Baldur's Extended World Website Ending
LathandersVanguard
Member Posts: 15
The creator of the website https://baldursextendedworld.com/ has discontinued paying for the website and announced a goodbye address on April 9th 2022. Does anyone know what led to this decision? All accounts and methods of communication on the site have become locked. I am relatively new to the Infinity engine online sites/communities like Spellhold Studios, GIbberlings3 and Baldurs Extended World and thought that Roxanne was very punctual and always made time to answer peoples questions thoughtfully. I understand there was some controversy surrounding her on SHS but other than a single thread I found, I really know nothing about it. Can anyone summarize/clarify the situation surrounding Roxanne and Baldurs Gate Extended World is?
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This is nothing new. Roxanne thrives in starting pointless drama then acting the victim. Doesn’t give a crap about the damage she does in the process.
All the other things that came along with the above I can surely live without….
Not to worry @jastey. I know that - and I suspect you knew that I knew that. What has Roxanne made herself?
But its good you clarified for the unsuspecting. I hope someone will pick up secret of bonehill and restore it in a non “Sandrah rules the world” way - its a classic.
Everything belongs to Roxanne. We all belong to Roxanne.
Even when we don't.
Some things in life are simply guaranteed. Like death, taxes....and Roxanne stealing other people's mods while making dozens/hundreds of alt accounts.
Ever since “alt-gate”, it has quited a bit. But lurks under the surface…. Am I another Rox bot?
If I'm not mistaken, theses are Roxanne mod..
Edited :
Travellers in faerun
Twisting with the rune
SoD Banter Restoration for EET
Shine on Caelar npc
Ehlastra npc
CorwinEET npc
Safana in Amn npc
Tamoko the sword of chaos npc.
Gorion's Dream Restored uses stolen area graphics and design von Yovaneth's unpublished work for the Seatower Mod. I wished people would stop mixing that up as Roxanne's content, it is not.
Sorry Jastey and GraionDilach ! But it's hard to know what is legit or not.
I'm about to say something along the lines of "If it's from Roxanne, expect it to be plagiarism" but I'm still full of hope that this might not be true for all her work in IE modding.
I think Sandrah is 99% hers.
At least as far as Sandrah the NPC and the stuff centered around her does.
Doubt any modder would be quick to claim that..."work of art" belongs to him/her.
That said regardless of quality of the Sandrah mod I gotta give her credit for the sheer amount of work that did go into that. It certainly was not a breeze.
Nah, Roxanne's Sime is different from BWL version. No need to blame her for more than she actually did. Though she recommended me (non-directly) to rename Sime in my EE adaptation of TS because "she is not the same as the original character."
Seriously? Sime fromTS is a classic…. One of the first time I have seen a original non joinable NPCs converted into a joinable.
Surely, Roxanne has decived the community by promoting her own mods while using various fake-accounts, but nevertheless, I think it definetely is a loss for the modding-community that Roxanne does no contribute anymore. By the way: I wrote her after her homepage was down (and she wrote me back) and her reason for stopping was not being tired, but the ukraine-war, which shocked her, since various users of her mods also came from russia.
And last but noch least. NO, I am definately not Roxanne. I'm a 40 year old professor of social work from germany and simply enjoy BG1 and BG2 tremendously for the last 20 years.
My problem with Roxanne is the lack of communication and respect for fellow modders. She has used and altered many old mods and maps without permission. Even when confronted she has been unapologetic.
I am no modder, but with the evidence at hand I dont feel that she being treated to harshly. I think the stance on her actions are just and right.
I would agree that the flag she gets for her writing skills and content making is way too much. If people find her content cringy - then dont play it and hold your tongue…. Making jokes about some content you didnt pay for is uncool.
But in all, I think the banishment and treatment she gets is justified. If har would stop stealing, apologize and make the old errors right, it right would help her a lot - and I would gladly champion her if she ever did the right thing. Until then: Roxanne is not welcome.
I believe that Roxanne was banned from here for using multiple accounts in contravention of the terms of service. Accordingly, anyone disappointed that Roxanne no longer contributes on this forum should direct their complaints to Beamdog rather than the modding and mod-using community. Good luck with that. It’s common for internet forums to require their users to not pretend to be multiple people, and the reasons for that are obvious.
I for one do not look forward to a world in which the role of the critic is abolished, and we can determine if something is worth our time and money only after parting with said time and money. Mods might not cost the mod user money, but they do cost time, and time is precious.
Objectively speaking, Roxanne doesn’t get nearly enough flack for her writing skills! The Sandrah Saga is most probably the nadir of several decades of modding for Baldur’s Gate. It isn’t even bad in a mundane way; it is bizarrely and offensively bad, to the extent that one has to wonder how on earth it even happened. The Sandrah Saga is to mod-making what The Room is to film-making.
Having said that, even if the criticism is both honest and objectively justified, it’s arguably unfair if that criticism is motivated by the fact that Roxanne stole others’ content, edits others’ content without permission, and ran multiple alt accounts with well over 1000 posts. If a mod is horrendously bad, it shouldn’t take sock puppetry and content theft for people to admit that.
But first of all I will adress the ban here, and the ban she got on other sites as well. All for the very same reason: making many user accounts who all helped and praised her work - all disguised as helpfulness. We are talking about a multi ban for something we would call fraud if it involved money. I am beyond fuming for that. People have called me many things, and I accept that: but cheating me thusly is an insult I dont take lightly.
Paired with the many accounts and the massive IP theft, we are talking about a person who has a vast journey ahead if her if she seek redemption. So it isnt a witch hunt, its due justice. It isnt above redemption, but the restoration work she needs to do is paramount. Just saying.
And if she ever climbed that mountain, I would welcome her with open arms.
But back to the main point. I have read some of her writing. And I would agree that it needed some polishing and it is really not to my liking. She has managed to turn the semi open world we all love into a railroaded tour of Sandrah land - seen through the eyes of a over sexual 15 year old. It has nothing to do with gender or age. It is bad writing and narrative in any lifetime. And yes, English is not my first language and I could not do quality writing my self; but I know bad when I see it: and the snippets I have seen are more than enough. Its really really bad.
My point about the critisism being too harsh, was mainly that some exposed the weaker parts of the writing to point of ridicule and beyond. That part was a bit to much. I like satire, but I mostly enjoy when used to make fun of the strong/elite. Satire easily turns into mockery when pointed at the non elite….. Not calling Roxanne weak here, but just dating that her actions and ways calls upon my inner compasion. I am not pointing fingers here, but just saying that there is a thin line between satire and mockery - and I dont think The_Baffled_King crossed that line.
But just to make it clear. The bans on multiple sites are completely justified and the bad standing of Roxanne is interely her own fault. The writing is bad, the new artwork/parts of her work is stolen and her story is heavily railroaded. So my advice is to stear clear until she has repaired the many many things she has done wrong. Time is not enough to fix these things…
This is a very good description. The Sandrah Saga butchers plot, characters, and setting, but these are common faults in fan fiction. What’s weird is that it was made as a mod rather than a story, as it also ends up butchering the very concept of the RPG! I’d extend your description slightly, though: it should be "over sexual 15 year old who doesn’t understand consent". Sandrah gets a bit rapey at times.
Note that Roxanne wasn't banned from Gibberlings 3 for sockpuppeting (see https://gibberlings3.net/forums/topic/29354-moderator-action/#comments). As far as I'm aware, she wasn't even banned after using content stolen (by another person) from G3 modders' workroom subforums. In fact, I think she remains unbanned over there. Hopefully someone will correct me if I'm wrong on the latter point.