Our Aging Community - TTLG Forums

BrokenArts on 19/6/2023 at 16:43

No, this isn't a title to a FM, silly taffers. I was running through all of BBB's missions lately, and for some reason, it just hit me. Another one gone. Call it melancholy, reflective, your own mortality coming into play. I know, such is life, and that's how life is. We all go and pass on eventually. It just seems like we've lost our fair share of taffers in recent years, BBB, ffox, Lady Rowena, fett, TheBlackMan, and Ms.Ledd. and I'm sure there is more, and forgive me for not mentioning someone, if you know of someone that has passed.

I know we've all felt it, we're an aging community, still here after all these years. Some people come and go in our lives, such is life. Many of us are still here, and will continue to be here. But the constant in all our lives is TTLG. I hope it's around for more years to come. And many more taffers can carry the torch, and keep TTLG alive and well, and Thief alive as well.

I'm grateful for the people here, to be a part of such a wonderful place, to call many of you friends. I'm grateful for you all, and TTLG. I just had to get this off my chest. Thanks for reading.

~BA

Sadovnik on 19/6/2023 at 18:38

I wish I could know more about those people who are not with us anymore. Maybe a website or at least a single webpage to commemorate them. But I understand that it should be pretty hard to make, especially given that not only it needs to be designed, programmed and tested, but it should also display some information about them which is not always easy to find.

SlyFoxx on 19/6/2023 at 19:24

Somebody made a little RIP mission for fallen taffers many years back....something like "dedicated to ttlg".

Kubrick on 19/6/2023 at 19:30

I've always fantasized about a write up about the community but I'm too much of a newcomer. Marbleman would be great, if we go by his FM Retrospective. A glimpse into the people that make FMs would be a big part of it. And not only for posterity's sake: there's something really fascinating about people that are +40 today that have been gamers for so long. Gaming is much more common now, but isn't a story like Lady Rowena's fascinating? Let me quote Flavio, her son:

Quote Posted by Mr.Varrick

Lady Rowena would have turned 70 today!
You don't know much about her, I can tell you something more so her work that you appreciate so much will have even more value.
Lady Rowena's real name is Adriana, she was Italian and she was born in 1950.
He stopped studying at the age of 14/15 without having a diploma, he obtained it by studying self-taught when he was about 27 years old!
She was 17 when she escaped from a boarding school in Venice and went to Rome where she started attending the world of painters, in 1968 she met her lifelong partner Aldo who was 19 years older than her!
In 1969 their only son Flavio was born... me!

Mom and Dad both painted and lived by selling their paintings. It was not easy, the money was scarce but they were two creatives, they would never have done "normal" jobs.

Adriana as well as painting played the guitar and sang, she learned English (always self-taught) to translate the lyrics of the songs and also to understand the instruction manuals of the various recorders, effects, mixers and everything else needed to play well. sample and record.
Everything that was technologically new became a new passion, the first approach to the world of video games was PONG, then he bought the first PC almost as if it were an accessory to record music.

Little by little the passion for video games took over, then the editor and so Lady Rowena was born.

The last few years have been difficult because Aldo was ill. This forum, you all were very important to her, was the only escape from the sad reality, here she could express her creativity and have fun.

The one who managed to entertain and excite you was a lady born in 1950, who studied alone, learned English, to use a PC, to program etc. without any preparation.
Adriana was shy and reserved,
She would never have told you these things. I hope he doesn't get mad at me! I think it is right that you know because knowing you will appreciate his work more and maybe some of you will become a little less shy, so you will achieve more in life. I am proud of my mother but I can no longer tell her.

Excuse me if I made some mistakes in English, I'm much less good than Adriana! Thank you all.

(https://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=150855&)

That's an astonishing route to becoming such a strong voice as a mission author. The sensibility of her missions is unparalled, the way she treats female characters and complicated romances feels so much like how I imagine a sophisticated italian woman of the 20th century fully into arts would live those things; that's impossible to immitate and it's one of the reasons her missions stand strong as powerful works of art. The world of FMs has made people jump from modders to full game devs, and I love those people and the things they've created. But dromed can be turned into a powerful platform of artistic expression in a way AAA games can't. Lady Rowena's FMs are a promise of what gaming could be but isn't most of the time. And that's directly related to her age and life story.

Here's another little relevant thread:

(https://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=142707&)

downwinder on 19/6/2023 at 22:01

this is a good time to mention i idea i had, i know there is a current contest going now, but maybe next contest there can be a contest for those we lost called "in the style of" basically create a mission in the style of a lost fan mission author

(https://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=151394&page=3&p=2475681&viewfull=1#post2475681)

^here is list i am sure there is more, but i think anyone who is passed or been gone for over 10+ years

what do you all think of that idea?

an example would be we all love lady rowena missions and bbb missions so why not have a contest to make a mission in there style can be anyone who is passed/etc as in jis

can be a ordinal idea in the style of or maybe a continuation of a series they had going "snobs 3" hint hint/etc

MayheM on 20/6/2023 at 00:04

It is life, unfortunately. This community is one of the greatest in gaming. All those who passed away left an amazing legacy. they will be remembered for a long time. And thank you for posting this.

Stingm on 20/6/2023 at 00:24

I totally agree. This is the greatest community.

Kubrick on 20/6/2023 at 01:09

Quote Posted by downwinder

I'd love to see direct continuations rather than "in the style of", since I'm dead set convinced it'd be impossible to imitate, say, Lady Rowena. But it'd be incredible to see a community effort (even if it's like two authors) that continue for example the cliffhanger at Home Sweet Home, infiltrating the estate through the farmacy, which is where the only mission we got from her ends...

edit: holy hell, freddyfox was born in 1937!! That blows my mind. They were the same age my oldest grandfather was!

BR4ZIL on 22/6/2023 at 11:57

Hey BA (Its GenPlastro from Fen's streams)!

Dont be sad! Very few gaming communities get to even live long enough for comments such as yours to exist, the fact Thief Fan Mission making managed to be a multi-generational endeavor is already a testament to its longevity.

And to the taffers that are no longer with us, not only their memory live with those that knew them, but even the new blood will get to know them through their immortal works and posts here in TTLG!

mxleader on 23/6/2023 at 03:34

I was 26 when I first played Thief and 28 when I joined TTLG. Now I'm 50 (51 in July). As long as there is a never ending supply of new FM's and a computer that will play them I will keep going until something catastrophic stops me.