Perceptions and Reality

by Turbine 2, 10/4/98     I was thinking how funny it is that people are rarely what you expect them to be like. I have a very good friend, a man whose opinions I have always respected. He is getting older now, in his seventies. One night I made the mistake of showing him what a game of Team Fortress Quake looked like. I think after the first time he saw someone's head explode from a sniper bullet things began to go downhill. I must admit that I found the horrified look on his face rather amusing. Since then he has given me some strong opinions on how games like this will be the downfall of the morals of my generation and in particular the younger ones. To him, there is something seriously wrong with those who take delight in even the simulated death and destruction that he witnessed on my computer monitor. What a fine sociological observation, I thought, if only it was accurate. Do fps games have the imagined detrimental affect on ones morals or is it that people with a lack of morals (or worse) tend to gravitate to peer groups such as found here? Well, I thought I would see what I could observe in two diverse places, or so one may think.
    What does one see among the core group in the TF community? What types of people tend to last here? Based on what you see on the message boards at least, it seems to be that the ones that stay seem to be some of the most moral people you will meet. Yes, there are always things you find from immature minds, hateful minds, some attention seekers and some thoughts from insecure minds. I think it safe to say, though that the "old timers" you find in the game are mostly of very high quality stock. Most TF's seem to take pleasure in helping each others out and helping newbies learn how to enjoy the game. You have seen people who were once considered jerks try to change and were immediately accepted by the others when it was seen that they were sincere. No matter what one's past I think they would be accepted here if they showed that they wanted to change. Everyone is human but I don't think you would find a less judgemental group anywhere. I have seen people here go to great trouble to help find solutions to issues posted by others.
    I wondered where to look to find the most moral, upstanding, helpful people....that is one would assume so at least. So I went looking around IRC and looked at all the #Christian channels and picked the one with the most users, one called #Christian Debate with 39 users on board. I wondered at the logic and continuity of the use of those two words together but stayed and watched anyway. What I saw was petty bickering over incredibly minor doctrinal differences, trading biblical scriptures taken out of context all turning into personal attacks on each other and name calling....basically an online fistfight by some very close minded individuals. Marginally more enlightening than, let's say, Pro Wrestling.
    Then a new person arrived, a female identifying herself as an Atheist. She immediately got some judgemental comments until she replied that she was not looking for an arguement but was genuinely interested in learning about their belief. She was completely ignored at that point. They all went on about their fighting for the sake of fighting without even one of the 39 there interested in helping answer her questions. She sat there (amazed, I am sure) for a few minutes and then left. This left me with the opinion that I had run into the world stronghold of hypocrisy.
    Let me say that I have strong feelings myself regarding Christianity and would identify myself as one, so don't think this as an attack on religion. I began to think though about my old friend's perception of morality and the types of people that one finds among certain subcultures and wish he could see what I see here.....and even more so what I saw on IRC. I will take the community here anyday. Isn't life funny?

©1998 - "Turbine 2" - All Rights Reserved

Shmack Talk

by GeMiNi[BM], 10/4/98     I recently read an editorial on PQ posted by Fargo. (Editors note: The article referred to was actually written by Black Dog.) The editorial "Fightn' words" discussed his views and annoyances about certain things that people say during a typical DM. I would have to agree with everything he said, and suggest that everyone take a look at it on PQ. In conjunction with what Fargo wrote, I have my own little grips about some things that are said and done during TF game:

1)"STOP CAMPING"
    This is one of the most pathetic ones of all. In my view, and probably a lot of other people's view, there is no camping in TF. For those who don't know, its called DEFENSE!!! People must remember that TF is just a bit different from regular DM. There are no actual weapons to camp for. Now I do understand that on some TF boards, there might be a power up that could be camped, but that's a little different. All in all, camping really doesn't exist. What happened was that you ran into one hell of a defensive player(s) and who fragged your sorry ass before you could piss in your pants.

2)"I'M NOT SPAMMING"
    This is another one. My definition of spamming, and probably a majority of everyone else's is dropping your entire load of grenades right infront of the other team's respawn room. This is the lamest tactic of them all. Just sitting there waiting for people to come out. Ironically, the people that I see doing it the most are PYRO's. Hmm... coincidence?... It's the bad player's attempt to score a couple of frags for himself. I've run into people who claim that they aren't spamming, and THEN ask what I mean by it. I'm sorry, but if you can't remember the entire alphabet, you probably shouldn't be playing Quake.

3)In conjunction with my last little comment, I have noticed that a lot of people playing Quake are kids that are 12 or under, and this is frightening. Is this the kind of thing that we want our kids to be playing. I'm a college student right now, and before I got here, I had only heard of Quake, but never played it. This kind of game doesn't affect my view on reality. I'm not saying that Quake would do that to a 12 year old, but who's to say when they're that young. I'm just afraid that the next generation of kids will think that they can go around killing people and that they'll just respawn somewhere else.

    There are numerous other little things that get to me during a game of TF, and I'm sure that these things annoy other people as well. I play TF for the fun of playing it. Unfortunately, there are some people out there that think that they are God's gift to TF, and are unbeatable. On a normal basis, I enjoy tormenting them by continually and easily fragging them. As for now, I will shut my yap and return to my little world of fairies frags. GeMiNi[BM]

©1998 - "GeMiNi[BM]" - All Rights Reserved

TF is dead or dying

by Kinlord[BH], 10/10/98     Bull! Nothing could be further from the truth. I hear this coming from a lot of TF "veterans" mouths lately and I disagree with them. Look around on some of the public servers. There are some really nice unknown gems floating around out there that have never yet had the experience of being in a good clan yet many clans complain about all the "good" players being taken. Just the other day a member of ours was extremely impressed by someone on a public server he was playing on. After several matches of this "unknown newbie" kicking everyones tail the BH member asked to talk to him. Come to find out this person has never been in a clan before and is interested. Go figure!

    I think that most of the people saying the community is dying are just jaded by their own boredom with the game. To them the game is dying and they feel justified in trying to convince everyone else that the game is dead. These same people are often ones who will refuse to play newer maps in clan matches and will turn around and complain about no new maps being released. Ummm. Well first of all there are a ton of new maps being released and some of them just blow away the old style with their complexity. Sure Silverforts had errors which caused it to crash but it was an incredibly designed map. I haven't had the chance to play Tater or Tater2 yet as I don't have much time to play in publics but the basic concept sounds like it would make a hell of a fun match. The thing is with the low rate/chance of wide acceptance of these maps the authors just keep coming and keep pouring them out for the LOVE of the game.

    There have been a ton of new pages that have opened in the last month with support from larger host pages. Sure one or two larger pages like TFTimes has closed but that is going to happen even in a vibrant society buildings and neighborhoods are knocked down to make room for the new. Seriously take a look around. Maybe a couple of the pages you used to visit on a regular basis have closed but I can guarantee that at least twice as many have opened in that same time period.

    Do some clans take competition too far? Sure. Win at all costs attitudes are taking some of the fun out of clan matches where clans let boring tactics override the game of skill and chance. I see more and more clans getting fed up with this attitude in others though which in turn changes how they look at themselves and typically changes their outlook on the game for the better. More clans are reaching out and working with other clans as allies in some form or another. (No one will ally with us after my statement on how we would have to eat our allies after matches to protect our secrets). More clans are willing to be adventurous and try new, interesting maps in matches. The way of the old clan is gone as I see it. You either evolve or you become extinct!

-Kinlord[BH]

©1998 - "Kinlord[BH]" - All Rights Reserved

The State of Marauder and TeamFortress

by Evangelion.M, 10/10/98     For a while now, there has been a growing sentiment that Team Fortress has been heading downhill. And for the longest time, I found myself repudiating those statements, thinking that the state of the game has not changed. Well ladies and gentlemen, I am here to tell you it has changed, and not for the better.

    The widespread feelings of brotherhood and general comaraderie that characterized the TF community in the past has all but fizzled out now. A new breed of both player and clan have burst upon the scene, full of vanity , a supreme ego, and concerned only with winning and the popularity of himself and his clan. The funness, to coin a phrase, has gone out of Team Fortress, replaced with bickering and spitefulness amongst ourselves. You may find yourself wondering, as I do, why this has come to be, and I can think of various reasons.

    The most blatant and outstanding issue has to be the stagnation of Team Fortress as a game itself. With anticipation building towards Team Fortress 2, many have stopped trying to be innovative in map making, leaving us with a group of tournies all running the same 2fort clones. The main playing arena 2fortx hasn't fundamentally changed in almost 2 years, and for a community that is shaped and changed over the Internet almost daily, that is cause for concern. Many have tried other maps, but have fallen either because they were too ambitious with their design, or people simply didn't want to take the time and effort to learn how to play something else. Also, given enough time to experiment, most clans have designed defenses that can keep most matches low scoring, whether by turtling or spamming or fielding enough low ping snipers to shut an offense down. There are no new strategies being devised now.... you can take the top handful of clans, scramble the clan tags around, and you wouldn't recognize the difference.

     Another reason is that attitudes have gone from good to rock bottom in less than the blink of an eye. Clans having feuds and clan in-fighting has become more prevalent than ever, leading to the deterioration of team and community unity. Players have forgotten the game was originally intended to be fun as well as competitive; they are concerned only with winning and becoming `popular` amongst the TF scene. Bad language, insults, and disrepect are now commonplace everywhere. Have we lost sight that Team Fortress is all about the team succeeding and having fun? It is a cliche, but true nonetheless: there is no `I` in Team, Fortress, or fun.

     Now, you might be asking yourself, Evang, this is all well and good, but what does this have to do with the state of Marauder? This is what it has to do with: Marauder will never again abide by the current trends and activites of the mainstream TF world. I believe we have lost our way, that we have taken on some of these less than illustrious characteristics and made them our own.

That can not and will not be any longer.

     I remember when I was new to the clan scene that I had such a sense of thrill and excitement everytime I stepped onto a public server. That feeling has gradually gone away, partly because of some of the things I have mentioned above, but also because I lost sight that this is supposed to be FUN too, not just about who wins or loses. The last week and a half, I have found myself loving this game much as I did when I was a newbie, thrilled at the prospect to just get on a pub and play, or just hanging out on IRC, talking to my clanmates about whatever, shooting the breeze, what have you. I do solemnly swear, to any that would hear me, that Marauder will never again go down the dark path. We will have fun, make friends and accquaintances, and play the game as it was intended to be played. Effective immediately, we will be withdrawing from a couple of leagues we are in currently, to allow ourselves to just play the game and realize how good things used to be, and good it can be again. We might return to them in the future, we have no intention of sheltering ourselves. We simply want some time to enjoy the game. I hope anyone who reads this takes my message to heart. I bear no one ill will, nor am I directing any of the above comments at any particular person or clan. I just want TF to be the best game that it can be, a game I hold in the highest regard. Thank you for reading.

Evangelion.M

©1998 - "Evangelion.M" - All Rights Reserved

The lost etiquette

by GeMiNi[BM], 10/10/98     Well, I'm backing to say a few words again. May I first apologize for my mistake in my last editorial. I thank the people a PTF for catching my mistake, I caught it myself about an hour later (opps, silly me!). May I also say that Turbine 2's article was very good. Life is funny, but at this moment in time, its funny in a sick way. Enough of this though. My true reason for this editorial is about the people that play on a TF server

     When I first started playing TF about a year ago, almost any server that you joined had nice people, as Turbine 2 described, playing on it. There was no bickering or name calling going about. I was actually helped by other players. The gave me hints about how to play, and complemented me at times. But that only lasted for about 2 months. After that, the quality of the games began to drop. I'm guessing that the news about TF began to spread like wildfire, and everyone and their mother that played Quake, started playing TF. You would get people that joined who would: revert to name calling, have pointless messages, shoot their own teammates, spam, and numerous other little things that just got on my nerves. By May, and the end of the school year, I was actually disheartened to play any TF due to the people playing (although I must admit I enjoyed messing with a few of them).

     Let me just put this question out. Does anyone remember the clan QVT (Quake Virginia Tech)? When they were around, along with their server, it was one that I enjoyed playing on. The people were courteous, had a sense of humor, and just straight out good players. If you fragged someone, and they were impressed, they would right "NICE", or some other witty and amusing comment. After they left though, finding a good server was hard. A majority of them out there had people on it that if they died they began to bitch, or spammers, or just people who (pardon my French) sucked.

    However, last night, I found a one in a million game. I didn't know anyone on the server, but a vast majority of them were good players, and friendly too. One or two made it evident to me that I'm a little rusty as well. But all in all, the game was very enjoyable. People cracked jokes, although a few names were yelled, those that did it were quickly sshh'd by everyone else. The people on that server were there to play TF, not to gain popularity, or show off. After seeing my head go flying off, I complemented the person who fragged me, and to my surprise, I got a "Thanks" from him. Recently, that kind of courtesy is unheard of. As I said, all in all, it was a very enjoyable game.

    In conclusion, "Can't we just all get along?!?!?!". I feel that a game of TF is much more enjoyable when the people you are playing with are friendly, and are there to play TF, and nothing else. I might actually try writing a script so that if anyone swears on our server, they'll first be warned, and then banned if they do it again. Well, I've said enough, thanks for reading, and I will now return to my little corner!

-GeMiNi[BM]

©1998 - "GeMiNi[BM]" - All Rights Reserved