An Interview with the Founder

[Support]

I was sought out and asked if I would be willing to be interviewed around StarGatewars - out of the blue, out of time and with no context.
Before agreeing to sharing, or an interview, I wanted to know. Why are you doing this? What are you after.
Yes, I felt compelled to interview the interviewer. In their own words, this is what they said. And the interview, in a simplified format, follows.
This is the first installment. More questions, and more answers, will follow, in time.
Well done, Intrepid Reporter. You have my blessing, and my thanks.

As a player of SGW and member of the community since November 2005, I have witnessed this game produce something significantly meaningful to the large number of players who have passed through - certainly for myself at least.

The strategy/design of the game, political structure of the administration, involvement of the forum community, the old MSN communication, connection to SG-1, and personal relationships created as a result, all combined to produce something that 21 years later - though many are no longer around - continues to keep us drawn to it.

During my personal time ingame, I have been involved in several alliances, multiple servers (Quantum, Chaos, Main) - and had the privilege of interacting with hundreds of legends of the game’s history. My role and desire has always been that of a watcher, a gatherer of information.

Though ingame activity has gone up and down over the course of its time, the passage time overall seems to have had an unfortunate effect on the total number of players. With this, it is my worry that many of the legends, stories, experiences, laughs, and memories will be gone with no hopes to recapture them. There have been significant efforts by some over the last years to continue the strength of the game and its community, and I am happy to say that we are seeing an increase in active players, and channels of communication that have evolved to meet current standards.

We are all well aware and don't need to be told that the impact of this game spanned countries, languages, ages, years, etc. Many relationships created still exist to this day. At this point, many of the histories of the game are being lost with time, and while there are many like myself who are interested - there aren't many left around who can pass on information. Nearly 21 years after it all began - just because all of our lives look much different now than they did back then - this cannot be simply lost to time.

With this overarching concern of lost legends, I was fortunate enough to come in contact with the original administrator of the game - Jason. Known sometimes as J, sometimes as Admin Jason - but known mostly as Forum.

The following will be an attempt to encapsulate the story as told from the original creator - intent, design, inspiration, struggles, learnings, achievements, evolvement, things witnessed, and beyond.

Wherever you are, I hope that this finds you well.


-Intrepid Reporter

Thank you for taking the time and effort to find me, and ask me about what was a large part of my life -starting almost 25 years ago.
GateWars (originally StarGateWars) was a project that I loved doing, learned a TON while doing it, and grew bigger, and much more quickly, than I could have anticipated.
Overall, I did my best to provide not just the game, but a space for the community to inhabit and interact. The game was the core, but it became bigger than that.
Over time, I also had to clarify -mostly to myself- my role in that space. And as much as possible, that role was an unbiased and somewhat removed maintainer and builder of that virtual universe.
I had proved to myself I could not be unbiased, if not somewhat removed... and from there, with that clarity of role and purpose, I began what I would consider the 'real' job of building and running the GateWars universe, providing for, and dedicated to, the residents therein. For me, that is when this stopped being a game/project - and became a responsibility.
So while I answer questions, keep in mind that intentions, perspectives, desires and motivations did change throughout the life-cycle of the game --as both it, and I, matured.

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QUESTION: What was your motivation behind creating the game?

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There was many reasons I chose to do a game, as well as many for why 'this game'.
The catalyst for me, was other games. I found deficiencies in all online text-based role playing games I played (my favorite genre at the time). And I thought, "even I could do better than this.".
I conveniently ignored the fact that I had only beginner level coding skills, no database skills, and no real programming or design experience. But I had vision! A natural affinity to coding language. And a life-long stubbornness and persistence that does not let me give up on anything until I can succeed, no matter how many obstacles are present. This quality is critical, but can be really annoying to both me and those around me.

As far as why 'this game' - I fell in love with StarGate. The interweaving of mythology, religion, history, science, and humanity as a whole - was brilliant. Exploration and space. Advanced technology. Race specific strengths and culture. All of it. So, for me, the desire to make a better game, and the background of an all encompassing, universe-wide, multi-racial, futuristic and science driven fabric --was all it took. From that point on, there was really no other option. I was committed. It was no longer my 'choice' - it was destiny. It had already happened - just not yet.

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QUESTION: I wonder what truly kept you motivated at evolving/moderating?

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As I mentioned earlier, both the game and I matured. I had a steep learning curve on the technical side. I had to learn programming, database design and use, networking, server management, unix, -and on and on. I also had a growing user population that was the end-user of all of that learning. And a growing sense of obligation to serve that population. I was always thankful and grateful and humbled by the user population. That I never forgot. That was the start.
As far as continual improvements - the technical side - bug fixes, optimization, etc - that just went with learning. The functional improvements - those I was pulled, not pushed, to keep doing. I had a vision of what I wanted, that did evolve as well, but was always many steps ahead of what time or skills allowed. So I kept chasing it. That vision was fueled and filtered through the feedback from the user community, a steering influence, but was always there.
Plus - I really really enjoyed it. I love making things, period. And my skills are far better suited to building virtual universes over, say, bunk beds (though I am proud of my bed build too!).
The moderating I did because it was needed. I have a strong sense of 'fair' - and if I am responsible for a space, I will do what I can to ensure that sense of fairness is a part of the fabric. Honestly, this part was done out of necessity opposed to desire. As much as I have strong likes and dislikes (and neutrals) - I also acknowledge that some things just simply need to happen for the larger picture to maintain focus and coherency.

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QUESTION: How did you decide on setting up a hierarchy of administration/moderation?

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The moderator structure was a combination of resources (ie willing participants) available, tools available (forum, email, chats, etc), and an iterative collaboration with said resources, and my ability to evolve the tools to support the structure and process.
After the initial structuring of the setup, I left most control with the 'top layer' of moderators. They would work together to establish rules, protocols, decision making routines, and so on. They would structure the tools and interfaces. They would elect, train and manage the structure of tools and resources underneath them (do not like that word 'underneath' but works as a descriptor).
So really, I worked with those willing to get things started, and from there it was self-managed (from my perspective - 100% not 'self-managed' from those working in it). Even now, I have to express huge 'thanks' to all involved on this front. I could not have done it myself.

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QUESTION: What skills/experience did you bring to the table, what did you take away from it?

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This one is huge. I came in having recently learned some html, based database queries, working knowledge of javascript, and a some perl. I had run one other game before, that I had acquired from the developer in Taiwan, who was running it on a PC in his house. It was failing, unstable and unscalable. And I loved that game. So I felt obliged to give it new life. Which I did, and from which I got most of the experience I could bring to GateWars. It was woefully inadequate
As far as what I took away - a whole lot more. Over time -especially the first 6 months, and lesser so the first 2 years, I learned a TON. I cannot even begin to express how much, how quickly, and how often I felt overwhelmed. But - I always had 'just one more task' to do, to make things better. And usually, no idea how to do it. And so I learned. And learned. And learned. Until I could do it. And did do it.
I remember there was another game developer around the same time that also started a new text based multiplayer game around the same time. I kept tabs, as the similarity was pretty strong, from what I could see (not the game itself, but the platform, growth, etc). I think if I did not hold on as tight as I did to the goals and vision - my fate would have been closer to his. He ended up blaming his player base for ruining his marriage, his life, and going on crazy insulting rants at his user population before imploding the entire setup. While I could not actually imagine myself doing that exactly - the speed and responses required to keep things more or less 'on the rails' was significant, and I guess not everyone in a similar position would be (or was) able to hold on tight enough. So - learn or die. I learned. He died.

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QUESTION: Where did the idea first come from?

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I am ideas. The more relevant question is 'why this idea'. And that, again, comes back to my falling in love with the entire StarGate fabric. And the idea to 'do it' - from the lack of a game that was already doing it. And my desire to see one in existence. To not have a GateWars type game - would have been a disservice to the entire world's population. So - somebody had to.

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QUESTION: Would you have done anything differently?

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Yes and no. I don't think I had much choice at the time, as to how things unrolled. From the point that things 'took off' - it was as much reacting and trying to keep on top of things, as best I could. To build out the vision without breaking everything while doing so. To keep the community involved in the process. And bring in the resources and knowledge needed to do all that. So - even today - I do not think there was really 'a different way'.
That said - there are some actions or decisions that in hindsight could have been better, or delivered in a better way. There were some actions that would have and should have happened earlier than they did, before damage was done. And there are some paths I still wish I could try, that lack of time/skill/support left un-walked. but - such is 'The Unbearable Lightness Of Being', as one author put it.
So - no. Things happened as they had to happen. I really was a passenger, or so it felt, and things went where they did. Where they must have gone. Like a rocket - once lit - steering is limited. And I accepted that I just happened to be sitting on said rocket, after having somewhat accidentally lit it.

[~nyx~]

wow he lives :O

[MajorLeeHurts]

learn or die. I learned. He died.

Well done!!

Cant wait for more

[InR]

nice!

[Field Marshall]

Wow, biggest thing to happen on this forum for 10 years

Oooo look, pokey stick emotes!