To the Leadership: Why Dustbowl? ;~;

[Varil]

What is this madness. Take out one of the most beloved maps of the eGO TF2 Division and replace it with the worst maps (in my opinion) out there that is already on Valve Maps every other map change.

Why, leadership? Why?

Here is my speech about why a 24/7 Dustbowl server was not the best idea and proposing a new one:

First of all, Dustbowl is filling almost no faster than Mesa was, since prolly a quarter of servers in TF2 are already 24/7 Dustbowl. It seems to be doing arguably worse than Mesa, right now. Since rank seems to be all we care about here, not filling isn't very good. Also, Dustbowl is one of those 'love it or hate it' maps, so even fewer people will join most of the time. Some people like me abhor the map and will leave the server any time it is changed to. It comes up on Valve Maps every other map anyways, for Pete's sake. >.>

Second, many people loved Mesa. Sure, it did not fill as fast as other servers (but, again, neither does Dustbowl) but many people loved it.It may not have had the highest rank, but it was fun to play on, hang out in, mess around in, and it was made by one of our own. Here's a whole thread of people who loved Mesa like me. <3

Thirdly, you said so! In this thread you said Black Mesa wouldn't go if we kept the other maps full. Many of the members I know personally have been trying their hardest to fill our servers. I play almost exclusively on eGO servers (except when trading or playing with other friends). I know Kazoo wakes up early to jump on TF2 and try to fill Valve Maps every morning before she goes to school. I know Roker is even giving away a free Bill's hat (for those of you who don't play TF2, it's one of the most valuable non-unusual items in the game) just to keep Mesa and other eGO servers full!

Finally, this map change affected our community. Not only are many TF2 Division members angry or boycotting the new server, some have even left. Many members are mad over this, I know DoomFearKeeper left the TF2 Division because of this and Roker and ShawnJr left eGO entirely. ;~;

I don't think it's Dustbowl just by itself that's causing all this resentment. Maybe it's because doing this just makes it seem like all the Leadership cares about in it's server are the rankings, not the members playing in them. D:

Here is my proposal that will hopefully make everyone happy:

Instead of a another 24/7 server, how about a rotation? Since Dustbowl is already in the Valve Maps rotation, I don't think many people want to play on it. How about a Custom Maps rotation? It can have Black Mesa on it and tons of other cool community maps like pl_boundry, cp_snakewater, and plr_panic! Not only will this bring members back to eGO's TF2 Division, I think it will be very popular in ranks. I would certainly play on it often because of the numerous high quality maps players have made out there.

Please show your support and opinions on Black Mesa and this new idea by posting here. Thanks. (Black Mesa 4EVR. <3)

BTW, sorry if this argument seems short or if I repeat stuff too much. I'm not very good at this, but I felt it needed to be done.

 

[ShawnJ]

because rank > fun

/thread

 

[Deviant1]

If Mesa is no longer a viable option for 24/7 then I would much rather have a custom map rotation that includes it like Varil proposes rather than having a solely dustbowl map.

Any thoughts?

 

[ItsStreeter]

Kinda ironic how a map made by eGO is no longer supported.

 

[Goz]

good argument, but holding a custom map rotation would be pretty hard to keep server rankings up. we'd have to start with an already high ranking, which the former Blackmesa Server does not have.

People aren't filling Dustbowl simply because it replaced Blackmesa. Overtime pubs'll do the rest since most of the community love this map. However I do agree that Dustbowl wasn't really a good choice of map considering that it's already in the VM rotation. (and it does come up every other map)

I'm sad to see Mesa go, but the only really big thing that kinda made me angry was that leadership did say that Mesa wouldn't be going if the other servers stayed strong. Which they did.

My suggestion is to not have a 24/7 Dustbowl server. I know it would keep up rankings, but it's already in the VM rotation. We have the other servers to keep up rankings. (not to mention that they're all pretty damn high already) A majority of people loved Mesa, so keep it as Mesa.

 

[MSK Impostr]

Posted this with regards to 2fort being changed, I feel it is still relevant.

Depending on your attention span, please choose either the Long Version or the Short Version.

LONG VERSION

I'm going to have to agree with both WyrmMage and Whisker here. The changes that have occurred have rocked the community that I have worked with for more than 2500 hours over the past few years. I'm good friends with many of the regulars, a large portion of which have stated that they have no intention of returning now that fast respawn has been removed.

What bothers me the most about this decision is the disturbing reification of server success by the council. Server rankings are statistics. They may be based on real systems, but they are by no means valid for altering the course of an entire community. What matters when dealing with communities is the people on the ground level, those who are effected most by changes like these. From the standpoint of a higher level administrator, these changes may seem distant and of little importance in relation to the totality. But as someone who has worked on the ground level within the 2fort community for far longer than most people would be willing to admit, this change has had large and quite possibly irreversible effects.

SHORT VERSION

I guess my takeaway point here is that a community which is based on something as arbitrary as rankings is as flimsy as it is pointless. 2fort fast respawn is a casual grindhouse, which attracts people who are looking for just that kind of experience. Chances are that the people who find it are the ones who were looking for it in the first place. Making ourselves into another cookie-cutter standard 2fort server does nothing to differentiate us from the thousands of other identical servers, it just increases the number of people who will randomly join, and most likely will never return. We need to worry about the community that we already have, instead of worrying about the community that we might have in the future.

I suppose I have more to say, yet haven't quite been able to fully articulate my thoughts as of now. Feel free to contact me via steam if you'd like to chat more about this, or if you have any questions.



-MSK Impostr-

http://www.edge-gamers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=202369

 

[Doomfearkeeper]

I would like to point out here I never said I was mad...Tf2 was the only game I had that eGO supported when I joined eGO several years ago. I never have been all that good at it...Here lately I have been playing more RTS games and while yes I am sad about losing mesa I was thinking of switching anyways. Let me put it simply if there was a strat division when I first joined eGO...Thats where I would have been from the beginning

 

[Noise]

because rank > fun

/thread

More fun = higher rank doe.

 

[Goz]

Posted this with regards to 2fort being changed, I feel it is still relevant.



http://www.edge-gamers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=202369

As much as I agree with you, we need rankings because it means more people which means more ad revenue for the servers which means keeping the servers up.

 

[Kazoo]

Leadership did say Mesa was safe as long as the others servers were doing well. I think that's probably the biggest issue here. We should have at least been given a warning that they were thinking of removing Mesa. I'm sure more people would've idled and played on Mesa if we had been warned.

My suggestion is to not have a 24/7 Dustbowl server. I know it would keep up rankings, but it's already in the VM rotation.

Actually, leadership said they were going to remove Dustbowl from VM... Doesn't look like they have done it yet, so I'm not sure.

 

[VP :3]

I don't know honestly if I like this new change anymore. People I know loved Mesa are leaving and it's making me hate the change. I know people come and go, but I've made friends with some of those people, and I can't bear seeing them leave.

ROKER I MISS YOU <3

 

[Activate]

We were told from the higher ups that we could either change the server to something more popular, or lose the server all together. We chose to change the server, even though it may not be the best option right now, once the server ranks go up, we will have the chance of getting more servers. If there is enough support, we will have absolutely no problem making another BlackMesa server.

Again, this was a hard decision for us to make but we believe we have made the right one. I urge all of you to support the the new 24/7 Dustbowl server so that we may get another server in the future.

 

[Goz]

We were told from the higher ups that we could either change the server to something more popular, or lose the server all together. We chose to change the server, even though it may not be the best option right now, once the server ranks go up, we will have the chance of getting more servers. If there is enough support, we will have absolutely no problem making another BlackMesa server.

Again, this was a hard decision for us to make but we believe we have made the right one. I urge all of you to support the the new 24/7 Dustbowl server so that we may get another server in the future.

well nice to hear word from a part of leadership I suppose.

To answer Kazoo, that's a bit of a sneaky move to get rid of Mesa without prior notice, and then remove Dustbowl from VM rotation just to get our 24/7 Dustbowl server higher up in demand.

 

[? Frisky Dingo ?]

We should atleast try diff maps and see how they play out, Id like to see a 24/7 turbine or custom maps server. Not just another dustbowl or 2fort server...

 

[Wubstep]

This morning, i was playing on mesa (and having a fun time) i go out to see a movie, it was good thanks for asking, and i come back, log on to tf2 to return to my beloved mesa. and its gone... i know that you guys in leadership want use to have more popular servers. but mesa was just all around fun. and me with y bad computer, rarly lagged on it, so i could have fun and not lag. im not going to leave ego because of this, but im gona be playing tf2 a lot less now

 

[Hans Voss]

The thing is that eGO operates more as a company than a gaming community.

Look at it this way, black mesa was an investment that wasn't playing back. And while I agree that Black Mesa was a symbol to TF2 division, It just wasnt being played anymore we only got it full a couple of times since the server switch.

What we can do is to get all the servers rolling THEN ask for Leadership to give us back mesa, much like the "Valvemaps Crisis" In which leadership took out Valvemaps, we got the servers up, then whined to get Valvemaps back and voila, the crisis was resolved.

 

[Varil]

^The first part of what you just said seems to be the problem. D:

 

[Deviant1]

The thing is that eGO operates more as a company than a gaming community.

Look at it this way, black mesa was an investment that wasn't playing back. And while I agree that Black Mesa was a symbol to TF2 division, It just wasnt being played anymore we only got it full a couple of times since the server switch.

What we can do is to get all the servers rolling THEN ask for Leadership to give us back mesa, much like the "Valvemaps Crisis" In which leadership took out Valvemaps, we got the servers up, then whined to get Valvemaps back and voila, the crisis was resolved.

The server started to die when the servers got moved and everyone's ping shot up, except me, and attendance died with it.

 

[Shiznoe]

For one thing when you were playing on the server, quick play was not on it and that is why it was not filling up. When we started playing it, it filled up on it's own. Now we do have events EVERY Tuesday that is blackmesa themed. It is not completely gone and leadership said if we keep the servers filled 24/7 then we could add another server, and that server could be another blackmesa.

You guys have to think about it, if you spent so much money on something and no one is using that something, would you think that you would want the best results as possible with that something. For example if you had a shop that sold fish, wouldn't you want the fish that people eat the most? What if you had a fish that no one ate and you were making it for no reason, you would probably say to your self. "Why am I making this if no one eats it?"

That almost exactly relates to our TF2 servers, just try the blackmesa events and try those out to see what you can do there. Please don't give up and leave JUST because you don't get the server you want even though you are going to be able to play the map every Thursday. Sure it is not every day like you wanted but think about it, is some really better than none?

I just don't want to see people leave just because blackmesa was switched over to a dustbowl server, we just need recruits and dedicated people that would actually fill our servers. A lot of euro people would be great to have to fill the servers while others fill it during their time zones.

 

[Deviant1]

For one thing when you were playing on the server, quick play was not on it and that is why it was not filling up. When we started playing it, it filled up on it's own. Now we do have events EVERY Tuesday that is blackmesa themed. It is not completely gone and leadership said if we keep the servers filled 24/7 then we could add another server, and that server could be another blackmesa.

You guys have to think about it, if you spent so much money on something and no one is using that something, would you think that you would want the best results as possible with that something. For example if you had a shop that sold fish, wouldn't you want the fish that people eat the most? What if you had a fish that no one ate and you were making it for no reason, you would probably say to your self. "Why am I making this if no one eats it?"

That almost exactly relates to our TF2 servers, just try the blackmesa events and try those out to see what you can do there. Please don't give up and leave JUST because you don't get the server you want even though you are going to be able to play the map every Thursday. Sure it is not every day like you wanted but think about it, is some really better than none?

I just don't want to see people leave just because blackmesa was switched over to a dustbowl server, we just need recruits and dedicated people that would actually fill our servers. A lot of euro people would be great to have to fill the servers while others fill it during their time zones.

To get the servers running 24/7 we need more overseas members to help pick up the slack while the rest of us are in lala land for the night. Until that happens none of the servers will ever truly be in use all the time.

I mean right now it's 11:00pm PST and both Valve and dustbowl are empty. Foundry with 5, 3 of which are idling, and 2fort is filled to the brim like always. There has to be a way to raise more awareness or make our servers more enticing.