There is only one constant: change.
On April 1st of this year, Leadership made the announcement that Black Mesa was to be discontinued in favor of Dustbowl. Many of us were disappointed. Black Mesa had been our little corner of the eGO Team Fortress 2 Division, and the news was oppressively troubling. Some of us were even convinced this was too horrible to be true; that it surely must have been a vicious April Fools? Day prank. When this mentality ceded to acknowledgment of reality, tensions ran high and tempers flared. Objections ranged from Leadership reneging on pledges to preserve Black Mesa to the cynical way in which Dustbowl appeared to have little basis in fact for being an adequate replacement to pure ad hominem invective. The sense that a top-down decision, unapproved and unconsented to by the community, had been made and smacked of insincerity. Wherever one stood on the issue, it was plain from the responses generated that this was a painful loss.
Black Mesa was subsequently revived by a generous donation after making a successful run every week on Black Mesa Night, hosted by the Event Coordinators. After the novelty of the moment wore off, the server once again stumbled in its popularity, failing to draw consistent crowds as it had in the past. That is not to say that I have seen it as hopeless; indeed, I visit the server regularly on nights to help fill it as I can and have seen it reach maximum capacity. As much as the next person, I can say that map means something to me, having played it almost exclusively for half a year before being recruited there. Most of my closest friends in this community are its regulars, and I have deep respect for the Occupy Mesa movement that campaigned hard to save it.
By now you might be wondering, ?Why the history lesson?? I wanted to place in your mind, front and center, what has transpired with respect to Black Mesa in the past as I announce its future. Starting today, Black Mesa will be replaced by Doomsday, the new Pyromania map, permanently.
I urge you, before you rush to direct ordure at Leadership for this sudden change, to remember the needless furor raised when we let go of Black Mesa in April. Having stood on the other side of the Leadership/non-Leadership divide at that time as a proponent of Black Mesa, I can sense your concerns. Any and all Leaders will be available to field your questions regarding this change, which does not come easily to our community. In this time of transition, I respectfully request your openness to this change or at least courtesy in your articulation of dissent.
This decision was not made with any sense of levity. We will all be new to this map, and it is Leadership?s hope that we, as a community, might make the most out of this new frontier in our beloved, cartoony shooting game. We change in the name of progress, not in the name of caprice.
I thank you for your time, your understanding, and your dedication to our community.
On April 1st of this year, Leadership made the announcement that Black Mesa was to be discontinued in favor of Dustbowl. Many of us were disappointed. Black Mesa had been our little corner of the eGO Team Fortress 2 Division, and the news was oppressively troubling. Some of us were even convinced this was too horrible to be true; that it surely must have been a vicious April Fools? Day prank. When this mentality ceded to acknowledgment of reality, tensions ran high and tempers flared. Objections ranged from Leadership reneging on pledges to preserve Black Mesa to the cynical way in which Dustbowl appeared to have little basis in fact for being an adequate replacement to pure ad hominem invective. The sense that a top-down decision, unapproved and unconsented to by the community, had been made and smacked of insincerity. Wherever one stood on the issue, it was plain from the responses generated that this was a painful loss.
Black Mesa was subsequently revived by a generous donation after making a successful run every week on Black Mesa Night, hosted by the Event Coordinators. After the novelty of the moment wore off, the server once again stumbled in its popularity, failing to draw consistent crowds as it had in the past. That is not to say that I have seen it as hopeless; indeed, I visit the server regularly on nights to help fill it as I can and have seen it reach maximum capacity. As much as the next person, I can say that map means something to me, having played it almost exclusively for half a year before being recruited there. Most of my closest friends in this community are its regulars, and I have deep respect for the Occupy Mesa movement that campaigned hard to save it.
By now you might be wondering, ?Why the history lesson?? I wanted to place in your mind, front and center, what has transpired with respect to Black Mesa in the past as I announce its future. Starting today, Black Mesa will be replaced by Doomsday, the new Pyromania map, permanently.
I urge you, before you rush to direct ordure at Leadership for this sudden change, to remember the needless furor raised when we let go of Black Mesa in April. Having stood on the other side of the Leadership/non-Leadership divide at that time as a proponent of Black Mesa, I can sense your concerns. Any and all Leaders will be available to field your questions regarding this change, which does not come easily to our community. In this time of transition, I respectfully request your openness to this change or at least courtesy in your articulation of dissent.
This decision was not made with any sense of levity. We will all be new to this map, and it is Leadership?s hope that we, as a community, might make the most out of this new frontier in our beloved, cartoony shooting game. We change in the name of progress, not in the name of caprice.
I thank you for your time, your understanding, and your dedication to our community.
