CROSSFIRE 'n SWAT FUTURE an open letter

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Originally posted by SWAT_OP-R8R
there wont be a cf1.9 and there wont be any patches

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Originally posted by SWAT_OP-R8R
yes this is it
ive announced what would happen if the members of this community wont do their part and now thats the result
i did my part and i finished what i wanted to finish.... so yes thats it

Dear OP,

when I read the statements above I was buffed, stunned, SHOCKED !...........And I still fail to really understand your decision.

I came to SWAT - about a year ago - for anything but digging into Crossfire, even if I played CF 1.7 years ago - yeah on SP. But I was caught by the progress CF 1.8 had made and I followed it by an occasional look. I started looking more frequently, when last autumn all the hassle about lacking support to You, SWAT and the mod itself started.
Silently,
since I didn't feel competent enough to contribute something more countable beside cheer-ups.
When you threatened everybody with the possibility of NO RELEASE AT ALL, I looked almost daily and when You finally (who- or whatever FORTUNATLY convinced You to do so) released CF 1.80, I downloaded it ASAP. Just in case you might change your mind and scrap it, so that I would have a copy of it on my harddrive for safe.

I felt a strong resemblance to the release of the original Freelancer: years of development, an eager awaiting, pressing community, in the end rushed into release, premature, in what was planned for it, in what the developer wanted to achieve, leaving him kind of frustrated.

CF 1.80 was ALSO premature. CF 1.81 came and several updates via launcher and still there seems work to be done for Crossfire 1.81, some minor (like missplaced hardpoints), some eventually bigger, most likely only You know of, OP.

Ppl started to play, report bugs, bigger-smaller-sometimes even no-bugs, feedback came in, they participate. And the community started to take action:

- Michaels continuing work on the toolbar,
- the making of the new maps by Ryleous Arkane an the SILVER ARROWS - and Michael's map ofc
- the Wiki, that begins to be filled by content, slowly atm, but taking on

There're also new ppl around, trying to contribute, at least giving their opinions and views as an input.
Hellraiser for example: young, eager, sometimes perhaps too eager, but definetly willingly to contribute. Might need a helping hand to be guided, what he's asking for.
Myself another example: not interested in FL at all when I came here, but being talked by You and all the other great ppl here to start playing EVEN ON A SERVER, unthinkable for me before. Now I am staff member for the Wiki.

From my point of view the CROSSFIRE community has been more active in the last two months than the whole last year.

If You refer to the SWAT community, OP, I have to agree.....................There seems to be almost none existing.

When SWAT portal was created, I think You intended somehting to cover perhaps not all but at least the better part of all spacesims around with informations, tools and mods, if available - kinda one-stop for everybody interested in spacesim gaming.
Not only that, maybe you thought of a "modding portal", where modders and would/could-be modders find a place to discuss, get help, make friends and DO MODDING together with others, not only freelancer-based but also for other moddable games. Perhaps even host mods for other games.

That's the impression I got when I first saw the portal the very first time about 3 or 4 years ago, with its long list of other games on the left side, the forums homepage with all the other game's forums and the download section, where you can get a lot of stuff for other moddable games.

You have started some modding with another engine already: Starlancer Sol Wars build on the FSO engine of Freespace. I saw the talk about it with some well-known Freespace-modders on mobd.
Unfortunatly none of this took place at the Freespace forum of SWAT.

The other FL-based SWAT projects: Blaster Universe, Destructable Universe, Tournament Mod, Starlancer Reborn, StarWars Chronicles.
Nowhere signs of activity, infos on process, even if they are still alive. No discussions or posts, that could make curious, that could attract someone.
Traffic on the Freelancer subforums for modding is also anything else than vibrant.

And the SWAT project Crossfire now on Vs. 1.81, was/is (oh, I don't know, I only can hope) an achievement of the community ? Or wasn't this titanic work almost completly done by ONE man, YOU, OP ?
I have no idea, why this was/is so. If there weren't any other modders, modelers and so on willingly enough or capable enough, I don't know.

To me it looks a bit, as if Crossfire has eaten You up, OP, by doing almost everything alone, the modding, the forum administration, keeping the server running AND listening to and also caring about all the gamers, when they ask about some silly features,they would like to have, some lost chars or whatever someone cried out loud for [SIZE=3]M[/SIZE]aster[SIZE=3]O[/SIZE]f[SIZE=3]M[/SIZE]odding, You.
All this might have distracted You from attending the other projects, from eventually teaching/training/creating a capable modders community -for Freelancer AND other games-, that could carry on the work You have started here, that could develop its abilities and mods on its own, so that SWAT becomes THE forge for modders all around.

Everybody knows, that Crossfire is YOUR baby, your child and for the time being of any Freelancer-gaming You will be MR.CROSSFIRE. But perhaps the time has come to let your child grow up and for You to LET (atleast on a long cord).
Why not handing over the torch ?
Get someone else or a team to care about Crossfire, who can do the finishing polish to CF 1.8, working down all the minor bugs with an occasional update for the players via launcher (perhaps coupled with an announcement on the forums), who can work on features you have/had (whatsoever) in mind for CF 1.9. If there isn't anybody capable in doing so - GROW them up for you. In every case, You will always have the last say in things done for crossfire, left alone to Your unmatched abilities in modding.
Get someone else or a team with proper rights and means to impose them to handle and moderate the forums. Tell them in what and how they could do it (closing threads, deleting posts and attachments, fining, even banning).

That would/could free You for other things and other projects to follow You are interested in (I could imagine, that after these years of work on Crossfire you might be a bit fed up with it.)
That would/could start/restart the developing of a more active modding community, when they can start participating in co-production of their most beloved mod.

But please, don't do the ONE thing

DON'T LET CROSSFIRE DIE

[SIZE=1]@ bond : didn't know, that there're more old farts like me around (see my sig).[/SIZE]

Dear OP,
I think THAT

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the expression "Crossfire Community" is in my eyes pretty sick I have not created a crossfire community nor did i ever want to create one. Crossfire is nothing but a tool for me, a tool that serves SWAT (or at least should do that).

is a result of the quality of your mod, of Crossfire as a whole, not only CF 1.81 but also all previous versions [SIZE=1](al least CF 1.7, which I have played)[/SIZE].
You made your "tool" too good.

It has developed kind of a life by its own. A life powerfull enough to distract YOU from what you aimed at, powerfull enough to suppress
any other "modding" or SWAT-community life.
But also powerfull enough to breed a bunch of gamers addicted to it, even if they seem not able to properly spread their drug and recruit new addicts.

I haven't digged deep enough [SIZE=1](by now)[/SIZE] to know how life on SWAT was in the beginning or even 4 years, 3 years ago, prior to the start of development of CF 1.8.
Perhaps it is necessary to start anew. But then perhaps it would be better, if there's a cut, or at least kind of a border between Crossfire and SWAT.

Of course, you can pull the plug on Crossfire every moment and in very real way when I think of the server. But that would only kill multiplay.

BE ASSURED, even than Crossfire will live on. On hundreds of PCs played in Singleplay. At some point in the future maybe someone else will develop an own server-mod
version of it and open it up again for the gamers. That won't be me. I'm probably too old to learn what's necessary for that and I'm mostlikely too daft to do so.
But others will come.

WHY ? Because Crossfire is a MILESTONE in FL modding and as such it will never be forgotten.

I can only please You to consider, what I've suggested above.

[SIZE=1]Finally an answer of one of the other Crossfire team members.[/SIZE]

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Originally posted by Myric

I have no idea how this can be solved.

Any opinions on what I suggested in the lower part of my starting post ?

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Originally posted by SWAT_OP-R8R
The only reason why the CF server is loosing members over and over again is the stupidity of the players and the ignorance they show to what has to be done. The ignorance to what i have requested. The fail to see the chances that SWAT could offer if it could follow its purpose.
But thats not going to happen.

1.

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....the stupidity of the players and the ignorance they show to what has to be done.

Do you refer here to the still too wide spread inability to start ans RESTART properly ?

Or anything else ? I don't see a failure in it to play on the server, as freelancer without license, as "lone some merc, pirat, cop, mixup" etc with a license, or member as a clan.
Am I missing something ?

2.

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The ignorance to what i have requested.

That's something, where I can -unfortunatly- understand your anger. But in that your expectations are eventually a bit too high for the social dynamics in a group, where "just having fun" is their main reason to be there.

To get an appearance of ,what was is at the meeting: 6 out of a dozen or two dozen of people ? is a percentage you could be proud of. I once attended a quite exclosive "club", over 35 even PAYING members, and it wasn't peanuts. On festivities 20 to 30 ppl were there. But on the dates for "true" work once a month, we seldomly got the necessary 7 together.

YOUR dedication to modding and Freelancer is something exceptional.

3.

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The fail to see the chances that SWAT could offer if it could follow its purpose.

I think here counts in, what Myric and Daywalker said. The vast majority of ppl comming to SWAT just look out for Crossfire, not looking left or right, even IF there's something else to discover.

Guys like me, who came here looking for something NOT Crossfire or Freelancer related [SIZE=1]( I was FULL of prejudices and objections AGAINST playing any Freelancer game)[/SIZE] I would render also more seldom than the usual.

4.

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But thats not going to happen.

[SIZE=1](last question here)[/SIZE]
What do you mean by that ?