DoCk> Interview

[Bigyin]

dont thinks this is a repost, good read its a bit old 2002 but still

Participants: Fallen Angel, DoCk>
Description: DoCk> Interview
Created On: March 2002

Fallen Angel: Hi Dock. Thanks for agreeing to interview with us. =) How, why, and when did
you get involved with Subspace?

DoCk>: I first came to Subspace during beta, but I never played seriously until 1999. I was
introduced to Subspace by K2-KaHoS and TestTube, and I was formerly an op in an IRC channel.
They dragged me in and after a while I was addicted, and stayed. I got moderator relatively
quickly, under the recommendation of TestTube, way-back-when.


Fallen Angel: You received a staff position in which zone? What was your name & the zones
you flew.

DoCk>: I started off as DoCkLyNeZ, and my first staff position was as a moderator in this
zone, SSCU Trench Wars. The sysop at the time was The Ghost Ship. Before I came to Trench
Wars I flew Alpha and Chaos.


Fallen Angel: So you've been Trench Wars for how long? 5-6 years?

DoCk>: You overestimate I have been in Trench Wars since late 1998... not really that
long. I made Smod in February 1999, sysop in May 1999. =)


Fallen Angel: What inspired you to start doing work for the Subspace/Continuum community?

DoCk>: I just saw a void to be filled, I guess. The largest reason that I have stayed over
the years, and the reason why I started out, was because I saw something that needed to be
done, and did it.

Well, I see it as a responsibility more than anything... at times Trench Wars became a
burden and I left it to pursue academics or my girlfriend, but I have always returned when I
saw Trench Wars need me again.


Fallen Angel: What is the toughest job for you regarding your role in Subspace/Continuum and
what is your most rewarding accomplishment? Being Co-sysop for this size zone must be quite
a job.

DoCk>: Actually most people have no idea how much I have helped mold and shape Trench Wars
over the years, and that might be a good thing. Nobody really needs to know how much of this
has been my work, because the real stars over the years are those who have contributed to
the zone and helped make it the exceedingly popular zone it is today.


Fallen Angel: Well I venture to say it wouldn't be the zone it is today without your work.

DoCk>: The toughest job is trying to figure out what is good for the public, and not what is
public demand. Sometimes decisions can be extremely unpopular but then grown to be accepted
later on. This is a fact of life of being Sysop, and every little change or move, simply
because of the size of this zone, causes a lot of heat to be turned on the zone's staff.


Fallen Angel: I can only imagine..

DoCk>: My most rewarding contribution to the zone is definitely our bot core. I started
writing it because I wanted to test my skills as a programmer. It turned a dream of mine
into reality. Sphonk is my co-writer, and wrote most of the hard parts of the bot that I am
simply not ready to handle yet. He is a professional programmer, and taught me a lot about
ways of creating larger applications.


Fallen Angel: Yes I met about what 20 of your bot children. You appear to be a talented bot
mechanic. Tell us about some of your bots.

DoCk>: Well the bot core is written in Java, which is probably the best language for this
task, because it is very extensible and modular, useful on any platform, and fast. This
allows us to quickly develop new bots. The foundation to our bot core is very solid, and
because it was designed to be expanded upon, we can now write whole bots in hours, and have
them fully tested in days. This reduces the development time of bots significantly.

Soon, other people will be able to write bots for the Trench Wars bot core, in Java. I am
currently working on a Bot Development Kit (BDK) which will allow Java programmers to write
their own bots.


Fallen Angel: Can those bots can go into other zones?

DoCk>: Actually, currently, our zone is the only zone equipped with a bot server, and since
the core of the bot is not for public release, we *may* consider hosting bots in the future
for other zones, but not until the core is ready for that. This may not happen for a long,
long time. Since there are other bots and other cores available for other zones to use, this
isn't really a priority.


Fallen Angel: I'm pretty much a n00b when it comes to tinkering and building bots. So, do
zones have their own bot cores?

DoCk>: Not really, I think Trench Wars is the only zone with a bot core developed
specifically to suit its needs. Other people have developed bot cores, though.


Fallen Angel: I see. =) Well hopefully in the future you will be able to share some of your
bots with the community. =)

DoCk>: Yes, that's the way most bots work. Not ours, though, ours is quite a bit different.
The problem with Java is it is too easily reverse engineered. Bot code is not definitely not
for public consumption. However, the Bot Development Kit will allow other people to write
bots to be run on our bot servers.


Fallen Angel: Do you do any website work or mainly just bots for TW?

DoCk>: I don't do any website work yet, I am currently learning JSP and servlets, and I am
looking for a j2ee capable server (a co-located server would be sooo nice) that I can use
for development and practice. But I don't have the money for one yet. I will eventually
start making websites, even ones that integrate tightly with our bots, and websites for
other purposes too.


Fallen Angel: You are a huge asset to our community. I'm glad you are willing to share some
of your accomplishments and goals with us. =)

What are your opinions on the new client .37 and .38?

DoCk>: Continuum will bring a new level of popularity and gameplay to this aging game, and
will definitely assure our continued success. I fully intend for the Subspace community to
continue and grow, and we definitely have PriitK to thank for it.

I hope to talk to him sometime. I haven't seen him in a while, he is busy working on his
out-of-subspace projects and real life (bread and butter) projects, and Continuum .38.


Fallen Angel: Well Priitk has put a huge effort into the future of this game. I hope to
interview him. =)

It is thought that a good business man that spends so much time developing a game would sell
it for $$$$$$ at some point.

DoCk>: That's just a rumor, Continuum will never go pay.


Fallen Angel: Can you tell us anything regarding .38?

DoCk>: I'm using it right now. It looks the same. All I know is it has some more features
that I don't know about, and it is less buggy for some people on some machines.


Fallen Angel: Yes I hear complaints a lot regarding .37 closing in windowed mode.

DoCk>: That doesn't occur on .38.


Fallen Angel: Ahh, I know LOTS of people will be happy about that fix.

DoCk>: Also, PriitK is not just a businessman, he is an avid supporter of free stuff. I
believe PriitK helped write some of the underlying code to Kazaa. He likes free information
and free games. He's cool, don't worry about Continuum ever going pay.

We should be worried about PriitK though, he has lost literally tens of thousands of dollars
of time he could have been spending on paying projects. He's always in high demand, and
turns down most of his projects.


Fallen Angel: What are your days like holding a sysop position?

DoCk>: Most days as sysop are fairly mundane, I usually stay in my private arena working on
homework, bots, or other such things. Trench Wars is a busy place, and when I am here I
usually stay in the background answering staff questions, helping them handle various
situations, and organizing long term positive development. Usually, however, I am doing
homework, or working on bots, while I am doing this. Schoolwork takes up a LOT of my time,
as I am taking several difficult classes this semester. My girlfriend takes up lots of my
time too. The rest of the time goes to Trench Wars.


Fallen Angel: When do you graduate?

DoCk>: I graduate hopefully after Fall 2004 semester.

It's interesting that most people think I'm never online, but I am. I'm just not in a public
arena much. All they have to do is private message me or leave me a ?message and I'll get
back to them fairly quickly. I don't go out in public on my regular nick all that often
because I usually get inundated with players wanting to talk (or suck up) while I am trying
to get real work done.

[Bigyin]

Fallen Angel: Give us your words of wisdom for the benefit of our younger members in the
community that are interested in becoming staff and doing more for SS or their zones.

DoCk>: The best way for someone to become involved is to help design new subarenas we can
use. We have a network of games designers, and if you're good at graphics design, and have
some good ideas, it may be a good idea to try your hand at games design.

We're always looking for good, talented people to help us in the games design field. And the
possibilities (because of our bots) are almost endless. We need dreamers and people with the
will to back them up. This is how our subarenas will truly be successful, especially with
the possibilities allowed to us by our bots and Continuum .37+.


Fallen Angel: I know there are many many people that would like to contribute. It sounds
like TW offers a lot of opportunities. =)

DoCk>: It is important to note that Trench Wars staff is by invitation only. We prefer to
accept submitted work on a no-strings-attached basis. If we like you we may hire you in the
future. There are just too many people who want to be in staff, and because of this it
becomes truly exasperating to be asked 20 times a day "can I be staff?". The answer is
always "No, and that staff is by invitation only", when staff is always full. We like to
choose who we want to be on staff, not the other way around.


Fallen Angel: Where do you see the Subspace community in the future and What is the most
important thing you would like to say about Subspace and the community at large?

DoCk>: I see Subspace as always growing and evolving. It will always be 2D, but it is the
gameplay and community that will keep this game together. Without the community that has
been fostered here, and without all the friends we've made over the years this game would
have died out years ago. I see the entire community as ever growing and ever improving. I
hope I can organize some sort of promotion campaign for Subspace in general, to hopefully
draw new blood into this game. We've grown tremendously over the last few years. Our record
is well over 600 players on at once during league times. I know we can do much better than
that, as our game improves in quality over the years.

I know that I, for one, will probably not leave the game. The only things that would keep
me away are my graduation from school, and getting a programming job somewhere. The other is
marriage, which I know is in the future for my girlfriend and I. Each of these are years
down the line.


Fallen Angel: Well I'm pretty much in awe of your work and your goals. I think your work in
the community is very understated. I'm happy I can give our community a better look at how
much you contribute and good ways people can go about doing the same.

DoCk>: Let me reiterate that I cannot possibly take credit for the way Trench Wars is today,
it is all the staff members that have served with us over the years, it has been all the
contributors, Sonera who donates the thousands of dollars required every month to satisfy
our ever growing need for bandwidth. Especially notable are those who have at least given
their participation in our community, and introduced our game to their friends.


Fallen Angel: Thank you very much for sharing your work and your insights regarding
Subspace/Continuum. =)

DoCk>: No problem, was my pleasure.


http://www.subspacedownloads.com/interviews/dock.txt

[Pan]

I remember seeing that when I was playing in Warzone. That was two years ago. I find it kind of funny when FA asks about the new .38

[Bigyin]

I remember seeing that when I was playing in Warzone. That was two years ago. I find it kind of funny when FA asks about the new .38

What are your opinions on the new client .37 and .38?

so i think .37 was just out too lol

[Twerp]

It is thought that a good business man that spends so much time developing a game would sell
it for $$$$$$ at some point.

DoCk>: That's just a rumor, Continuum will never go pay.

Yay

That was very interesting, especially the part about the thousands a month to keep the bandwith.

[GHB]

Heh, I've read it already some months ago.
There are more interesting interviews at the very bottom of http://www.ssdownloads.com/index.php?act=interview

[Jeansi]

The one with mine go boom was funny, if I'm not mistaken.

[Edify]

lol i read bits of those interviews.

[Mortal]

nice to hear that cont/ss will never go p2p. I started this game free.. so i'd like to finish it free. And Ty Dock> for everything you've done.

[Twerp]

DoCk> is my hero. *Salutes DoCk> and others that have helped out with Trench Wars*

[Paveo]

So, yeah this is true

I would give my right nut for DoCk> and the rest of the TW crew! Keep up the good work

[Twerp]

LOL, sure you would. I'm sure no1 is that appreciative

[duel pasta]

Never red it before

cool

[Jacklyn]

...::nibbles on a cookie while reading the interview::...



:chair: oo this is funnie!! !!

[Win95]

DoCk> is my hero. *Salutes DoCk> and others that have helped out with Trench Wars*

:up:

Win95