Against my better judgment, if you really want evidence that I'm not being "hypocritical" here, this is my last word on the items you mentioned: if you're still not satisfied that you've gotten my full attention after this, I don't know what to tell you. Whatever your feelings, however, this is as far as I'm bothering to go.
Antoine wrote:Ignoring something on which I have something to say is not respectful -- it is cowardly. You have your concepts mixed up.
What exactly do you think I was so "afraid" of? If I was that insecure regarding people who dislike my writing I could have deleted your comment from the get-go...or ceased the project altogether. Plainly enough, neither of those things are happening - obviously, then, the reason I would have preferred to let your original comment pass without further incident is because there's no way anything but additional hassle could have come from it, for either of us - the fact that I'm bothering to do this in the first place, I think, should be evidence enough that I do not share your viewpoint on the intrinsic "worth" of an article of this sort. So what exactly would have been gained by either of us if I'd bothered to respond, other than endless and empty back-and-forth claims that one of our personal viewpoints was superior? Again, if you think that a write-up like this is a waste of time, I'm not going to try to convince you or anybody else otherwise - as far as I'm concerned writing
anything about video games, especially if you're not getting paid for it, is a waste of time to some degree, but that doesn't mean I'm going to stop doing it. I think it's pretty safe to say that I'm not going to change your mind any more than you're going to change mine, but if you honestly needed to see my viewpoint in plain black and white, there it is, and it's not going anywhere.
That was not my purpose. Read again what I wrote. My purpose was to attempt to redirect your energy towards something which I, and no do doubt many other intelligent STG fans, would deem more worthwhile. That was all.
You can't seriously believe this. If, as you claim, you were aware all along of the more "substantive" stuff I'd written, why did you feel the need to "warn me of the error of my ways" regarding this particular piece? Did you think that writing this would make me forget what a "real" shmup article looks like? Or that it would somehow tarnish the "purity" of my work so far? What possible reason, other than the intrinsic valuing of your tastes over mine, could you have to come in here and, with your third post in over six months of membership, tell me out of nowhere that "no one would actually care" about what I'm doing, and that I should write something more in like with your personal preferences (note, once again, that if loads of other "intelligent" shmuppers, as you assert, feel the same way you do, they've had the sense to just ignore what I'm doing and leave it be? Anyway, if they're out there, which of them appointed you as their spokesman)? Why should the fact that one of my articles doesn't suit your mood justify a ham-fisted "suggestion" to write something "less worthless"? If you weren't purposely looking to stir something up with your original comment, then color me astounded at your utter lack of self-restraint...which, I'm sure, you'll eternally redefine as "honesty", and those who bristle at your sledgehammer diplomacy as "unable to handle the truth".
Finally, I don't know what other forums you've been to, but around here, when someone takes the time to pop into someone else's thread just to tell them what a waste of space their words are (even when a "superior suggestion" is generously included), it's called trolling, and as far as I'm concerned the response that prompted your previous font of venom was accurate - needless to say, I'm not going to be the one to demand an apology on your behalf. If you can find another mod who is willing to do it for you, be my guest - in the meantime, I'd advise you to keep any desire to "publicly defend yourself" firmly in check, as it's already gotten several of your posts removed from this thread (and, again, not by me).
I've wasted more than enough time on this - you wanted a full-fledged response from me, you've gotten it. I've left nothing out. From here on, if you're still THAT eager to convince me of my folly, PM me, though what you might expect to gain from taking this further is lost on me - any additional comments on this subject in this thread will be deleted and reported. From here, it's back to its original purpose.
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Dr. Fugue wrote:Anyway, I believe the pilot is alone. My impression is that even if someone were along for the ride and/or powering the supplemental unit, Dan Dare is still the man navigating the ship and choosing when to release the pod.
That was the impression I got as well, but I figured I'd better get a second opinion on it - it might not be "official", but your analysis is good enough for me, thanks for the help.
Dragoforce wrote:The only thing I can contribute with is that there are no women in Viewpoint, there are in fact no characters at all.
Okay, good to know - there were a few ports of the thing, so I figured I'd better check to see if any of them bothered to mess with the plot.
Thanks again for the help, everyone - any further questions on my part will be added later, though at this point I think things are just about wrapped up.
