you should leave if you didn't like the game came off as harsh. I can definitely understand becoming angry and maybe a little rude directly afterward. However, I don't feel that such an incident gives you a blank check to act rudely, not even to Vaylon.
It is detrimental to everyone, not only to Vaylon, if you do that. Worse, it snowballs, and everyone becomes angry, and the tone of the entire forum becomes petty. This ends up being harmful to the actual game. I mean, it is less likely that people will join a game, especially a game as demanding as FTO, if the community is all riled up. And those that have already joined will be put off by the current state of affairs. So eventually, the game dies.
This is not fair to Lumin, for one thing. He spent a bunch of time and he injected a lot of passion into his creation. It is extremely unfair to him to destroy the community, and thus the game, over a personal beef you have with one member. I mean, imagine if you did that on Reveries! Imagine how unfair it would be to chase! Maybe I'm wrong here, but that's how I see that.
Another thing is that it is unfair to those of us who want to play. Destroying the community, which I have found to be otherwise great and perhaps (perhaps) even more welcoming than Cantr, really is deleterious to my, and I would assume others', ability to enjoy the game. It is a game made up of its community.
Finally, this is actually not good for Cantr-style games in general. People will see how the Cantr types react on the forums of, say, FTO, and be discouraged from making their own game in this vein. Eventually, Cantr will die- maybe sooner than later- and I bet you'll want to have other options of games like it to play. At least, I will. Reveries is gonna go big, I know it, but still, my point stands. In a genre as small (basically two games, at the moment) as this, anything that harms one game harms the others.
And Dudel, please do not say that you are bringing to light how horrible the FTO community is with your actions, because you are not. What you are doing is inciting reasonable people to anger. Of course they will react the way they do- they feel attacked, and not because you are shaking their very foundation with incisive points that they had never thought of before. These are intelligent people who have likely considered these things already. The reason they feel attacked is because you are attacking them.
Also, please don't continue to act in the same manner with a cursory apology afterwards. That's all posturing. If you really meant the apology, you would cease to commit the sin.
My suggestion to you, Dudel, would be to continue to play the game. Please do. I know your reputation as a great RPer, and FTO should be glad to have you for that reason. But apart from that, I would say take a nice long break from the FTO forums and chat. Wait for the community, and perhaps you, to cool down. Then come back and state your ideas (and they really are good ideas, I think) in a calm, clear manner. The community will be better off if you do that, and I think that you'll likely get more amusement out of the game that way.
Also, I would really appreciate if you would not badmouth the FTO community on these forums, as it gives people the wrong impression. It does nothing but harm the game, even if you give a little faint praise of it afterwards. Harming the game is rude to Lumin and to the players, as well as detrimental to this genre of games itself.
Other than that, I'd just ask everyone to be thoughtful and not fan the flames, when possible. Please don't jump on others over semantics or misunderstandings, as it is just rude. I know you guys already know this, but maybe it's good to have it stated every once in awhile? I dunno.
I just don't like to see a community, which I see Cantr and FTO as being, destroying itself like this. You guys are all incredibly cool people, Cantr and FTO, and it makes me nauseated to see things going like they are over there.
Sorry for the long message.