Apology to all

[Coolboyman]

Well IMO, You don't need to apoligise, I understand that people on the forum are sometimes young but it honestly wouldn't kill them to take an educated guess and ask INTELLIGENT questions instead of posting a million and one unrelated things. And to be brash, part of the rom-hacking threads have gone to the depths of the earth, the others full of so much impecible... Garbage, to use a light term, that it makes it depressing.

I've fully supported you all the way and when I see your replies in some threads I just think: "He does have a point, if they download a tool they should at least read how to use it or mess about till it works." But alas, the world doesn't work like that... unfortunatally.

Even if you think ROM Hacking in general sucks now, that doesn't mean you can't do your own part to help it out. I started when ROM Hacking was taboo to mention ANYWHERE. Seriously, I remember people thinking I was one of those hackers that stole identities and such when I mentioned ROM Hacking. It's come a long way since the last decade, but it still has a long way to go. Even if you don't hack, you can explain what ROM hacking is to people you know, show them the true potential of ROM hacking and get them to appreciate, dare I say it... this artform. So this goes for everyone, if you think ROM Hacking is crappy now, don't just complain about it, do something about it.

Thanks for the support of course!

I haven't used this account in at least a year, but I saw this thread and immediately felt like it's something worth my time to comment on.
(That, and we use to talk a bit on MSN, but I doubt you remember. What's it been, a couple years at least?)

Actually, the arrogance and smug attitude is what attracted me to you. I mean, you had the right to be. You seemed to be the only one on PC out of a few that actually exercised skills that the ROM Hacking community was built around. It may have stabbed your ego a bit because you decided to hack a game in a community based on people that just used AdvanceMap to get what they want. I started to feel the same elitism after I left hacking PKMN and moved on to other games/consoles. I started hanging out with phenomenal hackers. interdpth, Sliver-X, kuja_killer, Gideon Zhi, etcetera. Right before the transition though, I remember I had vented to HackMew about "people are all noobs with tools". He preached something along the lines of "People are only human, we needs tools to help lessen the blows of mistakes". I realized right then that I was only being selfish.

I am glad I eventually came over it, and realized that the wealth should just be shared and spread around. Especially after I just stopped hacking. It felt like a waste of time. I had all this data mapped out from various games, but no one was looking at it except me. Lurking around here recently again had me noticing the "Research & Development", and I am very glad to see this. Two years later and we are moving forward as a team instead of trying to one-up each other and keep secrets.

I am sorry to hear about the loss of a friendship. I commemorate you on posting this, it does take courage, and it looks like you've come to terms with what was in your head all these years. It is inspirational to me, because even I still forget quite often that besides the spiders and bots, there are humans on the internet. Can't be a dick all the time.. and life offers many open doors to those that are nice.

Keep up the good work man. I never did get to play that final dungeon in Brown, time to fire it up.

PS: I think you should still exercise a little bit of an elitist. You've earned it. Oh, and sorry if this post is jumbled. Running off two days with no sleep. :P

Thanks for those kind words. One of the main reasons I want to be less of a jerk is because some people see me as a role model. I find that unbelievable, but I looked up to a couple of jerks myself as role models in the ROM Hacking Community (I won't name names), and they gave me the impression that this kind of behavior was OK. It's not OK, and it was never OK. I don't want people thinking that this kind of behavior is acceptable just because I do it and they look up to me like I did with a few others.

As for the friendship thing, as far as I know he's finally going to stop sending me threatening emails. He will not go out of his way to ruin my reputation, he'll stop blaming me for the actions of others which I have no control over and finally leave me alone. Better be for real this time too. I know there's a good person inside of him, I experienced it when I was working with him early this year. To see him just turn into... this... is just devastating for me.

Good to know. ^^ I have noticed that you are sometimes quite bitter- I should know, I've experienced it once- but I understand why. It much be frustrating getting asked obvious questions, people asking the same question etc. I can't remember what I said to annoy you, but I'm fairly sure it was something stupid so I apologise, and I wasn't too offended either. Nevertheless, it's nice that you apologised to everyone you might have offended and I'm glad you're going to be more tolerant when people ask "simple and repetitive questions". You're one of my favourite ROM hackers (Brown and Prism are amazing, in my opinion), and honestly, you're an inspiration.

Now, finish Prism and apology accepted. Just joking. :P I can wait, and you should just finish it at your own pace. ;)

Thanks! I don't remember being rude to you either, but I've done it to so many people that I've lost count.

---------------

On a somewhat unrelated note, I'll be on the Pokecommunity Podcast this weekend. So give that a good listen when it's out and if you have the time! I'll mention some new stuff about Prism's next release, and talk about other game related things I'm up to.

 

[Chimchar 9]

I accept your apology for not saying thank you when I sent you a birthday message. xD

I also really admire you coming here making a thread and saying all this, it means a lot. Even though I didn't really speak to you, but I saw some of your posts and I was like "uhh.. okay, that's a bit harsh" xD

But, well done for you to have this bravery while writing this. ;)

 

[Full Metal]

Well...I've learned my lesson. A while back he posted something about 3D and DS-game map editing and such...I posted right back. Really, nobody has any business judging anybody else...yeah. So, for us to stand back and say "Good job!" and give him a pat on the back is really cocky and arrogant, as if to say we don't have faults like that ourselves. And secondly I know that if I posted something like this, and lots of people said that, I would feel like crap. Seriously people, quit being hypocrites. If you're going to post something about morality, try to think about it first. I've looked at this thread three times and decided not to post what I wanted to say, but I think people need to hear this. [ and fyi CBM - I didn't think you were a douche, that post was just me being angry/offended, and I regret writing that to this day.]

 

[RHIOneAlbum]

Weird... I really liked your attitude at times, while it may have come off strong, you have never lied. Rom Hacking DOES need a lot of improvement, however the rants I've seen by people like you aren't the way to solve it.

I appreciate your apology, but I hope you still believe what you used to, because it is true :). I don't mean offense to anybody in that, I think everybody has potential, we just need to teach them right so we can get out of gen iii hacking and into gen iv finally.

 

[Maxim]

Being nice to people? I've tried it once. Nothing cool.

Just be yourself. Welcoming everyone with a forced smile will get you nowhere. People who can think clearly will always recognize posing from the real thing. The life isn't a movie, you don't have to play roles. If you fool yourself, you also fool others...

But if you feel that your change is real, then go ahead, I'm not stopping you. But I generally agree with what House MD says. People don't change.

Remember to just be yourself every day in every situation. Fooling others (and yourself) by forcing sweet-n'-friendly attitude can give you only a temporary success. And you'll never be satisfied of it. Because you can't be happy if all your successes are based on a lie, which you must constantly maintain. Acting as if you were someone else than you really are isn't a good way of living. Only foolish people go this way.

I can't make choices for you. I'm just giving you a hint on what is good for yourself, but it's your life and your choices, which should not be dictated by what others want. Being forcefully friendly will give you only fake friends. And having fake friends is worse than having enemies. TRUTH and your knowledge of it is what really matters. Truth is the biggest value. Don't change your lifestyle into a big lie.

What matters to me is that you're an amazing hacker and that you WILL finish Prism one day. And I appreciate it no matter what.

Maxim,
a long-time *******

 

[Coolboyman]

Being nice to people? I've tried it once. Nothing cool.

Just be yourself. Welcoming everyone with a forced smile will get you nowhere. People who can think clearly will always recognize posing from the real thing. The life isn't a movie, you don't have to play roles. If you fool yourself, you also fool others...

But if you feel that your change is real, then go ahead, I'm not stopping you. But I generally agree with what House MD says. People don't change.

Remember to just be yourself every day in every situation. Fooling others (and yourself) by forcing sweet-n'-friendly attitude can give you only a temporary success. And you'll never be satisfied of it. Because you can't be happy if all your successes are based on a lie, which you must constantly maintain. Acting as if you were someone else than you really are isn't a good way of living. Only foolish people go this way.

I can't make choices for you. I'm just giving you a hint on what is good for yourself, but it's your life and your choices, which should not be dictated by what others want. Being forcefully friendly will give you only fake friends. And having fake friends is worse than having enemies. TRUTH and your knowledge of it is what really matters. Truth is the biggest value. Don't change your lifestyle into a big lie.

What matters to me is that you're an amazing hacker and that you WILL finish Prism one day. And I appreciate it no matter what.

Maxim,
a long-time *******

If you saw what I had to deal with, you'd understand why I made this thread. I'll just be myself of course, just be less of a jerk.

Weird... I really liked your attitude at times, while it may have come off strong, you have never lied. Rom Hacking DOES need a lot of improvement, however the rants I've seen by people like you aren't the way to solve it.

I appreciate your apology, but I hope you still believe what you used to, because it is true :). I don't mean offense to anybody in that, I think everybody has potential, we just need to teach them right so we can get out of gen iii hacking and into gen iv finally.

Yep, my stance is the same, I'm just not going to yell at people and such.

I do not know you, neither have I ever talked to you, CBM, but after seeing this post, I gained a newfound respect for you. It seems that on many arenas on the internet that require any esoteric knowledge be it politics, science or anything else (especially game modding websites), there are always the veterans who distance themselves away from the noobs that abound the forums with improper grammar and the lack of using a search function. I personally have always tried to be cautious around moderators and the experts, but nevertheless I have almost always noticed their elitist attitude.

It is a huge step both in my personal understanding of the world and also for the Pokemon ROM hacking community to have such a "veteran hacker" as yourself come down from the hard-earned pedestal both publicly and dramatically. A post of yours I read just a few minutes ago, where you remark on "losing faith in humanity" because of simple things as annoying newbies who cannot file proper bug reports, is understandable from my point of view: I, by nature, have oft sided with the elitists, albeit it is ironic because I, too, am a newbie. I have always held a scorn for what was in my mind "fellow newbies" who could not respectfully ask questions, who demanded answers and easy tutorials and tools, who never took time to really find an answer to their questions. Until today, every comment of yours laced with contempt and irritation and pretentiousness, I accepted unquestioningly, thinking as others did that you had the right to do so.

But of course, when you think about it, PokeCommunity is a big, big, big forum/website that is teeming with people in just the Emulation section alone. In my derision for other newbies came a realization that I know nothing of these people; the person who did not use the search function could be a grade-schooler who was just inspired by a ROM and was filled with dreams of making games in the future. It could be the teenager who lost their parents and decided to turn to something distracting on the Internet. Or, like myself, it could be a socially isolated kid who stumbled upon ROM hacking after relieving the nostalgia of his/her old childhood games.

In American vernacular, it would have taken you "balls of steel" to do such a thing in person and much more on this forum, seeing that you are [or seem to be] quite popular and revered amongst newbies, experienced hackers, and other "veteran hackers" alike. And perhaps you may not have ever came to notice your condescending attitude had you not gotten in conflict with your friend [on a side note, I hope that situation works out for you]. But thank divine providence that you did, because it is not only nice, just, and the right thing to do, but it is ****ing REFRESHING to see someone so knowledgable in an area reconciling with less-skilled hackers and commoners alike.

To wrap it up, I commend you for setting an example that I have, on a personal basis, almost never seen. It also helps me realize I have no right, morally and on merit, to look down on other newbies. The best thing we can do is to set good examples and create a chain of order so that when a newcomer comes here, he can see how things are done and be compelled and inspired to follow the rules.

P.S. I hope that you are more approachable in the future because despite your immense contribution of information and knowledge regarding first and second generation hacking, there will always be questions that will be asked, and there will always be people needing further explanations regardless of how clear and simple you make it. And lastly I hope this renewed attitude does not go away, because it would be a great loss to the community and your supporters.

P.P.S. I also commend you for that comment about rap being popular in the U.S..
Damn, my whole post is so melodramatic. :|

Thanks. I'll try to be more approachable, but I've been really busy so everyone, please understand if it takes me a while to answer your questions.

 

[JLacasse]

I don't read everything on the threads but I come back to your Pokemon Prism page every once in a while to to see if there is an update on the game because it's a very good game you got started there.

 

[FinalZero]

I want to say that as tool writer, I sympathize with frustrations that you've had. Most people are not good at writing error reports, and don't try searching for answers before posing a question. It is annoying. Pokecommunity has additional hurdles that must be overcome as well: Many people here are rather young and know nothing about computers, much less any programming or hacking. Many have poor English as well. Perhaps the most disconcerting is the high turn-over rate, so the field always seems to be filled with newbies.

However, I did think that your attitude was more hostile than necessary, and I'm glad that you've realized so and've decided to change it.

I am glad I eventually came over it, and realized that the wealth should just be shared and spread around. Especially after I just stopped hacking. It felt like a waste of time. I had all this data mapped out from various games, but no one was looking at it except me. Lurking around here recently again had me noticing the "Research & Development", and I am very glad to see this. Two years later and we are moving forward as a team instead of trying to one-up each other and keep secrets.

Indeed, this secretive attitude needs to die. It's very annoying to want to implement something that you know can be done in a hack, but be unable to do so because someone else doesn't want you "stealing" "their" idea.

* * *

Anyways, I can't wait 'till Prism's finished! I'm sure it'll be awesome!

 

[robxu9]

What am I apologizing about? My attitude on this site since the beginning.

I encountered a bad event with an individual about two weeks ago with someone who was very elitist, and it has opened my eyes on my own wrongdoings. I never intended to be elitist, smug or arrogant. I just feel like Pokemon hacking in general has so much untapped potential, that I expressed my emotions in an inappropriate way.

This also applies to the people asking "stupid" questions on my hack threads. Some of my fans are very young, some of my fans may have mental disabilities that they can't help themselves, and many of my fans don't have English as their first language so they might have a tough time understanding my instructions I appreciate ALL of my fans, even though I usually don't reply to people as often as I should.

I do not own Pokemon hacking, then again nobody does. You can make whatever kind of hack you like. Doesn't mean I'll like it, but then again that really shouldn't matter to you. Make the kind of hack YOU want to make. I'm making Prism the way I want it to be made, then will distance myself from Pokemon hacking afterwards to focus solely on game development.

Pokemon hacking is not a waste of time regardless of what people might have told you. Yeah it's a waste of time if all you're going to do is get a program to put a bunch of level 100 legendaries on Route 1 and make the first city sell Masterballs for free, but it just matters how you approach it. Pokemon has taught me so much on how a game is put together. The right ways and the wrong ways. I can apply Gamefreak's game design and programming concepts towards my own game. Without Pokemon, I wouldn't be majoring in Computer Science, have the goal of being a professional game programmer and working on game projects. So yeah, even though Pokemon is stupid kids stuff to many people, it changed my life for the better because I approached it differently than most people.

I'm sorry for the name calling, I'm sorry for the anger, I'm sorry for everything towards almost every person I was a jerk towards. My feelings towards Pokemon hacking in general is the same, but my attitude towards it is no longer elitist. For those I have wronged, I am sorry.

- Koolboyman

Koolboyman,

To man up like this makes all of us want to be like you. Most people would deny it, keep raging, become a troll. But not you.

This is role-model behavior, and a star in the community. Keep it up.

 

[Lord Varion]

I've never seen this 'attitude' to you, you've always seemed like a 'cool' guy (no pun intended).
For you to call names and yell at someone. They must be trying to annoy you o.O''

Anyway like 2 post above me said It takes anyone to see what they've done, But it takes a man to apologize <3

 

[hinkage]

I haven't seen anything, of what you did, but you're being angry at stupid questions isn't totally unfounded. Some people can't help themselves, and rely on others.

Besides that, what made you so elitist? Hacking Red/Blue is complicated without tools, no doubt, but Brown barely changed anything event-wise.

Also, from what I saw of the game from walkthroughs, we have very similar ideas, in some places. Which is cool.

 

[Fire Blazer]

Dang. You're an inspiration man. :P

Sometimes it takes another person to force a self-reflection. I'm going to be much more careful about myself too. Even if I don't have the patience to explain things to everyone... even if I get the same questions asked over and over... at the very least, I can say I felt good about the way I treated other people. I think I want that. I think it's something to work on.

So I may not know you aside from playing Pokemon Brown but thanks anyway.

 

[HACKERXIDE]

Everyone can be "that guy" everyonce in a while.

 

[Cronozona]

I remember a few years back, I was just a kid who had no idea on what he wanted to be.
But ever since I found Pokemon Rom Hacking, I LOVED it! It helped me encourage myself.
Some people in my school used to tell me, "You're not good at anything!" or You're a LOSER! You'll never accomplish anything!" It helped me to keep going whatever they said. Just like if you don't have many fans for you hacks. It helped me find my goal in careers. I figured that I liked making Pokemon Rom Hacks. So I decided on becoming a game designer when i'm older. Thanks to that, I know i'll be successful.