Moving on

[Fridlekh]

The potential of horizons is what has driven me to follow the progress/blackout/restructuring/beta/release/continued development of the game so closely for over 6 years. Now everything I hear makes this potential seem lost forever. My sub is good through Feb, but I no longer have the will to play without the prospect of any sort of near-term improvement to any part of the game besides (maybe) NPC dialogue.

I'll continue to idle on IRC, and check the boards once in a while for PMs or technical questions I feel I can answer, but I probably won't be checking either on a daily basis anymore. I hope EI can prove me wrong, but I don't feel the desire to make a great game coming from them. I feel the desire to be profitable as soon as possible. I'm not trying to say that being profitable is a bad thing, and I can't fault EI for wanting to make money, but it was never about the money for me, only about what the game could be. (And was accelerating towards at the end.)

I feel now that there will certainly be other games that ARE great long before HZ has a chance to BECOME great. I would rather spend my energy on a newer project with potential not saddled by the necessity to reverse engineer back to square one before starting to move forward.

So long, and remember the fun times.

[snickel]

As long as you keep in touch...

Those games that are in the pipeline sure have many nice and interesting features... I still doubt that they can compete with horizons in several aspects.

I fully expect horizons to get going again in the near future and I hope that you'll be back, then.

[Deth]

I fully expect horizons to get going again in the near future and I hope that you'll be back, then.

Check some of the other boards and you might find out info that can not be spoken here about how things go with the game. From people that are fairly respected around here and are not the trolls.

There is one board where a couple of the old devs now hang out and answer a lot of the questions they could not before about the game under TG and some intresting info, all facts. Some intresting reading.

[Chioxin]

If it weren't for some of the high emotion and some of the underhanded rumors I've heard about trying to drill EII into the ground Deth [and by those who I had a great deal of respect for.] I might be more willing to believe such things =/

Fridlekh! Your post were great and informative, I'll miss them greatly. Hope where ever you go will be fun and productive. =) Either see ya by February or... searching for other things to do by then =)

[Deth]

Well the person I saw post could be wrong and I hope so as i do not want to see my hard earned community work go poof. But this is from some one that has done no bashing. But has taken breaks before and returned. but will not acording to this last post. well either way I am here till jan and will see what happens.

[snickel]

Check some of the other boards and you might find out info that can not be spoken here about how things go with the game. From people that are fairly respected around here and are not the trolls.

There is one board where a couple of the old devs now hang out and answer a lot of the questions they could not before about the game under TG and some intresting info, all facts. Some intresting reading.

I do not personally know anyone involved in this. I shall certainly not visit the cassandra boards -- for even if the people there were posting honest and informed opinions -- how should I know? It might as well be that they are acting out their frustration about not being involved in the game anymore.

I don't know them. I can not form any opinion about their character or credibility. Therefore what they post has no informative value for me.

I can only base my judgement on what I experience myself. I shall give EII the few months they said they needed before noticeable positive game-changes will occur. And then we shall see what happens.

[Varangaard]

The discussion that Deth is referring to is actually a technical discussion - at least starting on said thread's page 14, which is the earliest I've checked it to. It largely concerns itself with technical discussion and information about the server, the simulation, and the client, and how these combine to make it rather bloody difficult for EII to try and develop them. The words concerning client program's codebase, for example, I think can be succintly paraphrased to 'spaghetti code' and 'a mess'.

I'm not claiming it would be impossible for EII to develop HZ, but the discussion makes it pretty clear that they'd need a lot more technical expertise at their disposal then they currently have (barring potential yet-to-be announced hires). If you are a programmer, you might appreciate the difficulty of a fresh recruit trying to make sense of code that's been written by succession of employees with lacking overall direction. Worse, should it be undocumented (I don't know if this is the case) it means going through the entire program to make sense of it.

edit: Feh, I forgot the most important thing: good luck to you Fridlekh! I will definitely do as you advise, and try to remember the fun times I had on Horizons.

[Deth]

Varangaard Yes that but I was mainly talking about the long down time this week. And the info passed on about it that was removed from these boards.

And sorry yes Fridlekh Good luck with what ever game you find and maybe someday you will be able to and want to come back here.

[Frith-Rae]

I may be having to make a similiar decisioh soon myself Freidlekh so I wish you luck..

And though off topic..."The Cassandra boards?" I don't understand Snickel...what are the cassandra boards?

[Varangaard]

A reference to the mythological Cassandra, is my guess. She was an oracle(?) who foresaw the destruction of Troy.

[snickel]

A reference to the mythological Cassandra, is my guess. She was an oracle(?) who foresaw the destruction of Troy.

True, she was a doomsayer. She was right, but that wasn't what made me choose that term. It was the fact that she foretold woe and destruction.

The 'cassandra boards' are those forum boards where people collect to assure each other that horizons is doomed. I cannot say if they are right or not, but I know enough about self-fulfilling prophecies to understand that this attitude does not help the game in any way and instead even risks to damage it further.

[LaughingOtter]

Cassandra tried to rouse her people and warn them that a world of hurt was about to descend upon them. Her warnings, um, were not recieved very well; however, she was right.

A 'doomsayer' is one who is constantly - and incorrectly - claiming that the demise of a given thing is at hand. Someone who points out real issues in an attempt to raise awarenes and get the issues corrected before they become serious problems is not a doomsayer.

Good luck, Frid, and thank you for all the work you did to improve the game. Happy trails. :-)

[Varangaard]

...

Yeah, I guessed you were sepaking of the doomsaying part, not the part about being true. However, when someone raises concerns over some issue, one must consider that 1) they are lying or misinformed or 2) they are right. One should not cover their eyes and sing "la la la la" simply because information is negative.

As for damaging the game, the discussion has nothing to do with the game. It is about EII. How it might affect the game is a secondary effect. One should also consider which really is more damaging: EII's apparent defects, or discussion about said defects. If concerns are real, they should be talked about - brushing them under the carpet serves only to cause more damage.

[snickel]

Yeah, I guessed you were sepaking of the doomsaying part, not the part about being true. However, when someone raises concerns over some issue, one must consider that 1) they are lying or misinformed or 2) they are right. One should not cover their eyes and sing "la la la la" simply because information is negative.

As for damaging the game, the discussion has nothing to do with the game. It is about EII. How it might affect the game is a secondary effect. One should also consider which really is more damaging: EII's apparent defects, or discussion about said defects. If concerns are real, they should be talked about - brushing them under the carpet serves only to cause more damage.

I can well see the difference between pointing to a defect and causing the defect. And I agree that brushing things under the carpet does not help anyone.

However, I disagree with your opinion that the discussion of EII has nothing to do with the game. At the moment EII and the game are inseparable regarding reputation damage. If people leave because they dislike EII then they leave EII AND the game.

What I would like to see is the following: I want concerns over an issue be raised so that this has a positive and no negative effect on the game. For this is what counts, isn't it? The discussion about the issues should improve things, not risk doing additional damage.

I guess thats the difference between constructive and destructive criticism -- destructive is a criticism that points out shortcomings and draws the conclusion that therefore all is lost. Thats pretty close to doomsaying in my book.

[Fridlekh]

Thanks for the well-wishes. I'm currently trying to get a job at Rainbow Studios doing QA ... but I don't know anyone there, and so far there's been a lack of response to queries about the job position. Both through the online application through the THQ job locator page, and direct e-mail to the rainbowstudios.com address given by the operator when I called the company to try and follow-up.

That being the only game industry job I could find which wasn't a "lead artist" or "lead programmer" type gig, I'm looking at probably bagging groceries by the end of next week. (If I'm lucky) :/ One company I cold-contacted indicated a possible position might be available at the beginning of the year, but 3+ months of rent/utilities/food won't pay for themselves and I'm now all out of (liquid) savings. :þ

Ok, that's enough whining, and nobody needs to worry about me being homeless or starving to death or anything. I have enough liquidatable assets to last me for at least a few years, I would just rather let those sit and accrue value for retirement in a few decades instead of using them to live off of now if I can help it.

[FleshRoast]

Farewell Frid. You have our deep appreciation for the wonderful contributions you have made here. Godspeed.

[DANU]

Sorry to hear you are moving on....we still hope you will learn to love country music and move to Tennessee to join the new Horizon's team here
..........Life always gives you opportunities, I believe you will make the best of them.....

I always liked Isaiah as a Prophet, he spoke of the doom of the corrupt and allowed hope for those who were determined to press forward.

Danu

[BKBanzai]

Very sorry to hear that you are leaving Frid. You are truly a talented individual and your contributions to the game will remain and stay valued. I remember hearing that you had redone the in game map. The first time I opened it up on game, I was astounded at how great it looked.

Best wishes for you, I hope you get hired on and it appears as though you have an opportunity to move to TN and immerse yourself in country music...and you're NOT jumping all over that one?! (j/k).

Good luck!

[Frith-Rae]

[quote=Fridlekh]Thanks for the well-wishes. I'm currently trying to get a job at Rainbow Studios doing QA ... but I don't know anyone there, and so far there's been a lack of response to queries about the job position. Both through the online application through the THQ job locator page, and direct e-mail to the rainbowstudios.com address given by the operator when I called the company to try and follow-up.[quote]

GOD I hate when they do that!! Usually means to me they don't have their act together, but I guess it would certinaly be a foot in the door and better than baggin groceries. Not that there is anything wrong iwth that, my dad did that to put himself through college .

Oh, and I dont know whatever "cassandra" boards you're talkinga bout then, cuz the one I'm on isn't that at all. But then, as far as I"m concerned if you're not going there there's no reason to spout off what's going on as its none of anyone's business who doesn't care *lol*.

Good luck!