Things seem to return cyclically.

Exactly one year ago I went in a research to read more about the drama I completely missed. Those three posts I archived were what I considered “significant”. In fact one of the purposes of this website is to preserve a “memory”, to retain something from the past so that the discussions can have a sense and don’t have to be repeated over and over like some kind of ritual that doesn’t bring anywhere. It’s in fact when you have an history that you can look forward and expect something new and different.

But, besides this digression, there’s this topic that keeps coming up. The reason why I wrote about it a year ago was because a totally random article on Lum’s blog degenerated in a flame and was finally completely removed. Of course this tickled my curiosity and, as it always happens, reading old articles and forums threads is even more interesting today than it was at that time. For me it’s indispensable to know what came before me, even more so because I arrived too late, when everything was already crumbling. Basically I missed the best and now I feel the need to understand what happened because I think it’s important for me. It’s that piece of “history” that I miss.

It’s not that I don’t have already my point of view and what I’m going to read won’t probably change my ideas. But it helps me to put things into perspective and it’s always funny to go back and reread what I wrote at that time (here and, in particular here). Beside a few obscure points that I cannot understand anymore (I really don’t have a clue about what I meant about the two conflicts of interest) all the rest is still rather coherent with what I think today. The comments I wrote on Lum’s (new) revival and that I’ll archive here below will confirm this.

There are also some funny coincidences that correspond with this whole cyclic thing. In fact just a couple of weeks ago Coke reappeared on this same site and I even got an half-flamed e-mail from D One for reasons I didn’t really understand. All this happened before the revival started and it still made me check their forum because I remember that one year ago I registered there for the purpose to convince them to write again. I couldn’t find those threads (there were some discussions around October 04 that are now gone and replaced by some brand new silly flames) but I stumbled on the same rant (on page 5) that was then pasted in the recent revival. As time passes I find more and more unjustified their hatred against Lum, but, still, I’d like to hear again their point of view on things. Because, even if I can have a completely different opinion, I think that more voices are always good for the community. This is why I’m always happy when new blogs appear (without the blogs and the forums I would have nothing to say) and why not so much when the community splits.

And, to conclude the cycle, thisisnotacommunity.org is back, sort of. Even if D One reminds me the prophecy from Glitchless: “As sure as the sun will rise…”

With the new revival (also discussed here, while on F13 are busy on more interesting and serious topics) I discovered brand new sources that help to see what went on under different points of view. There’s a recap written by Musashi (the pictures offer more insight and are more interesting than what he wrote) which seems the “authorized version” and the one that should take Lum’s defence and another, still mild, on answers.com that originated the rant and the following revival.

Following here the comments I wrote on BrokenToys and that explain my own “distorted” point of view. The conclusion is brand new and also poking some fun at Sanya who accused me.

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When people fondly remember (or curse) LtM, most seem to forget that while we had zero problem pointing out that the Emperor was butt-arsed naked, we also noted when things were done RIGHT.

This is exactly what I think as well.

As I wrote on Corpnews it’s *undeniable* that LtM had a strong weight on the success of DAoC in the same way it used to make the difference and become a precious playground that will remain unparalleled just *forever*.

Mythic leeched LtM and they capitalized on it. They used positively the comments to build and adjust their game. And if the game, nowadays, is still good, I believe, it’s thanks to that sort of mindstorming process and chaotic creativity that was LtM back then. It was a laboratory on its own and Mythic took everything from it. The creativity, the vitality and the hype.

There were huge conflicts of interest, but everywhere, not just about Lum. And were those conflict of interest to make things different and make them *matter*. It was an open laboratory where everyone contributed in his own way.

Today all that is lost and not anymore recoverable. The shared passion for the genre is gone. The player base has been dumbed down and “educated”. Now we just squeal from screenshots. That’s how I get 600 visitors on the site at once. The direct involvement is gone forever, the game companies have chosen to detach themselves from their community because they felt threatened when that contact was instead what made them move in the first place.

Now it’s all muffled down, deliberately. And all those coincidences that brought to the LtM phenomenon won’t probably happen again.

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My point is: I’ve read a whole lot about what happened back then. That rant site, Musashi’s version, the “answers” page, forums threads, Coke’s posts and so on.

I’ve yet to see all of them disagreeing on something concrete. I didn’t really find divergent versions.

What I saw, instead, is just the same meltdown seen through a lens. Some parts are made bigger, some parts smaller till the point they are omitted. But it all comes down to opinions and how people perceived all that happened in their particular way.

If Musashi’s version is the “authorized” version, I didn’t really find any huge differences to what was written in that silly rant page that originated this thread. Just a different (and partial) point of view. As are different (and distorted) the comments I wrote here above.

Again I should repeat that I NEVER heard of LtM and DAoC before they melted *together* as an unique topic. Here in Italy people started to talk DAoC ALONG with LtM. They talked DAoC BECAUSE of LtM. I believe that what made the site great is what killed it. The community. It’s about that idea of the laboratory I explained above and that saw everyone in a open confrontation. And this (my) perspective is completely different from Musashi’s one because he says that it’s instead the community that ruined the site and that all he wanted to read was Lum and exclusively for his own special and absolutely irreplaceable (this is why, despite the number of website has gone up, we have NOTHING that is even vaguely near to what LtM was) talents: “Lum was a funny writer, insightful, vitriolic, literate, and interesting to read”.

Lum’s talent is unquestionable and he worked as a catalyzer that built something that went overboard. Of course Lum didn’t like this and people who were on Lum’s side also didn’t like it. But from *my own* personal perspective and opinion what happened at the end, the vibrant community that existed for a brief moment before things started to wreck, is the most important point that *made the difference*, and the reason why we STILL talk about it. Both inside and outside this niche community.

What happened back then had an impact beyond Lum and beyond the boundaries of the happenings of a group of passionate players. This is why I use to quote GBob and his line on what LtM was: “Lum the Mad was riding high with his web site, forcing game companies to engage the player base in a real dialog.”

See? It started because Lum’s writing skills and talent (and passion). But it’s where it brought to matter today. Because Lum’s writing skills (and the mock-up things, Katrina’s stuff is another perfect example) still exist, no matter what he writes about. He is publishing a book, in fact. But what we care about is still the little inner world of the mmorpgs and the impact that LtM had back then and that we still feel strong today.

And that Lum definitely didn’t achieve by himself.

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My conclusion should be already rather clear. LtM created a controversy. And this controversy fueled DAoC in both a good and bad way. In a moment where both were absolutely needed to keep the game at the center of the attention. This is why Mythic “used up” the community and leeched it till nothing was left. And this is also why not only I believe that they did something legitimate, but also something that I would still like to see today. Because, as I wrote at times, it’s the conflict of interest that makes things matter and become interesting. Without that commitment we just finish to become politically correct and lose track of what actually matters (I agree with the rant site on this point).

This is why I would like the developers discuss THEIR OWN GAME and not some other generic topic and this is why what matters is the actual confrontation and not a “wish list” where everyone posts his own idea completely isolated from the rest and directly avoiding the actual discussion about what is going on. We discuss to agree, disagree and form opinions.

Everything is good but what we really miss is the synthesis. We are right now too fragmented and isolated. Everyone speaks about his own thing on his own blog or forum post. But there isn’t anymore a synthesis and an actual confrontation that can matter and shape what will happen next.

This is my distorted point of view. This is why I think that what is holding Mythic is the indifference. This is also why I don’t really like how things are shaping up. And, finally, this is the reason why my site doesn’t replace my presence on the forums, from the niche communities to the “cesspits” (WoW’s general boards, the Vault, FoH etc..).

What is sure is that I’ll never try or even think to emulate what Lum did. Simply because I lack the charisma and because my voice is just my own and not other people’s voice. I don’t like to pretend to be someone I am not.

It’s like if you have to run all you run all your life to demonstrate everyone you are not who you are. Even if you intimately know how false it is.

People change and yet they remain the same. I believe that you obtain the best result when you don’t fight with yourself to be something else you’ll never be. In fact I liked that entry on the Herald.

Btw, now that I know that “LoH” is Lum’s wife, I wonder if she wouldn’t make a better ranter than himself.. ;)

And a last quote that will allow me to add one note I wrote down and that I forgot to merge with what I wrote above:

Mox:
Whenever I think “Things were much better X years ago” I immediately think “That’s what my father would say. Am I him yet?”

Now it’s all lost and we have to cry? No because what was written at the time is still precious. This is why we have blogs. To build upon things. To remember, to think. To not just let things glide by.