I am a moderator.  I'm a rarely active one who prefers to focus on content creation, but I do have moderation powers.  I even hid some personal attacks against people in the BYOND community this week. (And only one was related to what you think it was! ;))

My personal feelings of integrity aside, I've maintained that the recent blogs page belongs to the staff rather than the community.  It's an ad and the staff has the right to present what it wishes.  Others disagree and believe being listed is a right for paying members.  Rather than argue about it for eternity, I suggested offering a similar member feature as a compromise.  The staff implemented it.

The recent blogs page now includes a toggle for displaying unfiltered posts!  If you don't like the moderation, you now have the option to ignore it.  All members will know a place where their blogs will be listed.

Meanwhile, BYOND can present whatever face it wants to the rest of the world.  I wrote up some standards based on moderation I've witnessed over the years.  I tried to express the fallibility of moderators in the Do Not Assume Bias section, but I've been told by at least one person that it sounds more condescending than I intended.  The staff put the standards up.  You can check the section out yourself.

Mecha Destroyer JD has created a hub entry for his RTS, Ultra Strife.  Details are still scarce, but he's currently placing its development alongside priorities such as scholarships and financial ventures.  He's trying to ensure that the quality will be higher than its prequel with the help of his new mindset.

Acebloke is looking to release an update to his economic/military simulation, Wargames.  The alliance interface will soon be changed in the hopes that game modes using set alliances will become more popular.

Last week, Acebloke sought suggestions for an RTS.  His plan is to have two teams of two players each.  One player would focus on the economy and the other would focus on the military.  I think it sounds nifty.

Falacy's update to Gold Guardians has been sitting near completion on his computer for a while. After some prompting from a fan, he appears to have resumed work and attempted to host a test server to resolve the defense game's balance issues.  I don't know if he succeeded, but it seems he can be nagged. ;)

The alleged influence of SPORE and Monster Rancher are apparently enough for me to mention that Gregeman is looking for pixel artists and additional programmers to help with a project named Monster Evolution.  Players will train monsters for combat, teach them skills and help them evolve.  Gregeman himself is one of the programmers.  No pay is offered.

Kunaimaster was looking for players to help test Fire Emblem: Binding Roads this week.  The server appears to be down at the moment, but those interested in a multiplayer arena version of the tactical RPG franchise might want to keep an eye on it.

Meanwhile, the mystery of whether strategy RPGs actually have any strategy might be forever lost as NIS' new store front is not offering Makai Kingdom.  I can't joke about sending it as a donation for scientific purposes anymore...  Of course, you could buy me GrimGrimoire instead just for the hell of it. ;)

BYOND Anime is featuring the strategy RPG, Pokemon Z.  Mista Dougie interviewed the owner and lead artist, Zete.  The game is currently in open testing and word of mouth is it's pretty good.

Pokemon Z was submitted to BYOND Strategy, but, as with Polatrite's Pokemon Challenger, Pokemon games fall to BYOND Anime.  Meanwhile, BYOND RPG has taken previous strategy RPGs like Ginseng's Dungeon Master.

I released an update for my mining card battle, Grim Prospects.  The focus was on audio.  I'm not entirely happy with it as it doesn't all add to the theme.  It's functional though, I guess.

I also appear to have settled on a working design for my combative space race, StarScurrier.  I've created different types of cargo and resolved both scarcity and privacy issues that would affect the version offered on The Game Crafter.

While I don't know what's up with my pancreas, I definately feel better than I did last week.  I seem to have some digestive discomfort that starts in the evening and lasts all night, but it's not painful like it was before.  I'm hoping that my diet will become less restrictive soon.  On the bright side, I've been wanting to eat multiple small meals and trade red meat for fish for a while now anyway.

I'm intrigued by the hybrid defense game Rock of Ages.

Got news? StarCraft II commentators HD and Husky will be hosting a 2vs2 showmatch with QXC and Artosis playing against TheLittleOne and Jinro.