Regarding Our Community

[King Dumb]

What I'm implicating is, again, up to the community to decide. It is up to the community to determine what to do about the decadence that no one can deny. It is up to the responsible admins and moderators of this forum to ensure that in our review of the state of affairs, the discourse remains civil.

[Nostalgia]

I haven't collected all my thoughts yet, but here's one thing I immediately came up with:

I think that you saying that us (the six people you mentioned) not playing the game anymore is a bad thing is... (have to choose my words carefully) not applicable...? because it's been pretty much dead (as in, far less active than before) since around early 2012 maybe? I'm not sure but that's besides the point

You mention that not playing the game is severing communication ties, yet you claim that Skype is a major place for community interaction, which is somewhat contradictory to me

I may be incorrect but this is what I think/feel

UPDATE or something:

(click to show/hide)

[9:43:28 PM] A big teddy bear: hey nos
[9:43:37 PM] A big teddy bear: also mention that making the game come alive once again takes effort
[9:44:02 PM] A big teddy bear: we either have to get an internet personality and their assorted fans to play the game or to get a major update to the game
[9:44:32 PM] A big teddy bear: slyfox was the first personality and his fans were the first major 'group' to play 8BDM
[9:44:51 PM] A big teddy bear: v2 with MM7 stuff was a major patch and it got people playing it again and people to become more active in general
[9:45:03 PM] A big teddy bear: and v3 has been in development for like seven years

[HD_]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtvOmYcW ... ata_player

That wasn't in early 2012, doesn't seem very dead.

I abstain from revealing my opinions for now because exhaustion.

[Orange juice :l]

See? You've already given the game up for dead. Besides, this forum's main purpose is for playing CutmanMike's games, not to chat about TF2 or make voice calls with your friends. Not playing the game isn't severing communication ties; it's the communication ties that come from Skype that are severing MM8BDM from the community. Not only this, but the fact that Cutstuff's supposed community neither plays the game nor is accepting does not help us recruit people here to shoot pixely robots.

[Sora]

Pretty sure I'm totally misconstruing your words

but the basic gist of it is that forums and skype can't coexist, and people in skype (Llama, as people are constantly mentioning) are trying to eventually cause the corruption and destruction of the forums to bring themselves to community prominence?

Edit: Hnnng Oj quit saying what I'm feeling

[King Dumb]

I don't assume any collective, malicious intent on the part of the individuals I mentioned. I do imply that the nature of the Skype-centric aspect of the community breeds the decadence which I have described.

[Davregis]

Nos, you've based everything you say on biased conjecture; rationalized opinion.

Mind you, I'm semineutral on this, yet [dogers] exists, does it not?
A community SEPARATE FROM THE FORUMS.

[Shmeckie]

Oh my, this is.... certainly dramatic...

All I can say is I always thought L-Hombre was a decent dude, the Skype chat was boring and no one ever said anything interesting and all I ever did was give the main chat room silly titles, and yes, there are a lot of dicks around here, but the worst one is banned so whatevs.

Is this community really that Skype-Centric?! Because half the type all the Skype chatting consists of spam and talking about whatever game someone happens to be playing. Not to mention the rampant ADHD that seems to change topics of discussions in a matter of seconds. Is that the community we're talking about, here?

[King Dumb]

Additionally, I'm sure it will be pointed out that I am in the very chats of which I speak. Note just how active I have been in these chats recently. Very inactive.

My presence in these chats means I know what transpires within them.

[Hallan Parva]

I've been trying to fish around for the "split" of the community's behaviour myself, but I haven't been able to grasp the words I was looking for, or get a nice way to phrase everything. Then I read this.

From what I've seen and heard, those added to the main central Skype chats have ended up not having enough willpower to change their minds about a topic. These people would be those included in the Foxdie/Wat chats, and the current "Cool Kids" chat run by Dr. Freeman. I myself am especially guilty of not giving people second chances, and I feel that Human Destroyer helped me realize this. Speaking of him, I feel him, his friends, and most newcomers make up the other party. Those are the ones who are trying to be friendly and have gotten sick of the abuse.

Quite frankly, I think they're right.

I'm going to use the dead remains of a ghost here when I bring up the topic of the late MegaLAD. He and his brothers received constant abuse from the Foxdie Party and as such it sparked multiple cases of controversy throughout the forums. They, and I at the time, never gave him a second chance. Human Destroyer's Party, on the other hand, accepted him and allowed his company. Nowadays, this man is known as TheClayman6. I've seen improvement out of him personality-wise and if he's reading this I hope he understands how sorry I really am for treating him and others like him the way I have.

If only the others would believe me.

Hit right on the fucking nail.

((Editor's Note: After reading Llama's post, I wrote the remainder of my response below while listening to an extremely calming piece of modern game music. If you enjoy Spiral Knights, things that are soft and soothing, or replicating my thought process, then here's a link to what I had my ear holes filled with. Please enjoy.))

Myself, I have personally experienced exactly what Llama's talking about. I'm not sure how many of you are aware or even care about this sort of thing, but about two weeks ago I acquired access to the popular Steam game Team Fortress 2. Several other Cutopians play this game on a semi-regular basis, including the "usual suspects" like Korby, LlamaHombre, and Kenkoru. I also found other users playing this game such as Daveris, and at first I was somewhat surprised by the surprisingly large overlap between TF2 and Cutstuff. (Heck, I've gotten to the point where it's easier to ask if someone doesn't play TF2, but I digress.) I've had a few interactions with Daveris before on the forum, such as the brainstorming sessions at Cutstuff Community Classes and his interest in the Awesome Network expansion project. The guy wasn't perfect (and neither am I) but like Llama said, everyone has flaws, and I seem to be one of the few who still remembers that. I picked up "Davy" as a pretty cool guy.

Back to the story, I recently joined TF2 right? Well, I was soon placed in a match against Daveris. The battle was fun, sure, but we ended up talking a lot through the round. I felt like the Steam moniker of "friend" had finally gained its meaning in that match. Today a select handful of TF2 regulars (and me, hah hah) participated in Human Destroyer's three-week Highlander event, which was jokingly referred to as "The WHYlander" due to the numerous lag spikes. This time, Davy and I were allies, among a motley assortment of other quote-unquote "outcasts" such as Rozark, Chuggaafan1, Gumballtoid, Tengu & Tango, and Solarblast5 (now Solar Equinox). Aside from Chuggaa's constant spammy outbursts (which were intended for joke, yes, but by the gods he got annoying fast), the team communication was smooth and effective, both through Skype and in-game. This was the defining moment in my opinion of Daveris; yeah, I had thought of him before as a pretty cool guy, but that's just that. He was simply the "pretty cool guy" who liked AwNet. After working as a team in a semi-competitive, semi-shenanigans setting, talking about everyday life, you know just fucking hanging out like normal guys, he wasn't that "pretty cool guy" anymore. Daveris was a fucking baus.

Give people a chance, even if you previously judged their beings as the equivalent to bioprocessed human fecal matter. You'll always make a new friend or two (or five!) along the way, and you might end up learning a thing or two as well.

Thanks for your post, LlamaHombre. Your words were the key that helped me open this locked door that was shrouded in my thoughts under a sea of confusion. I appreciate your insightful words, as they have enabled an insight of my own. You are and always were a real friend, and I'm glad to have called you my Battle Brother.

I'm taking a break from any more games tonight. I think it will help me reflect some more on this. You can still hit me up via Cutmail, Skype, or Steam though, I'll leave all my 'ware up and running in case someone has to contact me.

((Editor's Note: I haven't read anything between HD's post and this post. I wanted to get my thoughts on the thread for you all to digest. If something's been mentioned already, I apologize for any overlap. Thanks again for reading.))

[Sora]

Sorry, but I really don't see how Skype is causing THAT much of a decline in the community, not as much as MM8BDM is itself.

Do you play a game after you find everything in it, day after day, month after month?  The problem lies in MM8BDM itself; people are bored of the same and they quit...and when something new gets released?  They'll play it for a while then go back to other things: Saxton Hale is a very good example of this. I see Skype merely as a way for people to stay in touch and have fun until 8BDM comes back to life.

I'm pretty sure that when MM8 gets released, a lot of old faces will be back playing, and, eventually, everything will die until the next big release.  It's just the ebb and flow of the community.

And keep in mind there have always been online chats during the entirety of 8BDM's life, this isn't anything new.

[Zellough]

KD, as though you've got a good point and you're pulling the community together, this is a poor way to pull it off, and blaming someone for a decline is even worse. My judgement in this community is no bigger than a snail trying to cross a street, but if i must say it, i find the decay in the community since the day Cutstuff needed to be moderated and kept in order, rather than it being a community where one would just hang out and be thrilled by the new updates. As for a solution, i can't singularily think of one myself, but that's why it's a community and we need each other.

[Orange juice :l]

Things Sora said

I fully accept that Skype helps to bind together some players. I also accept that plenty of players don't find MM8BDM fun anymore. What I'm not going to accept is that there are people in those chats who have no interest in MM8BDM and make it difficult for those who do still enjoy the game. We could pick up more players if it weren't for these chats for reasons mentioned earlier, and those big releases are made so much less satisfying when you go right back to a game like TF2 or LoL.

Besides, both those games are older than MM8BDM, and you guys still find them fun. Cutstuff wasn't exactly made for those games either.

[Hallan Parva]

"Give people a chance, even if you previously judged their beings as the equivalent to bioprocessed human fecal matter." This is the trueriesit thing I've read in the whole topic. I've been wanting to become friends with people like daveris and stardroid venus and such, but I haven't had the oppurtunity to. Neither of them have been added here, I haven't been added to any chats with either of them. They were in the TF2 chat at one point, and it's easy to become friends with people with an easily accessible common interest, but they were booted out shortly after

I'm glad to see there are some of you who can understand what I'm talking about. Yeah, Skype can be the devil's spawn, but only if you really want it. In the right hands, it might end up making the community stronger, both with the "old vets" and with newcomers entering the game. I'm sure we'll find a way to handle Skype and the like by the time v3 rolls around. I'm sort of looking forward to the (few, but I'll take 'em) new players who will show up for it.

((Editor's Note: Well, it happened again. I asked Ken if I could quote him, and... well... yeah.))

(click to show/hide)

[11:14:45 PM] Heavy Smashing Guy: Ken I'm quoting you, if that's okay.
[11:14:51 PM] Kenkoru: Go for it
[11:15:00 PM] Kenkoru: Feel free to say whatever
[11:15:16 PM] Kenkoru: It'll probably be right

[Shade Guy]

Some of my points have probably been noted by other people except everyone keeps posting while I try and form my opinion into a coherent post and it's hard for me to keep up with the topic and type at the same time

To me, the use of Skype in the community has extended far beyond MM8BDM. Aside from specific chats regarding MM8BDM projects (dev chats for CSCC RNC, etc.), I see Skype being used as a means for people who became friends through MM8BDM to maintain this friendship while playing other games. Hell, I'm not sure if most of the people in the 'main' chats even play MM8BDM anymore; I see groups of people running off to play TF2 more than I see people run off to play MM8BDM. Not that I disapprove of this; I personally am impressed by the level of tight-knit-ness (for a lack of better word) these folks have developed.

I would type more stuff but my train of thought kinda stopped on me