Meh, I never played with SBYW. Personally I kinda like Crime Hunter and Tomb Hunter for what they are but, whatever.
Before I continue I should say that I have no personal ill will toward Mason. Him and I used to be good friends, and we had our problems but I don't have any ill will toward him because he has some issues and I do too. We've both grown a lot though since we last talked on a regular basis, so if we ever did talk again, I would pretty much consider him from a clean slate. I don't know much about his recent actions but I know enough to say that he definitely needs to improve both his behavior and his administration skills but still, I don't even know if I could do what he does, so I'm not going to be too critical of him. I want him to find success, and it pains me to see him, and other developers, get caught up in this mess, though I will agree that he made some of this mess for himself, based on what I know. Some players no doubt contribute to this too.
I know I am ignorant of many of the facts and stories that led person A to do action B and person C to do action D and whatnot, and because of my ignorance, people are going to want to explain and justify it all to me, but to be honest I don't care, because this reputation for drama has been going on for long enough now, and explanations aren't doing much. I am really starting to become convinced that a lot of devs and admins don't have what it takes, from an emotional maturity standpoint, to keep a game running smoothly. A lot of them are literally teenagers who should be enjoying a teenager's life. If coding is their thing, then start small and work your way up so that your emotional maturity has a chance to catch up with your dreams, and enables you to watch the petty things from the sidelines and chuckle or shake your head and move on. But instead friendships and history and "a bit of fun" play into almost every decision and that is not at all a way I think a game or any public entity should be run. I'm not saying that no teenager can do a big project right, but some cannot. Furthermore, the notion that starting drama in a public place could be fun or productive is just sad to me, because it's creating quite the good reputation for the community.
I think we all need to step back and cool off. Forget SBYW, Mason is gonna take it down. I know people have put part of their heart and soul into the game, but it's only a game. And that's the trouble. Nobody realizes that a game is just a game. They bring personal drama into games and therefore, games aren't a passtime. Instead they become a lounge which seems to quickly become toxic, and games and online activities have a way of becoming addictive.
Myself, I play games just to play games. I try not to take my personal gripes with someone into a game. When I play CP for instance, I play with people I really do not wish to know well. But I still play minigames with them and really do enjoy it if the session remains civil. It makes me think of them in a more healthy way, instead of reading drama about them and shaking my head at their conduct off game. So long as they can keep a good reputation in-game, I'm fine playing with them. Why is just being friendly so hard to do?
I get away from games and computers every now and then because I like getting out of the house sometimes, and am forcing myself to actually find things to do. I look forward to coming back and seeing what's new. But I need some breaks. I think we all do. We just need to get away from the madness. So let's all just calm down, shake hands, and try to learn from our mistakes, and become better people and exercise our good qualities. And remember, a game is just a game, but friends and enemies can last for a lifetime. SBYW can be replaced eventually with another cool game. A good friend cannot be. And an enemy? I won't even go there, because something bad can always be outdone by something worse. So let's try to be calm, keep our personal trouble off public places, and try to avoid making enemies of each other.
Make more of less, that way you won't make less of more!
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