An Open Letter concerning the state of the ER project to the Ainur of the Two Towers.
First off, this isn't a log. It's an open letter to the Two Towers Community.
I'm posting it here, because I want to disclose my alts and ainur characters
in terms of past experiences, and I can't do that on the Mud, nor do I want
to waste my time getting a character up to level 5 in order to be able to
use the gossiper and then be slammed as a "newbie".
I was scanning the online gossiper today, and I saw a post from Rauko, dated
Fri, Sept 22nd, which details that the ER's will be removed from the game.
The gossiper doesn't post the year, and my memory is a bit hazy, but a quick
check with my calendar shows the last time September 22nd fell on a friday
was in the year 2000.
And I Was thinking to myself recently, whatever happened to the Evil Races?
It's now been two years, and all those hibernated characters - all those
personas we put energy and effort into - are now forgotten. I played a
Haradrim then, and had the most fun I have ever had playing this game in the
past seven years.
I started playing this game in 1995, shortly after I joined college. During
college orientation, I met a wonderful person who soon became my friend. You
may remember her as Aurora, from the Sons of Ulfang. It was she who
introduced me to this mud.
I've played a mercenary (Meglivornth with Horatio), I've played evil (Sons of
Ulfang, with Teppetuary), I've played good (Amruin, with Musui), I've done
clans. I've been a maiar, maker, lady, overlady, power, and retired. But the
best fun I ever had - and I do mean the BEST - was as an ER. I liked having a
"goal".
See, in Tolkien's world, right at the time the Two Towers are set, we are at
war. But only in certain areas. Now hobbits, with the exception of four very
special ones, aren't fighting this war. Not in the trenches. The Dwarves are
pretty much only to the north, the Elves in Lothlorien, the Eorlings at Minas
Tirith, as are the Dunlending and Dunedain who live there.
But those are very specific battles. Now when one plays a good character, how
does it advance your cause to be, as a dwarf, running around in Riverdale? To
be doing the ESS quest? It's kind of vague and nebulous. Sure, you can role
play it, but you can't really advance on it. Your advancement as a "good"
character depends on the people you slaughter, which can be just about
anybody or anything.
As an Evil Character, you had missions. You had to accomplish certain tasks,
and if you didn't, you got a whopping for it. You had to be in character. No
dithering around - get in, get your task done, get out before the trolls get
ya. It's a harsh world, and I loved it.
However, ER's were considered unbalanced, so they decided to pull them. I
wasn't involved in the decision to pull them. I was, at the time, writing
several new ER quests in Valinor to allow ER's to seige the walls of Minas
Tirith in seige engines, etc, to have ER's running around Pelennor
battlefield.
And this is the thing that broke my heart. The project was commanded by a
fellow who knew very little about coding (Rauko, I am sorry, but it is true),
and even less about project management. ER's were pulled before the design
documents were even approved by the council. And worse, as of last November,
some critical design documents STILL had not been discussed or approved.
After a year of no ER's, I rejoined active coding and tried to help turn this
albatross around. What I found was a Lord (the project manager) who rarely
logged on, had only one active member (me), who had no project schedule, no
project details, and no plans.
For those of you who don't program, the way it works is like this. The
project manager gets the design document approved by those who are in charge
(or paying the bill). In this case it would be the Powers and Overlords, in a
voting process.
Then the project manager divides the task up into smaller tasks, noting which
ones must be done before the others (for instance, having an evil race in the
racial database must be done before adding racial commands). Then he assigns
the tasks out, keeping track of who is doing what and when. This way the
project is moved forward. If someone needs to bow out, another person can
take their place, finish the subtask.
But when I started work there, the very basis of this - a concrete design
document specifying what must be done - was not there. There were proposals
galore, and no concrete vision, no "this must be done by ER release, this can
wait till the next release". No plans. Just a locked off board that told all
non mordor members to go away, and a bunch of idle people who the lord hadn't
seen in weeks.
I tried to help, but got discouraged. Without any vision, the project could
not go forward. After I got my new job in January of 2001, I had to return to
RL and my coding time became limited.
And now here we are, October 25th, 2002. Two years ago, our ER's were removed.
Two years later, I see absolutely no sign that they are coming.
I'm disappointed by the Two Towers ainur staff. I was there when we put Minas
Tirith out. We had a battle plan, we kicked the thing in gear, we got the job
done. But when I returned in September 2001, I saw a bunch of people who
twiddled on smaller personal projects, and a Mordor team that didn't show up
for work.
It is also my personal belief that this project is far too big for one domain
to take on its own. Six people cannot make a whole continent. South Gondor
was done by Endor, but the towns were doled out and done by different domains
- Pelagir, etc.
Why am I bringing this up now?
Because someone must.
If the administration has abandoned the ER project, then let it be made plain
and clear. "We are not going to return the evil races." To have people on the
game harbor hope about the future "evil races", when some of us know the
project is on a fast track to no where - is cruel and misleading.