Why you asking all these questions?

 "Jack folks have some questions about the languages you're choosing for the book."
"What about 'em."
"It's a fantasy setting right?"
"Meh."
"What does 'Meh' mean?"
"It means you'll have to wait and see."
"Okay...then why not use fantasy languages?"
"Because I like learning languages and if this thing blows up I want people to learn actual languages instead of some shit a white dude made up."
"Okay?  Then why the specific languages?"
"Because they are tied to where I came from, people I know, they reflect the resilience of people who's cultures 'history' tried to erase." 
"Players are saying the languages you've revealed so far are...am I getting this right? 
Tagalog
Cantonese
and Dine?   What is that?
"Dine` is the language of the Navajo nation."
"And you're using that for a people that live in tree towns?" 
"Yeah."
"Wait?  What?  I thought they're from the Southwest, aren't you from the the Kansas/Oklahoma area?  Neither of those places have anything with living in trees."
"As you said, it's a fantasy book and if fans, role players, cosplayers, want to play the characters they can learn the languages keeping them alive, then if they really want to learn the languages they can find the living people to teach them and learn their history through the stories." 
"And the trees thing?" 
"Like you said, it's a 'fantasy' novel'"
"So it's not a fantasy story?"
"...."
"Why won't you say."
"Because no ones' gone into the Temple yet."
"The temple?" 
"Yeah.  I've ran this scenario in five...six...different campaigns so far and either because the parties decided to go different directions, didn't survive the initial encounters because of hubris, or got bored building out their backgrounds the haven't cleared the temple yet."
"Why would they get board building out their backgrounds." 
" 'cause some people just want to roll dice and kill monsters and that's not what the game is about."
"But there are monsters, like Minotaur and giant scorpions?  Sounds kind a Greek  ?"
"Yeah."
"But it's not a fantasy story and they speak languages from places completely removed from one another in a place that has high technology alongside high fantasy"
"...."
"You're not as clever as you think you know."
"I know, but doesn't mean I have to make it easy." 
"So you didn't stop running the game then?"
"As long as the players show up during the scheduled hours I'll run the game."
"What about the new players.  They don't like starting at 1st level when there's already level 5 characters running around."
"Do the background work and they can level up.  Same as the other players."
"What does the background work have to do with leveling up in the game?" 
"Because the ending is already written, it's just a matter of getting there and I want to know what they want their characters are going to be in the 'final battle'.  The foundations for those skills, abilities, and what not are established in the background so that during the story it feels more like they 'knew' how to do these things but they never had to do it under pressure before.   That's where the leveling comes form.  Like coal being compressed into a diamond."
"But you've been ignoring people that have showed up when you're sitting in the worlds on game nights."
"...."
"Aren't you looking for more players?" 
"They haven't answered the question."
"What question?"
"...."
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Like what?"
"Like I smell bad." 
"Catch me during officer hours and ask again."
"Wait where are you going?"
"To work." 

Tears From Heaven

 "How you doing over there Jack?"
"Not good man."
"What's up?  You just booted a bunch of people and look like you're going nonverbal again."
"Yeah." 
"Got played again didn't ya."
"Yeah."
"You knew it was too good to be true when someone asked you out of the blue."
"Yeah."
"But you went along with it anyways."
"Yeah."
"Why?"
"...."
"What are you pointing at?"
"...."
"Someone else ripping off your ideas?"
"Yeah."
"You sure they are."
"Yeah."
"How can you be sure?"
"Timing."
"You thought friends were doing something nice for your birthday didn't you?"
"Yeah."
"That's why you hate your birthday isn't it?"
"Yeah."
"Because it's always about everyone else and what they can get out of the party?"
"Yeah."
"Are you going to finish the story?"
"It's already done."
"Seriously?"
"Yeah."
"But you don't have a script and the manuscript isn't done yet."
"That's the easy part."
"Then why are you giving up."
"....."
"You're pointing again."
"...."
"Oh...I see.  You think because they already have millions in kick starter money and teams of artists and social media people that it's not worth finishing the manuscript." 
"Yeah."
"So why did you go along if you knew it was a setup?"
"Because..."
"Because why?"
"Because I wanted to finish the story." 
"And it's finished?"
"Yeah."
"Is there anything left to do?"
"Math."
"Math?"
"Yeah."
"What Math?"
"How long."
"How long what?"
"How long the ship traveled."
"What ship?"
"...."
"You're not going to say are you?"
"No."
"Why not work with the people that seem to be doing it already?  It would be easier that way."
"Because they're white."
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"To many white stories.  I don't want to tell white stories.  White people have to many stories already." 
"You don't trust white people?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"...."
"You're pointing again."
"...."
"That's 'Gone with the Wind.'" 
"Yeah."
"Is that why you're struggling to find a team."
"Yeah."
"Because you don't want to work with White people."
"yeah."
"You're going to have to."
"...."
"Why are you grinning like that." 
"...."
"Stop that, you're weirding me out." 
"...."
"What?"
"White people are the bad guys."
"Is that the big reveal."
"No.  That's pretty obvious."
"So what's the big reveal?"
"...."
"Come on, tell."
"Pay me."
"Damn it."
"Yeah."

Pride and Destiny

Dear Sony, 

As you know 
Destiny 2 is ending.  

Destiny. 
Because of mismanagement on both sides of the line, Destiny 3 is no where to be seen. 
The community wants to rally in one week. 
Reset day. 
Arguably the final reset day. 
I find myself lacking the F.O.M.O. to join.  

I started my journey in Destiny solo.  
Playing catch up to friends.  Only to catch up and find out they were not the people I thought they were.  
So I moved on, went back to work, played other games. 
Destiny 2 came along and I started that journey with people that I thought were my friends. 
But here I am 9 years later and they too were not the people I thought they were. 
So I played solo, checking in with people from time to time trying to build a team to run the hard stuff. To compete in the raid races. 
To explore the universe with. 
And they, too, were not the people I thought they were. 
Then during the Pandemic I was approached by a random person one day.  
Someone that had a Lore based clan.  
That was rare. 
Clans being groups and teams with specific goals and purposes. 
Their goal was to get A title. 
Curse breaker.  

I said.  
"I'll help with that, but if I do. I want to build a team to do that kind of thing on the regular.  A team that helps people where others wouldn't. A non toxic alternative to the gatekeeping so prevalent in LFG culture. Only had 3 real rules for it. 
"Don't be racist, misogynist, or a bigot."
"Leave the toxcicity at the door"
"Don't cheat."
I was ten toes down on those rules.  Everything else would come in time if we built community up right.
Well, then came the bigots and I stood ten toes down defending people I counted as friends. 
And the community let them tear down what we had built, moved on, and left me holding the bag. 
So I started over. 
Tried to build a team, to teach people the hard content, to give them the skills to stand on their own, and to lead their own teams into new raids and dungeons. 

When the time came to do the hard work.  
To lead the way. 
They cheated. 
exploited. 
And copied other teams work instead of solving the puzzles themselves. 
So I just stopped. 
Stopped caring. 
Stopped working for them. 
Stopped supporting them. 
I stopped logging in. 
Stopped playing along. 
Stopped writing the stories about their guardians. 
Stopped sending money to replace their hardware or picking up other games for them to practice their skills in and hone their team work. 
Stopped managing the server. 
And when the toxicos started to show up that they brought thru the door I told them they had to clean their own house. 
And in the end?
I removed the toxicos myself, without explanation. 
Then I removed the cheaters without explanation.
Then, the ones that where left removed themselves and without explination.
And I moved on, to another project because I refuse to poor myself into communities that don't appreciate it anymore.  
Refuse to work for free building up communities for companies and groups that don't appreciate the work that goes into it.
Refuse to pay people that either didn't understand the assignment or did but didn't care enough to do it. 
Especially when I'm working on, literally a shoe string budget. 
Eating Ramen instead of Steak so that I would have the resources to support the community.
Paid out of pocket for everything myself, without the backing of a studio or company.

And with what the larger community is doing now?
They watched as the suits put their knee on the neck of the dev teams and creatives that poured themselves into the game despite the abuse that most of the community flung at them. 
And now that the body is going cold on the street they want to send thoughts and prayers to those very same teams that became jobless because of it. 
They continue to play Call of Duty and support the companies like Activation who created the culture that destroys such unique games. 
The suits behind the bean counters looking at their profit margins, not disappear... just not be unprofitable over the long term.  Their bonuses not be as high as they'd like while they continued to bring in salaries that tripled that of the hardest working coder. Then turn around and pretend that they didn't put the money that should have went into the dev teams and community into their own pockets. While, with full pockets, full bank accounts, and retirement plans that would make Midas blush said that the creatives didn't create enough, the community wasn't engaged enough.  Turned them out on the street when the profits that should have covered the short term slumps became cars, and art, and stock options instead of grocery money and residual payments for the people on who's backs these were built?

So yeah Sony.  

You going to let me put d3 development? 
Are you going to let me hire the team to build it?
Are you going to let me Unionize the teams so that they have a way of pushing back when the suites start to take advantage?  Start to steal from them? 

'cause that's the thing Sony. 
It's pride month. 
And that's the one thing that I and the various communities I built were able to carve out. 
A place where Pride was celebrated. 
A place where people refused to have a knee on their neck. 
A place where young people were safe to be themselves and were taught the critical thinking skills to build their own communities and how to handle the trolls and groomers and bigots that are so prevalent in other gaming communities. 

Don't believe I can do it? 
Look at the success of FFIV, Cyberpunk, No Man's sky, Fallout 76. 
They stuck to their guns despite what the suits had them do at launch. 
Continued to build the games they promised despite community backlash and C-suits pushing things out the door too soon. 
Hell, I think you even backed a couple of those. 
I know for a fact that the spider verse has been holding up their end of the bargain. 

Are you ready to hold up yours?
Because I'm hungry and ready to cook. 
I'm tired but nap when I need to. 
I'm sick, but still have time left.

So yeah Sony. 
Time to put the money where the mouth is. 
Time to build the next chapter. 
And this time.  
With me in the room. 
Instead of playing telephone and watching ya'll fumble what Live Service is supposed to mean and putting the wrong teams on the wrong projects. 
Can't say that last one is in your court. 
After all, you didn't put rocksteady on the Suicide Squad game.
Didn't try to turn simple multiplayer games into "Destiny Killers" 
All I'm asking is for a seat at the table. 
To represent the workers interest. 
And for ya'll to keep doing what you do. 
Make some bad ass hardware and let the creatives create for it. 
Otherwise I take Spidy and walk. 
Don't want to play that card.  
But you know I can.  

Your Move. 

Love
Jack.