I think SyncError is afraid that giving ESR original content will just be another opportunity for a festival of negativity. Are ESR users interested in a non-critical interview at id Software? Can ESR users enjoy some fan-service in anticipation of a new game, regardless of expectations, past experiences, or current opinions?
I would absolutely love to sit down with SyncError, without any cloud of criticality or expository/investigative intent, to discuss his experiences over the years leading to this moment in id Software history, and to discover his approach to work, where his motivation to stick to development comes from, and what he hopes to achieve.
I would adore the opportunity to sit down with Zero4 to ask him how his experiences with XBand shaped the course of his life, how he feels about netcode, what it's like to be him. I'd like to pick Tim Willits's brain, and to interrogate him about his long history of involvement in game development, and how his experiences have shaped his approaches to and philosophies about productivity, game development, and life in general.
This won't be possible without some convincing. I spoke to SyncError for a few minutes today, and I get the impression that he feels as though offering any exclusive original content to ESR would be like Donald Trump accepting an invitation to a Bush family runion.
Can ESR show SyncError and id Software some love? Can ESR hold it together so that SyncError can remember that this community isn't composed 100% of relentless negativity? I feel as though there is a huge nonvocal majority visiting ESR that loves the community, id Software, and Quake, but that this nonvocal majority doesn't feel that it's worth the effort to participate in what are often combative, tiring, and, ultimately, useless exchanges between people whose idea of effective persuasion is hitting somebody until they turn around, even if the act of turning around is the result of the bludgeoned lifeless body spinning as it falls to the ground.
Can ESR dig down deep into the bubbling pus-filled blackened pits of its charred and brittle heart to dig out some small bit of love clinging to the wall of some jagged arterial stem harboring one final small bubble of nutritious blood that can be used to temporarily stave off the rampant infection of unabated hyper-criticality supported by years of dehumanization and depersonalization afforded to ESR users by the anonymity of the internet and the bitterness instigated by unmet expectations based on unchecked delusions and infantile egotism that create an unhealthy sense of self-importance that drives away anything good and friendly, like a bent old man howling at children to stay off his lawn, because he long ago forgot what it means to feel anything other than resentment toward anything that doesn't meet the unrealistic expectations inspired by his outrageously fragile safe-space of an ego?
Is ESR still capable of even remembering what love might have once felt like, before life beat it out of us? Is ESR going to sit around and give life the satisfaction of having taken our refuge in emotion without even trying to fight back against the apathy and bitterness that some maliciously hidden forces derive happiness from having us subjected to?
![shaftwhores only by [EXE]dann](/files/avatars/2007/51852-shaftwhore.gif "shaftwhores only by [EXE]dann"){kind=small}
he has unbanned people when i've asked nicely, after the extremely infamous person banned was convincingly apologetic and promised to not misbehave ever again (he misbehaved again, and got banned again, and i didn't ever ask again on his behalf [it was a bit of an experiment for me to see what would happen]).
he sat in on an interview for esr in 2010.
he gave me premium keys for quakelive back when i was planning a tournament for esr that, unfortunately, fell through due to some interesting behind-the-scenes admin drama involving a couple of well-known personalities in the general quake community.
he has always been respectful and nice in conversations with me, even though i call him stinkhair and mock quake players in general; even though i've been banned from the quake live irc channel more times than i can recall for such dastardly deeds as mocking death, abusing white-knight players like picklelover13, and generally playing the role of internet bastard in moments of extreme boredom.
i get the sense that many esr users don't empathize with his position, or feel as though they have better answers to what they propose are problems for quake, or something along those lines. i get the impression that these people are the kinds of people who, like anxious small dogs, invent problems in order to have something to pay attention to other than the soul-sucking loneliness they feel when their owners leave their site for more than a few minutes.
i have a lot of love for syncerror, and for id software, even if it is fun to make fun of people, and even if my sense of humor is crass and objectionable. i want the new quake champions to be a great success, celebrated the same way the recent doom was, for a great integration of modern convenience and classical punishment.