I should prolly explain my position in all this....
Okay, first off, there's a very simple reason I'm a mod. About a couple of years ago, Qhimm and I would each be doing most of our work and sorta 'met' through alt.games.final-fantasy.rpg. I ended up helping him with Griever (the FF8 Save Game utility) by figuring out how FF8 kept most of the game data in memory and how changing them related to the game itself. Qhimm used this data along with his own observations and programming skills to create Griever.
The mod status was Qhimm's idea and a surprise to me, and I did feel honoured by it; this was way back when his forums were just starting to attract people. However, I've never really had a job description, so my status as a mod is just that: a status. I have never been asked to do any work, and am fully prepared for the day when it's revoked; it's slowly become evident that the forums have matured since that day, hence the promotion of new moderators and separation of responsibilities.
Anyway, now to explain my absence. Or rather, continuing 'idleness'.
First off, I have other responsibilities elsewhere. I'm currently addicted to a FF-related MUD (FFT jobs, a Legend of Mana related Forge system and the chance to kill Rabites by the dozen... why *wouldn't* I be hooked?) which has been taking up most of my waking hours. I also have a few responsibilities with the continuity of an FF-related improfanfic, where I've been involved in writing chapters every now and then, as well as keeping tabs on what happens.
On top of that, I'm unemployed and really *should* be looking for a job; I'm only really relaxing for a few months, but even though I'm living with my parents and helping out with chores, my money's going to run out eventually, and I will then be forced, ready-or-not, into the working world.
Finally... I just don't have the drive at the moment to work on FF7 Mechanics. I'm not *busy* with work for the Remake at all; at best, I'm in an advisor position, but even that's slightly slipping away. My main area of expertise was my understanding of FF7's battle system and damage mechanics, and virtually all of that has already been imparted to the team. SLG is just as good at hacking through memory as I am.
I may return to FF7 at some point. The documents I've given to the Remake team are by no means Remake-only; they were eventually intended to be complete FAQs to be posted to sites like GameFAQs. But this isn't a promise; as I said in the other forum, I work in spurts. I get it into my head to do something, and then I proceed to burn myself out on it by devoting all my intention to it for a week to a month.
I'm also not leaving these forums either, but my visits are sporadic, simply because I don't have much to add to the Cosmo/Ultima posts and most of what I know about FF7 are already in documents most regulars have already had access to.
I'm explaining all this simply because I want people to understand why I'm absent most times and not pitching in with posts. It's not a goodbye and it's not a sign of change on my part. I'll still be here from time to time, and I'll answer questions directed to me eventually. However, I'm of the opinion that the forum and the community has matured enough to not need me around to answer every technical question all the time. So if someone else can answer the question... well, that's good, ne?
'Til next time.
[edited] 24 2001-11-05 22:30
