[edit note: This post has been deleted once, I'm reposting it, uneditted, for the time being. To stop me posting it you'll have to ban me. What I said to you, Johnny, about deleting my posts the other day, still stands. Aside from that, this whole thing will be reposted elsewhere sometime this evening.]
Now the biggie, a story of baggage, trust, respect, abuse, ego's and JohnnyMOO.
Maybe an hour or two later, Nixxi's exit was basically forgotten, wouldn't be the first time an admin had left in a huff only to return a day or two later. Hell, -most- if not ALL of the admin have logged off in anger at some point or other, or at the very least "xidled" signifying they were done with the argument at hand and had the last word. That sits with just how Damon was manouvered off the MOO. Ever had an argument and ended up shouting "If you don't like it, leave"? Get someone wound up far enough into an argument and thats your loaded gun to make them make a mistake and come crawling back to you later with a meek apology. BOOM. Works every time if you know how to pull it off. Married couples will probably understand that one better. �
Anyhow, again we need some background. In this case, my good friend Kevlar, AKA Gunnar. Kick me for revealing alt identity, but in this case it's needed. This is going to be the kicker post where, as I stated elsewhere, some of you are going to decide I'm an asshole. If you don't want to read some loaded IC information, close this window now.
A couple of months ago Johnny logged on to inform us that the messiah was coming. The man who was "going to change Sindome forever". A friend of his from work who apparently was the mother of all coders and played M*. All well and good. Then we get Johnny's rampant excitement one day when he logs on to tell us how he and Gunnar had spent the day talking about how Gunnar was going to recode the skill and stat checking system. This one pissed me off. Since the day I started coding on Sindome I've moaned and bitched at the flaws in the stat/skill system only to be torn apart and told to keep my meddling fingers off because it worked fine and it was none of my business. Being told not to do it was no biggie. The -way- I was told not to do it was somewhat rude, but hey, that's Johnny. Then to be told this new guy was going to recode what I was completely barred from touching… that got my goat.
But hey, I'm a grown man, I can live with bullshit. I mean christ, I stayed with Sindome for over 2 years didn't I?
Next comes Gunnar, the player, because he wants to get a feel for the game before he becomes admin. That's good, that's a real good sign, that's something we've -always- demanded of new admin. You simply can't help to -run- the game if you haven't experienced it.
Then comes the incidents. Please note, these are all minor incidents, but they contribute to the whole. I'm going to tell these because they're relevant to the story despite not being the reason I left.
The pickpocket incident: Gunnar has a run in with some NPC gangers at the Drome where he's been given a job. (A job in his first week of play? How many of you got that?) One of the gangers pickpockets Gunnar and he files a complaint with Johnny because he was "behind the bar" and the GM involved was obviously at fault because you can't pickpocket someone who's behind a bar. *shrug*. It's a pissy little mistake, granted, but it didn't warrant the assreaming Johnny gave the GM who did it nor the level of attention it was given in general.
The vague incident: I didn't pay much attention to this one, here's the story other admin tell. Again Gunnar had a run-in with thieves, perhaps not stealing from him, but nevertheless, stealing while in the Drome. Within minutes, and down on Red, WJF NPC's are all over it. Who's puppeting them? Johnny. Now, don't get me wrong, but this is just downright dubious. How often have you seen WJF NPC's down on Red? How often do the staff or patrons of the Drome call the WJF or even show them the slightest acknowledgement? And also, how often does Johnny puppet NPC's?
Personally I'd have missed that one but it was brought to my attention by other admin.
Anyhow, we need some more background information on this one. Ask a GM how they get treated on SD. Ask ANY of them what they get if they ask a question or start to think for themselves. I'm not actually going to say, just please, go ahead and ask them. All I'm going to say is they get treated like SHIT and that's been a major bone of contention between myself and Johnny for a good few months. The GM's of today are the Sindome of the future, yet they're misinformed, told they have no right thinking about things or making any decisions and are frequently yelled at when they ask "why?". Apparently they're not allowed to ask "why?" because being TOLD something means the matter isn't open for any discussion and they therefor have no reason to know "why". *shrug*.
Sometime after this discussion once more returned to Gunnar getting a coder bit. I, along with other admin, expressed our concerns. Namely the fact that Johnny, already something of a tyrant, would have a second key coder who he was good RL friends with and that would lead to a major shift in the already somewhat crooked balance of power. Johnny assured us this wouldn't be a problem and Gunnar's coder bit was approved.
More incidents: FireStorm cells a player for a repeat offense. Kevlar (Gunnar in coder form), releases the player back into the game without consulting anyone. None of my business, but FS was pissed. It's admin-side ettiquette that the admin who cells a player returns that player to the game at their discretion.
Idle fucker: Idle timers. Bad juju. You all know that. Gunnar was warned twice for using idle timers to earn 500 chyen/hour in Burnt Cow. He finally stopped when he was celled by FS for having and idle timer sending "work" to the MOO periodically while he wasn't even IN Burnt Cow but instead sitting in his cube. Use of idle timers netted him 11k in one week, more than the Street Judges get paid.
Throwing it all away: Kevlar decided he was going to recode throw, I caught this in my backlog one day and paged him asking him to leave throw to me. He asked why, I said because it needed tying into the combat system for thrown weapons. He said no problem, he'd recode throw and I could add the weapon logic in later. I said no, leave it for me. He said... I said... He said... I said... Went on for a while before he finally stopped bugging me about it. Hmm, a 1 week old coder questioning a Justice? Hey, I don't usually pull the power trip rank thing on the lower admin, but that's just not the done thing. I refer you back to the topic of GM's being told to mind their own fucking business when they're so bold as to ask "why?".
I won't bring up the mess you made of plant, Kevlar. Just wanted you to be aware I left it (well, at least the details) out on purpose. Yes, you're a new coder and still finding your footing. I know I made some lousy fuckups when I started coding, but hey, you're Johnny's messiah who's here to save the dome from bad code. Looked like a bunch of Bishopcode to me. Wouldn't want you to point out that your a superior professional coder again tho, would I? What was it you felt the need to tell me the other day? Something about how you'd own me at C++? *shrug* Thanks. For a second I thought I'd just be able to pick up C++ for the first time and code like a pro, good job you informed me how much better you are at it.
Anyhow, that was a bitter vent... �
Yes, I'm very bitter. But not because of all this, no, this was all trivialities that I'm simply bringing up as background to the main event.
To Be Continued.... (don't you just hate it when they do that?)
(Edited by Rastus at 10:07 am on Mar. 23, 2002)
