It really gets to me to see all the topics being all "not too original" and believe me, this is a "not too original thread" by any means. But it was made for good intentions.

The point of this thread is to UNDERSTAND Massassi and what it is going through, and hopefully some key members will see this thread and offer some answers to some questions.

Alright, I'm not going to suprise anyone when I say that Massassi isn't what it use to be. This can be written off to several things... most of all because it is dedicated to a 7-8 year old game.

But lets look at this shall we. JO and JA also make their home here, but yet it seems like the site is more dead now than ever. I guess they never caught on quite as well as JK... Why is this you ask? What makes JK so charming? I don't know, but it is. It has worse graphics than JO and JA, and has less things you can do in the game physically. The water is 1,000,000 times better in JO and JA, and so is everything. Yet, these games wern't nearly as big as JK. Is it cause it is so fun to edit, where as JO and JA are different? Again, I have no idea.

What bothers me is that NO ONE edits JK anymore. WHY... if it is STILL the primary game of this site, WHY don't people edit it anymore? Because JO and JA have better graphics? THEN EDIT JO or JA.... EDIT SOMETHING TO KEEP MASSASSI ALIVE. If people prefer JO or JA to JK.. then why don't they edit it? I realize that no one really plays JK anymore, so you can only expect about 500 downloads at max for a new level. so what... that's still 500 people. I really never get tired of playing JK, cause when I do, I make up something new, and it becomes completely new to me.

Now on to some site problems. I see that the SotD STILL isn't fixed from when the worm hit.. that is just BAD BAD BAD... Also there havn't been any level updates in about 2 months. I have to admit, the lack of updates at massassi has made me give up on 2 of my projects including my "EVIL DEAD" level (not 100% Evil Dead, but alot like it.. with a creepy cabin in the woods.. yadda yadda yadda) and my Metroid MOD might be soon to follow.

Maybe we can bring some life back to JK by hosting another Massassi Level Pack for JK or something. I've been wanting a reason to make a sequal to London....

If people want massassi to last, we need to make more things.. we are an editing community.. so let's edit... something.. ANYTHING! AND we need the moderators to keep on top of things.. fix the SotD and Post some more levels (that is assuming that people have been submitting levels : correct me if I am wrong)

I visited the Legacy of Kain board today, and signed up for that... all they do there is talk about the games... and I was like... that's basically the same thing as massassi now.. which is sad... we are editors.. we are editors...

Someone please.. anyone... Brian.. someone... tell me what is going on with massassi. Why arn't these things being done?

Forget your medication again?

it's funny you should be the first to respond Freelancer, cause you are one of the people I was talking about. I remember back in the day, you made the best JK levels... then you quit, only to haunt the forums... why? we need editors.. it seems the only reason anyone ever comes to Massassi is for the descussion forum.. I havn't seen anything in the Showcase in a few months.. except daft's level, which is ULTRA SWEET... but then it seems all that is being done now is new GUN models, and a bunch of people showing off drawings and photoshop-ings.... SERIOUSLY... i vote for another MLP, and we should all FORCE Freelancer to make a level for it

The community here has gotten older. Many people who came here back in the day when they were in high school and middle school are now off to college or, in some cases, done with college and working. As that happens, there is less time for things like editing.

JO and JA just never caught on like JK did. I always had difficulty finding a good JO/JA game back when I was playing them, and that really turned me off. I suspect that was the case with others as well.

When people aren't playing a game, there is less demand stuff like skins and maps.

yeah dude, i know how it works, but I mean come on.. if you guys can post 10 times a day in the discussion forum, you have the time to make levels...

I think Massassi should gather like back in the day and focus on 'JK Advanced Pack'. So many other games have that kind of projects, even older than JK/MotS, but this community sucks, people here are hypocritical and won't start anything because "OMG IT'S WASTE OF TIME OMG OLD GAME". And I think the threads here got old already in 2003, so that's nothing new.

Even though we can wish for things, it's over. JK is dead, and that's because of you.

Anyhow, I think we should focus on RC, as there's going to be an editor for it along it's release... well, if this community would stop sucking for a moment and start editing it... things could get fun again. Like in 2002 along the release of JO.

But the great thing about JK IS the fact that it is old.. not because it has bad graphics, and it is barely played, but because people know enough about it to manipulate it how ever they want/need to. I mean think how far the development has come of editing tools. We got 16-bit mats now.. and all these different little things you can throw in together to make something amazing... and you want to go edit some new game where all you know how to do is make a few rooms and slap textures on them... With JK, you can make ENVIRONMENTS.. not just rooms.... and THAT is why JK is the best.

Hey, I agree with you.

I'm not one of those idiots who think just the best graphics are playable. Maybe the other kind, but not that kind.

I think as far as I'm concerned at this point, and no doubt a few others will agree with me, is that "The Massassi Temple" might as well just become one big general discussion forum. Editing JK and stuff may have been what drew some of the more seasoned members in, but it really makes up a small amount of what goes on around here anymore. Even the Star Wars theme is a little redundant, because come on....you get any group of guys on the internet together and Star Wars is bound to come up.

I think...it just seems like this place is somewhere between what people think it's supposed to be, and what it actually is. The lack of actual game editing done anymore aside, I think this place has been extremely successful in getting together a group of (generally) intelligent, well-meaning people who can carry on an interesting a funny conversation fairly well.

That's what I think, at least.

ISB looks fine to me.

>_>
<_<

/me reads posts.

calm down, its just a forum.

*tootles off to the music forum*

I'll just reiterate what Avenger said. I'm too busy to edit. I tried once, and was pretty useless, but if and when my degree stops ****ing on me I may have another crack at it.

But by then I'll be all employed and boring

But that said, I'll cheerfully contradict myself and also agree with Mr Spiral about another MLP contest; it was the first one of those that convinced me to stop just downloading mods and levels and actually try to make them.

So yeah, a Level Contest Undergound 2 Pro Edition 2005 might be a nice change of pace around here

I have to disagree with your "10 posts per day" comment. A post is not anywhere nearly as involved as making a level, no matter how old the game, especially if you want to make something noteworthy. Debugging alone is the hardest and longest part of the process.

1. The topics are getting more and more dull, because the rules are getting more and more strict. I find that weird because, we are getting older and older, you think we would be allowed MORE than we were before, not LESS.

2. Massassi used to be popular because of the Zone. Everyone on the zone would be like "YOU NEED TO GET JHS TO PLAY! IT'S AT MASSASSI.NET!!!" Then word would spread from person to person. Now there aren't many people on The Zone at all.

3. Massassi is stuck on the JK series. If people aren't editing DF, JK, JO, and JA, why not spread out to OTHER Star Wars games? I can understand not wanting to reach out to games like Half-Life 2, because they don't fit in with 'Massassi'. But I mean, Republic Commando soon, that new Star Wars RTS, KotoR, KotoR 2 etc...

4. We need fresh meat. The problem with the new members now is most of them don't come here to contribute, it's all new people that just come here to chat chat chat away, and most of the time these new people don't even know what StarWars is.

5. Anything! Something new? Anything? This is one of the problems that the OSC Empire had. We didn't do anything new! Then we started the PS contest, that helped, then the interviews, that helped a bit, now the entire site is becoming a Guild Wars site! Small things help, but the thing is you need to TRY and do those things. Ignoring possibilities is bad.

6. Noone is editing JK because there is already so much of it that had been edited! There is something like 2,000 levels for JK! I think people just need more fresh ideas or material to work with. Plus JK has boundaries that prevent certain things.

It's really quite simple, not many people's lives revolve around editing games. I like editing games, but I really don't have time for it.

I have plenty of ideas that i'd love to do, but I just don't have time. I browse Massassi whilst doing other things like coursework, only stopping to reply if I have something to say. Editing, however, demands my full attention, something which I can't give it.

I agree. Don't give me some crazy crap about "Massassi is great because of its rules!"

No. Absolutely not. Massassi is great because of its members.

You should see us Massassians on WPYO, we have a great time there! I think one of the reasons is because it's more laid back. (I'm not saying we should go all out rated NC-17 like they do or anything, but I mean, I think all the members here are ATLEAST 13 or older. PG-13? Maybe?) I mean sure there MAY be lurkers that are under 13 or something, but if they aren't registered members, why worry about it? We can't be the Internet police making sure every little boy stays on teletubbies.com or something.

Massassi isn't like your dog.


You can't take it to the vet and get it checked out.


Don't like where it's going? Then go away.

Technically, unless you're 13 and visit these forums, or have parental consent and whatnot, you are committing a crime. It's against the law for people under 13 to join online communities of their own accord.

Which is why I don't understand the G rating.

*sigh*

It's because Brian likes having a G rating.

Maybe we should assign someone *just* for level submissions and issues around that. Like JediKirby handles just the SOTD (I think). And he did a good job watching over it (except just a few typos). I know Massassi doesn't get much files, but I know that people have submitted some things in.

I used to do JUST level submissions...

But I can't connect to the file server anymore.

I know why, I'm just saying I don't understand and agree with it.

And before anyone jumps on me, saying "OMG GET THE HELL OUT OMG WTF BBQ" just know that it's my right to disagree. I'm not going around telling him how to run his site.

Just thwarting the inevitable "leave then" comments.

So its the problem of reaching the server instead of admins not handling the submission?

Nah, it's just me in this case.

I'm behind a router, and the file server doesn't like that. It's all NO ROUTE TO SERVER.

If there was another MLP, I would probably work on a submission. Even if there isn't another contest, it might be fun to whip something up for old time's sake. Might be nice to have more than one level released.

Why is any of this even an issue? It's like the state of the union adress: It doesn't matter. No one's going to do anything about it.

I pretty much agree with what Tyler said.

I think the JK editing has pretty much worn itself out. People have started playing newer games these days, and stoped playing JK. So, why should the editors want to invest so much time in a map for a game that noone even plays much any more? MSN noticed the trend of noone playing JK, and they closed down the Zone lobbies. I think that Massassi should branch out into games that people are actually playing, even games that aren't necessarily SW related. Right now we are all just milling around with no focus, and we all know that people with nothing to tend to get themselves into trouble(hence the rules).

People have said, and I did in Ubuu's thread, that these slumps are just phases, but these phases are happening more and more often. I'm afraid that before too long they will become the norm, and lively times will only come periodically.

We would all love to bring back the hayday of Massassi when more levels were released per day than would fit on the Recent Levels list, but that isn't going to happen unless some big changes take place.

Massassi has two choices: It can either embrace the future and a little bit of change, or it must accept that it is a thing of the past. Right now it is speeding towards stagnation.

Okay, leave then!!! (What? It was inevitable!!! :D)

I believe his reasoning (And I back him 100% in his decision, I believe the forums should remain G-rated) is because of this:

Is it really necessary to use vulgarities? In the work place (well, most places), you don't use cuss words. You don't use them in front of your family either (Well, most families :D). So why here?

In addition, these forums are rather well known for their G-Rated...ness. There are TONS of forums out there for those who like to speak freely, but this forum makes a distinction against that. It is one of the things that sets this forum apart from other forums.

If we want Massassi to grow, we abandon or shift focus from the DF/JK series. Its sequels never caught on, and the originals are only aging. Personally, I would like to see Massassi broaden its horizons into other games such as Republic Commando or as Tyler said, perhaps non SW-related.

We don't work at Massassi, and it certainly isn't our family. What is it? It seems to be a website where teenage-and-early-twenties people hang out. Do you cuss around your friends? Chances are you do.

The only problem with uncensoring swear words is that it will enocurage more violent flaming...

You ******* **********!

Especially in things like the relgious thread that's doing so well at the moment.

But some people don't, and I think it's safe to say that enforcing a non-swearing rule doesn't alienate as many people as a forum full of people who do swear would. But besides, it just makes the whole place that much classier, and if people aren't swearing, they're most likely using more intelligent ways of communication.

And I think some people misunderstood my post above. I don't think Massassi needs to start editing new games or start focusing on something new. I think it should stay just how it is, but the people who think it needs to constantly focus on editing Jedi Knight need to ease up. To me, at least, the main draw of this site now for most of it's members is the general discussion forum, but it's still the best place to come for editing JK. The people who want to edit JK will, and do, but a large amount of Massassians don't. And the people who want to edit other games go other places, that are better suited for those people and those games.

Hm...how to I sum this up...here: Leave the place some space for editing JK, but don't try and make everyone think that's all we're supposed to be doing. Massassi is just fine being a place for anyone to come and chat, it just also harbours the small JK editing community.