Perri Lightfoot
Let's give it a go!
- 173
- Posts
- 16
- Years
- Seen Apr 17, 2022
Recently, I've noticed a change in the ROM Hacking fan community. It started on the Nuzlocke forums and spread quickly to /vp/, and frankly, I'm surprised I haven't seen it spread here (it's only a matter of time, I suppose). An overwhelming attitude of negativity, and an overwhelming preference for "mods" - hacks that change difficulty/add new 'mon or make them all catchable/add in later-gen features like physical/special split without changing tiles, plot, characters, scripts, regions, or anything else of that nature. Of course, there's nothing wrong if that's the sort of hack you prefer - I understand that the sort of thing I do isn't for everyone - but there IS something wrong with this vicious cult of hate that has sprung up. /vp/'s ROM Hacking Generals have turned from a place I actually liked to post in and hang out into an endless circle praising only mod-type games (particularly Blaze Black/Volt White), and labeling anything that tries to do anything different as "fanfiction" (used as an insult, though it shouldn't be), try-hard, and just plain crap (using a very different four letter word there, of course). Pokecommunity is labelled the "Deviantart of ROM hacks," and it's not a compliment. The Nuzlocke forum threads tearing into Ruby Destiny and the like started this trend - now it seems to so many people I see in my travels online; if you're not a Sideshow Showcase type of hacker, you're crap and your work is crap.
As someone who makes a "fanfiction" hack, this is incredibly disheartening and very, very sad. I don't expect everyone to like everything, and of course /vp/, being part of 4chan, is hardly going to be a bastion of positive feelings, but it didn't used to be like this. There used to be room for both styles of hack, not just one. It's frustrating to see attitudes change so fast based on whims, and it certainly doesn't inspire me to work on Super Rising Thunder. I'm not saying my work is perfect - God only knows it's not - but hacks in the Showcase shouldn't be written off without a moment's notice. The stories can be good. The scripts spectacular. The gameplay fun. The mapping attractive. I suppose I just want to go back to the old days, where you weren't written off immediately for not making a Sideshow Showcase-type hack, to ROM Hack Generals ROM Hackers like myself would actually want to post in. Suppose I just needed to get this off my chest...
As someone who makes a "fanfiction" hack, this is incredibly disheartening and very, very sad. I don't expect everyone to like everything, and of course /vp/, being part of 4chan, is hardly going to be a bastion of positive feelings, but it didn't used to be like this. There used to be room for both styles of hack, not just one. It's frustrating to see attitudes change so fast based on whims, and it certainly doesn't inspire me to work on Super Rising Thunder. I'm not saying my work is perfect - God only knows it's not - but hacks in the Showcase shouldn't be written off without a moment's notice. The stories can be good. The scripts spectacular. The gameplay fun. The mapping attractive. I suppose I just want to go back to the old days, where you weren't written off immediately for not making a Sideshow Showcase-type hack, to ROM Hack Generals ROM Hackers like myself would actually want to post in. Suppose I just needed to get this off my chest...