Good day to the Buildism community. Unlike my other threads, this one will not be very positive. Generally, I am somehow able to make something positive out of a situation that isn't positive to begin with, but this time around, I am unable to do so.
This thread is very long - I know. I'm not expecting everyone to read this, but those who do read it will be very informed on what actually happened on CubeBomb many months ago. To those of you who have no idea what I am talking about when it comes to CubeBomb, or if you have no idea of what CubeBomb is, let me make that clear right now.
CubeBomb was originally intended to be an online game in which players took the form of a rectangular character and play in some "virtual 2D world" while socializing at the same time. When this failed the owner, for reasons that you will be viewing soon (if you decide to actually read this thread), he decided to turn CubeBomb into some "kid / teen social network". You can view their current website at: www.cubebomb.com.
Before I begin explaining the truth of what happened, let me first say a few more things. The reasons in which I am posting this thread today vary. Here is a quick rundown:
1.) I've been framed by dozens of people for being responsible for events that I was never responsible for in the first place.
2.) The framers who have been framing me do not know the true story regarding the events that have occurred on CubeBomb, and have only been framing me for these events because of the rumors that were started by several CubeBomb members.
3.) CubeBomb is following me wherever I go now. They won't leave me alone, and it's starting to become very annoying. They haven't stopped bugging me and framing me on sites that I reside now for around 6 months. Actually, probably a lot longer. I'm not really keeping track.
4.) Nobody has their facts straight, and I'm done not fighting these rumors.
5.) Several members of the Buildism community and staff have requested this thread.
With that being said, here it is:
---
[BASED OFF A CHAT WITH ASHELY; FORMATTED IT]
---> [FIRST-PERSON STORY AT MOST TIMES] <---
------> I speak the truth and only the truth. I put my hand on the bible when I tell you this. It was many months ago. I believe it was at the end of 2010. I can find the exact date later. I somehow hear of this "soon-to-be game" named "CubeBomb" somewhere. Where? I don't remember, to be honest. I look around for a while without registering.
The thing that I didn't understand was this: why the heck were they writing a 2D social networking-like game in C++? I had many reasons to not understand their goal. Here are the main three:
1.) How are they going to write a full-out multiplayer social networking game in *C++*?!? It takes many professionals with years of experience to
accomplish such a thing!
2.) C++ is not cross-platformed by default, meaning that it only works
for one operating system by default until it is compiled (run, in beginner terms) on other systems.
3.) And what the heck is the point of writing a 2D C++-based social-
networking game like CubeBomb if it cannot be embedded into the website?
That just makes no sense.
I had other reasons too, obviously.
But anyway, I decide to register and keep my cool. I make an introduction
thread on the forums. I get many responses, all of them being very kind and positive.
I came to like the community, but I would soon find out that the
community held a false image.Well... I look into CB more and I ask for an
example of what the owner has written so far. He has three tiny little
sloppy chunks of the "main program" that are all scattered with literally
nothing in them besides garbage that will probably never be useful. Meanwhile, he is telling everyone that the game is under heavy construction, and that it is coming out soon. What is even more
concerning about this is that the people of CubeBomb are telling me that
the game is taking "forever".
Continuing on, I look into the site further, and get to know the community better. I have some long conversations with StuffMaker, and he explains to me that he can handle the game himself. Eventually, I decide that the game will never come if CubeBomb does not get a dedicated programmer who spends a lot of time on the game, along with expressing all of his experience and care for the game.
I am close to leaving, and I *REALLY* wish I did...
People begin to say that I would be a great programmer for the game. That gives me an idea, but I explain to them kindly that I do not code C++.
I then make a huge forum post on my thoughts and concerns about CubeBomb and why Java is a much better choice than C++ for the project.
Well then, StuffMaker reviews it, and decides that I would be able to
make the game faster and better than him, apparently. I make a formal request of getting my Java game programming company Dark Haven Coders (which I recently sold) involved with his project, and to start a brand new game for them written in Java. He accepts. This was perhaps one of my largest mistakes.
When I join the team, I have everyone's approval for the most part. The
problem lies within the fact that StuffMaker gave me almost no good or
useful game documentation that would help me code it. I start anyway. I
get my manager & lead Java engineer, Kevin Zheng, and my lead graphic
artist, Joseph Gaddes, involved in writing the game for CubeBomb. I begin
coding it that day.
A few days have passed, and as I am working on the game, I run into many problems. I have StuffMaker come onto my custom-programmed Java
chat room that is for my company and guests only, and we discuss some
problems. These problems have to do with the fact that he refuses to give
me database access when he knows that I can't make this multiplayer or
securely integrate a login system to the game if he doesn't hand over
access, his host's problems (GoDaddy), and other serious issues. The last
main issue that I had was the beginning of something serious.
I didn't know that the community was going to worsen over time. I told him that I found that I was keeping the community and staff together as a manager, more so than working on the game. As everyone knew, my main job was to work on the game.
Over time, the community began growing more and more immature, and I
found that the current 15 or so staff members were failing to do their jobs in general, properly, or they were just plain-out inactive or immature. Eventually, there were actually some admin-abuse situations that I had to help deal with. The situation worsened with StuffMaker, supposevedly a skilled, mature adult who knows how to handle situations like these, had went ahead and decided to keep them as staff. In a few weeks, the whole situation with CubeBomb was falling.
As I was heavily moderating, I was unable to program and my approval
ratings were failing miserably. Well, I began to develop anger towards
the community. I tried many times to *nicely* explain to them that it was
hard to do both moderation and programming the entire game. They were
complaining and acting like jerks, an the next thing I know, they counter
my "excuse" as they called it, and said, "Then just program the game, let
the other staff deal with moderation". I then made one final counter.
I explained to them that the staff were not doing their job. They are
just plain-out outraged by the suggestion, and finally, I send another message to StuffMaker.
This time, We have a large mail exchange between the two of us. In this
exchange, we decide that it is time to remove the staff who are not doing
their jobs. We end up removing most of the staff, because most of them
were not doing their jobs and were causing issues or just not doing
anything right / at all.
The time comes around, and we mass demote the staff. The community was going ballistic within minutes. Soon enough, every 30 or so seconds, a
new topic was created. I can honestly say that I was up for almost 24
hours straight clearing up these messages. If I also remember right, I
took a sick day off from college. This proves that I actually *DID* care
about CubeBomb a lot.
Well, then I had to put down "martial law". I ended up coming to the
conclusion that the ignorant fools of the community would never stop
being that way and that they were only making the situation worse. I
pleaded with them; but when my pleading no longer worked period, I ended
up explaining to them that everyone who posts about this outside of one
thread that I made would be banned for 7 days. When I made this decision, I was making it just so that I could get everyone to settle down. They still did not give in.
I ended up having my small team ban about 10 or so members for 7 days.
They almost all came back spamming, making the situation even worse. I
then had to enforce IP bans on spamming members, some of which *BECAME MODERATORS RECENTLY!*
At this point, I really knew that the community sucked. Regardless, I
stuck in there. We were ALMOST done with the attacks... And what does
StuffMaker decide to do with his brilliant logic? He decides to screw us
all over. He rehires almost every staff member...
All of that work for nothing, and now my popularity is in the negatives.
The high majority of the community hates me now and all of the demoted
staff hate me even more. I explain to them over and over that I warned
them and that I only had the best intentions for the community. So then I
decide to stop moderating so much and let the community sort itself out.
I promise you this: every time I looked at the forums, it was filled with
nasty posts about me. I explain to them that this is not fair,
considering the fact that I was writing their game. They never let up. After about a week or so, I decide that enough is enough.
I make one final staff pinned post explaining that I was resigning and why.
I apologized and everything too, but even though I apologized, I had
nothing to say sorry for. I tried my best. I was being harassed and
abused like a poor animal, only not actually physically, obviously.
I decide to go on the tiny chat room and I make a verbal web-cam speech.
I take questions and everything. Everyone there (for the most part) was
being kind about it and asking me to stay and was saying sorry. And then,
their minds were changed when some ignorant members walk into the room
explaining that I am horrible and that I ruined CB. I hate to say this, but I was more than happy to make their game. One person can only take so
much abuse, however.
I left the room, and soon, the entire forum was going nuts again. Within
the day, I am banned from CubeBomb by nubcaik, a CubeBomb administrator, for multiple days. Why? Because I "ruined CubeBomb".
Well then... I leave, and my company manager stays for a while explaining that they are fools for doing what they did to me. That just made them even more angry. My manager then leaves forever too when they start insulting him with horrible comments, some of which were cruel comments about his programming skills. Let me tell you this: Kevin Zheng is probably a better programmer than myself. I don't know what they were talking about.
The best part is, the members were literally flaming and cussing, and they were not being punished. StuffMaker, an ADULT, is letting a kid's social network filled with children and teens do this. I'm sorry, but that is so stupid and wrong.
At this point in the chat, I got word from Ashely saying that, "He's 18 if you didnt know."
Then I responded: "Oh... really? Because he told me he was much older than that."
Ashely: "Yeah, He told me in a pm"
--Well, I think that's creepy, disgusting, and wrong on many levels. He told me that he was 23. Jacob tells me that StuffMaker said that he was 21 years old. That's three different ages between only three different people. That's incredible.
Later on, it came to my attention that CubeBomb published a Wiki page
about me. This page published my real name (Ryne Thiel) and some
of my information without my permission, and harassed the living daylights out of me over the internet. They made their lies go too far when they put it out on the internet for the world to see. They changed the whole story to make me look like an evil fool, and people actually believed it. The best
part of that is, the story was quick and unbelievable. Anyone in their
right mind would know that it wasn't true. StuffMaker allowed this page
to be made because he didn't stop it before I saw it for myself. Luckily, at one point, he took it down, but the members put it right back up again.
Oh, and not to mention again, CB, during that time, was already made into a children's social network...
I almost took the next step. I write an extremely large email to their host, GoDaddy, with screenshots of the abuse on an unauthorized children's social network, as well as explaining a lot of what I have explained to you today to them. Of course, I didn't say everything I said to you... that
would be pointless and a waste of their time. I only wrote the main parts
and concerns. CubeBomb was breaking the GoDaddy terms of service.
How did I know to email them by the way? I call their host, and then I
speak to a representative named Kyle. He tells me that this is a form of
direct, illegal cyber abuse, and that if I email them, they will take
down CubeBomb for the offenses, and then go as far as to report the owner if necessary.
I write that email, but I don't send it. I speak to someone whose name I forget. He explains to me that everyone is begging me on the chat (which I am not on) to not send the email. I don't send it. I'm starting to regret not doing so.
---
Thank you for reading the real story. I hope you now know that I am not
that evil person that StuffMaker and certain members from the CB
community make me out to be. If you are wondering why my story was so unorganized, I copied it directly from the chat between Ashely and I on XFire and edited it in Notepad. I didn't feel the need to retype the same thing all over again. I did, however, sensor myself a little more while editing the chat log between Ashely and I. These are the only differences that I can really see with this post compared to our chat, other than fixing the formatting issues.
Ashely will verify that post is based upon our chatlog regarding CubeBomb.
If anyone else would like to verify the accuracy of this thread, please do so. I'm not one to lie.
Thank you for your time, and now you know what really happened with CubeBomb. If you have any questions or comments, please send feel free to reply to this thread. In addition, feel free to verify the accuracy of this thread. If you want to go over something with me in private, please PM me, and we can discuss it there. This thread isn't really meant for discussion purposes.
Shoot! It looks like there's still a ton of formatting issues with this post. Forget it, I'm not going to fix this again.
This thread is very long - I know. I'm not expecting everyone to read this, but those who do read it will be very informed on what actually happened on CubeBomb many months ago. To those of you who have no idea what I am talking about when it comes to CubeBomb, or if you have no idea of what CubeBomb is, let me make that clear right now.
CubeBomb was originally intended to be an online game in which players took the form of a rectangular character and play in some "virtual 2D world" while socializing at the same time. When this failed the owner, for reasons that you will be viewing soon (if you decide to actually read this thread), he decided to turn CubeBomb into some "kid / teen social network". You can view their current website at: www.cubebomb.com.
Before I begin explaining the truth of what happened, let me first say a few more things. The reasons in which I am posting this thread today vary. Here is a quick rundown:
1.) I've been framed by dozens of people for being responsible for events that I was never responsible for in the first place.
2.) The framers who have been framing me do not know the true story regarding the events that have occurred on CubeBomb, and have only been framing me for these events because of the rumors that were started by several CubeBomb members.
3.) CubeBomb is following me wherever I go now. They won't leave me alone, and it's starting to become very annoying. They haven't stopped bugging me and framing me on sites that I reside now for around 6 months. Actually, probably a lot longer. I'm not really keeping track.
4.) Nobody has their facts straight, and I'm done not fighting these rumors.
5.) Several members of the Buildism community and staff have requested this thread.
With that being said, here it is:
---
[BASED OFF A CHAT WITH ASHELY; FORMATTED IT]
---> [FIRST-PERSON STORY AT MOST TIMES] <---
------> I speak the truth and only the truth. I put my hand on the bible when I tell you this. It was many months ago. I believe it was at the end of 2010. I can find the exact date later. I somehow hear of this "soon-to-be game" named "CubeBomb" somewhere. Where? I don't remember, to be honest. I look around for a while without registering.
The thing that I didn't understand was this: why the heck were they writing a 2D social networking-like game in C++? I had many reasons to not understand their goal. Here are the main three:
1.) How are they going to write a full-out multiplayer social networking game in *C++*?!? It takes many professionals with years of experience to
accomplish such a thing!
2.) C++ is not cross-platformed by default, meaning that it only works
for one operating system by default until it is compiled (run, in beginner terms) on other systems.
3.) And what the heck is the point of writing a 2D C++-based social-
networking game like CubeBomb if it cannot be embedded into the website?
That just makes no sense.
I had other reasons too, obviously.
But anyway, I decide to register and keep my cool. I make an introduction
thread on the forums. I get many responses, all of them being very kind and positive.
I came to like the community, but I would soon find out that the
community held a false image.Well... I look into CB more and I ask for an
example of what the owner has written so far. He has three tiny little
sloppy chunks of the "main program" that are all scattered with literally
nothing in them besides garbage that will probably never be useful. Meanwhile, he is telling everyone that the game is under heavy construction, and that it is coming out soon. What is even more
concerning about this is that the people of CubeBomb are telling me that
the game is taking "forever".
Continuing on, I look into the site further, and get to know the community better. I have some long conversations with StuffMaker, and he explains to me that he can handle the game himself. Eventually, I decide that the game will never come if CubeBomb does not get a dedicated programmer who spends a lot of time on the game, along with expressing all of his experience and care for the game.
I am close to leaving, and I *REALLY* wish I did...
People begin to say that I would be a great programmer for the game. That gives me an idea, but I explain to them kindly that I do not code C++.
I then make a huge forum post on my thoughts and concerns about CubeBomb and why Java is a much better choice than C++ for the project.
Well then, StuffMaker reviews it, and decides that I would be able to
make the game faster and better than him, apparently. I make a formal request of getting my Java game programming company Dark Haven Coders (which I recently sold) involved with his project, and to start a brand new game for them written in Java. He accepts. This was perhaps one of my largest mistakes.
When I join the team, I have everyone's approval for the most part. The
problem lies within the fact that StuffMaker gave me almost no good or
useful game documentation that would help me code it. I start anyway. I
get my manager & lead Java engineer, Kevin Zheng, and my lead graphic
artist, Joseph Gaddes, involved in writing the game for CubeBomb. I begin
coding it that day.
A few days have passed, and as I am working on the game, I run into many problems. I have StuffMaker come onto my custom-programmed Java
chat room that is for my company and guests only, and we discuss some
problems. These problems have to do with the fact that he refuses to give
me database access when he knows that I can't make this multiplayer or
securely integrate a login system to the game if he doesn't hand over
access, his host's problems (GoDaddy), and other serious issues. The last
main issue that I had was the beginning of something serious.
I didn't know that the community was going to worsen over time. I told him that I found that I was keeping the community and staff together as a manager, more so than working on the game. As everyone knew, my main job was to work on the game.
Over time, the community began growing more and more immature, and I
found that the current 15 or so staff members were failing to do their jobs in general, properly, or they were just plain-out inactive or immature. Eventually, there were actually some admin-abuse situations that I had to help deal with. The situation worsened with StuffMaker, supposevedly a skilled, mature adult who knows how to handle situations like these, had went ahead and decided to keep them as staff. In a few weeks, the whole situation with CubeBomb was falling.
As I was heavily moderating, I was unable to program and my approval
ratings were failing miserably. Well, I began to develop anger towards
the community. I tried many times to *nicely* explain to them that it was
hard to do both moderation and programming the entire game. They were
complaining and acting like jerks, an the next thing I know, they counter
my "excuse" as they called it, and said, "Then just program the game, let
the other staff deal with moderation". I then made one final counter.
I explained to them that the staff were not doing their job. They are
just plain-out outraged by the suggestion, and finally, I send another message to StuffMaker.
This time, We have a large mail exchange between the two of us. In this
exchange, we decide that it is time to remove the staff who are not doing
their jobs. We end up removing most of the staff, because most of them
were not doing their jobs and were causing issues or just not doing
anything right / at all.
The time comes around, and we mass demote the staff. The community was going ballistic within minutes. Soon enough, every 30 or so seconds, a
new topic was created. I can honestly say that I was up for almost 24
hours straight clearing up these messages. If I also remember right, I
took a sick day off from college. This proves that I actually *DID* care
about CubeBomb a lot.
Well, then I had to put down "martial law". I ended up coming to the
conclusion that the ignorant fools of the community would never stop
being that way and that they were only making the situation worse. I
pleaded with them; but when my pleading no longer worked period, I ended
up explaining to them that everyone who posts about this outside of one
thread that I made would be banned for 7 days. When I made this decision, I was making it just so that I could get everyone to settle down. They still did not give in.
I ended up having my small team ban about 10 or so members for 7 days.
They almost all came back spamming, making the situation even worse. I
then had to enforce IP bans on spamming members, some of which *BECAME MODERATORS RECENTLY!*
At this point, I really knew that the community sucked. Regardless, I
stuck in there. We were ALMOST done with the attacks... And what does
StuffMaker decide to do with his brilliant logic? He decides to screw us
all over. He rehires almost every staff member...
All of that work for nothing, and now my popularity is in the negatives.
The high majority of the community hates me now and all of the demoted
staff hate me even more. I explain to them over and over that I warned
them and that I only had the best intentions for the community. So then I
decide to stop moderating so much and let the community sort itself out.
I promise you this: every time I looked at the forums, it was filled with
nasty posts about me. I explain to them that this is not fair,
considering the fact that I was writing their game. They never let up. After about a week or so, I decide that enough is enough.
I make one final staff pinned post explaining that I was resigning and why.
I apologized and everything too, but even though I apologized, I had
nothing to say sorry for. I tried my best. I was being harassed and
abused like a poor animal, only not actually physically, obviously.
I decide to go on the tiny chat room and I make a verbal web-cam speech.
I take questions and everything. Everyone there (for the most part) was
being kind about it and asking me to stay and was saying sorry. And then,
their minds were changed when some ignorant members walk into the room
explaining that I am horrible and that I ruined CB. I hate to say this, but I was more than happy to make their game. One person can only take so
much abuse, however.
I left the room, and soon, the entire forum was going nuts again. Within
the day, I am banned from CubeBomb by nubcaik, a CubeBomb administrator, for multiple days. Why? Because I "ruined CubeBomb".
Well then... I leave, and my company manager stays for a while explaining that they are fools for doing what they did to me. That just made them even more angry. My manager then leaves forever too when they start insulting him with horrible comments, some of which were cruel comments about his programming skills. Let me tell you this: Kevin Zheng is probably a better programmer than myself. I don't know what they were talking about.
The best part is, the members were literally flaming and cussing, and they were not being punished. StuffMaker, an ADULT, is letting a kid's social network filled with children and teens do this. I'm sorry, but that is so stupid and wrong.
At this point in the chat, I got word from Ashely saying that, "He's 18 if you didnt know."
Then I responded: "Oh... really? Because he told me he was much older than that."
Ashely: "Yeah, He told me in a pm"
--Well, I think that's creepy, disgusting, and wrong on many levels. He told me that he was 23. Jacob tells me that StuffMaker said that he was 21 years old. That's three different ages between only three different people. That's incredible.
Later on, it came to my attention that CubeBomb published a Wiki page
about me. This page published my real name (Ryne Thiel) and some
of my information without my permission, and harassed the living daylights out of me over the internet. They made their lies go too far when they put it out on the internet for the world to see. They changed the whole story to make me look like an evil fool, and people actually believed it. The best
part of that is, the story was quick and unbelievable. Anyone in their
right mind would know that it wasn't true. StuffMaker allowed this page
to be made because he didn't stop it before I saw it for myself. Luckily, at one point, he took it down, but the members put it right back up again.
Oh, and not to mention again, CB, during that time, was already made into a children's social network...
I almost took the next step. I write an extremely large email to their host, GoDaddy, with screenshots of the abuse on an unauthorized children's social network, as well as explaining a lot of what I have explained to you today to them. Of course, I didn't say everything I said to you... that
would be pointless and a waste of their time. I only wrote the main parts
and concerns. CubeBomb was breaking the GoDaddy terms of service.
How did I know to email them by the way? I call their host, and then I
speak to a representative named Kyle. He tells me that this is a form of
direct, illegal cyber abuse, and that if I email them, they will take
down CubeBomb for the offenses, and then go as far as to report the owner if necessary.
I write that email, but I don't send it. I speak to someone whose name I forget. He explains to me that everyone is begging me on the chat (which I am not on) to not send the email. I don't send it. I'm starting to regret not doing so.
---
Thank you for reading the real story. I hope you now know that I am not
that evil person that StuffMaker and certain members from the CB
community make me out to be. If you are wondering why my story was so unorganized, I copied it directly from the chat between Ashely and I on XFire and edited it in Notepad. I didn't feel the need to retype the same thing all over again. I did, however, sensor myself a little more while editing the chat log between Ashely and I. These are the only differences that I can really see with this post compared to our chat, other than fixing the formatting issues.
Ashely will verify that post is based upon our chatlog regarding CubeBomb.
If anyone else would like to verify the accuracy of this thread, please do so. I'm not one to lie.
Thank you for your time, and now you know what really happened with CubeBomb. If you have any questions or comments, please send feel free to reply to this thread. In addition, feel free to verify the accuracy of this thread. If you want to go over something with me in private, please PM me, and we can discuss it there. This thread isn't really meant for discussion purposes.
(08-14-2011, 10:38 PM)CoderRyne Wrote: Good day to the Buildism community. Unlike my other threads, this one will not be very positive. Generally, I am somehow able to make something positive out of a situation that isn't positive to begin with, but this time around, I am unable to do so.
This thread is very long - I know. I'm not expecting everyone to read this, but those who do read it will be very informed on what actually happened on CubeBomb many months ago. To those of you who have no idea what I am talking about when it comes to CubeBomb, or if you have no idea of what CubeBomb is, let me make that clear right now.
CubeBomb was originally intended to be an online game in which players took the form of a rectangular character and play in some "virtual 2D world" while socializing at the same time. When this failed the owner, for reasons that you will be viewing soon (if you decide to actually read this thread), he decided to turn CubeBomb into some "kid / teen social network". You can view their current website at: www.cubebomb.com.
Before I begin explaining the truth of what happened, let me first say a few more things. The reasons in which I am posting this thread today vary. Here is a quick rundown:
1.) I've been framed by dozens of people for being responsible for events that I was never responsible for in the first place.
2.) The framers who have been framing me do not know the true story regarding the events that have occurred on CubeBomb, and have only been framing me for these events because of the rumors that were started by several CubeBomb members.
3.) CubeBomb is following me wherever I go now. They won't leave me alone, and it's starting to become very annoying. They haven't stopped bugging me and framing me on sites that I reside now for around 6 months. Actually, probably a lot longer. I'm not really keeping track.
4.) Nobody has their facts straight, and I'm done not fighting these rumors.
5.) Several members of the Buildism community and staff have requested this thread.
With that being said, here it is:
---
[BASED OFF A CHAT WITH ASHELY; FORMATTED IT]
---> [FIRST-PERSON STORY AT MOST TIMES] <---
------> I speak the truth and only the truth. I put my hand on the bible when I tell you this. It was many months ago. I believe it was at the end of 2010. I can find the exact date later. I somehow hear of this "soon-to-be game" named "CubeBomb" somewhere. Where? I don't remember, to be honest. I look around for a while without registering.
The thing that I didn't understand was this: why the heck were they writing a 2D social networking-like game in C++? I had many reasons to not understand their goal. Here are the main three:
1.) How are they going to write a full-out multiplayer social networking game in *C++*?!? It takes many professionals with years of experience to
accomplish such a thing!
2.) C++ is not cross-platformed by default, meaning that it only works
for one operating system by default until it is compiled (run, in beginner terms) on other systems.
3.) And what the heck is the point of writing a 2D C++-based social-
networking game like CubeBomb if it cannot be embedded into the website?
That just makes no sense.
I had other reasons too, obviously.
But anyway, I decide to register and keep my cool. I make an introduction
thread on the forums. I get many responses, all of them being very kind and positive.
I came to like the community, but I would soon find out that the
community held a false image.Well... I look into CB more and I ask for an
example of what the owner has written so far. He has three tiny little
sloppy chunks of the "main program" that are all scattered with literally
nothing in them besides garbage that will probably never be useful. Meanwhile, he is telling everyone that the game is under heavy construction, and that it is coming out soon. What is even more
concerning about this is that the people of CubeBomb are telling me that
the game is taking "forever".
Continuing on, I look into the site further, and get to know the community better. I have some long conversations with StuffMaker, and he explains to me that he can handle the game himself. Eventually, I decide that the game will never come if CubeBomb does not get a dedicated programmer who spends a lot of time on the game, along with expressing all of his experience and care for the game.
I am close to leaving, and I *REALLY* wish I did...
People begin to say that I would be a great programmer for the game. That gives me an idea, but I explain to them kindly that I do not code C++.
I then make a huge forum post on my thoughts and concerns about CubeBomb and why Java is a much better choice than C++ for the project.
Well then, StuffMaker reviews it, and decides that I would be able to
make the game faster and better than him, apparently. I make a formal request of getting my Java game programming company Dark Haven Coders (which I recently sold) involved with his project, and to start a brand new game for them written in Java. He accepts. This was perhaps one of my largest mistakes.
When I join the team, I have everyone's approval for the most part. The
problem lies within the fact that StuffMaker gave me almost no good or
useful game documentation that would help me code it. I start anyway. I
get my manager & lead Java engineer, Kevin Zheng, and my lead graphic
artist, Joseph Gaddes, involved in writing the game for CubeBomb. I begin
coding it that day.
A few days have passed, and as I am working on the game, I run into many problems. I have StuffMaker come onto my custom-programmed Java
chat room that is for my company and guests only, and we discuss some
problems. These problems have to do with the fact that he refuses to give
me database access when he knows that I can't make this multiplayer or
securely integrate a login system to the game if he doesn't hand over
access, his host's problems (GoDaddy), and other serious issues. The last
main issue that I had was the beginning of something serious.
I didn't know that the community was going to worsen over time. I told him that I found that I was keeping the community and staff together as a manager, more so than working on the game. As everyone knew, my main job was to work on the game.
Over time, the community began growing more and more immature, and I
found that the current 15 or so staff members were failing to do their jobs in general, properly, or they were just plain-out inactive or immature. Eventually, there were actually some admin-abuse situations that I had to help deal with. The situation worsened with StuffMaker, supposevedly a skilled, mature adult who knows how to handle situations like these, had went ahead and decided to keep them as staff. In a few weeks, the whole situation with CubeBomb was falling.
As I was heavily moderating, I was unable to program and my approval
ratings were failing miserably. Well, I began to develop anger towards
the community. I tried many times to *nicely* explain to them that it was
hard to do both moderation and programming the entire game. They were
complaining and acting like jerks, an the next thing I know, they counter
my "excuse" as they called it, and said, "Then just program the game, let
the other staff deal with moderation". I then made one final counter.
I explained to them that the staff were not doing their job. They are
just plain-out outraged by the suggestion, and finally, I send another message to StuffMaker.
This time, We have a large mail exchange between the two of us. In this
exchange, we decide that it is time to remove the staff who are not doing
their jobs. We end up removing most of the staff, because most of them
were not doing their jobs and were causing issues or just not doing
anything right / at all.
The time comes around, and we mass demote the staff. The community was going ballistic within minutes. Soon enough, every 30 or so seconds, a
new topic was created. I can honestly say that I was up for almost 24
hours straight clearing up these messages. If I also remember right, I
took a sick day off from college. This proves that I actually *DID* care
about CubeBomb a lot.
Well, then I had to put down "martial law". I ended up coming to the
conclusion that the ignorant fools of the community would never stop
being that way and that they were only making the situation worse. I
pleaded with them; but when my pleading no longer worked period, I ended
up explaining to them that everyone who posts about this outside of one
thread that I made would be banned for 7 days. When I made this decision, I was making it just so that I could get everyone to settle down. They still did not give in.
I ended up having my small team ban about 10 or so members for 7 days.
They almost all came back spamming, making the situation even worse. I
then had to enforce IP bans on spamming members, some of which *BECAME MODERATORS RECENTLY!*
At this point, I really knew that the community sucked. Regardless, I
stuck in there. We were ALMOST done with the attacks... And what does
StuffMaker decide to do with his brilliant logic? He decides to screw us
all over. He rehires almost every staff member...
All of that work for nothing, and now my popularity is in the negatives.
The high majority of the community hates me now and all of the demoted
staff hate me even more. I explain to them over and over that I warned
them and that I only had the best intentions for the community. So then I
decide to stop moderating so much and let the community sort itself out.
I promise you this: every time I looked at the forums, it was filled with
nasty posts about me. I explain to them that this is not fair,
considering the fact that I was writing their game. They never let up. After about a week or so, I decide that enough is enough.
I make one final staff pinned post explaining that I was resigning and why.
I apologized and everything too, but even though I apologized, I had
nothing to say sorry for. I tried my best. I was being harassed and
abused like a poor animal, only not actually physically, obviously.
I decide to go on the tiny chat room and I make a verbal web-cam speech.
I take questions and everything. Everyone there (for the most part) was
being kind about it and asking me to stay and was saying sorry. And then,
their minds were changed when some ignorant members walk into the room
explaining that I am horrible and that I ruined CB. I hate to say this, but I was more than happy to make their game. One person can only take so
much abuse, however.
I left the room, and soon, the entire forum was going nuts again. Within
the day, I am banned from CubeBomb by nubcaik, a CubeBomb administrator, for multiple days. Why? Because I "ruined CubeBomb".
Well then... I leave, and my company manager stays for a while explaining that they are fools for doing what they did to me. That just made them even more angry. My manager then leaves forever too when they start insulting him with horrible comments, some of which were cruel comments about his programming skills. Let me tell you this: Kevin Zheng is probably a better programmer than myself. I don't know what they were talking about.
The best part is, the members were literally flaming and cussing, and they were not being punished. StuffMaker, an ADULT, is letting a kid's social network filled with children and teens do this. I'm sorry, but that is so stupid and wrong.
At this point in the chat, I got word from Ashely saying that, "He's 18 if you didnt know."
Then I responded: "Oh... really? Because he told me he was much older than that."
Ashely: "Yeah, He told me in a pm"
--Well, I think that's creepy, disgusting, and wrong on many levels. He told me that he was 23. Jacob tells me that StuffMaker said that he was 21 years old. That's three different ages between only three different people. That's incredible.
Later on, it came to my attention that CubeBomb published a Wiki page
about me. This page published my real name (Ryne Thiel) and some
of my information without my permission, and harassed the living daylights out of me over the internet. They made their lies go too far when they put it out on the internet for the world to see. They changed the whole story to make me look like an evil fool, and people actually believed it. The best
part of that is, the story was quick and unbelievable. Anyone in their
right mind would know that it wasn't true. StuffMaker allowed this page
to be made because he didn't stop it before I saw it for myself. Luckily, at one point, he took it down, but the members put it right back up again.
Oh, and not to mention again, CB, during that time, was already made into a children's social network...
I almost took the next step. I write an extremely large email to their host, GoDaddy, with screenshots of the abuse on an unauthorized children's social network, as well as explaining a lot of what I have explained to you today to them. Of course, I didn't say everything I said to you... that
would be pointless and a waste of their time. I only wrote the main parts
and concerns. CubeBomb was breaking the GoDaddy terms of service.
How did I know to email them by the way? I call their host, and then I
speak to a representative named Kyle. He tells me that this is a form of
direct, illegal cyber abuse, and that if I email them, they will take
down CubeBomb for the offenses, and then go as far as to report the owner if necessary.
I write that email, but I don't send it. I speak to someone whose name I forget. He explains to me that everyone is begging me on the chat (which I am not on) to not send the email. I don't send it. I'm starting to regret not doing so.
---
Thank you for reading the real story. I hope you now know that I am not
that evil person that StuffMaker and certain members from the CB
community make me out to be. If you are wondering why my story was so unorganized, I copied it directly from the chat between Ashely and I on XFire and edited it in Notepad. I didn't feel the need to retype the same thing all over again. I did, however, sensor myself a little more while editing the chat log between Ashely and I. These are the only differences that I can really see with this post compared to our chat, other than fixing the formatting issues.
Ashely will verify that post is based upon our chatlog regarding CubeBomb.
If anyone else would like to verify the accuracy of this thread, please do so. I'm not one to lie.
Thank you for your time, and now you know what really happened with CubeBomb. If you have any questions or comments, please send feel free to reply to this thread. In addition, feel free to verify the accuracy of this thread. If you want to go over something with me in private, please PM me, and we can discuss it there. This thread isn't really meant for discussion purposes.
Shoot! It looks like there's still a ton of formatting issues with this post. Forget it, I'm not going to fix this again.
-CoderRyne
Ryne Thiel
Ryne Thiel