This came about, in part, like so....
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Well LA I have only one bone of contention and it's very simple. There are folks whose tangible work over the course of 6 years, across the full spectrum of what can be done (including the design and coding of progs) merit recognition as intrumental in keeping this game alive after Pumpkin went under and were absolutely central to the ultimate liberation of the source. Without them we absolutely would not be here. The source would never have been released without them and their concerted work efforts which is every bit the equal of all that's been done since '05. All done under the often frustrating constraints of not having the source and the nagging uncertainty that for all our efforts & abundant work there were no guarantees we would ever succeed in its liberation.
You mentioned some of those folks. There are a few more. Folks like yourself, 4nE, Stratadrake, Sab, Carver, Elric is Not Dead, SLONER, Speedy, Laws215, Maynard, BOTman, Radiosity, Karmazilla, Skorpian, Mistfalls, Shang, TotalWar, Spike, Kevin, RSgod, NiKer, Sputnick and a few more. It's reprehensible. It's digraceful. And I must take responsibility for that. It was one of my failures of leadership post liberation. I'm here to address it.
As well, there is an adjunct to this point - these same folks could have still been assets. They have the mature, 1st class talent, skill sets, determination and love of the game, to have been motivated to continue to make central contributions to this project.
This project has always had a chronic manpower shortage. These circumstances are related.
That's it.
As for myself, I just wanna continue to honor my word, the explicit and public covenant I made originally back '99 with Pumpkin Studios (WZ Creators), the original fan base of 50,000+ strong and, most poignantly for me, my teamates from the get go who busted their a$$es working clear through to liberation.
That done, I just wanna retreat to focus on cinematic work which is where my current WZ interest and pure joy reside.
Pre-liberation to Liberation: An Honor Roll
I will begin the list but it will be open to additions because of any inadvertant oversights on my part.
It will be open to additions by any of the 50,000 + of the original community (1998 - 2004) who may still be around and wanna weigh-in. This would include former liberation team members, supporting communities and WZ Creators themselves, of course.
There you have it.
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The following list reflects no ranking order, it's just the way the names came to me. I will simply alphabetize as we proceed to account for any inadvertant oversights.
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Troman
Bones0
Lord Apocalypse
Lord Gwala
Cowboy
Prometheus
BLACKSABBATH
Willis
RBL-4NiK8r
Papa Lazarou
Flame Boy
ChainsawMonkey aka Dancing Moogle aka Radiosity
Stratadrake aka Draconus aka (he prefers his 1st WZ nick not be used)
Carver
Elric is Not Dead
SLONER
Speedy
Laws215
Maynard
BOTman
Karmazilla
Skorpian
Mistfalls
Shang
TotalWar
Spike
Kevin
RSgod
NiKer
Sputnick
Chojun
Coyote
Goth Zagog-Thou
Bronco
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