Last week Philip of MSXgamesbox needed some kind words, now Sandy of Generation MSX needs a motivational boost. The topic of his post on Generation MSX has been on my mind for a while as well.
Allow me to elaborate. Looking back at the past few years, we've seen an amazing increase of the activity of quite some MSX developers, who have been increasing in numbers as well. The success of the MRC Challenges and the MSXdev competitions speak for themselves, while even more software was released outside those challenges.
New websites and magazines appeared, new groups have been formed (anyone ever heard of Kralizec or Infinite in 2003?), the MSX Revival is getting it on... in essence, there are many reasons to be positive, many reasons to give those who make it happen (and in many cases: have been making it happen for many years) a pat on the shoulders. Somehow, it seems that the increase of activity mostly brought an increase of negativity with it, though.
The "that'll never work", "first see, then believe", "why even bother" and "who gives, MSX is dead anyway" mentality that has been proven wrong time and time again is still haunting the MSX community every now and then. MSX Community: the fact that Sandy and Philip are wondering why and for who they are maintaining their great MSX websites is a sign. More than once I have been told by people who have offered their software for distribution in our downloads section that the only feedback they receive to it are the download statistics, if they make it to the top 10. And of course comments when there's a bug, typo or other error to report. Is it really that hard to turn those frowns upside down and give things a positive twist from time to time? To let those who are actively trying to keep the (memories of the) MSX computer system in all its aspects alive know that you appreciate what they are doing? That you like what they have created? To accept the things you might dislike about a website, person or project and cherish the good things it has to offer? Or to at least turn those negative feelings into a positive form of feedback?
It doesn't have to take a lot of effort. You don't have to send flowers, money or snailmail. An e-mail, forumpost or reaction to a newspost is often more than enough to let people know there are quite a few out there watching the 'active few'. It takes so little efforts, but it's oh so important to keep the MSX computer system truly alive. So, MSX community, what -do- you want?
