Bad news everyone! I was going to rhyme "buddha" with "bad news" but it failed. Oh, and said journalist is gone. He totally pulled a move you'd expect from some downtrodden family member, and made last week's entry to be a "one-time thing" and just left the position without saying a word. Then, I get a message in my imaginary inbox effectively saying "Hey Sarge, you did last week's, now you're forced to do it every two weeks. Don't even bother fighting it, we have guardians." So here we are.
Oddly enough, we're in a state of renewal when it comes to banners, and though the new one definitely represents the overly-insightful tone of my articles (getting into the mind of my enem-interviewees), this week's interview with one SpecterCody is going to be markedly serious. I'll admit, I started it off in a whimsical fashion and saw myself rather disappointed with my humor not coming across, but then Cody dropped a bomb. He had his map stolen, submitted without consent to Forgetacular, and ultimately enjoyed enough to become part of the Community Slayer playlist. What proceeded was a very interesting conversation.
FH: I assume you're not a hermit, and have posted all of these on FH for me to dig up pictures for later right? Of course, but I have many unreleased maps as well. My most famous (or infamous) was stolen and added to the Community Slayer playlist.
FH: THAT WAS YOU!? Holy hell. Okay. If I'm the one you're thinking about.
FH: " Plaza" or something, right? That was the renamed version? Ugh that awful name, it's really called "Empire."
FH: Yeah! I really liked the design. It was featured in the second iteration of the Community Slayer playlist. Thanks, I immediately started tearing that map apart after that incident.
FH: Looking for what? Or to what end? Well I'm never happy with anything. So, I constantly try and change it.
FH: How do you feel about the whole situation?I understand there wasn't much could have done to fix it, only prevent it which they failed at. FH: True. Unfortunately, there were a ton of submissions. Did you send the thief a message, or get one from him? Or any messages on the matter from anyone? I posted a thread on Bungie.net and it became flooded with responses. I never bothered contacting the thief. Why bother?
Empire. Also known as "Cougar Plaza."
FH: Ah, I was under the impression it was community-fed, that some bystander had noticed it by happenstance. Some of my friends noticed and contacted me about it.
FH: Oh so you didn't actually play it beforehand? Nope, would have been strange though.
FH: Yeah, I imagine that would be rather surreal. Did you end up playing it at all to check? And if so, what was your immediate reaction? I have played on it a few times with friends in Matchmaking just for laughs. Softens the blow of me playing so horribly, since all I do is forge.
FH: Have you since adopted some preventative measure? Or do you just see it as trivial or even too rare to happen again? In Halo 3, people hid items like cones in secret areas of the map as proof. Of course, that's now obsolete with the author system. The only proof I need is my eye for detail and skill with the Forge system. I do hope Bungie will never make this mistake again after the trouble I've caused them. Yes I agree, the authoring system is enough, they chose to ignore it.
FH: Do you hold any ill will, disappointment? Or is it over in your book?To be honest, without this event I would never have gotten such attention, so I'll let this one go without hard feelings.
FH: That's a rather wise stance. Interesting. Well, considering this is more formal that the last version of the Community Spotlight I wrote, we'll ignore Crypto's question. Instead, do you have a question for the next guy? Something for you to ask him? Or for me to ask?
FH: The former, on the case of the latter.I was thinking "where do you draw your inspiration from?" or is that too cliché?
FH: Cliches are such because they were insightful enough to be used so often.Hard to think of one, since I don't know who it will be...
FH: Fair enough then. Sorry to keep you waiting in any case, this was certainly an interesting change in interview. Thanks dude.Thanks for the interview, was interesting.
A sense of scale.
There's not much left to say. I was honestly shocked when he said what had happened to him. I knew who he was at the time but it dropped out after the immediate impact of the event (and surrounding controversy) had dissipated. It was an unfortunate circumstance and to my surprise, Cody seemed to arrive at the same conclusion in an almost sage-like manner. I wish him the best and hopefully such things don't happen again.
In other news, if you have someone you'd like to recommend for the Community Spotlight, feel free to message me as I truly have no idea who the next subject is going to be.
Adios.
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