Where is Gary Grigsby?

[Nikel]

Probably everybody knows the answer, here or in either of this games forum.

But I do not.

Always wondered about it, but never dared to ask till now [:)]




So, has he ever posted in any forum?

[Stamb]

I was wondering the same.

Probably he is trying to fix all tech issues that people complain about

[AlbertN]

In general programmers / coders do not handle direct PR if there is someone else for them to do.

A one man company may be another case but already in a few man company, if one is the main coder, the last thing they need is also to keep track on forums and whatnot!

[Nikel]

Do you mean he is still trying to improve Guadalcanal Campaign? [;)]








Nice story in the wikipedia article:


"Guadalcanal Campaign was the first game released by designer Gary Grigsby. He recalled beginning development in December 1981.[2] In early 1982, while phoning Strategic Simulations' hotline about its game Torpedo Fire, he got into a conversation with company head Joel Billings that led to an offer to publish Guadalcanal Campaign. Grigsby said that he had "nearly completed a crude working version" by the time that he talked to Billings.[3] Grigsby developed the game in his spare time at night while working a day job at the United States Department of Defense,[3] an arrangement he called "incredibly hard". He later said that he had made "a lot of little fragments of games" before Guadalcanal Campaign, but that it was the first full project he had undertaken.[4] Guadalcanal Campaign was released in 1982,[2] after roughly 8 months of work.[5]"

And the story told by JB himself from 5' 10''

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71hIWT4N6aI

[Nikel]

ORIGINAL: AlbertN

In general programmers / coders do not handle direct PR if there is someone else for them to do.

A one man company may be another case but already in a few man company, if one is the main coder, the last thing they need is also to keep track on forums and whatnot!

One thing is to keep track of everything and another to be completely absent. Really I have never seen a post of him anywhere.

[marion61]

I figure that when your "The Man", you don't need to post.[8D]

[EwaldvonKleist]

He never posts and I don't know if he reads.
Considering that forums are a time sink and often have a harsh tone, we should be glad he focuses on coding.

[Zovs]

He does not exist, he is myth created by unknown group of lost souls that time has forgotten, once there was a person named Gary Grigsby but he was absorbed into a computer program that only Joel speak to, but the data is mysteriously compiled and delivered to 2by3 and minds are blown.

The government is watching...loose lips sinks digital chips...beware...

[FriedrichII]

I am sure he has no time to post, because he is working on WiE project, or at least I hope so.

[carlkay58]

Gary does not read or examine postings unless Joel considers it important enough for Gary to see/read. The reason behind this? Do you realize how much TIME it takes to keep up with everything on the forums? Gary's time is better spent working on improving the product or produce new product. There are really only two programmers dealing with these games - Gary and Pavel. Pavel will occasionally look at the forums and post but very rarely for the same reason that Gary does not.

But rest assured that everything that is discussed on these forums are checked over and compiled even if they are not overt about it. There is a long list of topics to visit but priorities have to be made and followed in order to get anything done. The current priority by Joel is the game editor because no work has been done on that in quite some time. Once that work is done then the long list of other items can be attacked. It takes time on their part and patience on ours.

[dox44]

he's painting ballparks...c'mon now!

nothing and i mean nothingggg more important

https://fineartamerica.com/profiles/1-gary-grigsby

[CMoore]

ORIGINAL: Nikel



Probably everybody knows the answer, here or in either of this games forum.

But I do not.

Always wondered about it, but never dared to ask till now [:)]




So, has he ever posted in any forum?

Nikel, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Nikel, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, Nikel, there is a Gary Grigsby. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Gary Grigsby. It would be as dreary as if there were no Nikels. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Gary Grigsby! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Gary Grigsby, but even if they did not see Gary Grigsby coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Gary Grigsby, but that is no sign that there is no Gary Grigsby. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You may tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Nikel, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Gary Grigsby! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Nikel, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

[xhoel]

ORIGINAL: Zovs

He does not exist, he is myth created by unknown group of lost souls that time has forgotten, once there was a person named Gary Grigsby but he was absorbed into a computer program that only Joel speak to, but the data is mysteriously compiled and delivered to 2by3 and minds are blown.

I laughed way too hard at this. Thanks, needed that [:D]

[Joel Billings]

Carl's got it right, although I think Don's (Zovs) theory makes for the best storyline.

Many years ago Gary decided he did not want to read posts, as it was too distracting. I do pass the occasional post to him, but more generally we talk through issues I'm seeing on the forum. Some of the others on the the development team, including Erik, and/or some of the testers will let me know if they see something they think has been overlooked. Pavel used to read the forum more, especially the tester forum, but as he became more of a mainline programmer (and as he has another full time job), he just like Gary, found that it was too time consuming to read and get involved on the forum. There's also a morale component. When you're reading mostly comments about what's wrong with the game, it can be quite demoralizing, which can be counterproductive. Roger's (loki100) recent post shows how difficult it can be. We're very lucky to have people like Roger that put a lot of time into helping us make and improve our games. They allow Gary and Pavel to spend their time on design and coding.

So you won't see Gary here. Interesting that Gary's true passion of baseball park artwork was found out. He also is a big fantasy (American) football fan, running a small league every year for the past 25-30 years (long before it was mainstream). Everyone's got to have hobbies, right?

[dox44]

cause i have 12 baseball simulators and started with SOM, APBA, Replay and now Action PC. i look for backgrounds to
play against/on and i stumbled on them a while back.

baseball, what else is there to say...

[Nikel]

LOL [:D]

I was expecting some answers, and fully agree in that Zov's is the best.

Wait, GG worked to the US Department of Defense? it may explain your theory and a lot of things more.


Baseball park artwork? What can I say, I do not even understand that sport!