Old soldiers never die . . .

<SoSD> Majick is for wankers.

<SoSD> Cold steel, baby.

    So much silence
    Deafens our ears
    So much emptiness
    Hinders our movements

Old soldiers never die . . .
Without my making a conscious decision, this page has gone back to being what I originally intended: A collection of information and opinions and so forth, about my favorite game, updated more or less whenever I had something to add, with the primary function of news being to note changes made to the content of the site - if any.

Well I'm going to do that instead of what I've been doing. So this marks the end of the Minefield's lifetime as a new page, at least for now, and you'll see stuff updated and added - and perhaps more importantly repaired after a total of four host moves now - over time and when the time is right.

I had a lot of fun doing this as a news page and it makes me a little sad to stop, but I really stopped several months ago and so this is a formality. Four years ago I felt very strongly about Subspace and had a lot of opinions about it as well as other things. I also really wanted to contribute to the way it was run. Over the course of those four years I did manage to contribute and more than a few people cared what I thought. I've been at peace with the game for a long time now. Good people are running it. I don't feel the need to complain about the state it's in, and I certainly don't need to defend it or its community. I am violently proud of this game and of the people who make it what it is.

So I've kind of had this albatross here, this thing I once not only liked doing but needed to do, which was cathartic for me. And here I've been feeling I was supposed to update it, and yet all of that stuff I used to put into it, which people came to expect - no longer resides in me. I'm afraid I don't have a hell of a lot to say today that would interest the people I once interested. And I'm hoping there also aren't quite so many people today who need that vindication of a clarifying rant, an exposed conspiracy, or whatever it was people came here for.

What I know is still important is the game's history - the archiving of its documents, the preservation of information about who has been a part of all this. I maintain that Subspace is the first true entry in the last significant new artform of the past century, an artform which will probably be with us forever. More importantly to me, I care about it and don't want to see any piece of it vanish due to everyone involved being so busy.

I've been busy avoiding a false requirement to do something I no longer want to do, and I'm glad to say tonight that that is over. It doesn't mean that I or this page will be gone. I frankly wouldn't do it unless I believed very strongly that this has been the primary factor in my becoming less and less active. So maybe tomorrow I'll wake up and say, "Gosh, I'm glad to be done with all that, and it was good while it lasted but it's time to move on." I make no promises, but I expect instead to come back here tomorrow and do what I actually want with the page instead of thinking about doing what I am supposed to and then putting it off.

My most heartfelt thanks to everyone who has stuck with the page over the years. It means a great deal to me, and I promise that at a bare minimum I will keep its archives up for anyone who wishes to thumb through them.

I have a parting, but not really parting, gift for the really die hard types to whom I feel closest, a final news item. Old news, though. The very oldest, actually. . . .


Hey, look what I found. 

From: Rod Humble (rodvik@ix.netcom.com)
Subject: Virgin Games wants you. 
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action, comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.adventure, comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg, comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic
Date: 1996/02/27 


Virgin games needs a few good testers to help with their future
internet games. Minimum requirements are as follows.


Windows 95
486 75+
An internet connection. 


If you are interested please send a short mail to:


rod_humble@vie.com


please include the following details.


Machine speed & video card.
Internet provider.


Cheers,
Rod


----------------------------------------------------------


From: Jeff Petersen (jeffp@itsnet.com)
Subject: Beta testers 
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action
Date: 1996/03/08 


We are currently looking for people to help us test a simple internet based game. If you are interested, please e-mail rod_humble@vie.com and he will e-mail you information on how you can participate. Thanks!


Jeff Petersen


Jeff Petersen
Artificial Software
jeffp@itsnet.com


----------------------------------------------------------


From: R. McPherson (rjmcpher@rigel.oac.uci.edu)
Subject: Re: Virgin Games wants you. 
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg
Date: 1996/03/13 


On Tue, 12 Mar 1996, Lee MacEwen wrote:


>The ever-so-wise rodvik@ix.netcom.com(Rod Humble) once said:
>Virgin games needs a few good testers to help with their future
>internet games. Minimum requirements are as follows.
>rod_humble@vie.com 
> > Has anyone responded to this? I'm curious if it's real or
> > not. The


I responded. It is real. It is an asteroids network game called
"SNIPER". It is sort of like network TANK except in an asteroids
spaceship. It plays fine. New users log in and get killed by
veterans who are relentlessly furthering their kill ratios.