Randy Reappearing and The Mysteries of The Sith....

PacDude

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Ok, how about a real topic without the prying major public watching or me having to walk on eggshells....

What the hell is up with Randy popping in at VPF like he's beeing gone for maybe 2 weeks instead of 2 years? No explanations, no reintroductions, etc. He just makes a post like, hey guys here's a fix I've been working on. I don't want to look a gift-horse in the mouth, but it just strikes me as really weird. I'm sure someone will be afraid my questions there might scare him off, but I think we deserve some kind of limited explanation at the very least. And I still see no real indication whether he plans to stick around past this XP2 fix or if he's planning on going Walk'About again for another two years.... I just find the whole thing weird and disturbing. Yes, strange things are afoot at the Circle-K!

All I can say is Captain Pac needs a Beer right now dammit! Weird shit has been happening to me the entire past year, but especially since I changed my hair color to blonde highlighted awhile back (yeah it seems chicks like blonde hair too! Especially the FREAKY ones it seems....) :shock: Don't even ASK....

Yeah Captain Pac will get you high tonight... and take you to your special island. Yeah Captain Pac will get you by tonight. Just another push and you'll be smiling.... -Billy Joel's "Captain Pac" :p
 
Dude, you'd better be sticking to Giger Ale from the sounds of it. And you must not have read that entire thread, because he seems to imply that VP 7 will really happen.

This exe not only has the fix, but it also has one of the features I was working on for VP7

And maybe somewhere else he mentions VP 7 again, I can't remember. Also, any time he would have returned would have been "out of the blue", just as it was with me a month ago. I'm not saying you don't have the right to ask all those questions, but you could have given him a day or two to get settled in. Not that it will matter, he'll answer what if any he wants, and ignore the rest.

My guess is that he's come back to show Black up a bit, and release VP 7, or maybe even better, just after Balck debutes Future Pinball. I don't know if they are really on the outs, but Randy has to feel protective of VP to some extent. And how many folks will pay for a possibly buggy FP when a new and free VP7 is available?

Hell, I barely have the ability to use the current version of VP, so unless FP offers automatic coding, it won't nean much to me.

John
 
Pacdude said:
Ok, how about a real topic without the prying major public watching or me having to walk on eggshells....
:p


Fer chrissakes, 'Dude . . .

. . .whaddya think this is . . .??

A fuckin' PINBALL forum . . . :evil: :twisted: :shock:
 
My mistake Shadow. Maybe we should call the place, The Shadow World. Or maybe Shadow's Fucking FunHouse?
 
I too find it unbelievable that a person can pop up after 2 years and not mention his whereabouts. Totally fucking insane... I'd like to see a working update with new features, but I'd really like to know why he doesn't respond to any well wishes or welcome backs.

Maybe he wanted to release an update to keep people from calling it abandoned software...

Very strange... Very geeky... Very unpersonable...

Nothing surprises me anymore in this hobby... It's a fuckin zoo!
 
A zoo is right Bob. and yes, it would be nice is Randy would let us know he isn't simply a Robotron Programmer. I asked for an interviewm but didn't really expect a response. I'm tempted to include my questions in a PM to him, but maybe he's tempermental and it would upset him. I had an interview with him lined up about 2 1/2 yeaes ago, arranged byBlack, but after agreeing, Randy never did return my e-mail.
 
Well, there's always the Randy is actually Black theory....

Ok, I'm not saying it's valid, but thinking it over a bit, I think it'd be a hypothesis that could be something to explore (and turn into a theory in the process). Let's assume for a moment it IS the case. It could be Black found a reason to fix VP unrelated to what the people are looking for (like Stein complained his tables are in jepoardy of not working in future releases of XP or something). That would explain why Randy suddenly reappeared and why he has nothing to say about anything (because Black already said his bits and has indicated the "new" direction he has in mind with Future Pinball). The "Black" persona gives Randy permission to be an asshole, become greedy, etc. while leaving "nice guy" Randy intact. But Black is the more realistic persona once R/B realized there might be some money to make with VP, but the VPM issue would give VP itself serious problems when trying to charge money plus it's kind of out of date, technology-wise (if you believe in real-time 3D as being the "in" thing) so it was a good reason to start over and just leave out VPM type support, at least officially (whereas we KNOW Randy supported VPM, at least indirectly which would leave him liable if he started charging for VP).

I mean I just don't think Randy EVER participated socially enough to gage his real personality, but we have a VERY good idea about Black's short temper, etc. Besides, I never thought it made any sense that a programmer supposedly in Alaska (I never bought that location) would team up with some guy on the other side of the world in Australia. It doesn't make much sense to me and it was pretty clear that Black & Randy didn't seem to be getting along in that short period where they seemed to be working together (well more like shortly AFTER that period when Black started talking about "his own direction/plans" for VP, etc.) That doesn't sound like the attitude of someone who is Randy's friend and co-author. It sounds like the attitude of someone that OWNS VP's source code. I also found it strange Randy is supposedly his friend (by Black's own admission) and that they were always on good terms and yet Black couldn't get a hold of Randy for a supposed 6 month stretch and then for 2 years or so until NOW when Randy miraculously reappears. That doesn't sound like a co-author / friendship type relationship to me. It sounds very ODD. It either suggests they were NOT getting along PERIOD and were actually fighting over VP's direction, etc. (or that Randy found out about Black's "plans" for VP while he was away (which Black denies and only Randy could verify, but he was conveniently missing all this time) or that they are indeed one and the same person and Black simply didn't want to be nice-guy Randy anymore. It certainly doesn't suggest what Black claims that they are good friends but he couldn't get a hold of him for some unknown reason.

But the rub is that BECAUSE Randy is back now, he could answer the "WHY" question above and make sense of the seeming contradictory evidence, but MY prediction is that he won't explain those details and will fix VP for SP2 (maybe a few new features already completed or mostly completed for VP will appear) and then Randy will conveniently disappear into the void again. Meanwhile, Black will continue Future Pinball.

One potential reason for "Randy" to reappear now and fix VP for SP2 is that it doesn't do Black much good for the VP community to totally fall apart (and let's face it, with AJ's server issues, the SP2 issue and no word from Randy, it was fast heading in exactly that direction) as that would mean that much a smaller potential user base to fast-grab new consumers from when Future Pinball is released. You have to admit, the VP community makes for a nice quick place to post a mess and try to sell / advertise Future Pinball at. You can't do that if the user base is gone (either not there because it closes down or because users stop coming there due to a lack of interest in a VP product that is extremely buggy and doesn't work right with the latest version of Windows). Thus, it would only be to Black's advantage to make sure there is still interest in VP over the next year until Future Pinball can be completed for its initial release (the latest timetable posted suggests May at the earliest for a DEMO of it, let alone a completed version, which I would suspect on target for the following Christmas season). The VP community could have been very diminished in a year's time with no fix for VP. So conveniently during the whole VPF server crisis, Randy suddenly reappears out of NOWHERE and says he's going to fix VP for SP2. Other than some vague hint at a future VP7 (we've heard that for YEARS and there's no sign of it), he pretty much just indicated he's got an idea for a fix for the SP2 problem.

So paranoid, crazy, whatever or not you might call that theory, you have to admit that the puzzle pieces do kind of fit, X-Files style. :shock:

The proof will be whether Randy explains what's going on and whether or not he sticks around this time or disappears again. If he disappears (or stalls and does nothing with VP and then disappears AFTER FP is released), I'd say more than likely the theory will have some proof. If OTOH, he starts moving VP again with new features and poises it to be FP's competitive nightmare, I'd say that is proof they are indeed two separate people and the reason for his disappearanc, etc. lies elsewhere. We'll just have to wait and see.

I just checked the latest thread. "Randy" conveniently IGNORES all questions directed towards him (about where's he's been, the direction of VP, etc.) and only seems interested in fixing the SP2 issue. All seems to agree with the idea that Black is playing the part of Randy (one other possibilty is that Randy WAS a separate person in the past, but really has LEFT and now Black is just playing the part; AJ could probably shed light on where "Randy" is coming from compared to Black in terms of an IP address, although those things can be faked).

Hey, I hope it is Randy (and not Black) and all is well, but I can't escape the sheer "odd" factor about how he ignores all such questions (Black tended to ignore things as well unless he went into a rage or something). The "Randy" talked to back in 2001 in e-mail and on VPF seemed VERY different. He started behaving oddly about the time Black appeared (for whatever reason). Black seemed to do all the talking and major developing at that point....

Wheee..... aren't Conspiracy Theories FUN? :D
 
Now that was a true retro VPFF post :)

Very strange change of events... Why was his first post in that thread made from a new user account named RandyDavis and then the rest of his posts are made with his original account of Randy? :D

You know... When Destruk was trying to fix this issue I always was wondering why no one jumped up and said, hey! You can't alter Randy's program, you have to just let it die. Maybe Bublehead has not only cracked the VP source code, but has also cracked Randy's VPF account :)

I hope he sticks around, but it just seems so unrealistic... He doesn't seem to play pinball and he doesn't seem to like the social forum atmosphere. He still hasn't even acknowledge any former friends and what's even stranger is that he's downloading and bugfixing Mitchell's tables while conversing with seemingly only Mitchell.

Now here is where my conspiracy theory of Mitchell really being Steven Hawking and he just slums around these forums for his own amusement comes back into play. What if Mitchell is also "really" Randy/Black? Now everything seems to fit into the same universe... Case closed.
 
Maybe the fixed version expires when FP is released. :twisted:
 
Yeah, that IS weird that Randy is interested in Mitchell's original table of ALL THINGS..... That is downright fucking BIZARRE when you think about it. I think Bob's theory has serious merit. Maybe if I can get Mitchell to ask Randy a question (in his own words), he'll answer it. Of course, that means the question (where have you been?) will probably get changed into something like, Hey! How you like my Pacdude table Randy??? :D

I e-mailed Randy about my VPM High Speed table (his favorite real world table supposedly) and I got NO REPLY so the day that Mitchell's original is more interesting to Randy than High Speed is the day the little green Martians invade and suck everyone's brains out and replace it with little green Jello molds.... Mmmmmm.....jello. :twisted:
 
What a neat thread, but I have to disagee with you Dude about Mitchell's question to Randy. It would probably read Hey! How you likes my Pacduder tabled Randly??? But what if Mitchell is really AJ pretending to be Randy/Black/PacDude/Bob/Shadow? That would explain why AJ never seems to be around, he;s so dang confused, he doesn't know who he's supposed to be.

John
 
tiltjlp said:
But what if Mitchell is really AJ pretending to be Randy/Black/PacDude/Bob/Shadow? That would explain why AJ neevr seems to be around, he;s so dang confused, he doesn't know who he's supposed to be.

John


Ha . . .ha. . .ha . . .ha . . .ha . . .

Only you-know-who knows . . . .(chuckle . . . :p )

The one who has the power to cloud men's minds . . .

Bwaaa . . .ha . . .ha . . .ha . . . :twisted:
 
Well, not that I expect an answer, I e-mailed Randy, asking for an interview, and gave him my standard list of questions, with a few extra about the origins of Visual Pinball. I also mentioned the Dude's theory that he and Black are one in the same. It would be a pleasent shock if he were to reply, and would probably make one hell of a profile.

BTW, since Shadow turned me down for an interview, I'm slowly working on a mock/parody profile of our little girl in sheep's clothing. If it turns out well, and if it's well received, I'll start a series of parody profiles, which may or may not be confined to here. Others I have in mind for parody profiles would be Bob, Steve, and Mr Wanker, as well as AJ. So, what do y'all think of my parody profile idea?

John
 
I hope you didn't mention my name with that theory.... sheesh. I'm not the person that first thought it up; i just explored the possibility here. Even if they ARE the same person, you think for one minute after all this time Black would actually ADMIT it? I don't think so. He'd deny it to his grave.
 
Well I contact Randy while back about the vp 6.1 crashes on sp2 at the exit of the game.

I don't think he really came back because I contact him about this issues.

I think he really aware of it when he happen to have sp2 installed and trying out vp 6.1 again.

Maybe he was building a table or something. (I don't know really on what really going on.)
 
Does the fact that this came out just days after pinball expo have some thing to do with this.
 
Of course I told him it was all your idea Dude, even gave him you address and even your cell-phone number, and your complete family history. As a writer, I never reveal my sources. Besides, an elusive "somebody" gets funnier reactions than naming names.

John
 
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