User blog:Feltcute/A bunch of words about things

This was a lot bigger in the first take from this morning that I whipped up. But I decided to chop it down. Threshold and everyone else knows how much I believe in the concept of MGD and BFRPGs, my actions have spoken to that. I don't need to let those who don't share that enthusiasm keep me up, they're here for different reasons, and that's okay. I trust Threshold will not waver and stick to doing what he wants to do. Any further expression of my beliefs would be aimless and not beneficial to those reading.

I will however, go over some key points from the discussions that I read that I think people should be aware of and act upon.

A Breather
It's true, this was a long cycle of development, the side content and content improvements are taking a sizeable amount of time (with results to match said time, I think). Side content would benefit from getting sidelined a bit more. Though the town definitely is greatly benefiting from the attention for fleshing out what are staple characters, so it's not as if they were without reason.

A disclaimer of strong bias here from my background, but no technical nor mechanical change across v22, v22.5, and v23 was unnecessary. To preface, the game only got off the ground as well as it did because Threshold went in on making something playable and enjoyable first and foremost. You don't want to be balls deep in content-debt when making technical changes if you can help it. I understand if it's not a perspective players not deep into the MGD rabbit hole can share, and I certainly don't blame them for it. Players should be able to state they just want more content of pp in vv, and not be shunned for it. My only wish from that, is that people looking in know that Threshold is nothing but extremely driven, and is a man with many plans that he wants to make sure are up to expectations.

I won't delve too deep, but bad/good ends are kinda in contrast with the fundamental elements of BFRPGs, and thus should be done carefully. I am thankful to Threshold for approaching them with care and due-respect to their potential where so many other H-games have not. I ask people to think of any poorly implemented end in a H-game, and then imagine if MGD had them.

Long time bugs have been fixed, and will continue to be fixed. Given MGD went through a major system change, the introduction of new bugs shouldn't be unexpected, and Threshold has historically always done a good job avoiding bug-debt. If one wants to help that get better, Threshold can only fix if he knows it exists. Sending bug reports in as you spot them will make them get fixed faster, the player-base are the play-testers in what is a game in public alpha. Having watched #bug-reports on the discord for a while now, the only reason a bug ever doesn't get fixed is if he has a larger fix in mind, or he doesn't have enough information to work with to solve it, and thus requires more playtesting and robust reports. Never because he chose not to fix it.

I feel better now.

Growing Community, & Danger of Bubbles
The wonders of the MGD community is why I'm here, otherwise, I'd just be an idle fan. I love it a lot. I'm also always scared and worried when bad things happen, even if in retrospect they weren't that big of a deal. The looming threat of dangers that threaten what makes it so great get at me.

One of those things that scare me, are bubbles forming in what is already a small community. Bubbles being, sections of the MGD community with differing views and expectations that don't know how to jive together. Often consistent with separate choices of social media platforms. We don't really have any concrete bubbles that can be pointed to right now, just, the discord, and less hardcore community members giving their comments on the various of forums. Both are just as valid and as important as the other.

The Discord is, in truth, a vocal minority of some of the most involved members in the community you can meet with a crazy cool amount of dedication. The various forums can often bring in the opinion and enthusiasm of people that were otherwise lurkers, which usually always make for fun and exciting reads for me personally. A shout-out to L30 as that cool bridge of what's ticking inside the Discord on the most active one, he's great.

As it grows, I'm doing my best to do my part in ensuring it has a healthy and unified growth that avoids bubbles, though that's been a mixed bag of results. I hope other members will continue to do their best to avoid splits and be understanding of where others come from and what differing viewpoints they may have, and how that can be a strength. This community has done incredibly well, and continues to do so. Anything to keep it that way gives me great happiness.

Outro
To redouble my efforts, I will be establishing accounts on all forums to be better be there. Nothing crazy, I just wanna help people if I see something I know I can help them with. Specifically help, I don't want to be truly involved in conversations on there, that'd be encroaching on things I don't want to encroach on.

At some point I'd like to do another blog post about the rebirth system, level caps, depth vs intuitive design, and how it could influence the micro and macro gameplay loop. Given I don't expect the game to actually go in the direction I will be discussing, it'll be an exploration piece.

Of course, I will always prioritize my actual projects first and foremost, as that is the best way I can help.

Big Sidenote On Mods
There was a mention of mods from people too, where I can weigh a stronger take here, given, y'know. In regards to mods translating to the base game...

I'm really glad Gren was introduced to the base game because it really was a great fit, and I think it speaks to the potential level of quality people can expect out of the modding scene. However...

I really hope it doesn't become habit and I especially don't want the modding community to define itself with the goal of "make content to try to get into the base game." It's what I find to be a terrifying mentality. And is certainly not the same modding scene I've been working towards benefiting, and I'll refuse to be a part of enabling that if it goes in that direction.

The magic sauce of modding is that Threshold has outstandingly created the perfect platform for people to easily put their inlet in their creative outlet, with a fantastic world and setting to work with as little or as much as a modder pleases. In turn for modders exploring their creative juices, the community itself gets more robust and wonderful, further promoting what is a fantastic game with more reasons for people to not only give MGD a shot, but to go deeper into its community's rabbit hole. It also allows modders to cover types of content Threshold doesn't intend to introduce to the base game, and in turn satisfy cravings members of the community may like, further enriching the modding scene.

For it to transform into something else that works only towards the unhealthy goal of getting into the base game would open the potential for rot that would 100% be a turn-off for me. I'd still likely start to look away even if it didn't turn for the worse.

If people would like to see Threshold get more help, then it should be on his own terms on his own choice at his own interval through commissions. Which is how things currently work, and I think we can all agree we're here for Threshold's singular vision. Hiring an editor would be useful though, as per his patreon goal, and that wouldn't take away from his creative control. If anything, it'd empower it. If more mods going into the base game repeats at a more regular rate, you will see that consistency and creative control degrade.

On a personal note, I don't intend to ever let one of my mods into the base game, even if people claim it's uber vanilla friendly and it's one of the best things they ever experienced. Purely out of principle. I want there to be more mods that people can point to and say "you should give mods a whirl" and not "wait for it to prove its worth by getting into the base game."