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Sam Heald Responds to 83+ Problems
Posted by Nick on 19 October 1999, 23:02 GMT
I got this email in my box today and I figured I would share it with everyone. It's from Sam Heald, creator of more assembly programs than you can shake a TI-89 at (I know, lamest comparison ever). I won't say anything to this because it pretty much speaks for itself. Enjoy.
As the instigator of the 83+ "boycott", I wish that you would please post my response as you have posted Ahmed's. I'm typing it now, so if there are any gross gramatical errors, please fix them. [I changed a few spelling/grammatical errors, but otherwise the original intent of the article was not changed in any way. -ed.] The "Boycott" is over Okay, as you all have now heard, I was planning to boycott the 83+ community. TCPA got themselves involved (rather complicatedly), and now the whole thing seems rather pointless. Ahmed, fed up with the TI scene as a whole, is taking a vacation, so to speak. Therefore, I'm dissolving the 83+ boycott before it starts. It has become obvious that the whole process will be more effort than the 83+ community is worth (in my opinion). I apologize to all those infuriated and all those sympathetic with my cause whom I have disappointed. I never did give a public account of my reasonings. Here is a small summary: Why [were we] upset with [the] 83+ community? The flames had gotten out of control after the Ztetris mishap. Admittedly, Ahmed made a huge mistake, but that is no excuse. I hadn't been mailbombed since my AOL days over 4 years ago! The magnitude of hatemail increased sharply. Then, as if the Ztetris release was some indication that I had entered the 83+ realm, I start receiving many many port requests. Usually, they are complimentary. People like your game and want to play it, yes? Not these, these requests were more like demands as if my free time is their god-given right. Sorry - no. The newbie 83+ questions were also getting ridiculous. "What's ION? Where's ION? How do I use ION? How do I send XXXX to my calculator? I sent the .83p version and it doesn't work." These weren't as courteous, either. "I downloaded your program. You're a *censored* liar, because it doesn't work." Frequently in the past, I received newbie email, requests, and criticisms, and never before has it bothered me. But the sheer magnitude and attitude of the 83+ community caused me to make an exception to my tolerance. Why boycott? My "boycott" was just a silly means to an end. I want merely to raise awareness in the TI community about the problem of programmer respect. I understand that the TI community is made mostly of "immature teenagers", so I don't expect much. But keeping that in mind, I realized that if I simply wrote a TI-Files editorial or a ticalc.org news article, nothing good would happen. The same morons who send me hatemail would reply to the articles and laugh (see the ticalc.org article about Mario 83). [You can find that here. -ed.] By holding a temporary boycott (probably lasting 4-8 weeks from D-Day), the issue would be forced to the forefront. Many people appreciate my work, but they act not quite as vocally as the disrespectful ones, so they do not stand out. Those that do appreciate surely prefer my time and efforts to be placed elsewhere (Zelda), not wasting literally hours responding to the vocal garbage of idiots. Many people would dislike the policy, but with anger and tension comes the need for resolution. That's essentially the purpose of any boycott. Agitate the violators until the point of collapse. My intentions were not that sinister. If I was not going to end the boycott, why would I bother making the 83+ port work? I could have simply altered the header and recompile it. Ahmed liked the idea (he, too, suffered 83+ indecency, perhaps more than I), and he signed on. Why I did choose this method? - People can't request ports if they've already been made.
- 1/2 of 83+ owners send the wrong file anyway.
- If the 83+ versions don't work, don't release them. Don't call it a boycott, call it "extended beta-testing."
- The presence of exclusion is more emphatic and effective than mere absence. Out of sight, out of mind; so to speak.
I had some other reasons for this method (instead of a boycott), The fourth reason was the primary one. 1 through 3 were meant to agitate the 83+ [users]. With agitation comes awareness, then comes resolution. My plan was simple: - Release 15-30 Void Productions to 83 ION on one day. The sheer magnitude will bring the topic to the surface. Never before had Ahmed or I ever used our "mini-monopoly" on 82/83 games for our own cause.
- Exclude the source codes and .8xp versions (and tell why).
- Include a screenshot of the 83+ version to prove that it works.
- Post an article regarding respect in the TI community on a major TI site.
- Wait. How long depended on the TI scene's reaction to the article. I would have been forced to wait at least a month just to show the severity of the problem and my own dedication to the cause (if I folded early, nothing would be resolved).
- Once the time has come (depends on reaction to article/boycott), I release 20-30 ION games with the 83+ version and source code. I'm happy because my issue has been somewhat addressed, and the 83+ community is happy because they just tripled their game selection in one day. Ideally, everybody would win.
So, that's that. I hope the limited exposure that my "plan" received will have some effect on the respect given to authors. It seemed most "gamers" were extremely agitated with me, and most "programmers" were very sympathetic to the cause. So I guess for a "boycott" that wasn't, it was fairly successful. Whether I'm going to release any ION versions of Void games to the public is, as of yet, undecided. I haven't made any of the conversions, yet, so it depends on whether or not I feel the effort to be worth the time. I would rather (as I'm sure most would agree) work on Zelda TI-8X. I might be releasing a new demo of that soon. Sam Heald
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The comments below are written by ticalc.org visitors. Their views are not necessarily those of ticalc.org, and ticalc.org takes no responsibility for their content.
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Re: Sam Heald Responds to 83+ Problems
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Diego Pontoriero 
(Web Page)
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Way to go Sam. This mail really shows integrity. I don't own an 83[+] so I haven't been reading all the posts on 83 topics, but when I heard that you guys were getting shot down for doing people a favor, I got really mad. What right do these often newbie users have to demand you to make programs? Just so they can play their games in math class? Being a fledgeling programmer, I understand that programming can be a long, tedious, and sometime infuriating or discouraging task, especially when working with a new piece of equipment. There' no authority or veteran for the 83+ that you can ask when you run into a problem. Reminds me of other calcs coming out, just as a poster on Ahmed's article said. Except my reason's different; it's a new platform and a lot of stuff still needs to be figured out. Just like how early 86, and 83 games had bugs, and how long it took for Zshell to be working peachy (yes, I remember those days). Therefore I respect you in whatever you decision you make; you owe nothing to the TI community, in fact, we are in debt to you. The fact that you and Ahmed have agreed to move on and continue programming shows that you are willing to understand how wrong these people are, but you will still write programs. And, you might want to put in a little screen in the beginning of each program that has a "flamer delay" or something, just as payback. oh yeah, i might as well advertise for myself, tinux is coming... soon (for the 86)!
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19 October 1999, 23:24 GMT
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Re: Sam Heald Responds to 83+ Problems
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Matt Capucilli
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Dude, Sam you are the man. I can just imagine what its like to be fricken swamped like that. I consider myself a good programmer, and I give you SOOOO much credit for having the balls to do what you did. Good job with your progs so far too, man.
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19 October 1999, 23:39 GMT
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Re: Sam Heald Responds to 83+ Problems
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raw33
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Wow! 'nuff said.
Not really, but it felt good to say it. I'm sure the friends of mine who have an 83+ (trust me, none of them even know how to use the calc's MEM menu, let alone find your email address :) will be happy. Good luck making some great games for ION!
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19 October 1999, 23:59 GMT
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Re: Sam Heald Responds to 83+ Problems
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Nicholas Skapura
(Web Page)
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I agree with your decision to boycott. I am a programmer for the 85 and 89 and I enjoy programming because its fun and I get the satisfaction of knowing other people are using stuff I wrote. Most people appreciate the fact that TI programmers are esentially, doing the gamers a huge favor by entertaining them in class. I myself have never recieved flame mail, but if I did I would be pretty irritated. I spend a lot of free time working on programs and people should be grateful to us programmers. There is no excuse for people to demand that you port more games or anything like that, but especially newbie users don't really understand how time consuming and difficult a program is to write. When I write a program really complicated program when I am at school and someone sees it in action, there like oh, yea that's cool. But whenever someone actually sees my source code, they quickly develop a whole new respect for me. As for the really stupid questions, people should do the programmers the curtesy of checking the FAQ before wasting our time.
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20 October 1999, 00:04 GMT
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Newbies
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Lanile
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Being that there has been a lot of concerns about newbies, I would like to state for the record that I happen to be one of those people. Even though being a newbie, I try to research all I can about calculators before I go asking questions. But sometimes questions are enivitable and newbies ask the older vetrans of the scene. Even though our questions may seem dumb, and pointless you must also face that fact that you once were us. Like us, you probably felt it pretty nice to be able to play games on this little calculator that you hold in your hands, and were a little dissappointed to learn that yours had less games than others. In that fair right, calculator games should be ported to whatever, whenever possible. Granted time may not always prevail, but being a begginning programer myself, I find it fun to be as creative as possible in working with programs. So before you pass judgement with newbies consider what I have said and show a little contempt their way.
Thanks for listening,
Zach
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20 October 1999, 00:53 GMT
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Re: Newbies
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Sam Heald
(Web Page)
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Your comment strikes me as comical. You do make a valid point about newbies, though. Their questions should be answered courteously and promptly by programmers even if the answer can be found easily in a general TI FAQ or in a readme. What I was trying to say with my "why upset" portion was simply: how you say something can be more important than what you have to say. The 83+ comments I received were disrespectful and discouteous in tone. Therefore, my desire to answer these rediculously simple questions reduces.
What struck me as comical is how you tried to compare ME to the 83+ users! I fail to see the comparison at all. If anything, I was the exact opposite of what the 83+ users are doing today. When I was a "newbie" to the TI community, I owned an 82. Admittedly, the 82 didn't have a huge supply of games (I could fit every good one on a single calc's mem). What did I do? Not bother 85/86 authors (although Patrick Davidson, my mentor, might tell you otherwise ;). I certainly didn't send authors PC viruses or mailbombs. Instead, I ported and wrote games that I desired myself. Now, something like 1/4->1/2 of 82 ASH games are in some way affiliated with me.
I should also mention that although I do not own an 83 or an 85 at this time, and yet I have done extensive programming for each.
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20 October 1999, 03:15 GMT
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Re: Sam Heald Responds to 83+ Problems
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AGWLCS
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I had no idea that the problem was this bad. I have an 83 Plus, and to all the people who have one, I suggest that you learn on your own. I have learned most of the stuff just by messin' around with the thing. I think most people are just mad b/c they are used to the 83 having a ton of games, and now they can't have any. I am pleased with the games that have come out right now, and I know it will just be a matter of time before games can be ported. If it is bothering you that bad, learn assembly. Until you devote your life to making and porting games for the 83 plus, I don't think you really have a right to get upset with the programmers. If it weren't for them, you wouldn't have anything in the first place.
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20 October 1999, 01:12 GMT
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