I’m Not the Best Programmer

This article has nothing to do with Magic and programming and yet it has everything to do with it. (Warning: this article might change your life, or not, who knows.)

For some reason I have a really big inferiority complex. My mind keeps saying “There are hundreds of better programmers than you that could write Forge a million times better.” And although my mind may be telling the truth, the real truth is that even if there are hundreds (or thousands) of better programmers out there, they haven’t written anything like Forge. (Granted there are a few other Magic projects like Magma and Wagic but I consider Forge to be unique since it also offers draft, sealed, and a gimmicky quest mode.)

The truth is that there are better programmers out there but maybe they are too busy to write something like Forge. Time is always a necessary expense. Maybe there aren’t thousands of better programmers out there that could have written Forge, maybe my mind is making up facts that only sound true but really aren’t. Maybe I’m a really good programmer and don’t know it. There isn’t a universal test that can measure one’s programming talent just like there isn’t a test for business managers or instrumentalists in the symphony.

The truth is that I know Forge isn’t perfect. It even has some huge glaring flaws but that is ok. No computer program is perfect, cough **Word 2003**, **Windows Vista**. The Xbox 360 has a high defect rate and yet the console is very popular. The truth is that something doesn’t have to be perfect in order to be sold or to have fun. I think that Forge is insanely fun.

Every person has to “get over themselves” and say, “I’m good enough to do blank.” Blank might be: write a story, take a stupid test in school, discover uranium, or write an off-the-wall videogame. Forge isn’t perfect and Forge version 2 won’t be perfect either. Nothing in this world is perfect and that is OK, and even normal.

So in closing, all mistakes aren’t mistakes, do something that you think will fail and see if you actually DO or DON’T fail, take a few chances, be yourself, quit trying to guess what other people think of you.

p.s.
On a related note, I loved them movie Kung-Fu Panda. The secret to great kung-fu is nothing but be yourself.