Uh, excuse me, but what exactly is this discussion thread about? What's the main point?
This discussion is about a "
Storyline proposal" (as
the thread title clearly shows).
[...] back and forth debate that has gone into what I believe is referred to as "Ad Hominem" arguments - Where people on all sides are not responding to some of the points expressed but instead picking on the use of terminology and the grammar used by others.
Debates are a normal occurence in Forums. As for '
argumentum ad hominem', your "beliefs" are wrong: correcting someone on improper use of vocabulary, grammar, logic etc. is *NOT* an attack against the person itself... but an attack against a person's ignorance. (Unfortunately, it happens that some people care about their ignorance a great deal...)
I'm wondering if this thread should be locked and shuttered. It doesn't seem to have any real purpose or meaning at this stage, glancing at the most recent posts, and was doomed to begin with.
That depends solely on your wish to abuse the role of Admin; since this thread has not broken any Forum rules and has been kept reasonably on track until now, you have no solid grounds for shutting anything down...
Your *very subjective* opinion on its purpose and/or meaning carries no weight whatsoever.
The reasons it was bad to start with:
<1>- This game is a game, not an upwards-of-a-thousand-pages science fiction novel. The plot is supposed to be rather simple, and shouldn't be expanded to death.
<2>- The storyline/plot is already established and is pretty much finalized. Changing or revamping anything would mean backtracking in development and/or adding a lot more work for the devs.
<3>- We don't really need more ideas, concepts, or additional story, we already have all the general planning done, are past the early planning stage, and at this time really need artists, people who can make maps and content, and people who can program.
<4>- "open source" does NOT mean "open development" where anyone - especially a newcomer - can come along and be a "boss" by changing stuff, and expect everyone else to revamp stuff and make it all happen in the game, doing all of it *for* such a person.
<5>- Related to the previous point, long ago when this project was new it suffered from this, as many people would come and go from the project, changing and revamping all kinds of things left and right, almost at random as everyone wanted something different, creating a chaotic mess. I myself wasn't actually around during this, but I've been here long enough to have heard about this.
<6>- The existing storyline is *good enough*, at least for a game, and as such it doesn't need to be re-opened or changed.
<1>- Have you discussed that aspect with Winter, prior to posting? His introduction alone seems to be without end... Not to mention the almost maniacal tendency towards "over-realism" (a very bad trait in a Sci-Fi story) -- i.e. explaining everything to death and, more than once, ending up in ridicule.
<2>- I hope you're not serious when saying that; the storyline is far from being "finalised" -- one thing, it's missing an ending!
Besides, most changes suggested thus far only meant rewriting some text resources -- with *minimum to no impact* on other assets, or the game design itself... It's also worth mentioning that some issues were pointed out *years ago*, they were acknowledged by the authors, yet no steps were taken into fixing them. Why?
<3>- Did it ever occur to you that may be most of those who could contribute chose not to do so, because they've lost faith in the current storyline (and the direction it goes into)? Perhaps you should give this some serious thought...
<4>- Actually, the project you're running here
*IS* "open development", a fact supported by both the License system adopted for all non-executable game assets (i.e. CC-BY-SA), and your previous call for help...
<5>- This point is a fallacy. The lack of a working project management system in the past is completely *irrelevant* to appraising this particular proposal, here and now! In short,
you're making no valid point here as to why *this* proposal is faulty... All I see is some good ol' fashioned noob hatin' -- quite distasteful, really.
<6>- The existing storyline is poor. The concept is hugely outdated and lacking originality, and the execution is sloppy and based on questionable paradigms... All in all, the greatest disappointment for this project...
Turning a blind eye to the problems you have won't make them go away -- contrary to some "popular beliefs" around here.
(** Yes, I said "contrasensical." If you don't like that word, or don't like my English or grammar, tough shit - I don't care, and I'm not an English major. That being said, when any of you respond to this post, I just ask that you respond to my main points I've made, and not make it about my choice of words, which is what I see a lot of in this thread. Too much of this thread has gone into the realm of the absurd, and then beyond that.)
"
Contrasensical" does not appear to be an English word at all. Would you mind explaining what you think it means?
Now, after I've taken the time to answer all your "points", as requested, could you tell me why did you make this post (which, so far, is the *only* one completely off-topic)? Obviously, you're not interested in debating anything in here; in fact, you can't stand the very idea of it... So why did you do it, then?!