You Know Who You Are

This is not so much a blog post, but more of a short rant and is dedicated to all those who open themselves up when they post their creative endeavors to BT forums anywhere.

It is dedicated to the hard workers but aimed at those buzz killers, whingers, sooks, self righteous pricks, kill joys and pedantic prats who seem to think that the BT Universe in general, and the CBT boards in particular, are their own private domains, where their opinion and view of the universe is not only the most correct of the fan base, but more pure and correct than those of the overworked, underpaid and generally severely harassed game developers.

I post over at  CBT.com here and there, usually only when something really takes my fancy or I feel I have something to add, or a question I would like answered…apart from the Spitfire post, which was not my finest moment.

Recently, before the fall of the boards I posted about a topic with some ideas, ones I believe were reasonably valid, considering it’s a fictional world with a lot of information gaps. I and another poster were then attacked by one of the usual suspects.  You know the kind, knows everything (or thinks they do), cannot loose an argument and usually strikes at elements of a post that are peripheral to the main point, or so obvious to someone with half a brain that they don’t need to be stated.  This is the sort of person who probably has not seen the sun in many years and is likely sitting in their folks basement right now, congratulating themselves on how awesome they are.

It’s the one thing that bugs me about the otherwise good boards of CBT.com.  As far as game universes go and the interaction with those who control the universe, CBT.com has to be up there with the best, and most days I visit often, learning what I can as I go and adding a little here or there – probably like most users.

However, with the BT franchise growing again and producing reams of new material, not only for new players, but filling in the gray areas of the universe past, as well as providing an ever growing archive of the old material that is now out of print in PDF format, there are allot of new players coming in. It must be a little intimidating for them, as I know for myself, there was a period of three months before I posted there after joining, not wanting to make an arse out of myself.

However, those few, those awful few, who have such a high, bloated and somewhat over inflated view of their own importance in the universe can often manage to ruin the experience for the greater whole, as their own desperate insecurities ran rampant upon the fields of otherwise informative and fun topics.

We are all going to have our own opinions and often disagree with those of others, however, as demonstrated here on OBT.com and most of the time on CBT, you can disagree civility and still have a constructive talk about a subject of interest to all. That’s why I like the peace and civility of this place, sure there is a smaller membership, but disagreements are always civil and posters respect each others views, even if thinking the other poster may well be on something that would put you in prison for life in most countries..

So if your one of those colossal prats, whose ranging egotism is the only notable fact about a sad and otherwise forgettable existence, OBT.com probably is not for you. We respect each other here, as do most on the CBT boards, all those great people who make BattleTech such a strong community.

However, here, we can make sure that the no-prat policy is applied, so those who wish to create and build their own universe and experience the wonders of building a story and having it accepted can do just that, in a friendly environment, where criticism is constructive and help always at hand.

There, that feels better.