Wait a minute, Tic-Toc was BAB?

No sweat, and that was probably it. I know pohsyb went off to MUO, then came back.

I thought we were keeping that a secret They were the PvP IOs so I could test them, back before the devs started flooding the beta markets with stuff and you couldn't merit buy them.

For a brief time I was running around on beta with a PvP build basically full of PvPIOs.

And then the base they were stored in got wiped, sigh.

As long as we're telling, I think it was around that time that I hit Ghost Falcon with the suggestion to revert the PvP changes to arena only, and make the arena cross server so the PvPers could decide whether to use all those changes or not, and so beta tests didn't keep pre-empting test matches.

I won't disclose what you said, but I will say I got the feeling your eyes were bugging out of your head and you were screaming at the monitor "do you think I'm made of money? Do You?!"

That's exactly the sort of compliment BaB loves to hear.


True story: shortly after they launched, some guy started a thread on the CO forums basically slamming me, and specifically quoting BaB as saying, in-game, that he thought I was completely full of crap. I didn't think much of it really, but I forwarded a link to the thread to BaB saying basically "hey, did you say in-game that I was full of crap, or did you just say I was full of carp and they misquoted you?"

At the time BaB and I were conversing a lot about the game and game design in general, and BaB said the exact opposite was true, and he had no idea why anyone would say that. He said I could post there and quote him saying they were completely full of sh*t.

I decided it wasn't worth it, so I dropped it. But he was completely serious about me dropping him name, along with the f-bomb of my choice if I wanted to. It wasn't so much defending my honor, boy did BaB hate being misquoted.

"Power customization is impossible."

I know for a time pohsyb played a bit on Justice as well. I saw him join a few teams created in the Team Awesome channel (whichever one was active at that time). He also played a bit on Virtue IIRC. I remember giving him grief about that.

Several times I had seen Tic-Toc talking in a global channel about a game he was working on or had worked on (after it launched he generally used the past tense). He mentioned one night that he was thinking of applying for a job with Cryptic (still Dev team of CoH at the time) and that he'd worked on another game for NCSoft. He had mentioned applying with some other studios as well, although I don't recall if he ever named them.

He later told us he was moving to California at which point someone in the channel (possibly me) asked if he got hired to work on CoH. His answer was that he didn't get the job he wanted but he did find some work while he was out there for the interview. I, and likely some others, assumed he didn't get the job with Cryptic and got hired by someone else.

When BAB was introduced I saw the name Christopher Bruce in the introductory post, but never tied it to Tic-Toc. When I went out to the M&G in 2007 I asked if he'd be there since he lived in the area. His answer was that he had to work that weekend.

I met BAB at the M&G and got to talk to him at one of the after-gatherings in one of the hotel rooms (before the Assistant Manager threatened to throw us all out and everyone on the CoH booking) as well as pohsyb. Something was said by BAB that I missed but Abraxxus quickly jumped in with either a change of subject or saying something related to what he'd just said. I didn't catch what was going on at the time, but later it made sense. I didn't get to chat much more with BAB that night since I followed Neutra and pohsyb to the room they wound up in after the AM threatened eviction due to noise.

Saturday evening I decided I'd drive up to Davis to Redrum Burger to try it out since I'd heard so much about it. Manoa and Teh Boyfriend (Somber Traveler) were going to meet me there since they lived there. While getting ready I was chatting on the forums and mentioned my plans and issued an open invitation for anyone that wanted to join me. Tic-Toc replied and said it sounded good, when was I leaving, and a few other questions. After a bit he came back in and said he wasn't going to be able to go because his wife wanted him to stay home with her and his kids due to having worked so late the night before. Understandable. I went solo to Davis and had a good meal and a good visit.

I began to wonder after I got home what the quick exchange between BAB and Brax was about, and got curious as to whether or not I knew BAB by another name, but thought it was just my imagination. There was some conversations going on in a global channel that kept my mind returning to that point, but I still blew it off. Also, there was a picture from the M&G of BAB and Abraxxus together with either swapped name-tags or something similar.

Then BAB started talking about having teamed with someone from Justice. And then another person, and then another and most of them were names I knew. He said something about teaming with a lot of the Justice players, and several of us started asking if he'd teamed with us. When he said he'd teamed with me more than once, it got the wheels turning again and I started suspecting BAB might be Tic-Toc, but had no proof and wasn't going to just ask, even in a PM or tell. This was back in the days when I still teamed occaisionally, especially at Hami Raids.

Later in the year or early in the next year I was puzzling over a name I'd seen and thought sounded familiar. I did a Google search and one of the links was to the credits for Auto Assault. Since the person I was thinking of has nothing to do with computers or games I thought it an odd coincidence since I knew Tic-Toc had worked on the game. I was scanning through the credits when the name Christopher Bruce caught my eye. He was listed as a Special F/X Artist and I immediately made the connection. I also made the connection to the fact that what Abraxxus had done in that hotel room was to keep BAB from outing himself as Tic-Toc by covering for him. That was also the point of the photo and the rumors that started on Justice that BAB was Abraxxus. Abraxxus made a comment that he'd gotten someone to be his "beard" at the M&G. Now I knew better.

I just kept the information to myself, but when I got to HeroCon that year and saw BAB at the Justice Japanese Junket, I thought I'd let him know I knew. I kept holding my wrist up to my ear like I was listening to something and commented that it was making strange noises. Of course, I wasn't wearing a watch. BAB caught it immediately and let me know he understood what I was saying. I let him know later that I'd not be saying anything about it. I also helped with spreading the picture from HeroCon of the two of them together pointing at each other and their ID badges. I started helping to cover when someone started getting close to who BAB was by commenting that people believed all of the rumors we started about Brax being BAB, Tic-Toc being BAB, Con being BAB, Smoke Signal being BAB, and just about anyone we could think of.

When a specific someone started trying to out Tic-Toc as BAB, I worked hard to try to get the info removed from the forums or spread disinformation in the game. Ex Libris recently commented that every time it started it put a lot of work on the Community Team trying to keep it under wraps. I'm still not sure if the MA arc by that player ever got changed.

It seems it was a better kept secret than BAB thought, or at least that fewer people believed the "rumors" that he was really Tic-Toc.

And that's the really long version of how I found out who BAB was.

I knew I forgot something in that story.

I asked BAB about him telling us he didn't get the job when we asked if he got hired by Cryptic and he gave a good explanation.

He had told us the truth. He DIDN'T get the job he wanted. He got a different job with the same company. And that's what I got for assuming he was hired by a different company.

I don't remember if I asked what job he had wanted.

One day BaB told me he was Tic-Toc on the forums.

And that's the short and long version of how I found out who BaB was on the forums.

Of course he knows who I really am so we're even there.


Sigh. Devs.

Riddle: you have two coins that add up to thirty cents, and one of them is not a quarter. What are they?

Answer: a nickel and a quarter. One of them is not a quarter. The other one is.

Sigh. Devs.

That was really cool, thanks. That reminded me of some things I'd forgotten about (which, under present circumstances, matters to me. )

And it's not really like I could give anyone a hard time about writing long posts right now. >.>

It seems that way at times. Hmm. This is probably going to seem like bragging. Ah well, who cares now, right?

I'm an information systems consultant, and in that capacity I've specialized in a number of different areas over the years. You might say picking up specialties is my specialty. I've been a network engineer, a security systems integrator, a remote application engineer, a corporate auditor, a PCI advisor, a software designer and programmer, a virtualization specialist, blah blah blah.

The net result is that I find myself working for a wide range of customers, and I'm forced to learn what they do. Banks, hospitals, airlines, nuclear power plants, the military, property management, retail. I also have a very strong background in science, engineering, math, technology, and enough trivial pursuit wedges to make it easy to talk to clients regardless of their field of industry. If you take the time to sit down and listen to your customers, not only will you be better able to support them, you can end up picking up a lot of information about their business that can help you when you tackle another one like it.

If you want to know the truth, the truth is that I'm the person that when someone says "we need someone to do X, and we can't find anyone willing to try" I'm not smart enough to say no, and just smart enough to figure out a way to do X every single time. Which means people keep handing me ridiculous things to do. For example, early in my career I was asked to figure out a way to export data from a computer system I had never seen before, into a system I would have no direct access to, using a method that didn't involve connecting the two systems together, before the first system was scheduled to be shut off in eight days.

In retrospect, had I deliberately failed, I would have gotten so much more sleep these past 19 years. There are days I wish people didn't think I was quite that safe of a bet.

Oh yeah, and I can add "junior space cadet game designer" because I was asked to design a game system for City of Heroes. A whole system, from its (high level) implementation to its original data to the methodology by which other devs would be able to support and extend the system. I'm definitely adding that to the resume (if I ever find myself writing one again), because I'm not so jaded that I think that's not frickin' cool.

Even in my forties, I'm still padding my (non-existent) resume.

There are consultants out there with careers (kinda) like mine. Consultants can go anywhere and do anything in theory, and some of us live very interesting professional lives. BUT, there's a catch. Most consultants that attempt to have the trajectory I've had eventually fail, spectacularly. One day, they just go too far, like tell the lead designer for a top tier MMO that you can design a complex system for him in a week. And then you're screwed, because you can't deliver, and when you screw up enough times, no one trusts you anymore.

That's what makes us rare. Not that there aren't people who try, but that its very dangerous to keep pushing the envelope like that. Most people smarter than me eventually cash out of the game and get rich and start driving Ferrari sports cars around. I'm apparently not that smart: I keep doubling down. I can't help it. For me, "the action is the juice."

And here's where I'm going to bring this back to City of Heroes. The truth is I loved talking to BaB and Castle and pohsyb and Hawkward and all the rest of the devs because I just loved learning what they did. Even if I knew in advance they were never going to use a single idea of mine, I would *still* love to talk to them about what they did. I loved learning it, and then putting it into practice, and seeing what they thought. I loved getting (in my opinion and hopefully theirs) good at it.

And even if I never get a chance to work with game developers again, my experience with City of Heroes is going to make me a better consultant. I have skills I didn't originally have, I have knowledge I didn't originally have. That's always useful. Never stop learning.


They are upgrading to RAV4 EVs next year, because they are just so quiet when pulling up to your driveway at night. Tell them "Passphrase: Jericho Landing" and they'll give you the comfy hoods when they take you away.

There are people who would accuse you of bragging if you said you drove a taxi for a living.

Originally Posted by Arcanaville Softcapping an Invuln is fantastic. Softcapping a Willpower is amazing. Softcapping SR is kissing your sister.

This was my theory as well.

Probably two-thirds right.