Mystic removal discussion - The good and the bad

What about the stain Sms left according to GoldenShine?
If they happen to want to contribute to this thread. I'm sure they can go into detail. But GoldenShine did get a lot of flak for making Super Mystic Sonic back in the day, yes. I always got along with them (even if we don't talk anymore, GoldenShine. I remember the fan community around the golden ruins mod ;) ) and never really got on board the anti-SMS train myself.

But given that this fantastic SMS remake exists and how the community has responded to it pretty well, and not with complete revulsion and ridicule, I'd say it's a sign that to some extent people have grown up. But we shouldn't tie people's value to being treated better only after they improve their craft, we need to treat newbies better from the start. Even a bright yellow Sonic recolor with every ability set to the highest possible value is something made out of passion and genuine interest, and I think we'd do better in the future to remember and respect that a little more. Because this game sure isn't going away anytime soon, and as long as the community is around new people are going to naturally trickle in.
 
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If they happen to want to contribute to this thread. I'm sure they can go into detail. But GoldenShine did get a lot of flak for making Super Mystic Sonic back in the day, yes. I always got along with them (even if we don't talk anymore, GoldenShine. I remember the fan community around the golden ruins mod ;) ) and never really got on board the anti-SMS train myself.

But given that this fantastic SMS remake exists and how the community has responded to it pretty well, and not with complete revulsion and ridicule, I'd say it's a sign that to some extent people have grown up. But we shouldn't tie people's value to being treated better only after they improve their craft, we need to treat newbies better from the start. Even a bright yellow Sonic recolor with every ability set to the highest possible value is something made out of passion and genuine interest, and I think we'd do better in the future to remember and respect that a little more. Because this game sure isn't going anywhere, and as long as the community is around new people are going to naturally trickle in.

So, with the community's old habbit of making fun of newbies, the guy who made sms was laughed at? Man, thank god times have changed.
 
I'm glad he's gone for good, I think SRB2 will be better without him.

I was there when Mystic made those accusations, and it was hard to watch, it was a misunderstanding and the person could not defend themselves because the thread got locked. But I'm glad that their okay now.
 
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My experience

Wow, it's certainly been a long time since I've seen an event which sparks so much attention here, in SRB2.
Mystic's behaviour (and most of the community members's) has always been something alien to me, even up to this day. I've been conscious enough to not make fun of literally anyone for the time being, because I honestly don't understand the reason behind it besides the notorious "crowd instinct", which, gladly, never took me over.
I've always treated this community as a parallel universe which has little to no relations to anything I perceive as kindness and good faith, and something which I can't change (not that I was actively trying to, since saying that forcing people to go along with my opinion is not my thing, is pretty much saying nothing). I've just perceived this kind of situation to be "normal" for this community, and did my best not to aggravate the admins by questioning their behaviour or doing anything else for which they might have tenuous tolerance in my view.
Probably the fact that I basically never get offended by literally anything on the internet plays a substantial part in my experience. Mystic's behaviour was very rough, to say the least. Even though I didn't have much conversation with him to not aggravate him, I never take that stuff personally because it's, like, just some text on my computer screen.
I could've probably not cared at all about this change for reasons stated above, however, I have a habit to have concern about other people, and the general well-being. Therefore, I can only hope that people turn on their minds, and stop triggering each other just because "it's fun" or if someone creates content they personally don't like. Not to reproach anyone, but I wouldn't rule out the continuation of this mayhem, simply because one can expel the few most problematic people on there, but dealing with the general "spirit" of bullying which has flourished over the ages, is *kinda* difficult.
One sort of discrimination people are usually not worried about is the discrimination of children. Heck, I remember quite a bit of times when Mystic and other people used the word "kid" as an insult!

So, this was my little wall of text. Hope you had fun skimming through! (Also I've a tad improved my English vocabulary from reading the posts in this thread =D)
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Also, Ash? I thought permbanned people stay banned but apparently not... Never really understood the reason behind the ban. Seeing Ash banned for apparently nothing seemed awkward, but seeing a permban getting lifted is totally unexpected. =O
 
I don't think you should, because a) you're awesome, and b) hindsight is always 20/20. It's obvious that Mystic's character flaws only got worse as time went on, and also without a check on his power, it eventually did him in. It's unfortunate he had to take so many people along the way.

Ultimately, I think a lot of this boils down to people overstaying their welcome. Some folks should have left long ago, and sometimes it takes a 'push' like this to finally get them to make the right decision.

In fact, Mystic has been around *so* long, that I'm probably the only person qualified to tell the story of how he actually came to be on the team, why he stuck around for so long, and why I left him in charge when I retired. I'll be happy to tell it someday, but right now I do not think is the appropriate timing.

I for one look forward to the absence of constant newbie villification and the return of Christmas mode. Everybody starts somewhere, and things are allowed to just be for fun.

I don't think there's going to be a better time to tell it.
 
Jesus Christ. I knew Mystic was awful, but I clearly never knew just how awful. I was mostly absent from the general community (and STJr!) for a long time and I've missed a lot. Thank you everyone for sharing your experiences.

To address the topic this thread was made for, yeah, development's gonna be fine. As I said in the dev channels, we can finally make the game we want to make. Things aren't going to be radically different going forward, but I think players should expect some surprises. No spoilers. ;)
 
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I think a good lesson to take away from this thread is that you shouldn't look up to someone as wiser and more sensible than you just because of their age, especially in a place as chaotic and focused on anonymity as the Internet.
 
So, having read through the entire thread now and MI's post in particular, I confess I am also guilty of the so-called Newbie Vilification, mostly in the days of the OLDC. Just like pretty much everyone did back then I made fun of some of the... less polished levels in it, also using Glaber as an example. I mean, at the time it just seemed like fun and a little cathartic to give bad levels a good beating, though I can see how in retrospect this bandwagoning may have had unfavourable consequenses.

Though probably the worst thing I did was when I made an entire video on Flare957's SRB2 Apocalypse mod and called it "How not to make an SRB2 Mod", which may have been slightly overkill in regards to critising something made by a new person, even if the mod itself was a good example of biting off more than someone could chew. Regardless, Flare has improved and this is already 5 years ago by now.

Seeing everything regarding Mystic, something did always strike me as odd about him, but I could never quite put my finger on it. I wasn't hugely involved in the community lately so I didn't hear about any of this stuff. But yeah, I agree that it's better that he's gone now and I'm sure this will be a positive change to the dev team and the community.
 
I'm worried about one thing, what will Mystic do outside of the SRB2 community. I simply don't want this person to be toxic in other communities as well.

Though probably the worst thing I did was when I made an entire video on Flare957's SRB2 Apocalypse mod and called it "How not to make an SRB2 Mod", which may have been slightly overkill in regards to criticizing something made by a new person, even if the mod itself was a good example of biting off more than someone could chew. Regardless, Flare has improved and this is already 5 years ago by now.

the thing is that your video was mostly made to be laughing at the mod itself, not the mod creator.
 
I'm worried about one thing, what will Mystic do outside of the SRB2 community. I simply don't want this person to be toxic in other communities as well...

If that (unfortunately) happens, then..

Mystic Is a Piece Of Shit 2: Eletric Boogaloo

(Also sorry if this sound's like me saying that his behavior is something to be joked about. I am aware about how serious some these situations were.)
 
What Mystic does outside of SRB2 is not our problem. I'm sure if he behaves badly elsewhere, the people who look after those places will take care of it.
 
What Mystic does outside of SRB2 is not our problem. I'm sure if he behaves badly elsewhere, the people who look after those places will take care of it.
Yeah, it's highly unlikely that he would be able to get that level of power anywhere else seeing how he acts anyways, so regardless he shouldn't be nearly as much of a problem wherever he happens to go.
 
I'm just going to throw my two cents in here. Considering as time progresses, more stuff about mystic gets thrown out there. Honestly, I'm just glad with him gone SRB2 can finally move forward. However, I've been wondering for the longest time now. What did Mystic even do to get into the dev team in the first place and what did he even contribute to the dev team as well other than being a ball and chain to one's ankle?
 
These are some huge changes taking place here, most of which for the better. I can't really say too much that hasn't already been said about Mystic, especially as someone who's kinda distanced himself from the community as a whole. But here's hoping that things only go uphill from here on out.
 
Since it seems Mystic stifled creativity, is it safe to assume that not only would new ideas that would've got rejected make it into the game, but overall development would be more efficient?
 
Yeah, Mystic was a talent-less hack anyway.


Maybe we can also contact the authorities about his problematic behaviour so he won't bother anybody else.
 
Something that make's me even happier about his ridance is the fact that (to my knowledge) development on Dark City will FINALLY begin.
 
I'm not going to comment on Mystic as a hack or otherwise, as I wasn't a developer and never had to work with him like that. But contacting the authorities is a very strong step, Mystic has generally been guilty of some very bad behavior but nothing explicitly warrants a criminal case to my knowledge. Being banned from the SRB2 community is quite enough I think.

If Mystic is a problem in another community, then it will be up to the moderators in that community to deal with it. But without the administrative powers he had here, it's hard to imagine this kind of harm could be repeated anywhere else.
 
Okay, in hindsight I probably got *some* things inaccurate about my own history on SRB2:
  • I was actually more often referred to as "clueless" rather than "slow", told I needed to get a brain etc
  • It wasn't limited to Spazzo, some other user named Pepe was also involved a lot (this predates the Pepe the frog meme, I don't think he named himself after it?). He left long ago too, but much more quietly than events with Spazzo as you can imagine.
  • I'm also told that Spazzo doesn't actually remember any of that, so *shrugs*.

Either way, it's no wonder I felt unwelcome at the community for some time early on. It's also no wonder that I joined one or two subcommunities that were up at the time, like Sky Ninja's SRB2 WADBase (if anyone remembers that place), to get away from the main community.
 
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I wouldn't try seeking Mystic out to drive him from other communities. Unless you're there, it's not your responsibility.
 
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