I think that the point is that those of us that are frustrated with Rich is
the fact that there is NOTHING being done, no emails, no patches, no
interaction.
I've basically heard these 2 arguments:
"Rich isn't fixing any bugs, and is not on top of the game at all."
And
"Rich is busy, and it is a monumental task for him to work such a huge game."
As a fellow programmer I can sympathize with how much work it can be to
track down bugs in a 15,000 + line of code program. And I realize that
Rich may be busy in the "real world" with things other than Olympia.
However, the point with which most people who support Rich's silence are
missing is that at one point in the history of Olympia Rich DID take the
time to create the game, he DID take the time to uncover bugs, and he DID
take the time to fix them. He had to, it wouldn't have been a playable
game otherwise.
The thing is, for some reason or another this software life cycle has
stopped! The game is not getting fixed, updated, cajouled, or tucked in at
night. There are players who have not run a turn in MONTHS, there are
other players who are having problems with their account balances, and
there are players who are raising valid issues with the playability of this
game.
His continued silence is NOT acceptable in my eyes. The entire point of
PAYING to play the game is so that 1) we repay Rich for the massive, and
wonderous, effort he underwent to create the game, 2) to help him pay for
the hardware and connections needed to run the game, and 3) to provide
SUPPORT for the system.
Support doesn't just stop at when the turns don't run, support doesn't stop
when the machine goes belly up, support REQUIRES the interaction with the
users, and yes even occasionally fixing a bug or two.
You don't pay a systems administrator's salary to sit idly by. You expect
him to keep the system running, look for ways to improve performance,
provide patches to system files, and heaven forbid keep on the lookout for
BUGS in his/her system.
Rich, created the system, and thus is the systems administrator of it, and
should show some interest in his system other than his paycheck.
-Scott