Appreciation

[Geoffrey S]

EB 1.0 has been released. After many years and countless personal hours invested by a dedicated group of creators this epic mod is officially past its beta stage. The mod alters every aspect of RTW, ranging over hundreds of new units, thousands of lines of scripting, stunning new music and an unprecedented attempt at recreating classical languages. I don't think I've ever seen such a massive effort in modmaking, and though I wait patiently for the day I once more have a computer to actually play EB again I'm extremely impressed by what has been achieved. Earlier versions of EB have provided some of the best enjoyment I've had from computer games and 1.0 looks set to continue that.

Which makes it all the more surprising to me to see some of the reactions to the release of 1.0. EB has a large fanbase, that much has been made clear over the years. This fanbase has consistently been kept as informed as is reasonably possible, through individual posts by members to previews leading to superlatives from many fans. Yet when the mod is released it appears there is disappointment that certain aspects aren't exactly as expected. New Roman models, balancing of stats, necessity of a seperate EDU for custom battles; to be honest, I couldn't care less what the issues are exactly, and I'm sure in a number of cases there are issues waiting to be solved. What I can't fathom is the graceless and thankless way in which the EB team is being notified about such matters and the reactions. Demands for changes and frankly rude criticism is met by equally one-sided 'defense' from others, a number of topics on potentially worthwhile subjects devolving into irrelevancy within a day. At times, angry reactions from EB members fuel the fire, but I can honestly understand the bewilderment at the reaction their hard work has garnered from various members of the community.

I used to find this area of the .org a pleasnt place to follow the progress of my favourite mod and view extremely interesting posts and debates on many aspects of the classical world; now, I hesitate to click on new topics (often on old subjects dragged up yet again) as the appear or after seeing that particular people have posted. Why? What is so difficult about phrasing queries in a civil manner? How hard can it be to think about the relevancy of a comment before posting? I'm losing track of the amount of times I've had to bite my tongue and hold back from replying to certain posts, and I'll be the first to admit that I haven't always succeeded.

So think. Think how you'd feel reading your own posts as a member, and in particular think what a consistent lack of appreciation could mean for members of the mod. Voicing an opinion is fine, but please try to be polite about it.

/rant

Edit: I suppose I should make this clear. The majority of posts have been fine. This is aimed for the larger part at those that aren't, and at heated reactions to them. Both disrupt innocent subjects.