An open letter to the Dreamcast community abroad
on a few issues...

This is somewhat long.

So maybe break out a sandwich and some crisps, and read during a lunch break ;)

INTRODUCTION

OnlineConsoles has been around for over 7 years. During that time I (Ben, also known on the site as lordnikon) have garnered quite a few negative comments from some circles of the Dreamcast community. Instead of continuing to remain quiet and ignoring the situation, I am taking a stand in order to defend both OnlineConsoles and myself.

Someone passed me a link to a forum, where members were saying such things as: There are other forums where similar things have been said over time. Not in mass quantities, but still enough that it spreads misinformation to others who have never been to OC before.

I want to make the following facts very clear:

1. I have never insulted another member of any gaming community. Regardless of the epithets thrown my way, I always remain civil and never stoop so low as to call anyone any sort of name or insult.
   
   
2. Only 44 people have ever been banned from OC across the entire site (not just the DC site, but all 3 sites). Of the 3,400 registered users across the site, this comprises only 1.3% of the entire community. This means 98.7% of the member accounts are still intact and working since the day they were created.

In addition to this I have felt the need to address some of the more controversial subject matter that often gets discussed about OC at other locations on the web.

MODERATION

There are definitely situations I wish I could do over again. I am human just like anyone else and OC has been a learning experience. One situation I clearly remember was in OC's first year of operation, where I came down too hard on Speud (who runs BlueSwirl) for advertising his tools. I handled this poorly, plain and simple.

The last person I had to actually ban was 9 over months ago. He was spamming the forums with links and I banned his account. Later he re-registered, and posted the following: He thought I not only banned him, but also specifically targeted his location because I had something against libraries. It is silly to think I know where anyone is when they visit my website. He could have been posting from his Sega Saturn at 14.4k dialup in a Russian bunker for all I knew, but even if I did, I wouldn't be all like "The reds are coming, you are teh blocked!" That's crazy.

Typically, those who are banned, are justifiably removed from the website for the good of the community. Like one person who decided to send me a picture of his junk, and no I don't mean what he takes out to the street corner on Monday mornings.

One reason why some people's feathers get ruffled is because OC sends out what are known as "forum notices". OC has rules just like any other message board. However we actually expect people to abide by them, and users have a difficult time coping with this. Despite every effort I make, at the end of the day, users still feel they are "in trouble with their parents".

Here is how forum notices are intended to work: If someone strays too far from the forum rules, I send them a message to nicely inform them of our current forum etiquette. These are merely supposed to be "reminders". It is me trying me try my best to help users acclimate themselves to the OC forums.

Note that these notices are not directly related to getting banned. For that to happen, you have to really go off the deep end.

CENSORSHIP

Quite a few times people rag on OC because they feel they are being "censored". OnlineConsoles doesn't have an offtopic forum. We actually expect users to discuss the Dreamcast, GameCube, and PS2 consoles. If someone comes to OC and posts:

"I haven't been playing my Dreamcast at all lately. Mostly because of my Xbox 360, which I have been playing every weekend for the past month. Does anyone else here play on Live?"

This topic would get deleted on the spot.

We aren't trying merely "act" like it's a Dreamcast Online community. We really are trying to play Dreamcast games online. I shouldn't have to compete with a bunch of people who already sold their Dreamcasts, but still mull around the forums talking about Call of Duty. If someone wishes to seriously talk about GameCube online, they can do this at OC without having to deal with another user harping on about the Wii every other post. I feel this is important.

So when moderation takes place, we are not censoring, but rather maintaining the integrity of our community.

PHANTASY STAR ONLINE AT OC

Another thing I want to address are our PSO servers. Yes, they are private access only, and a 6-month-old forum account with 50 posts of recent activity is required. I am fully aware this is a tall order to ask of anyone seeking immediate gratification. However first you must understand why these requirements exist... It has been an experiment.

I wanted to see if it was possible to run a truly 100% legit community where hacking and cheating did not exist.

That is all. So far, this has succeeded and for those who have access we have had some really pure PSO experiences without any of the anxiety experienced on official servers. We can idle in lobby 1 without fear of FSOD, don't have to "hide" in passworded games, and can openly exchange items knowing they are not hacked.

I think any legit PSO player who longed for a day when Sega's servers were rid of cheating, FSOD, BSOD, or Duped items, can sympathize with what we are trying to do.

Eventually it is my goal to open things up more, but I am trying to think of ways to do that without sacrificing what we have built so far and are continuing to evolve. So if it helps, think of it as a "community beta environment".

"THE" RULE

There is one specific rule on our boards few members have ever agreed with. People have had a hard time understanding 'why'.

"No threads about getting terminated games back online"

I am going to be 100% honest. I don't feel 50 users talking about how to get a game back online has any benefit towards legitimate progress. In almost every instance, the key architects behind scene related projects are a few individuals or 1 who would have gotten the job done regardless. Its not like having a thread about getting Unreal Tournament back online is going to suddenly turn into a crowd sourcing project where everyone starts programming bits of C/C++, and learns about TCP/IP network stacks. Its just a whole lot of talking without much action. Reality is often much harsher than the dream people have of what it takes to get a game back online.

One thing I keep telling people about Unreal Tournament: If you really want to get serious, write an open source server for the PC version.

There is nothing stopping anyone from doing this. The game is online, you can log network packets from it, and then reverse engineer a server. After that you will have a shot at trying to rebuild one for the Dreamcast. However people don't want to hear this, because the roadmap is wrought with challenges and hurdles: Learning a programming language, learning about PC networking, debugging, and committing yourself to a project that could take the better part of a year or more to complete.

I am well aware that while most of the 50 users would be avid fans with good intentions, 2 of those users could be highly capable of contributing. But in the end when you have a bunch of people who aren't really aware of these processes, talking about trying to get a game back online, it can be mentally taxing on those who actually have a firm understanding of the technology. Debunking wild theories and educating others can chew up a LOT of time.

People still feel I am holding back the process. This couldn't be further from the truth. In-fact, the direct opposite has happened.

I looked at what was needed to seriously put games back online, and rather than just beating around the bush in a thread hoping for a miracle, myself and other individuals have been working tirelessly over the past few years behind the scenes. Instead of just talking, we actually took action.

Games are coming back online. Games 'plural'.

There is software coming that will change the landscape of Dreamcast Online forever. There is software already confirmed working. Software that in accordance with the OF Project mission statement that will be released publicly to everyone.

I have always had the best interests of the OC Community/Dreamcast Community/Gaming Community at heart. Anyone who has spoken to me for any length of time about video games knows this. I hope some of this information has helped to clarrify many of these subjects.

If people still feel otherwise about me, and can't handle it if I request that they not talk about 'Kinect' at OC, or still feel I hold ill will towards libraries (I love libraries). So be it. I just felt the need to step forward and clear the air.

Thanks for reading, and feel free to leave your comments at the following link.

Sincerely,
Ben Pekarek
Site Founder / Director
www.onlineconsoles.com







posted: November 30th, 2010 10:22 pm