What you do makes a difference.

[danitah]

I posted part of this in discord but it got lost quite quickly, and I think it's an important topic. I think the recent discussion about rules and bans have sidelined so much that it's worth making a topic about this. People are arguing so much about getting offended, which I think is only a small part of the discussion.

What I want to address is the notion I've heard that what you say to people don't make a difference, if you treat someone badly and they leave, they would have left the scene anyway.

I'll admit that I'm a sensitive person. Nowadays it takes a lot to affect me on a personal level. I know that most comments on the internet are not directed at me personally, after all I'm just another nick to other people, and random people don't really know me.

There are two specific cases I can think of where something in the elma scene has affected me negatively in the past. One was in irc when I shared a rec of something I thought was really cool, someone with a lot of WRs whom I looked up to a lot, maybe even idolized, just gave a joke reply and said something like 'haha you died' (this person is not in the community any more). Of course this is a very benign comment, but me being a sensitive ~12 year old it affected me quite much. The other case is much more extreme, it happened only a few years ago and it actually made me cry. There was a lot of context to this comment, it's not like a comment at any time could make me cry. But you know what? A positive comment from lousk in the same context made me feel good again. Today I want to thank lousk for this comment, it really meant a lot to me, even if he might not even remember the specific comment just from this(?). I'm not going to get into the context in public. Those who want to know can ask me in private. I just ask that you don't hold it against the person today, and I'm only going to tell people who were around at the time.

I can absolutely say that me staying in the community and making levs for all this years is entirely thanks to people having been nice to me. Back in irc battle days i did get a lot of shit for my levs, but i still remember jaytea giving me a lot of good feedback, actually he's the only specific person I remember from irc saying he liked my battle levs. If there wouldn't have been for that i might have never rejoined the levelmaking scene.

Of course you don't have to love every lev, or like the levs of every levelmaker. There are people today who say they can't enjoy my general style of levels, and that is totally fine. You can tell them what you don't like in a constructive matter, and you can have a huge positive long-term effect on the scene just by small things like this.

I had a break for some years before joining eol, and early on i got great positive feedback for my levelmaking from a ton of players including adi, markku, lousk, mawane, ramone, roope. These are just the most memorable nicks from my early EOL days who gave me great positive feedback, and there's been many more throughout the years. Again if there wouldn't have been for this, I would not have stayed in the scene.

I don't want people to think that I make levels just to get nice comments. There are countless things about making levels that I enjoy. As simply as I can say it, making levels for me is about creating an experience for others, and also sharing that experience with them.

No, you can't force everyone to be super nice to each other, all you can do is try to have as positive an effect yourself as possible. and try to limit the negative effect of other people if you are a mod. This is the heart of the issue for me, I just want to see the community as positive a place as possible, and I think behavior should only be punished if mods think it is doing actual harm to the community. I don't want to ostracize anyone who might have broken some rules, the goal should be to make them understand why their behavior is bad for the community so they can improve. But this topic is not about what is acceptable or not, I'm just trying my best to make people understand that your actions do make a difference to the community.

Mawane might be my biggest role model in elma scene nowadays, seeing so many people talk about how he brought them (back) into the community was very touching to see, and it made me realize just how massive of a positive impact he had on the scene. I'm introverted so I'm never going to have the same kind of effect, but I'm going to try my best to learn from him.

[bene]

I'm just here to say that I agree.

[jaytea]

i really enjoyed playing your dba's and am happy to see you're still around making balles now.. i wish i had more time to enjoy them

[Orcc]

Two years ago I read a great book on impacting people, which I recommend for everyone. Here's a quote that kind of stuck into my head and still it randomly pops up whenever there's a chance to follow it.

"I expect to pass through this world but once. Any good, therefore, that I can do or any kindness I can show to any fellow creature, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it for I shall not pass this way again." -Stephen Grellet

[Zero]

People who were present during the final results of Master Racer 3, if you happen to have niN's speech saved somewhere please let me know!
He described his love for level making in a very honest and insightful way and basically described editor as the perfect toy he had always dreamed of. Can't remember the exact words..

I think this is what level designing means for the level makers who decide to label themselves as Designers. Because it is different from simply making a quick tunnel to get a battle going on. The process of level making can be more entertaining and satisfying than anything that comes after. And if you feel like you have made something truly special it can be a bummer to hear people only pointing out an annoying apple or something that probably wasn't even intended. Especially since the brilliance of the level in your own mind is often something else entirely. My World Cup 7 event is a good example, I managed to come up with some truly innovative stuff and still a lot of the feedback was quite negative due to the difficulty of the level. I was quite amused by it though since I also thought the level was extremely weird to play, haha. But even to this date I remember the excitement behind the designing process itself. I am not good at drawing or painting. But I managed to make something that stands out and will be remembered for years to come. Even if it's the "infamous" event.

And to you Dani, I have always noticed and respected that you are making your own thing completely. Your levels are extremely original and innovative and they have certainly influenced the modern designing style as a whole. I think that can be seen in the way people are using SLE tools now compared to 5 years ago or so. I think levels like this can only be achieved by enjoying the process as I mentioned earlier.

Not everybody will like every level indeed but levels that are made with passion are always welcome I think. They always give players enjoyment or challenge quite unlike the forced ones I get so excited when I see something that seems or feels original and I always will. This feeling is one of the best things in the whole game to me quite honestly. So please keep making the good stuff

Edit: This might be slightly off topic, dunno.

[Abula]

I don't know you dani but I noticed many great levels by you while making the article. Also the Elma2 video of cars inspired me to write the Elma3 chapter . If Danielj is same person...

I've also read Orcc's recommended book. It's very very good. I introduced it to my boss and one of my best work mates and they had read it too. It's max.

I think I've contributed more positive things overall in the community but I've been too many times rude and inpolite. I have my excuses but we can always improve in communication, feedback etc. I had those moments multiple times everyday in the active years when people were asking different things and of course I wasn't happy to help everytime. I can't understand how Kopaka can keep it so high morale, really cool guy!

[danitah]

Thanks for all the great comments here guys.

i really enjoyed playing your dba's and am happy to see you're still around making balles now.. i wish i had more time to enjoy them

Thanks. Remembering your feedback on my levs all those years ago have made me realize just how big of an impact positive feedback can have. I'm sure you weren't the only one giving me good feedback back then, but the only one I can still remember.

Actually I checked the logs of the event I talked about earlier with lousk, and there were many other people than him who gave good comments, so I feel a bit bad about forgetting them.

Two years ago I read a great book on impacting people, which I recommend for everyone. Here's a quote that kind of stuck into my head and still it randomly pops up whenever there's a chance to follow it.

"I expect to pass through this world but once. Any good, therefore, that I can do or any kindness I can show to any fellow creature, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it for I shall not pass this way again." -Stephen Grellet

Thanks for the recommendation. That's a great quote!

And if you feel like you have made something truly special it can be a bummer to hear people only pointing out an annoying apple or something that probably wasn't even intended.

This is part of the excitement of making levels for me, you never know exactly how it's going to turn out when other people play your lev. This has happened to me countless times before, just recently the same thing happened in a FF that I thought was a nice easy cruise, but I had actually forgot to fix a spot that even good players have some trouble getting past. And this was a lev I had spent quite much time on so that made it feel extra bad. I've now realized what I need to change in my levelmaking process to avoid this more in the future. I've had a bad habit of testing levs and when I see stuff that need to be fixed I try to make a mental note of several things that need fixing instead of fixing it right away, and I end up forgetting to fix certain stuff.

It's also something we should just learn to accept as levelmakers, there's going to be unintended stuff that people won't like. And I'm totally fine with people pointing it out.

My World Cup 7 event is a good example, I managed to come up with some truly innovative stuff and still a lot of the feedback was quite negative due to the difficulty of the level. I was quite amused by it though since I also thought the level was extremely weird to play, haha. But even to this date I remember the excitement behind the designing process itself. I am not good at drawing or painting. But I managed to make something that stands out and will be remembered for years to come. Even if it's the "infamous" event.

Your wc7 lev was really sick, in a way very radical design I think, and that's bound to get some negative feedback. But that's just the sign of an innovative levelmaker I think. I didn't play the level much myself, but watching top recs for that lev was very memorable, a great event, and also props to the organizers for choosing it!

And to you Dani, I have always noticed and respected that you are making your own thing completely. Your levels are extremely original and innovative and they have certainly influenced the modern designing style as a whole. I think that can be seen in the way people are using SLE tools now compared to 5 years ago or so. I think levels like this can only be achieved by enjoying the process as I mentioned earlier.

Thanks, but I have to disagree on some points. Whenever I play other people's levels, I always ask myself, what does the designer think like in order to come up with this design? This is always an interesting question, because almost no matter what level I play, I still get that feeling of 'I could never have come up with this design myself'. This has lead me to take inspiration from all other levelmakers, so I wouldn't say that I make 'my own thing completely', I've taken a lot of influence from other levelmakers. Apple battles are a great example, there's probably 4 big apple battle designers active lately, AndrY, Chris, Ramone and myself. All 3 of these designers have their own way of thinking, and I can honestly say I have taken a lot of influence from each of them, and try to incorporate it into my battles. That doesn't mean I can make levels just like Chris (or anyone else), I have just been influenced by his way of thinking, but I still get the feeling when I play a Chris level that 'I could never have come up with this design'.

I don't know you dani but I noticed many great levels by you while making the article. Also the Elma2 video of cars inspired me to write the Elma3 chapter . If Danielj is same person...

Thanks, very nice to hear. (yes that's me )

I think I've contributed more positive things overall in the community but I've been too many times rude and inpolite. I have my excuses but we can always improve in communication, feedback etc. I had those moments multiple times everyday in the active years when people were asking different things and of course I wasn't happy to help everytime. I can't understand how Kopaka can keep it so high morale, really cool guy!

We have all had moments where we have been rude or not worded things in the best way. It's impossible to be in a community for 20 years without any of these incidents. And of course you have been a huge positive contributor to the community over all these years. Maintaining moposite and lauta for all these years is hugely appreciated.

To end with, I want to quickly reiterate the point I wanted to make with this topic. If you think your behavior in the elma community doesn't make a difference, I couldn't disagree more. While this is a community revolving around the game of Elasto Mania, it's the people that make up the community. You don't just influence the community with your actions, you are the community. We all are.

[Ramone]

Very glad to read about a possible change to what I feel is for the better. Very glad to see newer (not new anymore) starting to take over responsibility from the old dogs that are fading away. Pawq, dani etc !dedication 10

I have been wanting to test and start pc for a while now to see if it will run or crash but then Ive gotten so used to pc-free life when evening comes I always forget...

And Ive been on sickleave for 4 weeks...

If someone wanna remind me tonight send me a message in messenger, skype, whatsapp or possibly a text and Id be happy. Need to know if pc needs fixing before fem, also need to get some skills back!

Much love!

[kuchitsu]

This is something that the whole internet really needs to understand. People are so used to saying whatever the hell comes to their mind without feeling any responsibility or anything. This might get some laughs, but I believe that the "say it to my face" test is actually really good for measuring whether you're nice enough. When you're done writing a post or a chat message, imagine saying all these things in an IRL conversation. If that thought makes you feel uncomfortable, perhaps you wrote something bad and you need to rethink your wording or to not send anything at all. It's kind of sickening that being an asshole almost became the norm in many online communities, and now people who demand some decency get so much shit. How did we let it happen?

Anyway, I'm a known asshat myself, so maybe I don't have the right to talk about this.

[milagros]

i grow stronger from the hate towards me!