Final Thoughts
Dear current community members of this forum:
I've had a thrill being here with most of you.
People tend to say this and come back, but I hit different than most people. The short version: Farewell. I'm moving on.
My journey started in 2004 with my family, just playing Gold casually. I began to dominate everybody in my family clan, and then I found out about Platinum in 2007. Me, my brother, and my cousins were the only ones who played, until it was just me, my brother, and a couple friends, until it was just me a couple years after then in 2010. I have been a part of this community since some time in 2009 on the original Proboards. I don't exactly remember when, but I roamed there searching for stages to play on Marble Blast Gold or Platinum. By the time middle school hit, I began playing less and less and eventually just disappeared altogether.
I returned in 2015 when STOP I released as a surprise to the general public, which seemed to flop at first, but surprisingly gained more respect and traction while our new team was busy with STOP II. As I've mentioned on this post, STOP I was meant to be for family and friends, but after remembering this community, I decided to post it here. It was not originally intended to be here, but I'm glad it was, despite what reception came out of it and what memories of it haunt me forever on-line.
From 2016 to today, STOP II went from a shoddy alpha, to an average release, to a stellar release. What Tekannabrand developed in 1.4u2 excelled beyond what we thought could happen on a vanilla Marble Blast that wasn't created by community leaders. STOP II 1.4uX has taught me a lot about team building and game design. Even though my journey is ending here on this forum, that doesn't mean I won't disappear everywhere else. I'm just moving on from here. I'm proud for everyone who stuck with the STOP II Team and helped Tekannabrand throughout the journey. Truly amazing.
When STOP II released on July 6, 2018 (version 1.0), it was quickly streamed by Matan within the week. Although there was ruthless criticism and poor choice of words that came from the stream, it's not how it ended. The way I see it, this ended up being a turning point for STOP II, and for this community in general. I wrote this post , and there was some debate on how creators were treated on this forum. We ended up proving people wrong. STOP II improved and we kept on developing the project, with many people saying we shouldn't or couldn't, trying to enforce what we wanted to do. The result ended up being improved relations and an awesome product... STOP II, version 1.4u2. With the amount of features, the stages designed, the music composed, and (most) 3D models made from scratch, we probably worked as hard as The Platinum Team did. At least, that's what I like to think, because this ambitious modification took years to create, let alone improve. And in record time compared to The Platinum Team. I guess I can say that's a World Record in itself. Ha-ha...
But seriously. I'm leaving, but I'm not feeling not completely satisfied still with how this community has been going. As I wrote on the suggestions thread for community staff members, one major element that has lacked here in two different factors is the lack of competent communication. When communication is too one-way (incompetent communication), no work gets done. People feel left out, people feel disconnected and people feel awkward or confused. As a person who has worked endlessly as a leader in many teams for the last seven years, two-way communication (or competent communication) helps people achieve goals. Work gets done, there's a better chance for realistic answers, and people are heard and included. Communication is meant to be a two-way street - it's not just common sense. Listening and dual interaction is part of the process of communicating effectively. You can read more about what I mean if you view that post as well. As a person who was told this would be on the community highlight and that the download page would be properly updated, I felt left in the dust. I feel lost, confused, and misinformed.
Another major problem I've seen with this community is mostly from the past, but I still see it today. Some of these memories cored into how I feel. It's how people criticize, which is mostly non-constructive. As RDs has said in this post, if a creator didn't want to accept the suggestion or criticism by the community and continue their thing, people end up repeating same things again and again to somehow "enforce" what they want person to do. And there we are having a flamewar pointing fingers at each other. RDs has said, "The question is not who thinks right or wrong, the question is how we present our truth to others and how we criticize people. For example when MBS2 was announced there was this '300 levels thing for a mod' discussion going on. People pointed out that that is insane. Jiquor said that he still wants to do it. People lift some good points why it's 'crazy'. Jiquor says that he has understood all the point's lifted by community members and that he still wants to do it. Then why are we still talking about 300 levels and still criticizing him about it? Why are we still trying to force the idea that is bad down his throat like 'yeah he will eventually get annoyed and change his mind'? By somehow constantly reminding him about this we are not making the situation better and it won't make Jiquor change his mind." The main problem is that users try to enforce what people choose to do with their creations, going so far as to insult or demean somebody if they don't want to change something. That's not good community behavior, and I've seen it come from far too many people here. It's problematic that nothing has been done about it from actual staff members. That's what lead to my concerns on rule 1 not being enforced as well as it should, like CylinderKnot said recently. (And actually, STOP II came out with a grand total of 274 stages, with 86 of them not being available anymore, even in D.L.C packets. Although ambitious, the goal was reached, and the 274 left in STOP II today have great quality, despite the quantity of stages there are in this modification.) In total, I've created a little under 500 stages, I would like to think. But after 1.4u2, I think 500 has finally been reached. It's been amazing to create all these stages, no matter how good or bad people think they are. This whole creative process just made me better with each stage I made throughout the years. That right there is dedication, talent, skill, and persistence.
If it's not about these major reasons and the history I've had throughout my time on this community, it has to do with the fact that I am... Busier than I ever thought I'd be in my twenties. But that's actually a good thing, despite all I'm doing. When I was making STOP II 1.4u2, I was working two jobs, helping a couple friends who were staying with me, learning music again, helping my frail family members and relatives, and was a groomsman for two weddings. Even after 1.4u2 released, things got so much busier. I'm currently working two temp jobs, a primary job, and doing a side gig. I'm working about 50 hours a week at the maximum. I am assisting my father and his friend right now. I am assisting my friend with moving literally tomorrow. I bought my first salvage car in about a little less than a year and the suspension is currently getting fixed. I'm about to finish my bachelor's degree in psychology, thinking about starting a business in the last few months in 2022. And there's so much more than all this that I'm doing. I don't have time for games as much as I used to, which shows good resilience. I planned to post this post about a week or so ago, but tonight was the night I could actually get around to it. I've got a lot going on, and it's not surprising folks don't seem to realize that. But I must show that 2022 is a busy year, with 2023 being even busier.
And that's where it continues. I've left many things already, and this is one of them.
It's been an honor being here with most of you, as I've said again.
Farewell.
P.S. Don't even think about trying to prove me wrong here. Don't even think about contradictions. I just want you all to know where I'm coming from and why I'm leaving.
P.S.S. I've contacted Doomblah to lock my account. If that doesn't work, I know someone in my family who can (they access and change my password, and they keep it in a notepad unless I ask for it again, which likely won't be ever). I don't want to have a reason or temptation to check replies on this.
I've had a thrill being here with most of you.
People tend to say this and come back, but I hit different than most people. The short version: Farewell. I'm moving on.
My journey started in 2004 with my family, just playing Gold casually. I began to dominate everybody in my family clan, and then I found out about Platinum in 2007. Me, my brother, and my cousins were the only ones who played, until it was just me, my brother, and a couple friends, until it was just me a couple years after then in 2010. I have been a part of this community since some time in 2009 on the original Proboards. I don't exactly remember when, but I roamed there searching for stages to play on Marble Blast Gold or Platinum. By the time middle school hit, I began playing less and less and eventually just disappeared altogether.
I returned in 2015 when STOP I released as a surprise to the general public, which seemed to flop at first, but surprisingly gained more respect and traction while our new team was busy with STOP II. As I've mentioned on this post, STOP I was meant to be for family and friends, but after remembering this community, I decided to post it here. It was not originally intended to be here, but I'm glad it was, despite what reception came out of it and what memories of it haunt me forever on-line.
From 2016 to today, STOP II went from a shoddy alpha, to an average release, to a stellar release. What Tekannabrand developed in 1.4u2 excelled beyond what we thought could happen on a vanilla Marble Blast that wasn't created by community leaders. STOP II 1.4uX has taught me a lot about team building and game design. Even though my journey is ending here on this forum, that doesn't mean I won't disappear everywhere else. I'm just moving on from here. I'm proud for everyone who stuck with the STOP II Team and helped Tekannabrand throughout the journey. Truly amazing.
When STOP II released on July 6, 2018 (version 1.0), it was quickly streamed by Matan within the week. Although there was ruthless criticism and poor choice of words that came from the stream, it's not how it ended. The way I see it, this ended up being a turning point for STOP II, and for this community in general. I wrote this post , and there was some debate on how creators were treated on this forum. We ended up proving people wrong. STOP II improved and we kept on developing the project, with many people saying we shouldn't or couldn't, trying to enforce what we wanted to do. The result ended up being improved relations and an awesome product... STOP II, version 1.4u2. With the amount of features, the stages designed, the music composed, and (most) 3D models made from scratch, we probably worked as hard as The Platinum Team did. At least, that's what I like to think, because this ambitious modification took years to create, let alone improve. And in record time compared to The Platinum Team. I guess I can say that's a World Record in itself. Ha-ha...
But seriously. I'm leaving, but I'm not feeling not completely satisfied still with how this community has been going. As I wrote on the suggestions thread for community staff members, one major element that has lacked here in two different factors is the lack of competent communication. When communication is too one-way (incompetent communication), no work gets done. People feel left out, people feel disconnected and people feel awkward or confused. As a person who has worked endlessly as a leader in many teams for the last seven years, two-way communication (or competent communication) helps people achieve goals. Work gets done, there's a better chance for realistic answers, and people are heard and included. Communication is meant to be a two-way street - it's not just common sense. Listening and dual interaction is part of the process of communicating effectively. You can read more about what I mean if you view that post as well. As a person who was told this would be on the community highlight and that the download page would be properly updated, I felt left in the dust. I feel lost, confused, and misinformed.
Another major problem I've seen with this community is mostly from the past, but I still see it today. Some of these memories cored into how I feel. It's how people criticize, which is mostly non-constructive. As RDs has said in this post, if a creator didn't want to accept the suggestion or criticism by the community and continue their thing, people end up repeating same things again and again to somehow "enforce" what they want person to do. And there we are having a flamewar pointing fingers at each other. RDs has said, "The question is not who thinks right or wrong, the question is how we present our truth to others and how we criticize people. For example when MBS2 was announced there was this '300 levels thing for a mod' discussion going on. People pointed out that that is insane. Jiquor said that he still wants to do it. People lift some good points why it's 'crazy'. Jiquor says that he has understood all the point's lifted by community members and that he still wants to do it. Then why are we still talking about 300 levels and still criticizing him about it? Why are we still trying to force the idea that is bad down his throat like 'yeah he will eventually get annoyed and change his mind'? By somehow constantly reminding him about this we are not making the situation better and it won't make Jiquor change his mind." The main problem is that users try to enforce what people choose to do with their creations, going so far as to insult or demean somebody if they don't want to change something. That's not good community behavior, and I've seen it come from far too many people here. It's problematic that nothing has been done about it from actual staff members. That's what lead to my concerns on rule 1 not being enforced as well as it should, like CylinderKnot said recently. (And actually, STOP II came out with a grand total of 274 stages, with 86 of them not being available anymore, even in D.L.C packets. Although ambitious, the goal was reached, and the 274 left in STOP II today have great quality, despite the quantity of stages there are in this modification.) In total, I've created a little under 500 stages, I would like to think. But after 1.4u2, I think 500 has finally been reached. It's been amazing to create all these stages, no matter how good or bad people think they are. This whole creative process just made me better with each stage I made throughout the years. That right there is dedication, talent, skill, and persistence.
If it's not about these major reasons and the history I've had throughout my time on this community, it has to do with the fact that I am... Busier than I ever thought I'd be in my twenties. But that's actually a good thing, despite all I'm doing. When I was making STOP II 1.4u2, I was working two jobs, helping a couple friends who were staying with me, learning music again, helping my frail family members and relatives, and was a groomsman for two weddings. Even after 1.4u2 released, things got so much busier. I'm currently working two temp jobs, a primary job, and doing a side gig. I'm working about 50 hours a week at the maximum. I am assisting my father and his friend right now. I am assisting my friend with moving literally tomorrow. I bought my first salvage car in about a little less than a year and the suspension is currently getting fixed. I'm about to finish my bachelor's degree in psychology, thinking about starting a business in the last few months in 2022. And there's so much more than all this that I'm doing. I don't have time for games as much as I used to, which shows good resilience. I planned to post this post about a week or so ago, but tonight was the night I could actually get around to it. I've got a lot going on, and it's not surprising folks don't seem to realize that. But I must show that 2022 is a busy year, with 2023 being even busier.
And that's where it continues. I've left many things already, and this is one of them.
It's been an honor being here with most of you, as I've said again.
Farewell.
P.S. Don't even think about trying to prove me wrong here. Don't even think about contradictions. I just want you all to know where I'm coming from and why I'm leaving.
P.S.S. I've contacted Doomblah to lock my account. If that doesn't work, I know someone in my family who can (they access and change my password, and they keep it in a notepad unless I ask for it again, which likely won't be ever). I don't want to have a reason or temptation to check replies on this.
STOPX Creator. Getting better by every release.
