On Mar 29, 1:13 pm, Harald Korneliussen <vinterm...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>
> ...Even though many people here in the (admit it, very narrow)
> abstract game community like your games, I'd like to see one of them
> come up as a character witness. "Mark Steere is not cranky ...
Yes, the abstract game community is tiny, but this is
rec.games.abstract and I'm an abstract game designer. This is my
domain. And then along comes you who, up until now, was being a total
wiseass, strutting around with a big, smug, unwarranted ego - at least
unwarranted here in r.g.a. That's a perfect strategy for bringing out
my bad side. Truth be known, I don't harbor any ill will toward you
or even Ralf. But if you're looking for trouble, you came to the
right place.
> You want to promote your games, right? Here's a hint: No matter how
> good they are, they won't be judged on their merits alone.
I don't really promote my games to any great extent. I announce them
and discuss them occasionally, but that's about it. There are
definitely people who won't play my games simply because I designed
them. But by and large, yes, the games will flourish or not flourish
on their own merits. When I released Tanbo 16 years ago it was met
with total silence. You could hear a pin drop. I was extremely
disappointed. When I first thought of Tanbo it was like a beautiful
bomb went off in my head. I was sure at least someone would
appreciate my magnificent achievement. But they didn't. So I quit
game design and left the Internet for a few years. When I came back,
I discovered that, unbeknownst to me, Tanbo had been steadily growing
in the real world entirely on its own merits the whole time I was
gone. Tanbo is here to stay. As long as there are Go boards there
will be Tanbo. Barring a nuclear war or an apocalyptic plague Tanbo
will be around for a long, long time.
>
> ... This is meant as friendly advice. If you can
> manage to be civil, and _stay_ civil, your games will have a much
> better chance.
2007 was a banner year for me. I went from being unknown to known.
My games were played on 2 servers at the beginning of 2007 and now
they're played on 10 servers with more to come. Cephalopod just came
out on Vying.org a few days ago and caused a traffic surge that shut
down the server. It's all exploding independent of my public
persona. Of course I treat programmers with a high degree of
professional courtesy. There's a natural abundance of mutual respect
among top level professionals who play complementary roles in the same
field.
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