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| Suspension of Disbelief.. But Not to Death | |
| Posted By: Anton P. Nym (aka Steve) <sumpca@yahoo.com> | Date: 5/17/04 9:05 p.m. |
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I've been wracking my brain to come up with a concise description of why I wrote the terminals, but there are so many reasons that I've been unable to boil them down. However, as Bungie fans are wont to do, others have stepped in to pick up the slack that I've left. That's what made the Terminals so rewarding. Why take my word for it? (Especially when it's my word, and honour, that's being questioned.) Here are the opinions of the audience in question: X-Isle
And, over at bungie.net: These wonderful people, and many more like them, have already deduced many of the reasons I did the Terminals in the manner in which I did them. I thank you all. To those who still feel wronged, despite the mountain of evidence that vastly more good than harm came from the exercise, I ask you: what has this cost you? Money? I certainly never saw a dime come from the Terminals, and I have difficulty imagining how these could have led to financial loss. Personal injury? How a work of fiction could work physical harm to a person is beyond me. No one died as a result, so that can't be it. Ego bruising? Well, I had hoped that people wouldn't measure their personal worth in terms of the Terminals. Did I corrupt the morals of youths? (Here's a cup to that fine fellow Rams, then. Ahh... tingly.) I certainly hope not... and besides, Halo is rated M by the ESRB. Kids need to meet a certain level of maturity before playing... I assumed that the bulk of the audience was grown-ups, or at least mature enough to handle serious thinking. Did you lose trust in Bungie? I hope not. They're great guys, and even at their most devious they play fairly. Did you lose trust in the Internet? I HOPE SO. That's one of the MAJOR goals of the Terminals. The besetting sin of Western civilization is CREDULITY. We are democracies, which rely upon having the electorate making informed decisions when voting for their representatives. INFORMED decisions. That's why freedom of expression and freedom of the press are enshrined in constitutional law in so many countries. Democracies are supposed to work by having various competing interests present their merits, and having THE PEOPLE decide which is the best way. But if people can't (or won't) make the effort to choose wisely, the system breaks down. Herbal Viagra. Patented quick hair growth. Overnight weight-loss pills. "Nigerian" "bankers". Soopa-SEXXXY ladies WANT YOU NOW. Make Money FAST! Congress is putting up a modem tax. My sick child needs more greeting cards to be in the record book. Join the Immigration Lottery! Bill Gates will pay you money for FORWARDING THIS MESSAGE. You MAY ALREADY be a WINNER. Where is the Yellow Banshee? Is the Master Chief's armour is going to be pink with nipples in Halo2? I don't think we're doing too well here. The frightening part is, out of all the email I got before I raised the curtain, NOT ONE PERSON asked me if I really was from Bungie. It was taken on BLIND FAITH that "Enkidu" had to come from the studio. I had taken great pains to ensure that there was no trace back to Bungie; I was extremely careful not to involve ANYBODY in Bungie in the Terminals. The Cortana Letters were indisputably from the Studio because of the IP trail left behind. (Even when Nathan used some simple "spoofing" in the headers.) Since the terminals were a straight transfer (me to Louis for editing, then Louis to the server) no such trail existed for Enkidu. I made no claims to be from Bungie. I made no disclaimer either... but it SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN NECESSARY for me to do so, because there WAS NO EVIDENCE THAT I WAS. NONE. The meta tags were the only absolutely reliable clues in the terminals... I made damned sure that they led to the right conclusions in EVERY TERMINAL. You took me at my word for most of them... but not for "fanfic", which was present on every page. (except for the index, which wasn't truly fanfic; it was just a directory.) I groaned (literally, my coworkers thought I was going to snap or speak in tongues or something) whenever someone found a "reason" to explain away the "fanfic" in the meta tags. I did a LOT of groaning over the past three weeks... and it was for the whole three weeks. People in multiple forums were analysing them from Day One. If the Enkidu Terminals lead to people using critical thought when encountering something on the Internet, if the Terminals lead to people ASKING QUESTIONS before making decisions, then that goal of the Terminals was a SUCCESS. And then should a person come along to sell them a bill of goods, who IS interested in doing them harm for his/her own benefit, he/she won't be able to hose them. Many Bungie fans did yeoman work in this field, and I can't thank you enough for that. Unfortunately it didn't spread as widely as I'd hoped. I quoted The Two Faces of Tommorrow in the acknowledgements. Most people got the "WarGames" movie reference. The common element in both is that THE AI'S LEARN WISDOM THROUGH SIMULATION: Joshua learns detente through a zero-player game of tic-tac-toe, and FIZE learns compassion by cutting his simulated hand on simulated glass. This is a perfectly reasonable plot element; simulation, or "play", is the most efficient method of teaching. And of learning. SHALL WE PLAY A GAME? The worst harm that can come to you from the Terminals is taking time away from other activities... but that would have been the same harm had they indeed been from Bungie. And the same benefits, as quoted by Bungie fans above, still apply. If I had come out and publicly stated "I AM NOT FROM BUNGIE", you would have paid the price (of time) but received none of the benefits. So I gritted my teeth and remained silent to the end, hoping that you'd learn... because THAT WAS THE POINT. If all the above aren't enough, if you still remain embittered by the "fraud", then there is nothing I can do to take that away from you. Take the thin fabric of bitterness and wrap it around you for whatever cold comfort it can give you... it'll be more than I get from it. I'm not sorry I did it. I'm proud. And I'll be proud of the Terminals (and of the Bungie fans who played so hard at them) until the day I die. -- Steve | |
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| Replies: |
| Suspension of Disbelief.. But Not to Death | Anton P. Nym (aka Steve) | 5/17/04 9:05 p.m. |
| Quoth the angel | Colopatiron | 5/17/04 9:15 p.m. |
| I am kicking myself for one small thing... | Anton P. Nym (aka Steve) | 5/17/04 11:23 p.m. |
| I'll sum up what I saw | Miguel Chavez | 5/18/04 12:11 a.m. |
| :p | Traize | 5/18/04 12:43 p.m. |
| Re: Suspension of Disbelief.. But Not to Death | Carlo | 5/18/04 1:31 p.m. |
| Re: Suspension of Disbelief.. But Not to Death | Anton P. Nym (aka Steve) | 5/18/04 8:42 p.m. |
| Re: Suspension of Disbelief.. But Not to Death | Anonymous Coward | 5/18/04 1:33 p.m. |
| I still don't get it... | BloodBlade | 5/18/04 1:49 p.m. |
| Re: I still don't get it... | Tarrsk | 5/18/04 2:19 p.m. |
| (Mis)informed opinion, a letter to Anton. | gspawn | 5/18/04 2:21 p.m. |
| Re: (Mis)informed opinion, a letter to Anton. | mnemesis | 5/18/04 3:01 p.m. |
| Re: (Mis)informed opinion, a letter to Anton. | Count Zero | 5/18/04 5:49 p.m. |
| Living in Denial | Narcogen | 5/20/04 12:28 a.m. |
| Re: Living in Denial | Wado SG | 5/20/04 3:34 p.m. |
| Re: Living in Denial | Narcogen | 5/21/04 5:58 a.m. |
| Re: Living in Denial | mnemesis | 5/21/04 1:29 p.m. |
| Re: Living in Denial | Wado SG | 5/21/04 2:41 p.m. |
| Re: (Mis)informed opinion, a letter to Anton. | Zaknafein | 5/18/04 6:17 p.m. |
| Re: (Mis)informed opinion, a letter to Anton. | Louis Wu | 5/18/04 3:17 p.m. |
| Once upon a time... | Wado SG | 5/18/04 2:32 p.m. |
| Re: Once upon a time... | Dark Bastion | 5/18/04 7:06 p.m. |
| Re: Suspension of Disbelief.. But Not to Death | doesitmatter?no | 5/18/04 3:34 p.m. |
| Extraordinary claims / exraordinary evidence | CENOBITE | 5/18/04 4:20 p.m. |
| Re: Suspension of Disbelief.. But Not to Death | AeroJonesy | 5/18/04 4:00 p.m. |
| Re: Suspension of Disbelief.. But Not to Death | rAgn4rokK | 5/18/04 4:52 p.m. |
| Re: Suspension of Disbelief.. But Not to Death | Dark Bastion | 5/18/04 6:41 p.m. |
| Re: Suspension of Disbelief.. But Not to Death | Anton P. Nym (aka Steve) | 5/18/04 8:57 p.m. |
| Re: Suspension of Disbelief.. But Not to Death | Dark Bastion | 5/19/04 12:01 a.m. |
| Re: Suspension of Disbelief.. But Not to Death | Namaste | 5/18/04 10:00 p.m. |
| Re: Suspension of Disbelief.. But Not to Death | Haesslich | 5/19/04 2:16 a.m. |
| Ok, but... | Narcogen | 5/20/04 7:14 a.m. |
| Re: Ok, but... | Anton P. Nym (aka Steve) | 5/20/04 7:36 a.m. |
| Re: Ok, but... | Narcogen | 5/20/04 11:50 p.m. |
| Blaspheme Quarantined? | [BGH]Viper | 5/20/04 10:19 p.m. |
| Fantastic, Marathon-like job | Ken | 5/20/04 11:02 p.m. |
| Re: Fantastic, Marathon-like job | Anton P. Nym (aka Steve) | 5/21/04 6:13 a.m. |
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