I Think the Joke Has (C)Rusted Away

[Gorth]

I'm about to say the C Word. No, not that one. Brace yourself.


*********COOKING*********



I get it. It's probably not the most fun to sit down and make a bunch of recipes for cooking, or a bunch of systems for it, but look. There already are a miriad of recipes offered, and some system ideas described all over the BBS. Cooking is one of those things that people apparently look for in MUDs a lot, and is pretty simple to do to a satisfactory level. Why not?

I know other stuff should come first, like rolling out factions, but that has been the case for longer than I've been a part of this community; longer than a year and a half. Why can't we just have some advancement? At the very least, get rid of Pie Crust. We can't even get the things to make it, much less make it, much less fill it with pie stuffs and much more less make pies. Why is it there? I imagine removing it would be as simple as a comment or two, or seven.

Also I just want cooking to be fleshed out more personally, because I tend to spend a lot of money on food, and I'd like to have both cheaper options and more varied options, to show off my fancy tastes and all that, you know?

P.S. This is very harsh and direct. I won't apologize because I do mean it all. But I get it, like I said. It doesn't have to be a role-out of a million things all at once, but why can't we see a touch here and there? Please? Pretty please? With a cherry on top? With sprinkles? With chocolate sauce and vanilla icing?

[Ansarian]

I understand your frustration, but this is not the way to have it addressed.

I suggest you perhaps take a break if you're getting worked up over something like this when it's very clear that development is happening, just not in the places that you would like.

You're welcome to revisit this in a more constructive manner, but this is not it.

Thanks.

[Gorth]

There is really, honestly, no intention of throwing shade (or whatever the kids say) or anything of the sort. If anything I've wanted to make that Pie Crust joke for a long time, and I know some people have seriously raised these points quite a lot. But, I mean, whatever. I cut out a lot of the initial draft of the post because it was pretty mean, and overall it's just a sort of 'Hey. It'd be cool if this thing could perhaps get a tiny bit of love / a tiny little adjustment so it's less confusing to new players and less teasing to everyone.' I'll just recede into silence if I'm going to get an instant response assuming that my post was in bad faith, though. It's not fun to have anything criticized, I get it, but it's also not fun to be instantly shot down with condescension when I've been making an honest effert to conversate with people over the last few months and determine what keeps players and what drives them away. The slapdashed look of a lot of systems, chiefly Cooking, is something mentioned by nearly every single person I've talked to.

Perhaps this isn't *meant* as condesension, but it sure looks like it. Chiefly the 'thanks' at the end. It just kind of hit me considering how much I've been slapped in the face with it in public forums like this and Discord over the last year and a half.

[Ansarian]

Please don't try and turn it about as though you've been the one wronged in this situation. Accept that you were asked to refrain from what is clearly a rather aggressive attempt at spurring something to be done with the cooking craft. I'm plenty sure that yourself, many others and even members of the staff are wanting to see it worked on further, but there are other things that take precedence before that. Nevermind the fact that we've got the one developer who does this as a hobby and can choose to work on whatever he so pleases.

My response has nothing to do with the criticism you've levied other than the manner in which you've chosen to do so. I don't have an issue with criticism being given, but you're not providing anything to positively affect the situation. Instead citing to simply remove something if it isn't going to have a use, it's really just insulting.

As for my saying thanks, I believe that is customary. I am asking you to posit your views in a more useful and positive manner so as to not otherwise lower the morale of the people who do this in their free time for the enjoyment of others. Asking you to to better conduct yourself is on par with asking a favour of you, so it's naturally to offer thanks as a result. There's no sense in trying to look between the lines in that matter. If I wanted to tell you to shut up, I would have done so and locked the topic.

So, once more, thanks. Feel free to come back with something constructive.

[Ronin]

. Instead citing to simply remove something if it isn't going to have a use, it's really just insulting.

Actually, mate, that's something that I brought up with him in private conversation, because there are a large number of things in the crafting system that don't have any use, and as a new player trying to adjust to the craft system, they're confusing and frustrating. So, it wasn't a jab, it was actual constructive criticism.

He's also not wrong that it should be a simple matter of 15 minutes to remove ANYTHING in the crafting system that shows up, but doesn't have a use, by simply commenting it out. Like, seriously, it shouldn't be any sort of ordeal, as opposed to the constant frustration of finding things that can't be crafted every time I look at the craft system, and just wondering, why in the heck it's even in the game.

So if you could dial back your defensive kneejerk, that'd be great.

Thanks.

[Maina]

You can't go "I know this is harsh but I'm not going to apologize" and then act like the victim when you're called out for being harsh.

Being a butt to unpaid volunteers isn't going to get you what you want. Doubling down (or doubling down on someone else's behalf) isn't going to get you what you want either.

Holy cow. The game is free. If you don't like it, you can always come back later when it's more complete. Zero reason to be mean.

[Ansarian]

Actually, mate, that's something that I brought up with him in private conversation, because there are a large number of things in the crafting system that don't have any use, and as a new player trying to adjust to the craft system, they're confusing and frustrating. So, it wasn't a jab, it was actual constructive criticism.

This may very well be the case. But unfortunately it wasn't constructive in the least. There was nothing in what was said that would bely that implication. If perhaps it was stated from the get-go that it was confusing to people and that it might be better to temporarily disable the recipes, then it might have been viewed as such. Unfortunately that wasn't the case and instead we were told to remove it full-stop with no reasoning behind it.

Now, I'm not daft and I can plenty tell from recent topics trending in the #question channel that there is in fact a manner of confusion. That said, it cannot be said that every person pays attention to ongoing chatter within that channel so such information is vital to providing context to one's frustration.

As for the difficulty of it being commented out of the code, it may or may not be all that easy. It could be something that could be done with the snap of the fingers. But, it can be asked nicer than coming in and demanding it be done and to cite that it hasn't been worked on for any length of time is an attempt at manipulation by putting pressure on the fact that 'nothing has been done'.

So, I'm sorry that you feel my quick response was a kneejerk reaction.