This came from Spond!Max, who I'm sure you all know from the MythDev/PlayMyth team:
It's about that time. I've been thinking for about some time now about packing it in and saying goodbye to Myth to return to what I was doing before it came along. I never was a gamer before. No Nintendo, no Atari, nothing like that. I always liked Risk and chess, but that was just for rainy days. Never considered putting a game on our computer. It was for educational purposes only. I got involved with Myth originaly while working at a big national ISP as a systems/network/database guy. This was before the dot-com boom and all that, when these things were separated out. We were called "Computer Operators" then. A customer of ours who was a TFL beta tester complained of poor network latency on his brand new top-of-the-line 33.6k modem. I couldn't help the guy, but promised that as soon as a demo or the full version was available, I'd check it out on one of the machines in the lab. Online gaming was pretty new, so we thought that the best way to troubleshoot was to see the relationship between the game and the network. I wound up testing ... a lot. I actually got paid for my first few hundred Myth games on b.net.
Now here I am, years later, tons of hours spent on community stuff. Stuff I've gotten thanks for, and I know people appreciated, and some which others didn't like so much. Goes to show you can't please everyone. Still, I was compelled to try, and I had fun doing it all. I learned a lot about other cultures, other political systems, other belief systems, and all kinds of stuff due to the thousands of players I've interacted with over the years from all corners of the globe.
I've learned new words like 'stratergery' and 'floyn' and 'zerk'. I've learned new meanings for phrases like 'carpet bombing' and 'fetch clapping' and 'gimble in the wabe'. I've seen the best human qualities come out, like when we all rallied in support of King Friday with his battle with cancer, Ar-Isildur with his, and Chia with his car wreck, and many more examples. I've mourned with players after the loss of loved ones. We've lost players and mourned. My daughter has found love playing Myth. I even like the kid (fathers of little girls will appreciate that). Friendships have been formed which last and last.
All of this I've seen and experienced with a keyboard, a mouse, a computer, and a piece of software put out by Bungie. This still boggles my mind. It's just ones and zeros arranged in such a way to make an environment populated by monsters, within which people from all over the world can interact. It's so much more though, and there are plans which are being carried out even now to further enhnace and expand the Myth universe. I have no doubt that the game will return to it's former glory, and a lot of the 'old guard' will return.
My plans don't include -the- plans though. Mine are to go back to my studies, picking up where I left off years ago. I've enjoyed staffing the numerous tourneys, and staffing at various community entities over the years. However, I think I've done enough, and it's time to stop ignoring my studies which I had put 20 years into before I started along this merry journey. It's good to see the community survive still, and to know that it will continue to survive and much more. I wish -everyone- ... the reggers, the g's, the wwii'ers, TFLers, SBers, TWAers, coop'ers, mapmakers, scripters, and all those who can find the time to enjoy all of the above and more, all the folks I've worked with, and even anyone who I called bad names, all the best, gl n hf. Treat each other well. Peace.