Thoughts about seriousness and gaming.

[Slazenger]

So as most of you know, I'm unable to play BC2 until January 23rd since I'm home without my desktop. Even then, I've been hanging out in Vent, talking to people, and listening in on gameplay. Between sitting on vent, reading posts, and hearing thoughts of other members, I'm really appalled at the significant change that has occurred in the division.


We're all here to play a game, namely Bad Company 2. We start out as e's in the community, just playing to have a good time. We do well, stay active, and show our worth. We're then promoted to eG. You get admin responsibilities and a sense of purpose. By the time you earn your O, you have a pretty good grasp on what your role in the community is and how to handle yourself.

I won't name names (as it would be a long list) but a ton of members of all ranks have become much more serious about the game. Listening in on Ventrilo chats, it seems like many members are on the servers prowling for troublemakers and hackers. There is an absolute ton of chatter about who's hacking, "Make sure they're behaving!!", and "Wow, that's so not legit".

Not only are these people taking the fun and enjoyment out of the game for themselves, it's ruining other peoples' enjoyment. Members who have been in the community for several months are saying that being on Ventrilo isn't enjoyable because of the attitudes and aggressiveness that many players have now.

To see e's worrying about every nuance that occurs in our servers is devastating for the reason that the purpose of being a recruit is to ease yourself in to the grinding gears of the community. You have fun, play the game, and get to know people. Everyone seems so stressed out about what's going on in the server.


When I admin, I am in the server to just play and enjoy myself. I see something go on and I deal with it in the appropriate manner. I don't worry about what everyone's doing and sit on our servers in anticipation of trouble. Sometimes things slip past me, but that's not an issue. Someone else will catch it.

The tl;dr version: Play first and have fun, admin second.


It's just sad to see all of you stressing out over this stuff! We're here to have fun so let's try to make the atmosphere in which we play in a little more fun for the benefit of all of us. Play BC2 and deal with situations as they arise without blowing them out of proportion or making a big scene. Recent conduct on Ventrilo just hasn't been creating an inviting community and it would be nice to see it go back to how it was.


Thanks and I wish you all the best (and see you on the 23rd!),

--Slaz

 

[druidsd]

I am sad to hear you say this Slaz, but I cannot argue with this post. There does seem to be a lot of admin rivalry, authority, and general loss of what this group is all about, having fun and playing together. we all need to just play the game and stop jumping around looking for problems to jump into.

 

[Diezel]

Agreed. Well said Slaz and Druid.

 

[gingertonic]

eGO servers are supposed to be punk-free.

Not 100% punk-free. Just punk-free.

Take a step back. Ask yourself "Am I more concerned with how people are acting than having fun?"

If you are, you're doing it wrong.

Chill out. If someone kills you, chances are a) you weren't playing perfectly b) they are BETTER than you. Get used to it. You may be good, but just because you have a decent KDR doesn't make every shot that kills you illegitimate.

Unless you're me. In which case, if you do manage to kill me, either a) i let you or b) you haxx0r hardcore.

 

[LilShortstuf]

Unless you're me. In which case, if you do manage to kill me, either a) i let you or b) you haxx0r hardcore.

False Black Bear. I killed you plenty. Then again you killed me with like 7 different types of weapons.

Anyway, well said Slaz. Let's just play and have fun.

 

[the_ethereal]

Definitely saw this as well... new recruits/promotions turn super hardcore and it's a major bummer to see that fun eGO spirit die away :/ Not to undermine the necessity of professionalism and good content management, but come on people let's put ourselves in the #1 spot by being professional and still having a good laugh

p.s. not calling out anyone, still love you all just make sure you're not sitting there stiff playing - have fun

 

[checkmateUS]

OK ill throw my two cents in. I am new to eGO yes. I have been gaming since 88. Yes I am that old.

When there is a player on the server, that to almost all the players is hacking. What does that do to our server? People leave. I watched a guy on BC2 Hardcore Mixed he came in we had 30 players. After 4 rounds he was racking in huge kill to death ratios. Sometime as much as 11-1 21-1. After 8 rounds we had 9 people playing.

This is not a response to hacking. I am making no opion on the player. I am saying that as admins we must be concerned about the play on the servers. To lose that many players, and I may add they all left angry, is not good.

We stress out cause some of us dont like being beat. We stress out cause we want EVERYONE to have fun. However how can it be fun if we have to keep kicking players for cussing and there cussing about ONE player?

Also we are told when we join Vent to go there if we need help. Also as admins we are asked to be on vent if someone needs help.

I dont disagree with the post. I love playing on the servers. I just want to make sure its fun for everyone.


Checkmate

 

[CUB4N]

well said.... and i have this to add. if you read the admin sign off..... read it thoroughly.

EdgeGamers? Organization Admin Standards

1. Be familiar with the EdgeGamers? code of conduct. You may read about it in more detail by following this link.
2. Wear the EdgeGamers tag in the front of your name and put all other tags behind your name when on eGO servers to let players know there is an admin present.
3. Know the server rules. You are expected to abide by them and are held to a higher standard than non-admins.
4. Use your admin only when necessary. You can get a good idea of when to use admin after attending a scheduled admin class.
5. Communicate with your fellow admins. Use Ventrilo, admin-chat and the other tools available to you to make sure you're not stepping on other admins? toes or acting in a manner that could confuse your fellow admins.
6. Do not spend your gaming time as a spectator looking for trouble. It is NOT your job to look for hackers, exploiters, or glitchers.
7. Keep a level head, and be polite when using admin.
8. Don't argue or question another admin?s decision in public. All discussions in game about admining should be done via admin chat or Ventrilo. If necessary, involve higher-ranked members of leadership using the Chain of Command.
9. Undercover admins must be authorized by eGO Council.
10. If you have banned a player you are required to visit the Contest a Ban forum regularly to address any contest in a prompt manner.
11. Have fun!

 

[Panzer1509]

Yea read that thing again... even myself lol

Communicate with your fellow admins. Use Ventrilo, admin-chat and the other tools available to you to make sure you're not stepping on other admins’ toes or acting in a manner that could confuse your fellow admins

Please look at THIS link (eG and above)

 

[Mayhem Death]

Agreed Slaz. In the past few months or so, I have seen ventrilo change from a nice place to talk to friends and fellow clan members to an over-competetive admin chat fest. I think we need to learn the real reason why we joined this clan in the first place...TO HAVE FUN!

 

[Slazenger]

I was hoping this thread would just stir peoples' minds rather than turn it into a back and forth discussion but I feel that we can learn from a couple things in your post checkmate.

When there is a player on the server, that to almost all the players is hacking. What does that do to our server? People leave. I watched a guy on BC2 Hardcore Mixed he came in we had 30 players. After 4 rounds he was racking in huge kill to death ratios. Sometime as much as 11-1 21-1. After 8 rounds we had 9 people playing.

I can't say that I've seen this happen while I was on a server and it might be because I (and some others) handle the situation in a different manner. When a player comes on who has a good kdr, either because they're camping in a good spot or they are just a really good shot, if people are complaining or talking about it I try to ease their concerns. If they are accusing him of hacking, I let them know that there are admins on that are keeping their eyes open and that this individual appears to be legit. I then work on trying to even the teams if there is a disparity. I will swap myself to the other team if necessary to even things out! Play then resumes and eventually, as it always happens, the teams balance out.

We stress out cause some of us dont like being beat. We stress out cause we want EVERYONE to have fun. However how can it be fun if we have to keep kicking players for cussing and there cussing about ONE player?

BC2 is unlike many games (*cough* CoD *cough*) where having one amazing player wins your team the game. In BC2 you can be a great player and still get beaten every time if your team isn't up to par. So having one player that some people think is hacking because he has a good score really doesn't disrupt the gameplay as much as you'd think if you quell their suspicions.

Also we are told when we join Vent to go there if we need help. Also as admins we are asked to be on vent if someone needs help.

That's absolutely true! Vent is an amazing tool for communicating with other players and admins and should absolutely be utilized. What I was getting at with this post is that it has become the epicenter for a plague called over-worrying!


I hope this may clear up some things for you! BC2 is a pretty unique game in how it needs to be administrated and played.


Edit: I forgot to add that I truly believe it's more damaging to the server to falsely accuse, kick, or ban someone than it is to calm the server down and let play continue. In order to take action or accuse someone of cheating (in particular) you must have concrete evidence. And this goes for all games. I was in CS:S yesterday morning, had a guy who was 56:6 in the office server. I quietly asked all of the other players (while they were dead and the possible hacker was alive) to not mention anything about him hacking and I recorded a demo of him. He was never accused of hacking, left the server on his own accord, and I submitted the demo for review.

We don't have that liberty in BC2, so having a good KDR or pulling off shots for your end that seem ridiculous is not enough proof to even accuse someone. It's all based on their stats over a period of time.

 

[Pensive]

Yeah I agree and for the most part I am on and having fun, I don't look for trouble except maybe checking common exploit spots on my way by like the pipeline while i am parachuting in lol. And I will just ask people to get down or stop cussing or what ever the are doing and most of the time this resolves the issue and if not I go and get someone to handle it. Not because I don't wish to have fun but rather because I don't want other people to not have fun just because 1 person wants to act out. As far as hacking goes I believe that their is very very little of that and that in most cases the person deemed hacker is often just a better player. I always say in any FPS the only way to know you are really good is if someone is calling you a hacker. I would love to be called a hacker all the time because the would mean I am kicking butt! lol Any way we need to balance the fun and the administrating in my opinion. And that is the opinion of a lowly =(e)=

 

[Tension]

This goes for other divisions too. Some people are taking things way too seriously.

 

[Diezel]

Good kdr is means nothing imo. Ive seen eGO members go 50+ to 1 I have screenshots of it. Not 1 person said he was hacking or exploiting.

 

[gingertonic]

There is an easy solution if many people in the server are accusing another player of hacking. I even use this if I'm being accused of hacking.

"Go to edgegamers.org and place a ban request. Our leadership will take steps to determine if < player> is hacking."

or, if you prefer, and have the ability to ban, go check the player on gameme stats. if they have an unbelievable KDR or headshot percentage (we're talking 75%+), then place a temporary ban to stop the server disruption and put in a ban request. You aren't allowed to ban on suspicion of hacking but you are allowed to remove players who are disrupting the server.

Use some discretion when deciding how badly the player is disrupting the server. Have they made the game completely unplayable? If yes, perhaps you should remove them. If no, then just put in a ban request.

 

[xosniper]

Since BC2 has the worst in game voice chat in the history of ever (I think I have had 3 people talk over the mic total) vent is very important for this game imo. Being in a great squad involves communication over vent, and nothing is better than pwning/reviving/cg'ing/noobtoobing/knife'ing with 3 other people for the victory. The last thing I would want is to be playing my fun game and being bothered by people accusing everyone who shot them of hacks (over the top statement but you get the point).

There are hackers that play BC2, but not as many on servers with admins as you might think. So I will say to you as I say to my dog when begging to lick my ice cream bowl, "noooooooooo" (in reference to the hacker headhunting in vent)


Thanks and let's not forget why we are here.

 

[KentuckyGhost]

Hello eGO Community,
Slazenger you hit the nail on the head; as figure of speech. I can?t argue with your post. I recently join the unit and lately I have been second guessing why I joined. When I first join the vent with fellow BC2 members and I felt the warm welcome, and for awhile there in vent it was fun to hang out during game play. I really was having a great time for awhile we were all in the eGO servers together playing there was a lots of laughing and joking and really a lot fun running all night and into early morning.
Granted I not writing this to piss anyone off or to start any bunch of crap with any management of eGO community or anyone else in the organization. I just am putting my 2 cents in as a recently new member of the organization and this is only my view point.
I like to start with by saying months before I join the eGO organization. I was part of this Unit. When I first joined I was very proud to be part of this unit they shown me warm welcome. Well after serving with these guys for months I soon realized I had made a serious mistake joining this unit. Unit attitude done a 360 turn to worst some member true colors reviled. Not all the members had bad attitudes, only a few which made life hell for others. These few once they move up in ranks the attitudes started they felt they were beyond the lower enlisted and the fun stop, all time seriousness, no game fun joking, and everyday dermitts after dermitts, kicks, and bans. Every day we could not play the game without arguments, fighting amongst ourselves, admins and enlisted both. Once most players made promotion, they figure they are admins or higher ranking (non-admins)now and you were beyond you fellow unit members they were now under you. The moral went down and recruits went down once the word got out to everyone public. Myself I lost the true value why I play the games. So I left this unit, not because I dislike anyone or the crap I was dealing on daily basic.
I wanted freedom of choice again and I didn?t need to be part of something to be somebody; I started playing internet games over 6-8 years ago, why for fun of the game and hang out and enjoy playing games with friends. When I was part of this unit at the beginning I really enjoy hanging out playing the game, when we had trouble on the server our admins dealt with it by unit SOP?s and the admin and ourselves continue playing having fun on server and in vent we all just wanted to have fun playing. Once all that change I left.
Always remember It is just a game, making admin, or promotions doesn?t make you better than everyone else, and yes you may have more rights on the servers / forums than everyone else i.e kick, ban, and so on or is some cases make different decision i.e. like you?re the platoon leader and so on in ranks of soldiers. But always remember the true value it just game to have fun playing not real life. When you start losing this, then it?s time to take a break, and leave for awhile; unplug vacations. A lot folks don?t like sticking around players with attitudes problems, they love friendly game play.
Well, that?s my 2 cents and I apologize if I was out of line or piss anyone off this wasn?t my intent.

** Salute **

 

[ProjectAi]

Kentucky I can see how you feel about how some people act, but if ANYONE of eG or eGO talks down to other members you should come to the advisor team. eGO is a team and even an e rank member can correct someone higher ranking or give their opinion even when it comes to advisors and higher. So if someone is acting power hungry or "on a high horse" because they are higher rank thank you bring it to us and we will definitely handle it.

"An =(eGO)=? has a higher rank and more responsibility, but this does not give them a right to act superior to lower ranking members.

=(eGO)=?'s may not order an =(eG)=? to handle an issue. They may ASK if an =(eG)=? would like to volunteer, as it provides good training."

Straight from Admin Training so they should know better if they are eG or eGO.


my 2cents

Plug

 

[noxx_]

Few things I wanna say about this.

eGO is about having fun eGO is about having clean/fun servers eGO is about fellowship/brotherhood!

Rank in eGO means NOTHING every eGO member is held to the same rules public players are held to. Every member in eGO is a some what admin. You may not have admin abilities but you are still asked that you try to handle things when there is no eG or eGO on. Now eGO has always used a nice chain of command (That doesn't mean just because some one is higher in the chain that they're any better then even the newest member.)

http://www.edgegamers.org/forums/cmps_index.php?pageid=about

This is how we have always done it and this is how we will always do it. eGO's always have the final say in the servers. Now that in no way means that they are always right about every little thing that happens. Thats why we have Advisor/DL/Council members to further help solve any problems that may occur.

Back to the chain of command, e>eG>eGO all that means is eGO's handle problems first no questions. Now an eGO may say "Hey random eG would you like to take this one?" and then the eG steps up and handles the problem. Same goes for e's. Now e's don't have any admin abilities but they are more then welcome to help keep the server clean by asking "Please watch you language on eGO servers. Thank you!" or "Please stay off of the pipeline. Thank you!" But when there is a higher ranked member on please allow said member to take charge of the servers problems.

Now on to Vent and server fun/rules.

Rule #1 Never argue with each other on the server or on vent. I will remove any one arguing with any point any member has made. Ventrilo is the best place to talk about styles/methods of admining. Now I mean talking not arguing on vent about admining. If some one is yelling at you or arguing about what you just did on the servers come to any of the BC2 leadership and we will quickly solve the problem.

Rule #2 Always have fun on our servers. Now I know people get angry when they get killed or they lose its happened to me and its happened to you its just the facts of life no ones perfect deal with it. If you are prone to "RAAAAAGING!" then turn off your mic step away from your computer and take a break. NEVER take it out on ANYONE in vent or the servers! Remember eGO vent/servers/forums are about having a good time and if you aren't having a good time take a look at whats going on and whats making you not have a good time and talk to some one about it in a mature manner. Also if there is every any problem on vent DO NOT HESITATE to come and bug one of the leadership if there is any problem you might be having with any member.

Rule #3 Every member is held accountable for their own actions. No one is above the rules of eGO even council! If you ever see a member doing something you do not think is appropriate let leadership know asap! We want to run a clean ship just like you guys and we definitely want to sort out bad apples from the crisp clean ones. Remember NO member is above the rules.


Now with the whole looking to find some one to kick/ban.

You are here to play the game first and admin second. Now this does not mean you should ignore things that happen in the servers. This means don't go trollin for some one kick/ban. It means play have fun solve problems quickly and intelligently. In the BC2 division once you are promoted you are required to go through admin training before you receive your admin abilities. In that class the AT's will teach you how to admin like a pro! Giving you tips and tricks to solve problems and keep the server running smooth.


Now with all that said I'll say one more thing. Video games are meant to be fun so stop turning something great into something horribly unpleasant.

 

[Vipers_Venom]

Well said by many already. I tried being in vent while playing BC 2 to aid in admining and communication, but I found that I grew frustrated with the non stop chatter and arguments to the point it was making me play worse and I would rather not play than to have to listen to vent. I still play and admin, but I have stopped hanging out in vent unless someone asks me to join to talk about something because it's a much better experience that way. Hopefully with this thread all of that will change and it will be more enjoyable again because i like to play together as a team and communication is key to that. There isn't time to type stuff in this game before it's too late and you're all dead. There are many who admin well and live the values of eGO well, but it only takes a few who don't to taint the group as a whole. Let's work on enjoying ourselves and helping lift each other and the public players up to play better as a whole and not rip on players who are 1 and 12 because they probably just started playing and there is a steep learning curve. We may forget how often we all died before we learned the maps and key positions to watch out for. Take these people under your wing and help them out instead of just being frustrated with them and ripping on how they caused the team to lose. It was said earlier this game does not revolve around a super good player or one or two bad players, everyone needs to work together to make your team succeed. One person talking to someone who isn't playing well and running with them to revive them, give them tips, etc will leave a much larger impression on someone and cause them to remember us and keep coming back than complaining about them to other players and ignoring them and we'll probably never see them again.