Valve Maps's Progress Thread

[Kazoo]

Graph of Server's Rank

Posted on 1/30/12
Ladies and gentlemen, I am posting this to inform everyone that Valve Maps' ranking has dropped significantly in the last week.

At the time of this post, Valve Maps is ranked at 1040. Exactly a week ago, the server was ranked at 867. A few days before that, it had been at 822. This may not seem like a big deal to some, but we can't let the rank keep dropping like this.

I know we have lost several key members/VM supporters. And I know many of us are busy with school and jobs. But we can't give up! Many people showed up for the Valve Maps meeting held on Jan 1st. Many of us said we will support the server. And that's what we must do!

Another thread was made discussing ideas on how to keep our servers active. Hopefully, these ideas will be presented during the meeting and can help Valve Maps. In the meantime, please idle and play on the server whenever possible.

We worked hard to get Valve Maps back. We can't let it go down! Valve Maps forever!

Helpful Links
Valve Maps: List of Maps & Stats
Idling Tips
GameTracker: Valve Maps' Rank & Stats
Valve Maps IP Address: Click to Connect
gameMe: Valve Maps

How you can help
- Check our VM server before playing another game; if empty, help jump-start!
- Get at least 8 people on the server; this will activate Quick Play
- Idle during the night (not as necessary; this can be more helpful for DustBowl)
- Have fun on VM!

How many are on VM right now?
​

EDIT: 2/8/12
Quick Play has been added to our servers! (No-crits & no-spread have been disabled.)

EDIT: 2/14/12
Quick Play seems to be working its magic. The server has been filling up faster and staying filled longer than before. Rank has risen up by about 200 ranks since Quick Play was added. Idling is not as necessary as before, but instead, a small group of active players are need to jump-start the server.

EDIT: 2/20/12
The ranking is back in the triple digits at 994! YES!

EDIT: 2/27/12
We broke into the 800s! We are at 884! 110 ranks in one week!

EDIT: 3/15/12
Despite the decline we suffered through, we finally reached our highest peak of 822!

EDIT: 3/16/12
A new record! We have reached the 700s with 777!

EDIT: 3/19/12
The ranking is now in the 600s with 678! WOO!

EDIT: 3/22/12
Valve Maps has reached the 500s with 598!

EDIT: 4/8/12
We have reached the 400s with 476! WOOT!

EDIT: 4/26/12
Valve Maps is in the 300s with 390! Awesome job, everyone!

EDIT: 7/29/12
After many rises and falls, Valve Maps has made it in the 200s with 291! FINALLY!


EDIT: 8/7/12
YES! The servers is now in the 100s with 194!

 

[Kazoo]

Also, I have added a poll on the subject of Quickplay. To use Quickplay, we need to disable no-crits and no-spread, which are features Valve Maps currently have.

Due to Valve Maps' rank, I feel that we may want to reconsider and have Quickplay instead. Quickplay will help drive traffic to Valve Maps, and this may help keep the server from emptying so much.

Please vote in the poll, so that I may know how the division feels about this.

 

[Activate]

I believe Quickplay is already on there even with no crits and no spread. Spidey made a plugin so that it could work together.

 

[SnowCanary]

Bring back the crockets!

 

[Shiznoe]

I say no because there are a lot of people out there who love competitive game play

 

[Kazoo]

I believe Quickplay is already on there even with no crits and no spread. Spidey made a plugin so that it could work together.

Really? If that's the case, I suppose my poll is invalid.

I'll send a message to Spidey for confirmation, just to be sure.

 

[? Frisky Dingo ?]

Servers are dropping because school started up again...at least thats my reason why i'm seldom on.

 

[Mr.OneShot]

It's either crits or Mr.OneShot for Valve Maps; can't have both.

 

[Goz]

it's nice that you put our conversation in there, but please keep in mind that what i said about foundry may not be true now. by now, most people have gotten achievements on Foundry, Foundry can still be changed at any time. our Foundry server is running only on the fact that the map is amazing as of now.

Still though, Valve Maps needs more supporters.

We've been doing so well with our rankings, what happened guys? There used to be 16 people idling in Valve Maps 24/7.

 

[Kazoo]

it's nice that you put our conversation in there, but please keep in mind that what i said about foundry may not be true now. by now, most people have gotten achievements on Foundry, Foundry can still be changed at any time. our Foundry server is running only on the fact that the map is amazing as of now.

Still though, Valve Maps needs more supporters.

We've been doing so well with our rankings, what happened guys? There used to be 16 people idling in Valve Maps 24/7.

About Foundry: Very true, and I was actually thinking that just a few moments ago. Foundry can use some help as well.

About the Idling: I'm not sure. But please, feel free to join us in the idling.

 

[noblenote]

I Like Snows Idea Of "Bring Back The Crockets".

 

[Meep]

I had lost... motivation to idle on valve maps for a while... but I was just a little down in the dumps I guess?
NO EXCUSES MEEP GO IDLE.

OKAY.

Now that that is settled I will idle again okaybai. (but really I haven't been playing cause work AAAAND school so... idling is all I can do for now)

 

[VP :3]

I had lost... motivation to idle on valve maps for a while... but I was just a little down in the dumps I guess? NO EXCUSES MEEP GO IDLE.

OKAY.

Now that that is settled I will idle again okaybai. (but really I haven't been playing cause work AAAAND school so... idling is all I can do for now)

and because youre also busy attending events instead of idling, rite?

 

[Kazoo]

I had lost... motivation to idle on valve maps for a while... but I was just a little down in the dumps I guess?
NO EXCUSES MEEP GO IDLE.

OKAY.

Now that that is settled I will idle again okaybai. (but really I haven't been playing cause work AAAAND school so... idling is all I can do for now)

I completely understand about the lost of motivation. That happened to me for a day or two.

But yeah, no excuse, we must idle!

I'm having Aki idle as well.

 

[Meep]

and because youre also busy attending events instead of idling, rite?

Riiiight... events. Only if a certain new event coordinator agrees to not cheat. You know, by slapping people and making it look like they fell to a clumsy death. On an arena map. Where I have to wait for the round to be over. Who could I possibly meeeeeean?

But yeah... go idling woo! pffffffff

 

[oey192]

I believe Quickplay is already on there even with no crits and no spread. Spidey made a plugin so that it could work together.

I was told that making the plugin in question involved accessing some lower level things than are allowed by source mod and so Spidey was not legitimately able to make the plugin. Valve does not like things that circumvent their rules on the quickplay system.

On the subject of idling - for the servers that don't have quickplay (as of right now that's Valve Maps and Blackmesa), idling is good, always. For servers that have quickplay, idling can help the server ranking, but what really helps is to get one or two people idling and two to six people actually playing, and especially in the case of 2fort, the server should fill quickly. Gaming and I (and perhaps others) have managed to get 2fort's quickplay rank high enough that it stayed full for three days straight with no extra work on anyone's part. Unfortunately the server box crashed and we may have to work at it some more to get 2fort back to where it was. Once we do, though, we should be able to get foundry up to where 2fort is, and if valve maps had quickplay, we could probably do the same with it. However, since we do have a considerable population that likes the competitive gameplay, I'm not sure we want to disable nocrits and nospread.

(Blackmesa can't be on quickplay because it's a custom map in case anyone's wondering)

 

[Deviant1]

It's either crits or Mr.OneShot for Valve Maps; can't have both.

LOL OneShot

 

[WyrmMage]

Id be idling all the time if My universities internet didnt suck so much that I cant even find servers. It doesnt even show them in the server list. I try to idle as much as I can but the long respawn times on valve maps are something I dislike which is why i dont play on it often. I also like crockets but i guess im just a noob >.<. Ill try idling some more on valve maps but I tend to trade a lot as well and Thats why i constantly have to swap servers, Nobody wants to buy weapons on our servers because we have almost all of them >.<.

 

[ShawnJ]

I would prefer to have less respawn wait time instead.

 

[dy1an]

We dont just need idlers, just the other day it was me and crazywolf alone on valve maps surrounded by pubs, server was filled to the brim and it was a riot but there just werent enough members online to keep it going for as long as we wanted. This is ridiculous since just a few weeks before this 90% of players on valve maps were members and the non-member player base was just a handful of awesome regulars, now we have a server thats 90% pubs after someone puts in just a little bit of effort to fill and i dont even know where my fellow valve maps supporters are.