A Confession [April Fools 2014]

[PyTom]

My friends, I have something that's about halfway between a disclosure and something I need to get off my chest. In fact, I originally posted this in the "Get that thing off your chest..." thread, but I think it's relevant enough to forum administration that it deserves its own thread.

I guess as a bit of background, you have to realize that my PyTom persona on the forum isn't really the same one I have in real life. (I think a couple of people mentioned that to me back at Animefest.) Online, I have to think about my image, that of the forum, and that of Ren'Py all the time, and that kind of limits what I can write. That's why shortly after taking on the forum, I created an alternate account where I could cut loose - more than a little. For the past eight years, I've been posting here under two accounts - my PyTom account, and my mugenjohncel account.

I do have to apologize a bit for violating forum rules with my accounts. (Is that even possible?) Although I think I've been careful to avoid gaming discussions by using the two accounts at the same time, but I have done things like use the mugenjohncel account to ask a Ren'Py question that my PyTom account would answer. (This was more true back when imagemaps were the big new thing - nowadays, people ask questions before I can get around to "planting" them.)

And, of course, I spent a lot of time putting together a fake identity - a guy who lived literally half way around the world - and put quite a bit of effort into convincing everyone that we were different people. I'm sorry if people feel tricked by that. Please believe me that it was more out of the hope that people would keep the accounts distinct in their minds, then as a means of deceiving someone. I would like to thank everyone who's figured it out, over the years, and kept this quiet.

I'm kind of hoping that people agree with me that the results are for the best. As mugenjohncel, I've been able to experiment with art in ways I couldn't do with my PyTom account. I've been able to make crazy games that PyTom could never get away with. I was able to experiment with new tools like sketchup without much in the way of pressure - and I've been able to use that to make a ton of free resources that can be used in Ren'Py, Novelty, and everywhere else. Hopefully, these experiments have been good for the VN community.

Nowadays I'm as proud of my art as I am of my programming, which is why I decided to finally come out and take credit for it. So here I am.

As a technical note - I'll still be checking both accounts regularly. So you can PM mugenjohncel or PyTom, both accounts will work. To make my life a little easier, I've gone ahead and enabled admin status on my other account - this way, if I see spam or something, I can just delete it immediately, without having to change accounts.

EDIT: April, although it didn't seem to fool very many people.

[mugenjohncel]

For the record - I approve this message.

[Rozume]

........*rickrolled*

[Samu-kun]

:O.......... BOMBSHELL

*passes out*

[MaiMai]

[KittyKatStar]

I knew something was slightly off when I met you at AnimeFest. You are actually mugenjohncel! It alllll becomes clear!

[Asceai]

I KNEW IT~

[trooper6]

Is it bad that I don't think this post is true? That I think it is an April Fools Day joke?

True or not, I'm not bothered!

[Obscura]

All right, I guess I'm changing Mugen's sprite in my game to Tom's. Let me know how you want the date to go down.

[Taosym]

I'm also Uncle Mugen.

[DaFool]

*standing ovation.

The Best Ever.

[JumpJump]

My reaction when getting to the second post.

rofl.gif (6.96 MiB) Viewed 4415 times

[MaiMai]

This is the Forum of Secrets and Lies.

[FamuFamu]

Yeah, but... what tells you Pytom is not the one that came later? What guarantee is there that you weren't already Uncle Mugen and decided to create the Pytom persona and THEN decided to be true to yourself and create the Uncle Mugen account?

Are you Pytom dreaming of being Uncle Mugen or just Uncle Mugen dreaming of being Pytom?

[khnachi]

oh sweet gravy!