Late Reply
Yes, i know this is a relatively "old" post. I'm not trying to bring it back or anything. I've written this on and off for a while, so late response.
Yes, I know what I'm about to say might have been said before. Though since i'm newer here it might give a different perspective...
But i want to take it off my chest, so i don't have to think about it anymore.
As you might or...might not know, I'm a "newbie" in the community (Watched 2.0 stuff here and there back in the day, started playing and lurking at 2.1, and only really started participating in 2.2). But from the few posts and even fewer exchanges i saw and had with Mystic, he always felt like...how can i say this? a very stubborn person, who thought THEY were in the right 99.9% of the time. He felt like... any propositions people had against his ideas were directed towards >HIM< rather than towards the game design ideals themselves. I remember on a post of his, here on the MB, about a discussion that touched on how many concepts on the game now still exist because of Mystic's design decisions. Mystic seemed to take a TON of offense in this, saying it was an "Ad Hominem Fallacy" which, i honestly didn't agree with...
What was sad about that was seeing how some people would pull an 180 and agree with Mystic, not necessarily because they feared being banned, but also by the fear of being disliked by a game dev from your favourite game. Again, maybe that wasn't the case, but it sure felt that way...
Going away from that, so i don't get too off-topic. Mystic always seemed "unpredictable" you'd never know if he'd react angrily or reasonably to something. Which makes sense considering how everyone was so anxious around him. When he reacted in an aggressive manner, it'd be him making himself look "personally attacked" by others, even though i don't think that was always the case. He was very stubborn, only thinking what HE said was the right option, while the opposing opinion was stupid and flawed. Don't even think about giving him a suggestion that contradicts the "Right Way TM" of playing (his way).
Not only was he like this on the MB, but on the Discord server as well. He'd constantly would make cynical remarks when people gave a misinformed comment, or just because they made a silly joke. He was always this roadblock. Not only him, Rob was similar in this aspect, seemingly having a pseudo-god complex. Knowing they were both online made you instantly want to leave. And you'd see a fair amount of that, newbies being shamed for... being newbies, unaware of stuff. And people who might not know how to sprite as well as others. It was all very demotivating, for them, and for me too!
The cynicism is sadly something that they've infected the place with, from what i heard here, from VERY early on. But hopefully it will fully dissipate one day. I understand how easily one can get trapped in that bubble, i might have fallen there too, and i apologise. It's important to evaluate yourself constantly, and see if you're actually being constructive.
As for the... other stuff that happened at Discord, i don't have much to talk about that, as i was about... 30 seconds too late to seeing the whole thing unfold, and i'm just generally ignorant of all that happened. But oh wow, it made an impact. You could say it might've been the straw that broke the camel's back, everything led to this. And it was eventual to happen, Rob and Mystic both were very oppressive people, always pushing everyone's buttons. It became natural that people would get done with their antics and their poor design arguments, specially with the influx of popularity the game was having, attracting new people.
Overall, yes, like many said; good riddance. I've never felt comfortable with both of them around. Simply because you'd never know when they'd "strike" so to say. Hopefully the dev team, and the whole community itself, really, is feeling safer now that they're gone. As much as Mystic now being (thankfully) gone is a good thing (well, gone as long as he decides to), its important to also stay positive, and not dwell too long on the past (not saying that talking about it is bad, of course, i just did, after all).
And i totally believe that SRB2 will only go forward after this! I'm glad everyone is being more accepting and welcoming each day!
Phew, that's out of my system now. Thank god. I might have stumbled on my own words and repeated myself a lot there, also apologies for reviving this in advance, too!