Inductee #1: Librarian, Majornet Moderator
What was Happening:
Majornet, an interBBS network for MBBS systems, was always a place where players could talk about diffrent strategies, new games, or Tradewars in general. Many players chose this network over the Tradewars Forum.
Franz (A.K.A. Librarian) was one of the two forum Moderators left for Majornet.
What the Hell Went Wrong?
While there are no doubt that there will always be arguments, one person in particular (Who will remain anonymous) did nothing but flame people in the forum and call them various names. When Jake brought this person to Librarian’s attention, he didn’t ban him from Majornet as one might think.
Instead, Librarian started spamming the tradewars forum with the Marjornet rules. (It seems that Libraian didn’t even read the tradewars forum before the incident.) Many people made posts responding to Librarian asking him to stop spamming, but Librarian singled out Kurt’s Spirit (Who was posting from Fament) for unknown reasons and asked Jake to remove his Majornet access. Jake refused, and Librarian took away Fament’s feed to Majornet for 30 days. Later, Gypsy posted his views about the ordeal from azi.com, and Azi also lost their access for 30 days. Banning someone for voicing their opinions against the moderator? Looks like your doing a great job librarian. Keep up the Red Star work.
While both Azi and Fament now have their access back, the Tradewars majornet Forum has taken a heavy toll for it. Unfortunatelly, the Traffic in the Majornet TW forum has dropped, and I doubt it will regain it’s former popularity anytime soon.
Inductee #2: High Velocity Software
What was supposed to Happen:
At this point in time, the internet was just starting to take over, and more and more local BBSes were shutting down in favor of ISPs and the larger multi-node MBBS Systems. Since the Door version of TW didn’t support Multi-player, Martech was looking for someone willing to make a port of Tradewars that had Multi-player support, and worked with MBBS, which almost all multi-node BBSes were running. HVS was eventually given this job, and it looked like Tradewars was about to enter a new era.
What the Hell Went Wrong?
This should have been a no-brainer for HVS. One has to wonder if they had a special department who’s only job was to figure out (As Next Generation puts it) how to steal Defeat from the Jaws of Victory.
As most of you have played the MBBS version of Tradewars, you’re probably very aware of the problems. Almost every release (If not EVERY Release) had at least one bug which could screw up the entire game if only one or two people used it. The Bugs ranged from Infinite Credits, to an easy way to destroy StarDock. My personal take on this, I have to wonder if HVS ever even did slight testing for bugs. In one version of MBBS TW, when selling a ship with a TWARP-1, the computer automaticaly assumed that it was a TWARP-2 instead, and allow you to make infinate credits. How hard would it be to spot that bug?!?!?
The main reason HVS was chosen for this port was because they had an extensive background in MBBS Software Development. Martech didn’t have any. This gives no excuse, not that there is ever an excuse, to have constant buggy releases. HVS also waisted their time with features nobody ever asked for such as the ability to turn SST off. Add a questionable cost, (Although in their defence, the price would be justified if we didn’t get half-a**ed releases.) there’s little doubt that more than a few people have left Tradewars after losing months of work to a bug user.
Now that TWGS is out, we can finally expect some great releases to look forward to.
Former Inductee: Rippers BBS
What was supposed to Happen:
or a Year or two, Rippers had fallen out of the TW BBS race. Larry Drum’s BBS had Turned more into a local ISP and as a result, less of Larry’s time was dedicated to TW. But, Rippers was sold off to another ISP, and with a lot of freeded up time, Larry was ready to Rumble. With Stardock having been down for more than a year, it was ripe for another Free TW BBS to come into the scene, and was even asked to join the TW WebRing.
hat the Hell Went Wrong?
ote: (2/2/99) Rippers has reorganized itself and made some changes, so it is no longer an “official” Hall of Shame inductee,” but it will remain here as a reminder of what to be carefull of when appointing a staff for a bbs. Help them out in rebuilding their tradewars games!
Unfortunatelly, During the First game, one of Ripper’s Game Moderators was found using T-Edit to create funds for his Corporation. After this information came to light, Rippers was removed from the TW Web Ring. While some will argue that this was an honest mistake, another Rippers sysop was found cheating AGAIN, in the next Tradewars game! The First Sysop cheating should have told Larry that the Rippers staff needed some reorganization. However, it looks like Ripper’s reputation may be tarnished beyond repair.
