From: esj@cs.brown.edu (Eugene Santos Jr.)
Subject: Comment on the recent flame wars (repost)
Organization: Brown University Department of Computer Science
Distribution: na
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1992 17:52:50 GMT

[I think my machine bounced this to /dev/null again.]

Well, it's about time I said something about the various flame wars
that are going on around here. I'm beginning to find it somewhat distressing
that even some of the most respected players are trashing each other
over very puny things as prowess and ego. I was tempted to post
something during the *infamous Chi/Hector* debacle (for those of you
who don/t remember this or even heard of this, ignorance is bliss).
It's so unfortunate that some of the most recognizable netrek players
are visibly mud-slinging each other much like our Presidential race.
This is only serving to tell new players that netrek is being populated by
assholes hence scaring them away from the game. No wonder CMU's netrek
population is rapidly declining. But this just doesn't hurt CMU alone,
this hurts the rest of the netrek community. CMU is a good solid
foundation to refer to for high-level netrek. It's located nicely with
respect to internet topology. Without bronco and it's mystique, netrek
would never have survived this long. I'd hate to see a generation of 
students that don't know about netrek.

Well, my purpose for this post is to at least give you a perspective
on the real people behind the flashy netrek handles. I've been playing
for at least 2 years now and have managed to even hold conversations
electronically with some of these high-profile people. A lot of your
flames, IMHO, are coming from your basic misconception that the netrek
persona is the real persona. Unless you have met the real ones, this
flame war will never end. So, I'm gonna give some brief descriptions of
various major league netrek players that I have had the chance to
make a personal aquaintance of:


FillInTheBlank -
	A middle aged gentleman who still understands the precepts of
	fun and entertainment. Although he attempts to lose himself in
	the fantasy world of netrek, his real work life with the
	government keeps his wandering spirit in check. The only
	unfortunate part is that during game play, he becomes so lost
	in his fantasy and role playing that it becomes a narrowminded
	obsession during a game. Hence, his sometimes lack of focus
	during tight-situations.

rjones -
	The master of the INL server. Unfortunately, his programming
	skills are only developing, hence, the various odd bugs in
	the server code. However, once fully matured, he should be
	a coding force to be reckoned with. His retirement from the
	game aren't really for the reasons he stated. Basically, he's
	felt that he's made sufficient impact on proper coding and
	design in netrek for generations to come. A job completed.

Wreck -
	Probably most well known for his SB abilities. Easily among the
	current top 5. A most quiet and unusual character. Has a mixture
	of samurai honor and Reagan imperialism as his philosophical outlook
	on life. Basically, he believes that overwhelming power is the key
	to any problem but must give his opponents a chance at the same
	time. Hence, his love of Sbs. In real life, if given the opportunity,
	he would command a hulking aircraft carrier in the midst of a
	missile conflict.

Red Shirt -
	One of the first major netrekkers I had ever encountered. Like
	everyone else who runs into him the first time, I was mightily
	pissed at his arrogant comments. But I've come to know him
	quite well since that time. His seemingly anti-social behaviour
	stems from an overbearing thesis committee. In particular, his
	principal advisor has been a real Lucifer of a man. So much
	abuse has been heaped on poor Bert that he is near the cracking
	point. Unfortunately, the abuse has all been of a psychological
	nature. The warping and twisting is sickening. Poor Bert has sought
	the only refuge possible - within himself. He has changed those
	beams of abuse into beams of affection similar to the Stockholme
	Syndrome. He actually loves his torturer. Yet, he still retains
	sufficient mental faculties to realize the depravity he suffers
	from. Unfortunately, this insight only occurs during high stress
	situations such as netrek in which he then exhibits his anti-social
	behaviour.

SpaceAce! -
	One of the calmest and cool-minded persons in and out of netrek.
	You really have to tighten his collars to get any reaction.
	Inwardly, Rob is a child trapped in a boy's body. He models
	himself against that old laser-disk arcade game called SpaceAce!
	A naive mix of fairness and chivalry is the major mold of
	his being. His secret wish is to become exactly like SpaceAce!
	with jutting chin and barrel chest. Unfortunately, like the arcade
	game, he just doesn't have enough quarters to get there.
	So, what we really have is a somewhat shallow person but someone
	you can trust. (Although, if he ever does get enough quarters,
	his final persona will still be as shallow.)

Sun Tzu -
	Kevin here is a great player. He's pretty normal as a person
	except that he has the dream to become truly oriental (a.k.a. Akira).
	He fells that the eastern philososphy and lore have much more
	substance and depth and the western ones. Unfortunately, his
	first readings in the topic came from a book called "Yan Can Cook".
	Just by using an oriental name on some dish, seems to be
	a sufficient justification that the dishes are oriental. Kevin
	has unfortunately gained the insight that this is easily
	generalizable to solve his situation. But it's been several
	years now that he has kept this up, it's been rumored that
	he's begun a new method of becoming oriental by pinning Fu Man Chu
	posters on his bathroom mirror. 

Balton -
	One of the all time greatest bases. Also one of the most single
	minded person around. Without a clear purpose, Craig would have
	drowned himself in the birdbath outside his apartment. Almost
	to the point of suicide, someone directed his mono-mania to
	netrek. In particular, SBing. But since SBs have a regen time,
	he has managed to transfer some of that energy to ASs. Still,
	the point is his now single-minded obsession to be the perfect
	base. Publishing that tips-sheet on SBing wasn't enough.
	He's actually practicing Zen Buddhism (see Sun Tzu) as well
	as theoretical Vulcan mind-splitting techniques to increase
	the flow of natural endorphin responses for netrek. It's even
	gotten to the point that he's even compiled his own blessed
	client with special features suited toward his ultimate goal.
	Although clearly not a borg client, it does handle all the
	normal social/communication requirements in netrek. Notice
	how it always starts out with a greeting when he joins?
	This is probably the greatest piece of AI software ever
	written, but Craig is too engrossed in his SBing to be aware.

YeaBoy!! -
	No such person. This is actually a character persona maintained
	by a group of people at CMU. This is really just an automated
	planet scum with message services routed to some AI-lab console
	at CMU. Mail is also rerouted making this one of the most
	secret (until now) Turing Tests ever funded by the US Government.
	This information was leaked to me while I was assisting in a
	DARPA fund raiser at MIT.

Sandia -
	A very silly person in real life. Fun to know but wierd to a fault.
	His choice of persona names reflects his desire to be a shortbread
	pecan cookie (He was quite upset when he found out that they were
	called Sandies and not Sandia). An excellent team player, but because
	of his predilection for being a cookie, he tends to switch to
	the losing team just so he can get "munched" on. Not much more
	I can say about Steve, because there really isn't much.

Guru -
	A very knew player to the world of netrek. An extremely competitive
	individual who would stoop as low as he needs to. Once he found
	out that he couldn't make Admiral easily on bronco, he resorted to
	setting up his own server and diligiently scumming his way to
	admiral there. Since he always wants to win, it becomes very
	apparent in his messages. He needs to have the last word, he
	will actively try to complete your sentences for you, etc.
	Still, a good person to have around if you are desperate, because
	he'll always find a way to win.

FreeKill -
	One of the first UPenn'rs to arrive on the scene. He made it to the
	Ivy leagues on sole determination and spirit. A great character,
	a real fighter. Unfortunately, due to a traumatic childhood experience,
	he's subconsciously convinced himself of his inferiority in the
	light of others. Like Guru, he will stoop as low as necessary
	to win. Unfortunately, his first attempt at setting up a server
	failed utterly because of his subconscious illness. He never
	realized why it wasn't enough just to type
		netrek -h harvard.cs.upenn.edu
	to have a server running on harvard.cs.upenn.edu.

Phantom -
	He's ...........o384&)(&%$)(lk   a
		WOOW OWOOWOW#)*($#)(&$#
		23089234 LEGGO! SUSIE LEGGO!
	()*#$*09
	0284lk	938409823 4908
	ALright! HE"S A STUD>

(ahem)
Hector -
	It's really Justine not Justin. Suffering from the classic case
	of the XXY chromosome. Hence, the manly manners, mono-eyebrow and
	the bushy beard. Hard to predict these kinds of characters but she
	does fit the stereotype of head-strong and dominating. Her periodic
	flames arise from a strange menstrual cycle based on the Mercurian
	calendar. It's best I not say anymore for personal safety reasons.
	However, FreeKill and Hector are husband and wife. "We are as one
	under the law."

Terence (real name) -
	The penultimate god of netrek because he owned and ran bronco.
	One of the most straight laced people you'll ever meet. Puritanical
	beyond belief too. When he made mods for netrek communication
	censorship, that is, preventing swear words and such from
	being sent, he came up with the most ingenious and elegant alogithm
	for detecting such filth and depravity. Aside from dealing with
	spaced words, he could properly deal with anagrammed swears by
	symbolically modeling and extracting the intent of the speaker
	allowing for true cognitive modelling. Unfortunately, being of 
	extreme puritanical bent, this piece of code failed. Mainly, he
	couldn't get past the impediment of spelling out the filth
	let alone thinking about them. "F-O-U-C-H! No, F-U-D-G-E! No,
	F-O-C-H! ARGH!!" Although he seems to be at liberal UCLA now
	studying CS. Nobody really bothered to mention that CS stood for
	Christian Science.

MUCUS PIG -
	Probably the most foul-mouthed persona in netrek. Yet, in real
	life like most CMU'ers say, he is a kind and gentle person.
	What they didn't tell us was the accident he had during
	his adolescent years. He suffered some pretty major brain
	damage jumping off his parents garage roof. Most of the right
	hemisphere of his brain was hurt. This being the seat of
	human communication skills, his vocabulary was immediately reduced
	to %% words consisting of :scum, shit, fuck, maggot, space, hello, third
	and maggots. Two verbs, four nouns (1 pluraled), one adjective
	and a greeting. Although he can still think normally, he can
	only work the limited vocabulary available. So, when he utters
	"shit fuck scum space fuck fuck hello?", it could mean "Kindly sir,
	could you please tell me where the nearest bathroom is?"
	It takes some practice, but it's pretty easy to understand him after
	that. He composes some of the most beautiful sonnets ever written.

Ged -
	This poor person has been lost in the bowels of the west/midwest
	too long now. Beginning his education in Utah, he found out that
	it was simply a mispelling of Ohio and moved appropriately.
	A really cool person once you get to know him, but he thinks
	a bit slowly. Sort of like one neuron updates per second.
	Still, an all around solid character. If you ever need to
	talk to him, tell him to record his message on video tape.
	You can then use the fast-play option on the vcr and get
	his message in real-time. He will use the freeze frame option
	of course to understand yours.

Well. Enough for now. I thought this would be short, but I felt that
people should really know who the real netrekkers are. I have by
no means included all the infamous people, but Carpal's Tunnel
Syndrome is not something to be taken lightly of.

Limofel

	
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