A Farewell After 15 Years
Hey everyone,
after more than 15 years with Hedgewars, I've decided it's time to say goodbye to the community. This isn't an easy decision, but I wanted to share some honest thoughts before leaving.
Over the years, I've noticed that the general tone within the community has become increasingly hostile. It often feels like people no longer enjoy each other’s company. The symbolic feud between SteppenwolfVM and MDK, for example, is just one sign of how fractured things have become. Nowadays, if you play with one person, someone from the other “side” might accuse you of being a traitor. It’s exhausting.
On top of that, there’s the persistent trolling from users like “Antimarkus”, who keeps returning under different names just to spam and post crude jokes like “Do you want to drink my pee?” This kind of behavior isn’t just annoying — it actively drives away new players. People like “Antimarkus” or “Anti-Hippie” poison the atmosphere, and since there's no active moderation to deal with them, they just keep coming back.
This lack of moderation — or any system for players to report toxic behavior — is a big part of the problem. Without it, the game simply isn’t welcoming anymore. I genuinely believe that’s one reason the community has remained so small.
And then there’s the development side. The game feels stagnant. For instance, the Flatpak version hasn’t been updated in over two years. Some of its components are outdated, and my system even warns me about it during updates. That’s especially unfortunate for Linux users, who helped give Hedgewars a lot of early visibility.
I’ve played this game for more than half my life, and it’s sad to see how things have turned out. I’ll always appreciate the fun times and the memories, but right now, I no longer feel at home here.
To those who still enjoy the game: have fun — and please, be kind to each other.
All the best,
kraut
R.I.P. You will be missed, man.
All I can say is that I'm generally sorry that I made you feel that way... This has nothing to do with you, nor did I attend my feelings towards Steppenwolf to make you feel this way.
I'm not going to refrain from say Steppe is a closed minded idiot because he is and that's my position on the matter. But, this started with him not me.
He's the one that iced me out for trying to show him other perspectives, just like he did to Dynamical, which in turn ruined the spirit of the game.
I was this close to walking away myself but then I decided no fuck that Steppenwolf is not worth ruining something I also spent more than 10 years building with friends here.
I'll miss you regardless of what your thoughts are on me.
The pee, poo thing is really something Burp should be worried about banning people for, not the insularity that other people aren't allowed an opinion according to the whims of Steppenwolf.
And yes I will be the first to admit I push things too far with Steppe by now, but that's because you can drive a person to just not give a fuck anymore more than anything else. I have a long rope for bullshit but once you lose me as a human you lose a friend for life with no bridge to be rebuilt ever and this should really be no one else's business. I know that, but...
I really just don't give a fuck anymore, and when I stop giving a fuck I make that well known:
That is I wouldn't piss on SteppenwolfVM even if he was on fire, not that I wish him to be, but still the sentiment is there.
I am sorry that got in the way of your personal feelings nonetheless because I really do like you Kraut.
I don't want this to come across as the wrong way, I just wanted to explore it since it came up. I'm really sorry I made you feel that way.
For what it's worth the idiom is here:
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=I%20wouldn%27t%20piss%20on%20him%20if%20he%20was%20on%20fire
I understand that while this issue is around it affects everyone but it has nothing to do with you personally kraut.