Yea and naysayers, a word for the devs

Black Mesa Archive The Cafeteria
#1

I know the community has had enough of trolls and negative comments. I’m not here to slam anyone, just exercise my free speech and share my thoughts or frustrations. Probably been said millions of times, but that has never stopped one single human being from sharing in his praise or disgust.

 I have watched this mod from infancy.  And to this day I truly do not know if that child has become a man, or if it's growth was stunted by events out of the Devs' control.  I know that a lot of work was put into this lovechild, and still is to this date.  It's just not enough sometimes, for a person's word to mean anything anymore.  Actions speak much louder, and human beings are prone to disbelief, even with their own faith in G_d, man, the Devil, or otherwise.  And I myself have lost a lot of faith in many things.

Communication, or the lack thereof, is killing this Mod, whether you believe me or not.  A dev could scream at me with facts and details until he's blue in the face and I still would not believe him.  All the hard work and dedication in the world could not save a project of any scope unless one thing is present: the full dedication and support of the fans.  Believe it or not but all the work in the world will amount to a steaming pile of dren if you don't have that support.

 Doing this just for yourselves cannot be used as an excuse.  The day the team unleashed themselves and their massive project to the general populous is the day you made an unspoken oath to the fans of the Half Life Universe.  That is a heavy burden and one that cannot be taken back.  People have dedicated their time and desires to this project, negative or positive feedback, because they care.  Even the Trolls with their rude and useless comments have a glimmer of hope deep in their minds that this will see the light of day.

Yet the longer things are delayed without 100% COMMUNICATION the more jaded and less hopeful people become.  By denying the community the ability to follow you all the way, by keeping them in the dark, you do them a great disservice, inadvertently effecting your futures as well.  What, you didn't do this for your sakes?  I find that hard to believe.  A successful mod of this magnitude could only mean that you hope this will open up new paths for you as a dev, designer, technician, programmer.  That cannot happen if people do not have faith in you.

This team is the strongest thing I have seen in the mod community next to the MERP team.  And I don't want to lose my faith in the project.  But my interest has wavered, and my attention has gone to other things.  New engines and techniques have come and gone in the time we've followed this project.  And the PR team whomever they may be needs to get the ball rolling.  year after year there have been misleading news onto the release date or progress on this.  And using the argument that info can be found in the forums doesn't work.

 People want to see the fruits of their hopes and aspirations, gathered for them to make it easier to believe.  Perhaps MODDB is not the place for you, but it is for the fans.  Hate it or love it, the people who grace the BM site on that website are a passionate bunch.  Their belief in the progress of this mod is unshaken no matter what one another posts there.  Even in your own forums dissension is ripe.  In the great words of a Stephen King character, "Give me what I want and I'll go away."  This can apply to almost all trolls and non-believers.  And I have yet found an easy access point in which to follow this mod from process to procedure.   I'm no idiot, I just hate forums; they're not a reliable source of information for those that hate browsing thousands of thoughts or ideas or complaints bundled together.

 I will continue to follow from time to time the evolution of the Black Mesa project, but I have lost the childlike fervor I once had in it.  Can you give that back to me?  Can you give that back to the community, the thousands upon thousands that look for this sweet eye candy with a child's excitement?  I want that back.  I want that unshaken faith back.  I'm no rich man, I cannot give you a job in the industry or the money to make your lives more comfortable.  But what I can give is my support, if it is deserved and recognized.
#2

Oh boy, here we go again…

So for the TL;DR people, I’ll summarize the previous post:

“I DEMAND INFORMATION AT ALL TIMES BECAUSE THE WORLD OWES ME EVERYTHING!”

#3

Black Mesa is not a religion. It doesn’t need faith. It only needs patience.

#4

Well, I too am a bit curious. I remember telling a new co-worker, who was wearing the HL2 t-shirt that came with the CE of HL2, of this fan project. That was years ago now.

And while the screenhots and videos have entertained me all these years, we haven’t seen anything big and new in quite a while.

So how about killing our cravings with a light snack? I’ve been very curious about the whole progress on the Xen portion of the game. I know that those final chapters are part of the big reveal when the game comes out, but can’t we get a little peak?

If only so that the main site receives a little update it so desperately needs.

Then again, it is done when it is done. I’ve been waiting for so long, I can wait a bit longer.

#5

Patience is meaningless unless you have faith. Faith for the end to come, faith that the material will be treated with care. Faith and religion should never be compared or used for comparison. Faith is a feeling, a way to ground yourself in something that is beyond you. Religion is a wasted attempt at holding power over others.

#6

We’ve had countless people making this exact same thread before and it achieved nothing.

What makes you think yours will be different? I understand your points but the devs have already said that they’re not going to be doing media updates until the mod is finished and ready to be released.

#7

I never said I was gonna change anything. I am doing what everyone else that posts to the forums does, shares my thoughts and ideas. Whomever wants to read into it, that is their choice.

#8

You don’t understand, Maxey. His ‘Intelligent thought’ will change their minds. Because clearly nobody has been saying it just the right way to reach their hearts and souls.

#9

I understand your frustration Vormaen, I really do. I’ve followed several mods over the years, for a variety of games.

Hell, seeing that BMS is still in production and we are still receiving feedback at least gives me hope. Most mods never see the light of day and you’ll be lucky if those involved even release finished models and whatnot.
Fact is: most mods die out due to lack of enthusiasm on the team and/or the community. Be patient with the devs, and you’ll get to play eventually.

I don’t know the devs, but I’d take it they all have a life outside of working in their spare time on a non-profit project like this.

Look on the bright side; at least you have a forum on which you can waste away the hours.

[edit]
Vormaen, if want to come over as an intelligent person (which I assume you would want); stop accusing people of trolling while making aggravated personal attacks yourself. It really does not help your case.

#10

I know their not dead, I know its near completion, seen lots of screen shots (on main web site). Dont really need any more other wise it may start to ruin the surprise.

I admit that maybe every couple months a quick update on twitter to say ‘all is good’ or something may be a bit more reassuring. However, you do hear from the devs from time to time amongst the forums, but then again the devoted fans take time on their behalf to collect all the comments and info and centralise it in one place for all to see and discuss. Thats fine with me.

Personally I can see their point of wanting to get on with the mod rather then mess about with updates, then having every inch of it analyzed under an Anti-Mass Spectrometer causing a huge resonance cascade to ripple though the community.

Hang in there though :slight_smile: I think I see light at the end of the tunnel. Also I prefer not to see any pics of Xen until I play the game…keeping it all alien :slight_smile:

#11

Want a pat in the back? You won’t get it.

If you were expecting people to come in droves to support your opinion then you are posting in the wrong forum.

Look, I would also love to see more updates about the mod but it was me who chose to follow and wait for this mod. I’m not helping nor harming the development of it by being here, I’m just a meaningless guy waiting for a game modification and I shouldn’t feel more important because of it, and neither should anyone else.

Also, yes, a certain level of interaction between the devs and the public is beneficial but not required. However, if the devs are confident that they can all manage to finish this mod on their own then more power to them.

Whatever is supposed to happen will happen and the only thing we can choose is whether we want to see that or not.

#12

OP Read this please:
https://forums.blackmesasource.com/showthread.php?t=9883

#13

Thanks for the response Maxey. Was I looking for a pat on the back, no. I had something to say and I said it. Then the whole go around with the nastiness just took the boredom factor away. I’ve posted before to the devs long ago and it did not change anything, but perhaps some people somewhere would read what I posted and say “Hey, at least I’m not the only one that feels that way.” Which is the point. People don’t want to be the only ones. I suspect that minus a few no one wants to be a troll or be wrong. I understand that. I understand my post will go no farther than the community. The Devs are frankly tired and trying to finish what they started. That never lessens the need for someone to voice their feelings or thoughts.

#14

Black mesa isn’t going to solve world problems by being revealed, just understand that this is a videogame, it has no real world effects that the community does not cause themselves.

#15

To the OP: Yes, the PR sucks, and we all know there will be fans that simply give up after all this time without big official updates, it’s only logical and I don’t blame them… there is a lot of truth in your starting post… I used to care about that too, but I simply don’t anymore.

What you have to do is to just let go and stop caring about those potentially lost fans, you need to be selfish. It’s the only way to be liked on this forum.

'Cause when the mod finally comes out, it won’t matter if there are, say, 1 million people who play it instead of 2 million. It matters if you yourself enjoy it or not. There will always be enough people to talk about the mod before and after release.

Just let go.

#16

#17

OP if you want to try and make a difference fight for this guy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9n4nwxgaQg

“We don’t have the first amendment to talk about the weather. We have the 1st amendment to talk about controversial things.”

Everyone is right. This mod coming out is NOT going to contribute to society. It’s a video game and it’s purpose is to entertain for a short amount of time. It doesn’t send any special messages out to anyone other than zone out for 4 or 6 hours and don’t have a care about anything in the world.

So use the time that you’re not playing the mod to use your crafted words to convince people to contribute to society by learning to think on their own. And fight for a little something called LIBERTY which is hanging by only a few threads at this point in time.

#18

Using pretty words will not change several facts:

  • We, as a community of regulars and lurkers, have been over this several times and the developers have explained their stance on things (see the thread brokenfridgehinge has linked)
  • Your sense of entitlement makes come across like a bloody git, which is not a good thing if you want to be taken seriously (an “oath to Half-Life fans”? really?)
    and lastly:
  • [all caps]We, as a community of regulars and lurkers, have been over this several times and the developers have explained their stance on things (see the thread brokenfridgehinge has linked)[/all caps]
#19

Gosh is this guy trying to be the next garth?
It’s a simple game, nothing more. Most of us on the forums don’t care too much about when it’s released, because we’re here for the community, and we all know it WILL be released.

ehh… What the fuck are you on? If they give 100% away, as you mentioned, the game’s not going to be any fun for anybody. Games aren’t fun if you know every last detail before you play it.

If you’re blind.
https://forums.blackmesasource.com/showthread.php?t=9883

Then quit bitching about it. Telling them that you want to know everything about it is certainly not helping.

Yes, and we’re bitching about you bitching about stuff that has been asked all too many times before. So don’t call people trolls when they’re doing the same bloody thing that you are.

#20

I don’t think there’s any reason for anyone to be banned. It has actually been a quite civil discussion in here in comparison to many other threads these days.

I think that we regulars have the responsibility to keep it civil and not start a flame war as soon as someone make a new thread. The responsibility is as much on us as it is on everyone else.

Writing insulting comments to one another, is it really necessary?

To answer on Vormaen:

Yes, the PR isn’t the best. To be honest I don’t think this is what anyone would have wanted in the first place. It’s unfortunate that it has come to this. At this moment it’s the best just to stay silent on the PR sector and finish the mod and work up a hype from there instead.

In terms of communication from the devs I actually think it’s pretty good, if you’re willing to visit the forums of course. There’s almost daily answers from the devs and I have to praise Raminator and JamesKane that regularly visit these boards and are happy to answer any questions. To me that’s the true sign that make me believe that this mod is actually going to be released.

This mod has been in development for a very long time and as I said it’s unfortunate that it has come to this but this is where we’re at and we have to dig up whatever patience we got left and wait some more. That’s the way it is.

Founded in 2004, Leakfree.org became one of the first online communities dedicated to Valve’s Source engine development. It is more famously known for the formation of Black Mesa: Source under the 'Leakfree Modification Team' handle in September 2004.