Wow... I just spent the last 44 minutes reading all this, so, what has Old Man Affy missed??
Sorry I've been busy with RL getting whacked upside my old head with a blindsided company-wide layoff from my cushy formerly high-paying RL job so I have been distracted. Seems my whole life the past 2 years has been ONE big distraction with Mrs. Affy's woes and now my own. I am going to make a few comments and I hope my 8-9 years playing Quantum and donating $$ gives me a little right to do so.
My personal compliments to Teyla, whatever your reasons, needs, passions your whole-hearted fired up fight to do what you think is fair or right for all the Q-server is something that this game/server/'Q-munity' (GD I am jealous and WISH this crazy old fool came up with THAT moniker!) consantly needs to stay fresh, alive, and ripe with the feeling that we are ALWAYS, always trying to establish and maintain a greatly self-policed cooperative spirited community of 'as fair-as-possible' competitive play in a game that by its very most interesting aspects reeks of ways and means to permeate unfair playing grounds. The fact that even WAY WAY back we came up with ways that players could come into an Era 20-30 days in and still compete attest to that.
- I have had SO many RL distractions lately I have not been able to stay up with all that is going on the last 8-9 Eras. Mrs. Affy almost dying really messed up my brain. SO, I have no sure opinion of if Teyla and the work of the Game Cops (which we all asked/begged for by the way) came up with valid evidence.
What I do know is this: Affy thanks you all for your work, passion, and attempts to try and find ways and means to keep the game of Q as fair and as honestly competitive as possible. Your efforts have not gone unnoticed or unappreciated by this old fool!
(Jack, Crixus, and all others who have served, My thanks for all these reasons and more!)
Now, whether the Admins agree or see it the same way as those of use who have years and years of observable and measurable experience with all the changes, modifications, rule alterations, additions, that the many versions of self-policed Quantum community has begged, pleaded, demanded, has ALWAYS been at best a 50/50 proposition. Is this right, or wrong, or fair? No could be one answer, to all of us who have donated, played, griped, whined, moaned, and stuck it out for many many Eras. Or Yes, to those of us who it worked out in our favor, came and went for brief periods of time, played for a year, had RL knocjk you on your azz so you left for 5-6 Eras, then came back again. As it has seemed for this old fool, the good has balanced out the bad over the years! I have chosen personally to RIDE OUT THE BAD TIMES, because I just cannot, for whatever jealous reasons, give up on enjoying the GOOD times... I am addicted to Quantum, and the friendships of you all it has been my utmost honor and privilege to find and enjoy lo these many funny, crazy, irritating, and joyful Eras.
I am sorry I did not respond to Teyla's PM and make my personal wishes known. This issue, like the feeding, I always try to error on the side of what I 'think' will save/grow/perpetuate the Quantum Server game. I also know I would have been torn if the evidence pointed to Hippy being an actual cheater, because a Q server with Hippy in it is what I believe in my heart is best for the server! I wussied out (blaming it on my RL distractions) and decided to remain uncommittal and did not sign the petition either way. It was easy for me to abstain, but in the same thought I felt like I was also hurting the Q game by NOT having a strong opinion. Here is why I say that:
- Without us having strong opinions, and making a choice to be known, the game suffers.
- Without us making friends, allies, enemies, and being actively involved, the game suffers.
- Without a strong Forum, and having heated discussions, the game suffers.
- Without those of us like this old fart, and Hippy, and other Legends who push the boundaries every Era the game suffers.
- Without having those who 'watch the Legends' and call us on our BS, the game suffers.
And most of all, without us all admitting that we have all at one time or another, bent, stretched, tweaked, or considered ways to get a competitive edge in this insane Q server game, then we are fooling ourselves and are not human. Without this competitive fire, the GAME WOULD SUFFER.
I, Affirmation, in my former earlier years have cheated several times. Many times it was what I thought was 'tactical intellectual advantages' I would find (or my friends/allies would discover and relay to me) only to find that it was alter deemed as 'unfair' and rules were altered to prevent the situation from happening in future Eras. Yes, I have pouted, whined, railed against the Gods of Q and Admins, and others who strangely did NOT agree with me, but I would admit my mistakes and everyone has always forgiven me. I would HAVE to do the same for Hippy or anyone in a similar situation or else I would have to quit in shame. I also once got banned, as Lord Khnum, and lost my original Quantum account. For what? you ask Old man Affy?? (The horrors...) I played in an Alliance of players who once again, stretched the rules and tried to find advantages in the Era rules at that time, and when the Alliance leader was caught Multi-ing, mine and my son's Quantum accounts got permanently banned. I could still not stay away from Q so I came back as Affirmation. Was it fair or just I got 'banned by association' as I whined about for months?? (Admins banned every account in that Alliance, as some douche-bag couple of Admin's buddies claimed that we were all the same one or two players) but, I finally accepted it and moved on.
There are all kinds of reasons, circumstances, and methods that seem reasonable at first but later are just found to be WAY TO MUCH of a fair competitive advantage to allow that behavior to continue. Hence we plead, moan, make our case and the rules of Quantum change (like a 'fart in the wind' Old Man Affy has often referred to Quantum rules) but the community has sustained a decent reasonable insanely intriguing fun playing field for over 8 plus years. So, we have done SOMETHING right, and conversely, have done many things WRONG along the way.
It has always boiled down to the 'spirit' and intentions of all those involved. I believe strongly the reason Quantum has survived is that no matter WHAT the facts, the spirit of Q survives in us all.
Lastly, Old Man Affy will vouch for Hippy with my very game presence. If Hippy is found to be bad for the Quantum Server, then so be it. But, in the ONLY quantitative means I have of vouching for his staying in the game (irregardless of what recent Admins choose or choose Not to do) if my fellow gamers, Q-munity members deem that Hippy is unfit to play, then I am unfit to stay and play. Why? Because I have always played in the same style of Hippy, HE, and other 'Q mentors' although I am embarrassed that their help never seemed to achieve success through Affy and my often stupid play, HA. I believe (like my brainy irritating genius son who plays Q) that Hippy has a mathematical mind and is a student of the coding of Quantum. We often start Eras analyzing the holy crap out of the math/formulas of the new Era and its special feature, and hence coming up with strategies to take advantage of it. I used to always login and go online with Chat (Now Skype crap or whatever its called) and we would play online while chatting back and forth. A lot of the circumstantial evidence being used to beat Hippy down, well, you would have to ban Affy also. It is not uncommon for 7 or 8 or more of us from different Alliances to be talking and coordinating spy results, attack results, and giving hints to our other friends about what is going on with other players. Sometimes I go online just because I see from my Skype/chat that many players are active or potentially online. If playing collusively with other players is unfair, then that defeats the very reasons for making friends/allies. And as for following intellectual bug chasing pursuits, I know of at least 3 buggy Eras we created new accounts JUST to test bugs. Can I truthfully say I NEVER went back and logged into that account later to spy or mess with someone, well, if I did I would be lying.
Is it right that I ask/beg all of you to 'TRUST' me when I say I usually did illegal things for the good of the game or bug testing, I only have my reputation and your combined experiences playing alongside me Era after Era to vouch for me. I place MY trust and respect in all of you, those who have played Era and Era, to allow me to play with you. Respect/leadership is NOT a manifest destined right, it is ONLY granted by those of the community. I exist, play, stay in this game because YOU all grant me this right, and I try to do my best to keep/earn that respect.
I have to give Hippy the same respect. He has always helped others, used a majority of his math skills and talents to further the game overall, and who am I to judge the few times he may get a competitive bone and decide to use his skills or intellectual advantages to enjoy success in the Era. If he has to go, then I have to go.
Again I appreciate all of the people involved and your passions, I am sorry I rambled and this is such a long post, but, I am after all, just Affy.
I love you all, and am glad for the camaraderie you have all given to me over the years, my wish for you is peace, harmony, health, the ability to vent and then recover, and eventually move on but also keep the fire of your competitive passion alive and then login to Q and mass the crap out of some unexpecting Noob, and then turn around and help him/her play better in Q and understand all our crazy unwritten rules...
P.S. To those of you who do not play Quantum and chose to chime in, go eat sour farts in some other overly opinionated hell for people who don't really have a valid opinion but choose to barf words out anyways, but you are however, also protected by the right of all to have a say in the Forums. You know who you are...
This is the only negative thing I have to say. (Affy does not go over into your Server Forums and take a verbal dump in your yard... for instance.)
'Bad Affy' sez, When Affy comes back to the Forums, boring long posts abound... ](./images/smilies/eusa_wall.gif "Brick wall")
There's also a direct response to you in the lower part of this post, but that pertains to the investigation and thus I felt it was better if I place it there.
