[Scummvm-devel] The Situation (omnious music..)

[Max Horn]

Am 06.05.2004 um 12:05 schrieb James 'Ender' Brown:

[...]

> How does it affect developer A if developer B adds a new engine that A
> doesn't like? Not in the slightest (unless A is a porter, or engine C
> requires OSystem changes and A is a backend dev... but dealing with new
> stuff goes with those jobs anyway!)
>
Well, I tried to explain that in my previous mail: maybe it doesn't 
affect A from a purely technical point of view. But humans aren't 
purely technical. We all are volunteers on this project. If the project 
as a whole starts moving in a direction we don't like, it makes us 
reevaluate our position.

So, even though A may not be directly affected by this, he may still 
not like it or even be very emotional about, going as far as quitting 
the project. For example, (to make an extreme example), if a game with 
content for and by Nazis/Fascists was added, I'd probably be extremely 
upset about it, although technically, it wouldn't affect me directly. 
I'd probably do everything I could do prevent this / undo it, and 
failing that, would quit the project.

Right now, the thing seems to be that some people feel adding AWE is a 
good thing, while others feel that it doesn't fit into ScummVM; and 
while the latter aren't, technically, directly affected by this, they 
still feel strong about this - and IMO, that's their good right. 
Doesn't mean we should decide based on those emotions, but we can't 
just tell people to forget them, that's not how humans work.

Besides, I too, am not entirely happy about this shift of focus: while 
apparently in the case of AWE, one can still argue that it's an 
adventure (I really can't judge it as I don't know the game, I am just 
repeating what others tell me); it still seems to be diluting the focus 
of ScummVM. Which is precisely why people start making more "silly" 
jokes about adding DOOM. Sure it's not at all on the same level -- but 
it's a step in that direction. WE have a proverb in German "Wahret den 
Anfängen" ("Beware the beginning" Ugh, very bad translation), which 
means that sometimes you should not let something small slip through, 
because if you do, you just made a small opening, through which 
something bigger slips through. Which widens the opening. Rince and 
repeat. We germans have bad experiences with that, historically...


Bye,

Max