It was fun, but not anymore. Goodbye.

[Matrix]

And it's not april fool's day.

I've planned on quitting for some time now and discussed it in the staff forum and with the GOTM police. They all would hate to see me go and convinced me to stay, TF in particular. But I loathe administrating the GOTM now and have lost so much interest in it that I start avoiding this forum. The consequence is I suck as admin (as Cartouche Bee had pointed this out already in a subtle way ).

The reason of it all is simply the fact that making the results was not enough. After Valeri Kouznetsov was caught cheating (coincidentally by me) some noticed there are a lot more cheaters and the coming of the GOTM police was necessary. That was the point I started getting desinterested. All I want is to make these funny results. And letting the GOTM police check the savegames isn't enough. I suddenly had to coordinate everything.

It's not that it's a very tough job; there are enough people here who can replace me. (The open solicitation has hereby started. ) But the administration has changed into something radically different than it was at the beginning. An unavoidible and necessary step, but I'm not qualified to do that. I can't coordinate. My qualities are feeling what's fun about the GOTM and making statistics (and a little knowledge about certain software). The last thing has just become easier (because of ainwood's genius mind ).

I guess the next GOTM will be without deadline ('until further notice'). I will still make the results of the current GOTM, but after the 2nd of december, no submissions should (and hopefully can) be sent to me.

Finally, there's one person to whom I should apologize and that's Thunderfall. I'm really sorry! But the longer I continue, the more chaotic the GOTM will be. Perhaps later, when things have calmed down, I'll rejoin the club, if you still want me then. But I need some time without responsibilities here.

So that's that.

 

[Pygzilla]

Matrix,

I for one have really apreciated your efforts. But I understand wanting to quit. If it isn't fun antmore. Its not like we were paying you . thanks again and have fun.

 

[gonzo_for_civ]

Sorry to hear that matrix. Best of luck to you in your future endeavors

 

[Phillip_martin]

Matrix,

Thanks for the fun.

I promise to keep on not taking the GOTM seriously in your honour

 

[Kemal]

Matrix,

I'm really sorry to hear you are leaving the GotM as administrator. I really enjoyed all the work and efforts you've put into this competition, and the way the results were presented to the players each month. I can perfectly understand your decision though.

Hope you'll still play some GotM's now and then, and that we'll see you in the spoilers threads.

 

[Yndy]

Matrix,

You have made a clear point of why you want to resign and I appreciate that as I appreciate your involvement and commitment to GOTM.

Thank you for everything.

I hope you will not leave the forum though. I'd love to hear word from you from now on.

 

[Cruise]

Too bad Matrix,

thanks for everything, and i'll see ya around. Either here in the forums or on the university

 

[Ani]

Gotm is a fun way to get even more fun out of CIV, so thanks for working on it for so long.

 

[col]

Matrix without you, the GOTM wouldnt be the success story it is today. Is there any CIV3 competition that has so many entries. Without GOTM, the tournament would never have got off the ground.

More than anything else, it has opened people's eyes to the talent that the top players have - and more importantly that the average player can learn from them and improve.

Dont ever feel that you havent succeeded. You have done your part and more and now its time for the baton to be passed.

I'd like to record my personal thanks for all that you have done.

 

[Thunderfall]

Matrix did a truly great job administering the GOTM. I know it's not going to be easy to find someone to do as good a job as him.

Excessive cheating is what prompted us to drop the Civ2 MP ladder... I certainly hope the GOTM will not suffer the same fate.

 

[Moonsinger]

To Matrix: I know the feeling. Living in a world full of religious lunatics and savage humans, sometimes I wish I could build a spaceship and get out of this planet ASAP. However, that's not possible; therefore, I have no choice but stay here for a little longer. And while I'm staying, I discover many wonderful people that I'm willing to share my spaceship with, even though it's really hard for me to trust them. As far as I know they could be the wolf hibernating inside the sheep body and one day they may stab me in the back and take my ship. What am I saying? I don't even have a ship. Anyway, I hope you would stay here for a little longer too, but if you won't change your mind, then I wish you the best of luck on your journey.

 

[Skyfish]

This is a great loss for the CivFan community !

Please stay in touch with us Matrix and hope to see you soon in the Forum.

Congrats on a job well done,

 

[civ_steve]

Matrix,
At first I thought this post was a hallucination, brought on by the excessive quantities of turkey and pumpkin pie that are currently in my system. Then I realized that the post was quite genuine. I'm very sorry for your decision, but I completely understand it.
My understanding and enjoyment of Civ3 has been exponentially increased by my involvement with the GOTM, and I'm sure this is true for many others, also. Thank you for your work moderating this forum , and wishing you very happy civving!

 

[MPF]

Matrix,

Thanx for all the great work. I think you did a great job getting this of the ground. You will be greatly missed.

MPF

 

[Phaedria]

Im sorry to hear that. As a relative beginner (and newcomer) I have really learnt alot from the experts and increased my enjoyment of playing Civ 3 hugely. I hope someone else wil take up the challenge!

Phaedria

 

[Matrix]

Thanks for all the compliments. It's heart-warming.

 

[Taé Shala]

So,

thanks for all. I think we will miss you.

 

[Matrix]

Originally posted by Taé Shala
I think we will miss you.

Don't worry, I'll still hang around.

 

[Lucky]

Sorry to see you retire.
Your involvement in both CFC GOTMs has not only drawn me to this place but definitely countless other CFC members. Without the GOTM idea and you in particular CFC wouldn´t have become what it is now.

But I more than fully understand your reasoning. I myself had to leave out a few GOTMs because of exams and other pressing matters which left not enough time for this. But when I did have enough time again, I of course noticed the change of the Civ3 GOTM from a fun only competition to a fierce fight. A fight against exploits, cheaters and people who take this far too seriously. I felt no desire anymore to enter a competition with an atmosphere of distrust and where you only could place well in the ranking if you mathematically took apart the game and knew every trick that was still allowed!

Establishing and administering a whole "police force" for a simple competition would not be my definition of a fun hobby and it looks like it´s not yours either. The ever more time consuming result making and even longer waiting for those result was definitely not in your interest either.

But if your "job" is not fun anymore, then it´s the absolutely right decision to retire. Especially when the job is not much more than a hobby.
I will miss you, just like you were missed after retiring from the Civ2 GOTM.

 

[Matrix]

Originally posted by Lucky
I felt no desire anymore to enter a competition with an atmosphere of distrust and where you only could place well in the ranking if you mathematically took apart the game and knew every trick that was still allowed!

That's an interesting thing you say, Lucky. If people try to play the game as good as possible it's inevitable that they'll check every border and, as you say, "take it mathematically apart". But that's something you can't blame people for. I mean, respectible players like SirPleb and Cartouche Bee are/were the rulers in these matters and continuously they find new ways of exploiting the game. But that's simply a quality we lack.

For each exploit we rule out, we actually disallow the finder of the exploit to take advantage of it. I'd almost suggest that these finders should get awarded in GOTM terms. The reason however that we still rule it out is that eventually everyone will know it and it spoils the rest of the game, making it less fun. So I'm not suggesting we shouldn't rule out anything, but it's still something to keep in the back of your mind.

Cheaters however are completely different kinds of people. They just wanna win and they don't care about the rules. Of course anyone would righteously think now "To what purpose?", and indeed, there is no purpose. That's also the reason why I so stongly believed in the "honour system". But alas, some people do appear to be dumb. [punch] This includes reloading: if you reload the game, whenever, bare in mind what the consequences are, cos if you do it, then you're probably not the only one. (Consequences = results are f*cked up.)