The life and times of Scarbrow

[Scarbrow]

Hi everybody

I was going to write this to answer a personal query, then I decided to make it public in case anybody else is concerned about my recent lack of activity. Also, this thread might (or not) serve me as a place for personal announcements.

I've been busy lately. Very busy. That's a very general statement, so it fits most of what it's been happening in my life. So to start with a summary: I'm still here, I don't have much time to spend online yet I'm still here, coming from time to time, wikigardening when I'm able to (BTW, thanks Psychoadept for your recent efforts, I hope you'll keep it up), and from time to time, even playing for a bit. And I don't plan to leave for a very long time (since I still have more than 500 days of my last subscription left).

Now into more detail:

I'm living on a house that's quite old, and property of my family. That means there are a lot of repairs and improvements to do. It also means it's full of old things I don't need but I can't throw away, so I need to store them someplace. Luckily the house is large so space it's not an issue, but manpower is (though I'm quite strong -for a sedentary worker, that is-, it is a tiring job to move old and heavy furniture up the stairs to the second, now-unused floor). I've been doing such repairs and refurbishments since I moved in (a year and a half ago, after my divorce) and I've still things to do. Moreover, a few months ago my girlfriend moved in. That created the need for more changes (including a larger bed, and more space for her stuff, and a change of bedroom, and painting, and even more changes, and decorating, and...) I almost don't recognize the house I originally moved to. I've been devoting almost all my free time to that project for the last month, particularly the painting which required me to move all furniture of three large rooms not once, but three times (for reasons that are both quite futile and complicated to explain). Luckily I just finished that. Now I only need to sort my personal library, organize my desktop, and I'll be ready to tackle my projects again. And some of them are quite delayed.

Also, last November I got promoted in my job to a higher-standing post that requires me to work on a split shift, with a lunch break and more hours (43 hours a week), so between that and commuting time I spend around 12 hours outside my home every workday. So I have both less free time out of my job (and I have yet to see the extra money, though I expect this month I'll start to reap the benefits), and less time in my job to expend at the Internet due to more demanding activities. Previously I had to keep watch, mostly. Now I have to act, plan and execute, which is a welcome change, but it's also more demanding to my attention and time. I now rarely have the time for an hour-long straight wiki editing session, much less anything requiring more effort like designing new programmed tools. So, less time and less energy for personal projects. I've had to drop webcomics, blogs and general information sites. The fact that I still visit Sryth at all shows the true depth of my love for this site.

Put shortly, I'm happy. Awfully busy, but happy nonetheless. I still have my job on these difficult times (and it's quite improbable that I'll ever lose it). I have enough money to get by, a place to live that's starting to be very comfortable, and a loving girlfriend to share it with. I have friends, hobbies, and (mostly) good health. It's a good life.

By the way, I went to Dungeons and Dragons Online and met Wetheril there. She's also well, and happily married. I think I'll play a while there too, when I have the time to spare. I also need to complete Final Fantasy XIII sometime, one shouldn't take more than six months to run a single game :D. Don't worry, I'll come back. I might be a casual Sryth player, but I'm a hardcore fan. And remember I'm always just a PM and around 24 hours away.

Keep well, all of you.

[Doolipalally]

Really glad to hear things are good for you, Scarbrow. I know there have been ups and downs. You'll always be appreciated round here for whatever contributions you make, whether frequent or infrequent, so I'm glad you're planning to stick around.

[psychoadept]

Thanks for the update, Scarbrow!

I am learning many wiki tricks just by watching what you do. :)

[Oldschool]

Good to hear Scarbrow, thanks for sharing and continued good luck.

[texlaw1992]

Buena suerte Scarbrow - su casa es la casa de nosotros.

[Young Ned]

I'm glad to hear you're keeping busy and doing well, Scarbrow, though of course I'm sorry to hear we'll be seeing less of you. I understand all about having a lot of demands on your time, believe me, and I completely sympathize. Best wishes for the continued health and happiness of you and your girlfriend!

By the way, I went to Dungeons and Dragons Online and met Wetheril there. She's also well, and happily married.
Somehow I thought she already was married when she was still here. Perhaps they were just engaged then. At any rate, if you see her there again, please tell her I said "Hi" and give her my best wishes.

[spencer]

I am glad that things are going well for you, Scarbrow. I hope it continues to be so.

[Scarbrow]

Hi everybody.

I've been missing from the world (and thus, from the Internet) for the past weekend. Happy reasons :)

I'm working my way through the backlog of pending tasks, and will answer/act/whatever ASAP

[Scarbrow]

I though it was just a really strong cold, now I'm afraid it's the flu, I feel the fever coming. Dammit, and I'm on duty for the whole week at work. And the job situation is not precisely the ideal to call for a sick day.

Bottom line: I'm going to be from slow to non-available for the next few days. Please be patient with me.

[Doolipalally]

Sympathy! Stay warm, and I hope you feel better soon.

[texlaw1992]

Go for the Tamiflu - it should help.

[Young Ned]

Ouch, Scarbrow, you have my sympathy. The flu is no fun to begin with, and having to work while you have it is even less fun.

It's funny how many companies tell their employees not to come to work when they're sick, to keep from infecting other employees and causing lots of lost productivity, but their policies and/or atmosphere thoroughly discourage people from actually calling in sick. Hospitals are really bad about that -- they're always short-staffed with nurses anyway, so it's hard for nurses to get sick time unless they're REALLY sick.

[Scarbrow]

Thank you for your kind wishes. Funny thing is, the worst passed almost the very same day I posted that. Will the forum magic work on RL too? :p

I'll get up to date later today

[Doolipalally]

Will the forum magic work on RL too? :p


Wow, if it does I can think of a few things it would be worth posting... :)

[Kadri]

Wow, if it does I can think of a few things it would be worth posting... :)

Ditto that.

I had the flu last year around this time, and it was not fun at all. Glad you're feeling better, Scarbrow.

[Badstench]

The 'flu'!

Flu is short for Influenza. But before I embark on a rant, Scarbrow said...
Funny thing is, the worst passed almost the very same day I posted that
Scarbrow, you had a bug. It might have been a gastrointestinal bug or a respiratory bug or a bug smoking dope on top of a mushroom (Alice?). The fact remains, you did not have the flu.

I manage a department with employees beneath me, and the most common excuse I hear for not turning up to work is... "I've got the flu".

So, I wrote a list of flu-like illnesses for my subordinates, just so they'd know I was aware of an excuse when I heard one.

1) Is your head feeling like a war zone? Please clarify which war you were part of. Vietnam happened between 1962 and 1974, so if you were born after that, any reference to Agent Orange will be ignored.

2) Are you vomitting? Please describe contents of vommit. The bits that look like pizza have no bearing unless you see anchovies. Eeewwww!

3) Are you light sensitive? Watching epoisodes of LOST doesn't count. If you can watch TV, you're not sick. Get your ass back to work.

4) Does noise sound three times louder than normal? Put Metallica on your stereo and test the theory. If you start tapping your toes and nodding your head, get your ass to work.

5) Do your limbs ache, do your bones hurt, do your nails throb? Yes? well, then, you've probably got cancer. Until that's verified by a doctor, get your ass back to work.

6) Is your best friend in town? See you tomorrow!

[Scarbrow]

Scarbrow, you had a bug. It might have been a gastrointestinal bug or a respiratory bug or a bug smoking dope on top of a mushroom (Alice?). The fact remains, you did not have the flu.

Lol! I like your sense of humor.

I think either it wasn't, or was the lightest flu in my life. However, it's very, very rare that I have a fever, and I had a really strong cold, my limbs ached, and I had all the usual symptoms.

And not, I don't meet any of your standards, so... I dragged my arse to work. And you know? It worked! :p

[Scarbrow]

Hi everybody

By now you will all probably have read it (http://sryth.wikia.com/wiki/User:Scarbrow): I'm retiring.

I'm doing it in no small part due to the GM's recent involvement (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ExecutiveMeddling) with the forum, specially by his mandate to promote Tetracapillactomist as an administrator. That's a decision that I tried to argue against with all I had, because I thought it wouldn't be good for the forum. The fact that TC's finally got promoted has less to do with my anger that the fact the GM's didn't come here to discuss it: he mandated it, and when it was argued against he simply mandated it again. What I mean is: I surely don't like TC, but that made me angry with the GM too. It was a big blow for me, when I had always tried to promote and help the game. I admit (and this is absolute, 100% personal opinion and very probably wrong) that I though that TC's financial contributions (obvious on his equipment, and he has also talked about them a few times) were considered to be more important that mine, that were in the form of countless wiki-editing hours. Yep, I also got an inflated ego, and that was a prick on it. Pun intended (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/IncrediblyLamePun).

But going beside that small matter (and with time it will seem even smaller) there were other questions. My real life is becoming fuller each day, and my online interests are increasing. So Sryth is competing against other things to do. You all know that I've been playing less and less and dedicating more and more to the wiki/forum metagaming issues. It's been fascinating, fun and an incredibly informative trip. But the heart of all of it it's a game, and it's a game with many issues. Now that I can consider myself to be an ex-player, I think I can objectively list a few:


Sryth is a partly free game. The "free" part has always been a problem, and on the last times, we've seen many complaints about the free version being always full. This, that I think is a very serious problem, is still pending, and the GM doesn't seem to be doing anything about it. So the growth of the game is held back.
The paid part of Sryth is managed through a subscription fee. It's low (and it's been kept low for a long time), but for a certain constant fee one expects a certain amount of updates. Updates are provided, of course, but many of them (a good percentage of the total) are just temporary of a simple matter of equipment, thus they don't add value to the game. So the worth of the game increases very slowly.
The gamebook look and feel is less and less present on newer quests and mechanics. There is a lot of cumbersome Fake Longevity (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FakeLongevity) going around, including the ever-present grinding (and what is worse, no real reward at the end once you've ground your char to the top) and many long, drawn-out quests with mandatory, long, multiple or subdual fights (or all of it).
The game mechanics don't scale well. The MR system was designed to measure MR values from 20 to 50, and thus it allows for 30 different "meaningful" values. Thus you don't have any indication of how strong or weak each enemy is, beyond a certain, very limited threshold, unless you're already using a guide.
You can't know the difficulty of a quest until you try it (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GuideDangIt). You also can't know what should you do next. What's worse, even after we built one of the best wikis on its genre, there is no way to link it from the game or ask for help in-game, so you need to metagame or be insanely lucky to begin with.
Sryth is a game of a lone developer.
One word? Loose ends.
Updates that are promised and never delivered, mechanics that are stagnant for years. CHR? Guilds? Tome of Attainment? Adventure Log?
Even worse, Matthew Yarrows has repeatedly refuse advances from players offering to help (even for free!) in the story, coding, debugging and so on. He has also refused commercial deals with writers like Badstench, citing he must maintain the integrity of his copyright. Or in other words, he can't produce enough, but is not willing to compromise to do it.
And even worse for 100%-completionists like me, explicit (or even worse, hidden) options that force you to take a path or faction, and thus lock you out of a certain part of the game.
And if you think about replaying value, it's certainly high. Except your best gear (and lastly, stat boosts) is AT-bought and/or temporary and/or random (raffles), which means you have to either donate again, or wait for another raffle and a strike of luck or just deal with it and complete it without your favorite items (although you can certainly do it, if you stick to the "right" way to do things). When a player thinks about deleting a character he's been tending to for years so another one of their chars is able to pick up its corpse (http://srythforum.com/showthread.php?t=1868), you have an evil mechanic going on.


I could go on. I know, I've been playing for 5 years. I know the rate of development you can expect from the GM, I know you can't rely he will develop your wanted line of play, and I surely know, sure as hell, he is not changing the core gameplay mechanics at any near moment. So yeah, I was quite sure losing interest in the game from quite a while ago. Now he's going to start going into the metagame itself? Do excuse me, Matthew, but the metagame has been patching holes on your game as long as there's been a game to play, and we've done a rather better work at it that you. To give just one example, we had timer scripts (http://srythforum.com/showthread.php?t=323) three years earlier.



But I don't want to be all negative. I been skimming the last updates to the forum and the wiki, and I'm pleased of what I see. It seems that by my retirement, a new generation of people devoted to the game is starting to thrive. Many updates I neglected are being tended to, and that's a great thing to see. I'm very, very glad to see that you didn't depend on me (and I say this without the slightest bit of sarcasm). Good job, all the new Thanes and forum admins. Good job, for all the new wiki staff. And specially good job, Psychoadept, for all your efforts in replacing me in the wiki. You're all doing great.

As for myself, I won't promise to visit. I may do it, or not. I certainly don't intend to. I just felt that I need to say goodbye here too. You may always contact me through email (instructions are on my wiki page (http://sryth.wikia.com/wiki/User:Scarbrow)), and on the unlikely case you need a technical advice that you can't dealt with yourselves, you can ask me. And for the ones that are my friends (you know who you are) a few lines will always be welcomed.

I wish you all a great time playing together, for as long as it may last.

Goodbye

[Doolipalally]

Goodbye, Scarbrow, and thanks again for all the hard work you've put in on both wiki and forum.

I don't share most of your concerns about the game, but I can understand them. Good luck with whatever comes next for you.


(Could someone from the forum mod/admin team clarify this thing about the GM getting involved in forum administration? It's news to me. I don't feel in a position to comment on the rights or wrongs of it, but it would be nice to know about it, if it's happening.)

[spencer]

Scarbrow,

I truly appreciate all of your efforts on the Wiki and The Forum. I will try to pay you the best compliment possible. Your hard work has made the game and forum more enjoyable to me. Please do check in when you are able.

I must disagree regarding game content, but I completely understand and respect your opinion.

[scout1idf]

I said this in private and I hope Scarbrow doesn't mind me posting this. It was the last line in an E-Mail I sent to him......

Please keep in touch and don't be gone for too long!!!

Scarbrow, if you read this, I really meant it.

Your contributions to the Forum and Wiki are invaluable and will be missed.

[texlaw1992]

Not adios, but hasta luego - do stick around for a while. Your contributions have been invaluable. While I too do not share your criticisms of Sryth (although I know you play very infrequently), I certainly respect your opinion as (I'm sure) do the others. However, I do agree that the GM should consider some limitd licensing agreements, such as with regard to Badstench's stories - that type of publicity can only help.

My recollection was that there had been earlier dicussion about making TC and administrator and he had been reluctant to do so, although I assume GM intervention (of which I was previously unaware) made the difference. I'm fine with the GM doing that, although a bit more of a give-and-take would likely be advisable in the future, if only so everyone feels they had their opinion heard.

Buena suerte Scarbrow, y tu eres un amigo.

[Kadri]

(forum politics aside)

Scarbrow, thank you for your many contributions (including time, thought, and energy spent) toward this forum and to the Wiki page. I wasn't here long enough to get to know you, but I do appreciate the work that you've done and I know that you will be missed in future endeavors. Take care.

[Oldschool]

Thanks for all your efforts and contributions here and on the Sryth Wiki Scarbrow.

MOD NOTE: Most of the posts dealing with forum stuff were moved to this thread (http://www.srythforum.com/showthread.php?t=2255) (some parts of posts that remain here were copied and pasted as well).

So if you wish to continue the "forum politics" discussion please do so in the new thread - thank you. If not those posts will be moved to the new thread.

And from a post by DonMoody that was moved along with some others to that new thread (http://www.srythforum.com/showthread.php?t=2255) (starts with the opening post).



Scarbrow I am sad - and trying to be happy for all you shall do next.

Best wishes,

DonMoody

[Young Ned]

Scarbrow --

I'm very sorry to see you go; your presence on both the forum and the wiki has been enormously helpful and beneficial. I can understand and sympathize with your reasons for leaving, though, and I wish you all the best!

[Tetracapillactomist]

(And since we're back on track - thank you, OS, you forum mage. ;) I wasn't sure that split could be made to work, tangled as it was!)

Thank you for those kind and gracious words, Scarbrow, and for your unbiased view of the GM and the game.

I, in turn, should feel flattered to find myself the centre of such focussed attention and brotherly love, as always.

I appreciate your kind sentiments and open-mindedness for all their worth, and your words' worth is not lost on me.

Thank you for every act of kindness, and for every kind thought, sentiment, and word you've ever given me.

Solid work on the wiki, a better legacy. The same applies elsewhere, I'm sure, before my time.
But I'm not much for reminiscing, nostalgia, and mourning, weeping, these days, trying instead to look forward.

With that and the future in mind, I wish you good luck in life, best regards. Goodbye.