Limit Theory

[Bugbear]

Looks like Josh Parnell has resurfaced. Sounds like he went through a few months of darkness.

Good to see him back on deck and hopefully his recovery will be complete.

[ClymAngus]

Whenever I give money to a game I do so with the explicit expectation it is a rip off.
That way I never get angry about any unforeseen delays. Life is too short to apply a "you owe me" attitude to anything.

At the end of the day, it's a game. Nothing more. People are inherently more important than ANY game or any expectation of a game.

Much like oolite, I do not play at the expense of others. Or their minds. I wish the man nothing but the best. Mental illness is horrific.

[Wildeblood]

Reading that post by Parnell and seeing the number and tone of the replies*, I see the maladaptive cycle of behaviour already beginning to recur. There's something unhealthy about the LT forums. Parnell is apparently a competent coder, and we're told that's what is important to him, but more fundamentally he's an attention-seeker. And all those people ostensibly wishing him well on his forum, they are feeding the unhealthy aspect of his personality.

What you see there is a case study in social reinforcement of maladaptive behaviour. The next time he gets stuck in his game design there'll be more drama, followed by more half-apologetic assertions that he's learnt his lesson when he obviously hasn't, followed by more effusive well-wishing from the Joshuits. That unhealthy cycle has become his, and their, modus operandi.

* I only read the first and tenth pages, but am familiar enough with the LT forums to know the other eight pages are similarly toned.

[ClymAngus]

So what your saying is; the man is a narcissist? I.E. Suffers from a version of narcissistic personality disorder.

A mental disorder......

So, in effect we're accusing a mentally ill man of being mentally ill? Yeah, that works.
I'm going to go off and accuse a blackboard of being "a touch on the dark side".

Sorry, I just don't see where this is going.....

[Wildeblood]

So what your saying is; the man is a narcissist? I.E. Suffers from a version of narcissistic personality disorder.

A mental disorder......

So, in effect we're accusing a mentally ill man of being mentally ill? Yeah, that works.
I'm going to go off and accuse a blackboard of being "a touch on the dark side".

Sorry, I just don't see where this is going.....

I didn't accuse him of anything. I said he has a common (or "garden-variety") attention-seeking personalty. That's far short of the psychiatric disorder "narcissistic personality". I've seen nothing much that looks like narcissism in his writings.

I read the LT forums every day for months. People older and wiser than Parnell were warning him consistently since at least August that he was heading for some kind of burnout if he didn't change his work routine. Unfortunately for him, he thinks he's the smartest guy in the room and doesn't take advice, and for all the voices of reason there were an equal number of fanboys egging him on. Those people are a malevolent influence on Parnell, but they feed his attention-seeking so he doesn't realize he should ignore them.

You're also jumping a long way to conclude he is "a mentally ill man". Commonplace exhaustion after trying to live on caffeine drinks for months is hardly a mental illness. As to where this is going: I've predicted the cycle will recur. Time will tell. That's all. If anyone is expecting any kind of semiotic meta-analysis of interpersonal communication on the LT forum or some such thing, Someone Else can provide it.

[ClymAngus]

I apologise.

Maybe I am naive for taking the man at face value. Still deliberations on his mental state when I've already written off the money seems moot.

He very well be in an unhealthy environment. Is anyone actually going to do anything about it? Probably not.

[Astrobe]

He very well be in an unhealthy environment. Is anyone actually going to do anything about it? Probably not.

Let's hope his family and close friends keep an eye on him.

[Selezen]

Reading that post by Parnell and seeing the number and tone of the replies*, I see the maladaptive cycle of behaviour already beginning to recur. There's something unhealthy about the LT forums. Parnell is apparently a competent coder, and we're told that's what is important to him, but more fundamentally he's an attention-seeker. And all those people ostensibly wishing him well on his forum, they are feeding the unhealthy aspect of his personality.

What you see there is a case study in social reinforcement of maladaptive behaviour. The next time he gets stuck in his game design there'll be more drama, followed by more half-apologetic assertions that he's learnt his lesson when he obviously hasn't, followed by more effusive well-wishing from the Joshuits. That unhealthy cycle has become his, and their, modus operandi.

* I only read the first and tenth pages, but am familiar enough with the LT forums to know the other eight pages are similarly toned.

There's something quite unhealthy about MOST internet forums, especially those run by a single person for their projects IF that project becomes popular enough to generate a lot of forum traffic. With this forum being one notable exception.

I would both agree and disagree that Josh is an attention seeker. I think anyone that has to do a Kickstarter has to do it very much in the public eye and that involves having to be aware of public expectations in relation to Kickstarter updates and the need to have an "open project" that the backers can get information about early. It's kind of expected that you'll stay in the public eye for the duration of your project at least. Then, after publication, you still have to be out there marketing your product and selling it to anyone who will buy it. So if you're not happy being in the public eye then you probably shouldn't do a Kickstarter.

Josh is probably an example of the overachiever in terms of Kickstarter communication, with daily text updates through the forum and monthly video updates. That degree of granularity alongside the heavy workload was always going to end in a burnout (take it from someone who knows). At least he identified that he was overextending and tried to reel it in a bit with the Road To Beta.

I sympathise a lot with Josh. Attention whore: check. Highly motivated: check. Worries about the backers and their feelings: check. Burned out without noticing: check.

I just hope that he does notice again when he's going down that same road. If not, the forumites will no doubt point it out and be ignored. Getting a push from the community is generally a good thing as long as you know when to let it go and look after yourself. Notable case in point from my experience is a recent very negative comment made about the length of time the RPG is taking to get released. I could easily take that to heart and re-dedicate myself to spending every waking hour on the book until it's done. I do, however, realise that this is the path that let me to my six-month long absence and that one person's scathing opinion does not dictate my work ethic, which is currently quite well balanced between 12-hour working week days (including my day job and the RPG) and four-hour working weekends, with the rest of the free time devoted to family and playing some games (or as some people call it, "relaxing").

I think that last part is the part Josh keeps forgetting. Hopefully he'll realise this before long, if he hasn't already.

[Astrobe]

There's something quite unhealthy about MOST internet forums, especially those run by a single person for their projects IF that project becomes popular enough to generate a lot of forum traffic. With this forum being one notable exception.

Sci-Fi TV shows often feature an episode in which the hero becomes telepathic. At the beginning it's a strength, but then the hero gets overwhelmed and is driven almost insane so he/she has to look for a cure. This is what an Internet forum does.

[Wildeblood]

Here's a new development on the LT forums: people openly discussing trading their kickstarter pledges.

http://forums.ltheory.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=4555

[ClymAngus]

Create an investment system and sooner or later you'll create a stock market.

Things get interesting when the investment increases or decreases in value.