2023 - Catching Up

[James]

I was doing some pandemic stream watching of Valheim when it was new, interacting a little bit with the streamer (Myatt), and someone else in the chat recognized me from SimRTK. The streamer was pleased he'd been able to reunite two people who knew each other.

Of course, it's been a couple of years since then, so I don't remember exactly who it was...

Ha, that’s great. What a fun story.

For a couple years I played a mobile game called New Romance of the Three Kingdoms (released by a cookie-cutter F2P entity and built on IP licensed from Koei Tecmo). There was a really great game in its bones which was marred and scarred by the usual F2P nonsense. I spent some time engaging with members of the community, and occasionally enjoyed listening when people told me about the Three Kingdoms world and even referenced some (occasionally rather familiar) websites while chatting. I never shared much, though. Other than with a couple people who recognized my screen name. I don’t miss the F2P rubbish, but I suppose that game made for some good times. I always wondered if someone I knew really well might turn up, but I think the game, in relatively short order, deterred most people with good sense.

[Liu Yuante]

LOL, yeah, it's very intentionally ridiculous. Although what we're voting on now is like the culmination of a decade of nominations and probably a hundred people's cumulative votes that have seeded the rankings. But yeah the idea of getting to an epic match-up between the Sega Master System version of Shinobi vs. Sengoku Rance two years into the competition is pretty hilarious. I didn't notice that you had joined the Discord—what was your name on there so I can give you the proper SoSZ role.

Yeah, I think I remember the very first one back in 2014. I'd actually checked back a few times over the years, but either it wasn't active or I'd missed it. Happened to stumble into the decade mega-edition by pure happenstance. My username in Discord is Adric.

I’m glad, despite the ups and downs, it seems like there are a lot of ups still present or new? I’ve been able to follow a few bits and pieces of what you’ve gone through on social media, although I miss heaps since I became much less engaged with it, gradually more so, from 2017 on.

It's a really weird mix of things - on the one hand, in some ways I've never been better. In other ways, some things are not so great. But most of what's not great are personal battles and trying to get some of my "annoying-but-reasonably-manageable" health issues sorted. And in many ways I'm doing better than a lot of people, certainly better than a lot of people in 2020 and 2021, so I really can't complain.

And yeah, social media is not really my thing. Facebook at this point is 70% ads and articles, not even updates from friends. I've definitely thought about this site and the people here who I spent a decade or so learning from (or pointlessly arguing with - I try to imagine what on Earth made me think engaging in book-length arguments with people was a good use of my time) and having fun conversations with. This remains the single best online community I've ever been a part of. Sometimes things just kind of drift away as time passes, and I stopped coming by so much. I did feel a pang when I realized SoSZ was probably not coming back, so it's great to see it up again.

I was wondering how you were doing just two weeks or so ago when a chest in a closet fell down and splashed its contents of trinkets I have collected over the years, but did not want to part with. Included, among some various Three Kingdoms treasures (holy hell, Portal of the Three Kingdoms turned out to be worthwhile trinkets to buy), was some various Three Kingdoms and Han-era coins I picked up. And, if memory serves, with some advice from you, and in appreciation of what you shared from your collection.

Yeah, I remember doing the whole guide to Chinese coins set of articles for KMA. I might put up some pictures in the old coin thread of some of the things I've acquired since then. I had actually forgotten, there is one good source - an online and in-person auction house - for ancient Chinese coins, but as you would expect it tends to be pricey, and requires pre-approval for bid amount limits. Anyway, I hope some of the items you picked up from other sellers or purchased from me were worth having held onto. I find it is a very humbling sensation to hold something in my hand that a real person used hundreds or thousands of years ago. I wonder about their lives, what did they buy with it, who else used it, when did it wind up in the ground (or at the bottom of a river)...it's a very cool connection with the past.

[Tao Qian]

Hello all,

It's been a long time... Well, I'm definitely older, so some good things and some bad things. My wife is sick with lupus and we are trying to guess how to handle it, got a new job as Technical Writer that finally pays more than the bills and thank God none of my relatives died by Covid (my sister has PTSD as a result of the situation, as she is working on ICU, but I hope this will improve).

Apart from that, still with my old projects: trying to publish my board game about Warring States period, still translating ROTK into Spanish and I'm slowly creating a ROTk board game centered in the political part.

I'm really glad to see you all

[Liu Yuante]

Apart from that, still with my old projects: trying to publish my board game about Warring States period, still translating ROTK into Spanish and I'm slowly creating a ROTk board game centered in the political part.

That sounds interesting - I've always wished there were more games focused on Chinese historical periods other than just 3K, and the Warring States would make a great setting. How far along are you in your efforts to find a publisher?

[Tao Qian]

That sounds interesting - I've always wished there were more games focused on Chinese historical periods other than just 3K, and the Warring States would make a great setting. How far along are you in your efforts to find a publisher?

I guess quite far. Most Spanish publishing companies has rejected it. I had some hope with one, but after 2020 everything is taking really long with them... I think there are some photos of the game in this forum... Yes, here they are.

https://www.the-scholars.com/viewtopic. ... lo#p591389

[ZL181]

Hello all,

It's been a long time... Well, I'm definitely older, so some good things and some bad things. My wife is sick with lupus and we are trying to guess how to handle it, got a new job as Technical Writer that finally pays more than the bills and thank God none of my relatives died by Covid (my sister has PTSD as a result of the situation, as she is working on ICU, but I hope this will improve).

Apart from that, still with my old projects: trying to publish my board game about Warring States period, still translating ROTK into Spanish and I'm slowly creating a ROTk board game centered in the political part.

I'm really glad to see you all

Hi, this is my first time interacting with you as a fellow scholar. I send my dearest wishes for your wife to deal with lupus; it really is not a good thing! I read upon it during the pandemic. I also send my wishes for your sister as well.

I did look at your Warring States board game, All Under the Heaven, and it sounds really interesting! I would be interested in playing it in some form eventually.

[James]

It's a really weird mix of things - on the one hand, in some ways I've never been better. In other ways, some things are not so great. But most of what's not great are personal battles and trying to get some of my "annoying-but-reasonably-manageable" health issues sorted. And in many ways I'm doing better than a lot of people, certainly better than a lot of people in 2020 and 2021, so I really can't complain.

I think I get it... and kind of suspect you may be pulling punches a touch.

And yeah, social media is not really my thing. Facebook at this point is 70% ads and articles, not even updates from friends. I've definitely thought about this site and the people here who I spent a decade or so learning from (or pointlessly arguing with - I try to imagine what on Earth made me think engaging in book-length arguments with people was a good use of my time) and having fun conversations with. This remains the single best online community I've ever been a part of. Sometimes things just kind of drift away as time passes, and I stopped coming by so much. I did feel a pang when I realized SoSZ was probably not coming back, so it's great to see it up again.

Social media bothers me. I suppose due to common characteristics of social media which are driven by the “customer” being the advertisers as opposed to the users. You would think the content shared by friends and family is what is important and what you don’t want to miss, but in reality, it seems like that tends to be the stuff you always end up missing, instead seeing only a subset, and only the subset that creates the right sort of engagement for their algorithms to care about it. And in the broader community, that engagement has frequently been things that make people upset.

Another reason why it has been a shame for communities to be turned over to these companies.

Yeah, I remember doing the whole guide to Chinese coins set of articles for KMA. I might put up some pictures in the old coin thread of some of the things I've acquired since then. I had actually forgotten, there is one good source - an online and in-person auction house - for ancient Chinese coins, but as you would expect it tends to be pricey, and requires pre-approval for bid amount limits. Anyway, I hope some of the items you picked up from other sellers or purchased from me were worth having held onto. I find it is a very humbling sensation to hold something in my hand that a real person used hundreds or thousands of years ago. I wonder about their lives, what did they buy with it, who else used it, when did it wind up in the ground (or at the bottom of a river)...it's a very cool connection with the past.

Just the other day I was reading through that article and looking at the photos again as I plodded through various pages writing code and fixing busted stuff. Really made me smile. And it is quite interesting to imagine that one of those coins someone may be holding (if genuine—a big if for someone less knowledgeable like me buying one) would have been traded and held by people back in that era. I think the ones with the spill-over are really interesting. Those must have become pretty obnoxious.

[James]

It's been a long time... Well, I'm definitely older, so some good things and some bad things. My wife is sick with lupus and we are trying to guess how to handle it, got a new job as Technical Writer that finally pays more than the bills and thank God none of my relatives died by Covid (my sister has PTSD as a result of the situation, as she is working on ICU, but I hope this will improve).

Apart from that, still with my old projects: trying to publish my board game about Warring States period, still translating ROTK into Spanish and I'm slowly creating a ROTk board game centered in the political part.

In retrospect, none of my immediate relatives died to COVID either. Although I know people who lost a lot of family. Cancer ended up being the thing that took a lot from my family, as it does. I also know a couple of people who worked in emergency rooms and other avenues of medicine through all of this. It broke my heart seeing what they were going through...

I’m really curious about the board game.

[Tao Qian]

It's been a long time... Well, I'm definitely older, so some good things and some bad things. My wife is sick with lupus and we are trying to guess how to handle it, got a new job as Technical Writer that finally pays more than the bills and thank God none of my relatives died by Covid (my sister has PTSD as a result of the situation, as she is working on ICU, but I hope this will improve).

Apart from that, still with my old projects: trying to publish my board game about Warring States period, still translating ROTK into Spanish and I'm slowly creating a ROTk board game centered in the political part.

In retrospect, none of my immediate relatives died to COVID either. Although I know people who lost a lot of family. Cancer ended up being the thing that took a lot from my family, as it does.

I’m really curious about the board game.

I'm sorry for that

It's been a long time... Well, I'm definitely older, so some good things and some bad things. My wife is sick with lupus and we are trying to guess how to handle it, got a new job as Technical Writer that finally pays more than the bills and thank God none of my relatives died by Covid (my sister has PTSD as a result of the situation, as she is working on ICU, but I hope this will improve).

Apart from that, still with my old projects: trying to publish my board game about Warring States period, still translating ROTK into Spanish and I'm slowly creating a ROTk board game centered in the political part.

I’m really curious about the board game.

I hope one day someone can play it. It's based on War and State Formation in Ancient China and Early Modern Europe, a great history book, a bit long for today's standards, I guess...

[James]

I hope one day someone can play it. It's based on War and State Formation in Ancient China and Early Modern Europe, a great history book, a bit long for today's standards, I guess...

Have you published anything online?