preface
"In order to move forward, one has to give up something. Only by abandoning the past can we continue to move forward. ”
- "Jojo's Wonderful Adventure: Puma Noro"
This is a line from the Japanese manga "Jojo's Wonderful Adventure", which comes from a stand-in messenger who is hostile to the protagonist of part 7, Jonny Josda. In "Jojo's Wonderful Adventures", there is a convention in which a truth is spoken with certainty, but without explanation, and the audience is persuaded only by the momentum and mental state of the speaker. The spokesman was resolute, decisive, and even a little blind, but always showed some kind of lofty will.
Believing in something for no reason is anti-intellectual, but just as Christians believe in God, many people cannot understand the choice to defy logic, but in the eyes of others, belief beyond reason and logic has unique power. Further, they believe that this is a manifestation of human pride, so such behavior is admirable.
Next I recorded a story. According to my understanding, this is the story of a teenager with warm blood, but gradually recognizing the world. Before I get into this, I want to ask a question, as the opening sentence says, does growing (or moving forward) necessarily mean giving up and changing? If moving forward means abandoning the past and denying the past self, does this growth make sense?
Touch does not often use such a form to organize articles. However, at the time of writing this text, the above questions have not yet received a convincing enough answer for me. So, I chose to leave the question here and finish the story first. The protagonist of the story is Starry Night, which is an experience about how he gave, how he expected, and how he lost. I hope that after saying this, I will find the answer to the question.
1
At the end of August last year, Starry Night submitted a resignation and officially resigned as the host of the Weibo "Moore Manor Super Talk".
The resignation is long, a few thousand words, and it is written for 3 days. The title of the resignation is "I have lost irreparably, and you are all still young", and the text pours out his feelings for the game in the past few years: beautiful, nostalgic, sad, regretful... Emotions washed over him like a tidal wave, and finally drained, but only two words remained, disappointment.
Why disappointed? It's complicated, and the starry night can't be said clearly. Games certainly have responsibilities that cannot be shirked. For example, he felt that "Moore Manor Mobile Game" had a smell of a half-finished product. Determined to quit his job, he told a friend that he initially thought the mobile game was fighting for a perfect score, but later found out that it had just passed. For example, it may also be that the player has changed, and the atmosphere of the game community is no longer what he expected.
Starry Night deliberately chose this picture as his Weibo background
It is said to be a resignation, but the super talk host is not even a job. Starry Night spent a lot of time and energy on this, but received almost no material reward. During the game's hottest period, he had to work at least one day a week, which meant that, in addition to sleeping, he had to go through the news flow every hour or two, and delete or move the offending and irregular typesetting blog posts to the corresponding sections. Sometimes the brushed out of the content is too much, can not see at all, starry night on the search for some "blacklist" in the terms, "out of the number", "hanging people" and "decoration", these are some of the forbidden topics, the search page can always jump out of a large list of discussions, need to check, modify, delete one by one. He teased himself, "Just a blocker."
Of course, the work is boring, and there are more than a dozen moderators in the community who take turns to take care of these things. But this was not the case earlier, and Starry Night felt that these jobs had more human touch before - at that time, "Moore Manor Mobile Game" had not yet been launched, the page game had long stopped updating, there were only a few nostalgic players left in the community, and he was the only one who was the host of super talk.
At that time, occasionally some people quarreled, and Starry Night would not rudely tell them that "if you scold people, you have to delete the post." He is more accustomed to playing rounds, resolving disputes between the two sides, and saying a few good words for both sides. Later, as the popularity of "Moore Manor Mobile Game" rose, disputes and disputes also rose, there were too many contradictions to deal with, and there was no quarrel in the past few months, and now I can't see it every day. Mediating conflicts is inseparable from speaking for both parties, and resolving a dispute is a self-consumption. Occasionally it is acceptable, but there are too many such disputes.
For hyper-talk hosts, it is easier to follow the rules. Set the rules in advance, at a glance, who "committed a crime", take out the rules and regulations, delete the text, and close the "small black room" when it should be banned. The moderator is supposed to be the enforcer of the rules, fierce, and not emotional. However, just like the factory assembly line, high efficiency will lose some things, such as human touch. In order to do the job well, Starry Night had to temporarily turn off emotions and deal with violations like a written program. This is clearly contrary to his temperament.
In Starry Night's view, another super talk host, "Moore Slow Delivery", is more suitable to deal with these problems than he is. The two of them are like two ends of the lever, starry night is more considerate of feelings, Moore is gentle in passing people, but more decisive in enforcing the rules. When discussing the article "hanging people", Moore slowly proposed that personal attacks should be prohibited, and Starry Night thought about it and said, if the player encounters a liar, can he also let him hang up?
Moore slowly posted hypertalk rules
In fact, harsh performers are not flattering. Players post scolding, if with dirty words, the host will have to erase according to the rules. Sometimes when you encounter a scolding operation, you should also delete it according to the rules, this kind of treatment has nothing to do with whether there is a mention of the operator, but some people use it to chew the root of the tongue, saying that the host "eats the official soft rice". Moore's slow delivery is not less misunderstood because of "decisive killing", starry night on the contrary, he said that he is emotionally flooded, has not made any contribution to the maintenance of the community, but because he appears more affinity in front of the player, get more understanding, but because of his "good", other strict hosts are more "bad".
So what to do? There are too many problems to take into account, and Starry Night can only hide feelings and enforce rules. If you think about it, there is only one way. But then he can't be himself?
2
In 2018, when Starry Night became the host of Super Talk, "Moore Manor" was almost forgotten.
As a popular browser game, Moore Manor stopped regular content updates from 2015 until the launch of Moore Manor Mobile Game last year. Waiting for an ethereal sequel, there has been no news for five or six years, and it is not an exaggeration to say that it is "sticking to it". "Moore Manor Mobile Game" was like a blind box before it was launched, and no one knew whether this childhood page game could win people's hearts again. Even so, according to Starry Night, he quietly made a wish in his heart: to keep it until the game came back.
Starry Night actually hardly plays games, he does not have a game console, the computer is an office-based Mac, and the only games he has touched are "Moore Manor" and "4399 Mini Games", all of which were played when he was a child, and only liked "Moore Manor". In the concept of Starry Night, he roughly divided the game into "big games" and "small games", and before meeting "Moore Manor", he only played small games, and large games were either killed or killed, and could not be played. "Moore Manor" is the first online game to be contacted, in his opinion, the volume is already relatively large, and the rhythm is not intense, like experiencing another kind of daily life. What's more, the game allows him to live in the same community as his best friends, which is what he has always wanted.
The earliest page games were simple
Even today, Moore Manor is a starry night favorite.
Starry Night is currently pursuing a PhD in Hong Kong, and the direction chosen is pure theoretical physics research, which is relatively niche. There are very few people in the research group, and he is usually the only one in the office. Starry Night came here 3 years ago, and has not yet mastered Cantonese, can understand some, but can not speak. Contrary to him, most locals can understand Mandarin but can't speak it. If you want to communicate, you can only say your own, and it is very difficult for both sides to figure out each other's meanings in unfamiliar accents.
Language is a key, can not open the lock can not enter the door, starry night feel that they are not integrated into the local, generally will avoid unnecessary communication, but sometimes go out to buy things, a handful of vegetables, a fish, a few pounds, how much money to sell must be clear, do not understand can only be said hard scalp, very tired.
Over the years, Starry Night has spent more time online. He prefers to type rather than face-to-face interviews, and leaves more words online every day than he actually says. Outside of work, he only plays two games: one is chess, the rules are the same as the street chess game, but the mobile version; the other is "Moore Manor Mobile Game".
In "Moore Manor Mobile Game", Starry Night's favorite way to play is not to farm land or buy furniture, but to ride a small motorcycle and hang around. He especially liked the "Moorish Castle" because the scene was particularly large, driving through the castle, from the church to the foot of the snow-capped mountains, enjoying the scenery along the way. At this point, he would switch his perspective to a lower, one that looked back and forward, and watched himself walk from one end of the map to the other, as if he were actually traveling by car. A trip down was not fun, but it made him feel like it was a cozy place.
Just like that
In the eyes of starry night, "Moore Manor Mobile Game" does not necessarily need much fun, he misses the happiness that the game once brought him - when he was a child, playing games had realistic considerations, games that did not cost money were better than spending money, it was better to play on the computer than the host exclusive, and most importantly, it was a great pleasure to be able to play the game itself. When I grow up, I don't have so many restrictions, and I can play whatever I want, but it is difficult to get back to the original fun. Life is always pushed by trivial things, and even when playing the same game, the mentality changes. What I longed for most was the carefree state of the first place.
3
Starry Night is looking forward to mobile games, but the disappointment is also brought by mobile games.
"Moore Manor Mobile Game" has a tendency to favor the lesson money during the internal test. Starry Night participated in 4 game tests, the first 3 times are based on experience, players play for free, the last time is different, the players in this test can recharge, after the test, the virtual currency will be returned in the official service at a certain rate, the return rate is relatively high, the more charged, the higher the return. The test also included a "Krypton Bar", a specific page showing the player's progress in the recharge and what rewards will be given for reaching the subsequent recharge limit. This is something that is often found in some "krypton" games, and adding this to the test is also a try of the water to see how players react.
Players, of course, objected. Other games can be taught, but "Moore Manor" can't, only it can't - it's "Moore Manor", which has been bound to the game in childhood impressions, if it "becomes greedy", then the worry-free paradise that the player wants to pursue will also dissipate, not to mention that the game already has a system such as a "gacha machine" with high recharge needs. The addition of the "Krypton Strip" became the last force to break the flood embankment, causing strong dissatisfaction among test players. Because of poor feedback, the official quickly canceled the "Krypton bar", but looking back at several tests, more than one system has been added, and the "krypton" of the game is also getting higher and higher.
Bonus outfits in the "Gacha Machine"
Before the mobile game was launched, Starry Night often jokingly told friends that he remembered to charge money. In the era of page games, the target users of "Moore Manor" are 6 to 14-year-olds, and for most children of this age, pocket money is not much, and there are even fewer people who are willing to charge money in the game. The game initially proposed a strategy of freeing the game itself and making a profit by selling peripherals, which later proved to be less successful. This is the weakness of the page game version: a game that is popular all over the country, but it is not as profitable as other well-known page games.
At present, many browsers no longer support Flash plug-ins, and players who want to play page games need to perform specific actions
In starry night's view, the production team did not give up "Moore Manor", which is a sentimental choice. "Moore Manor" is not small, not as good as other games to make money is also a fact, to the mobile game announced, he told himself that it must be very difficult to make a mobile game that does not make money, so "how much to charge it a little (money)". But now it seems that "Moore Manor Mobile Game" is a bit too hard to make up for the profit model. After the service, Starry Night browsed the various goods in the game and suddenly realized that he did not need to worry about the revenue problem at all, but he was himself, shining clothes hanging in the window, but he could not afford to spend.
4
Since its launch in June last year, there have been many bugs in Moore Manor Mobile Game. Starry Night divides bugs into "benign" and "malignant". Benign refers to a vulnerability like a "wall of card-out air" that allows players to move outside the game's prescribed area. It turns out that the mountain in the background can only be viewed from a distance, and it can be run through it through certain operations. The textures outside the normal play area are rough, but the range of activities is large, and many players like this feeling of exploiting loopholes. Because it does not affect the game experience, it can be called benign.
There are many "card bugs" teaching online (Image source: @Jiajia loli)
The vicious one is worse. Shortly after the launch, there was a bug in the game where friends who visited their homes were able to sell critters on behalf of the owner. The money sold will not be returned to the owner, but will be transferred to the hands of the person who sold, which seriously affects the experience, not to mention, some players who mainly play the ranch are "invaded" by friends and suffer heavy losses.
Another high-impact event revolves around the game's vehicle "Pig Car". The game has a built-in picture book system, and players can get unique rewards after collecting all the items in the picture book. Of course, many quest items cost money to obtain. In an event, the official mistakenly added cheap props to the chart that needs to spend more money to get rewards, which damages the interests of players who recharged earlier, which is a mistake that should not occur in operation, and naturally arouses player dissatisfaction. Later, the answer of the customer service to the issuance of compensation was not uniform, some said that it was directly collected on the original page, and some said that it was sent directly to the player's mailbox...
In fact, loopholes are not benign or vicious, and the mistakes reflect the lack of preparation of the operator. "Moore Manor Mobile Game" has always left a hasty impression since its launch, plus the game's operating model needs to be continuously updated, if the backlog of problems, the previous one has not been solved, follow-up and follow-up, small problems accumulate more, will also make players lose confidence.
Starry Night remembers that in a behind-the-scenes video released by the official, the game's main planner Sissi was interviewed after staying up late at work, and she did not wear makeup before taking the photo, and even looked a little haggard. In his view, the project team also looks at the problem in the eyes and tries to solve it, but there are always mistakes, and then it is difficult to remedy. "I don't feel that the official has not done a good job, it may be that they are not capable of doing a good job."
5
It's not just the game, the players are changing. After the open beta of the mobile game, a large number of nostalgic players poured in. There may not be any newcomers in the strict sense of the word, players have played or heard of the page game version as children, and most people return for the same reason - nostalgia for childhood. But there are many emotions, nostalgia can also follow the trend, many people enter the game, catch a little childhood memories, and leave with emotion. It's not that their emotions are insincere, but they don't value a game as much as the old players who have silently followed Moore Manor over the past few years.
If "Moore Manor" did not launch a mobile game, would they be disappointed? Most people should not, for them, mobile games are good news that fell from the sky, those memories that were hidden in small corners are suddenly awakened, if not re-turned, the memories are still there, no big deal. The emotions of starry night are different, and if the mobile game disappears, he will be lost - just as it is now. "Moore Manor" meant a lot to him, and he had expected it, and the gap between ideal and reality was the saddest.
Soon after the launch of "Moore Manor Mobile Game", there was more explicit chat content in the community, and there were many media reports and online public opinion, and no one could tell why a game in the name of childhood and beauty would be entangled in negative news. Starry Night remembers that shortly after the mobile game was launched, some players poured into the game, constantly brushing stars or other sensitive topics, and the whole environment was smoky. Operation is also very difficult to handle, seal a batch of numbers, when serious sealed a whole number of services, large-scale blocking is inevitable to be injured by mistake, the wronged players go to appeal, the staff have to check one by one, and then explain to them one by one... In mid-June, the official helplessly closed the game's message board function, and the public screen chat was also closed after midnight, which lasted for a month...
Annoying trivia keeps coming up, is it because of a new group of players, or has the player as a child changed?
6
Now, Moore Manor Mobile Game is far less popular than it was half a year ago, and players can meet the same players in dozens of adjacent servers - which means that the game may already be served, and in general, this adjustment means that the number of players in a single server is no longer enough to support a normal gaming experience. In the game, the player is busy running, rushing to the next mission location, and as they pass the teleportation point, they will always pass by some hang-up people, who are overlapping and motionless, surrounded by the blue light of the teleportation array.
Seeing such a scene, Starry Night also knew in his heart that the "prosperous world" he was looking forward to would never come again. He wrote his resignation and posted it on Weibo. When he posted the article from Word to Weibo, he had a title: "What I have lost is irreparable, and you are all still young." The final payment reads "Crying", and he is like a loyal servant watching the kingdom crumbling.
The desktop photographed when Starry Night wrote the resignation. On the right are a few small dolls of the "Moore Manor"
In the introduction to the resignation, Starry Night borrows a line of dialogue from the page game version of the plot "The Song of Moriah". This is one of his favorite plots, and the story goes like this: In ancient times, the Moors who searched for black magic moved to a distant place, which they called the "House of the Dark Arts". Except for a few Dark Wizards, the inhabitants of the House of the Dark Arts and the Moore Manor had hardly interfered with each other for many years, but suddenly one day, the energy of the House of The Dark Arts dried up, and they had to come to the Moore Manor to seize a magical energy called "Tears of the Goddess". Ist is one of the members sent by the House of the Dark Arts to steal energy, but when she enters moore manor, she finds that the people here are full of vitality and vitality, and if the manor loses energy and withers, these residents will face the same dilemma... Ist, who is bent on saving his homeland, is entangled.
In the end, Esther took away the Tears of the Goddess, but in the process of fighting the guards of Moore Manor, she was forced to use long-distance teleportation magic across two continents. Such powerful magic was far beyond her ability, and the price of casting spells beyond the level was her life. At the last moment of her life, she looked at the barren land of her homeland and asked a question in her heart: Was her choice correct?
Starry Night's resignation. He deliberately chose the setting drawing of "The Song of Moriah" as the cover
After resigning, Starry Night sees herself in Esther's story. If "Moore Manor" is doomed to decline, is there any point in his efforts in recent years? Just as Esther was skeptical of his choices, Starry Night also developed a mixed emotion about the emotions he had put in over the years—was it worth it? He has not heard such a voice, and occasionally some people around him say that they pour their feelings into a "children's game", people grow up, but they are still nagging about the game plot of their childhood, is this mature?
Maybe it's childish. But starry night thinks about it, childishness is not necessarily a bad thing. Having a subject you like is not a bad thing; having a book you like to read is not a bad thing - how can it be a bad thing to like a game?
Starry Night concludes by quoting Este's last words: "You say, house of the Dark Arts, will one day blossom in the fertile land like Moore Manor?" ”
Neither Starry Night nor Este saw the day the wish came true.
Ist's regret
postscript
This isn't the first time I've interviewed Starry Night.
Before I joined Touchle, I wrote an article called "Back to Moore Manor." Starry Night is the most important interviewee in the text. After the article was published, we almost broke off contact. Today's story is certainly written because the subject matter is worth writing about, but part of the reason is also out of my selfishness – what happened to the person I talked to two years ago?
Two years ago, I was under the impression that Starry Night was a sensual person. It may be strange to use the term to describe researchers in purely theoretical fields, but one of the things that touched me the most in previous interviews was that he told me the story of my chat with several players. If you don't know, I'd like to repeat it again:
It was an ordinary night, and the sky on Taotaole Street was dotted with stars. This street is the commercial street of "Moore Manor", with a wide road surface and a small green flower bed in the middle. Several players who didn't know each other first greeted each other, then chatted, and then sat together, a few butts in a circle, and for no special reason, they began to talk about their experience playing the game. During that time, the page game stopped updating, the mobile game had no exact news, and they muttered, what will the future of "Moore Manor" be?
It's more like self-pity than asking others, and then comforting each other. But no one, including starry night, wants to get it, and after a while, the question will be answered.