Not long ago I saw a forum post written by someone I know a bit. He described his enhanced combat system, and I thought it was a very good idea. He asked for graphics help and I watched in case 50 people leapt up, but when no one did I volunteered.

I started working with Doc, trying to follow exactly what he wanted. My thoughts were: it was his good idea and I just wanted to help him take it a step further with no other interest or desire, and it was also an interesting excercise for me in a kind of denial-of-self way. Well, that sounds not good, but I just mean approaching it a bit like a puzzle that I am not applying my own aesthetic to. Anyway, at some point he said I should put my name with his, on it, and I said, "I'm just here to support you. I'm doing it as a kind of Zen exercise." He insisted, and by that time I was getting deeper into it, so I agreed.

He's a thoroughly nice man, and also, it turns out, used to work in real life with Pirate, before Pirate left the UK and went home to NZ (and joined the territorial guard or whatever they call it). Last year at the Game Dev Convention I got IMed by Pirate, who elatedly told me he was in Linden Lab RIGHT THEN. When he came back he told me that I'd done something clever but he couldn't remember what. He never did remember, telling me he'd been drunk at the time. I THINK he might've meant a sign I redid for DarkLife, but I don't know. Anyway, I'd asked him to say hello to Andrew for me, which he must've done as Andrew later sent me his Linden card. So - here we have a little web going from real life to Second Life from DarkLife to Sim Combat, and all over the globe.