Comment by rpdillon

Right on. I really loved Minecraft in the early days, but I think it's changed a bit since then, so I focus on Luanti (MineTest is the name most people know, I think) these days. But yes, I'm a big fan of both Minecraft and Counter-Strike. You have good taste. =) I understand that MineCraft is taking steps to deobfuscate its source a bit, to embrace modding a bit more. I was excited to hear that! The early days with Bucket were a real hack based on decompiled sources, IIRC.

Agree with you about discussing things online with others being kind of crazy; I first ran into the internet in the late 90s, and the ability to find others based on interest was amazing. But as you said, always a measure of faith involved (that they are humans somewhere that are like us and have similar interests). As a guy that makes a lot of choices that put me in a minority, I find that online is often the only place I can actually meet someone with my interests, though I've gotten quite used to this. I would say I run into someone IRL with my interests once every 10 years or so.

My kids and I have tons of discussions about all this, and I've been chatting with them about this entire thread for a couple of days now, getting their thoughts and explaining the counter-points that people are offering (I try to steelman opposing views if I'm really passionate about the topic). It's been a fun exercise, both in putting my ego aside a bit, and also stepping into others perspectives. I'm not sure I know anywhere else online I could have conversations quite this way.

Again, thanks for reply. Hope to chat again in future threads. =)