TF2 General Chat and Update Speculation Station - One of Several Edition - Games

The amount of toxic people who play this game are seriously gonna end up driving away a ton of new people. I saw geel in a casual match, made a little joke and got called a faggot right after. Hmm.

[QUOTE=Chowderhead;52627827]The amount of toxic people who play this game are seriously gonna end up driving away a ton of new people. I saw geel in a casual match, made a little joke and got called a faggot right after. Hmm.[/QUOTE] This is a big problem. Between the out of control hacking and the all out hate for newbies the turn over rate for new players has got to be through the roof. Everyone goes on and on about how great the community is but it isn't so great if you aren't already part of it. I can't think of another game I play where the current players are so damn hostile towards new players.

[QUOTE=Chowderhead;52627827]The amount of toxic people who play this game are seriously gonna end up driving away a ton of new people. I saw geel in a casual match, made a little joke and got called a faggot right after. Hmm.[/QUOTE] that's just the case for a lot of games & communities on the internet, unfortunately.

[QUOTE=Chowderhead;52627827]The amount of toxic people who play this game are seriously gonna end up driving away a ton of new people. I saw geel in a casual match, made a little joke and got called a faggot right after. Hmm.[/QUOTE] Ban geel, problem solved

[QUOTE=RetroMike;52627842]This is a big problem. Between the out of control hacking and the all out hate for newbies the turn over rate for new players has got to be through the roof. Everyone goes on and on about how great the community is but it isn't so great if you aren't already part of it. I can't think of another game I play where the current players are so damn hostile towards new players.[/QUOTE] But how do we fix this? It's one thing to say that the community has to be fixed up, it's another to actually do that fixing. Not to mention the game's tutorial seems to be broken in half since I played it several years back. Coaching and the Professor Specs seemed like a step in the right direction, but nobody uses it and they're largely forgotten.

[URL="http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1022160/More-Science-Behind-Shaping-Player"]You fix this by incorporating behavioural psychology into your game design, [/URL]so that you create an environment where players will encourage [I]themselves[/I] to not be toxic memechildren. But, as we've seen, Valve can't even push a minor patch without bungling the game's code somehow and breaking a random element, so this would be a bit of a stretch for them. [QUOTE=RetroMike;52627842]This is a big problem. Between the out of control hacking and the all out hate for newbies the turn over rate for new players has got to be through the roof. Everyone goes on and on about how great the community is but it isn't so great if you aren't already part of it. I can't think of another game I play where the current players are so damn hostile towards new players.[/QUOTE] Havent seen this? You clearly haven't spent much time in competitive moba games heh. I've seen people called every insult in English, as well as every Slavic/asian language for not mastering what angry children think is "the current meta". And because they're scrubs by definition, their opinion on the best way to win is entirely subjective, and most often wrong or outdated.

Any second now..

Pretty disappointing to see that our first Major update of the year is basically all but guaranteed to release in September at this point, barring a miracle of the update releasing this Thursday.

[QUOTE=Angemon300;52627857]But how do we fix this? It's one thing to say that the community has to be fixed up, it's another to actually do that fixing. Not to mention the game's tutorial seems to be broken in half since I played it several years back. Coaching and the Professor Specs seemed like a step in the right direction, but nobody uses it and they're largely forgotten.[/QUOTE] Sadly there isn't much you can do to curb people being shitty to one another. A solid reporting system and timed bans for shitty behavior would help a bit, but it's not a perfect solution by any means. TF2 has kind of become the sandbox that the new kid isn't welcome at and that is a shame since it used to be the place everyone was welcome. [QUOTE=C. Blades;52627861]Havent seen this? You clearly haven't spent much time in competitive moba games heh. I've seen people called every insult in English, as well as every Slavic/asian language for not mastering what angry children think is "the current meta". And because they're scrubs by definition, their opinion on the best way to win is entirely subjective, and most often wrong or outdated.[/QUOTE] I don't play MOBA's but I've seen some vids lol. I'm not saying other games are perfect either, I've certainly seen my share of dickish behavior in other games. However the level of disdain for new players in casual TF2 is kind of the stuff of legend. Like, holy shit, you were new once too.

[QUOTE=Awesomeface8D;52627848]that's just the case for a lot of games & communities on the internet, unfortunately.[/QUOTE] I'm not surprised [URL="https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Ccbg5Gi0G48ugMLTW4GZBja99cR_y74t8A"]you[/URL] would be so quick to paint abrasive behavior over the Internet as a truism. As widespread and common as it is, antisocial behavior should not be encouraged through acceptance; we should be striving to improve ourselves collectively as a species, weeding our unsavory elements out rather than seek a safe haven for them in an impersonal environment. Ever notice how something as innocent as an idle complaint in the game can blossom into a full-fledged grief crusade? Let's say someone bemoans a certain weapon or class; sure it can be annoying to the recipient of this complaining, but that doesn't suddenly grant you license to focus the object of his/her displeasure on that person exclusively, merely to rile that person up. Over time, others will join in on the griefing, and start using--let's say for this example--Sniper. If this person is complaining about too many Snipers and that Sniper isn't any fun to fight against, many people on the enemy team will suddenly switch to Sniper just to enhance the rage. Why is this necessary? Are that many of us truly sadists deep down? Just mute the guy whining and continue doing what you enjoy.

[QUOTE=Chowderhead;52627827]The amount of toxic people who play this game are seriously gonna end up driving away a ton of new people. I saw geel in a casual match, made a little joke and got called a faggot right after. Hmm.[/QUOTE] paintcans is a cool name. That guy was an idiot

[QUOTE=geel9;52627936]paintcans is a cool name. That guy was an idiot[/QUOTE] thanks <3

[QUOTE=C. Blades;52627705]"Actually, money is how the community steers work" -Gabe Newell 2015, pointing at a graph of the money earned by paid sprays and hats, and the lack of money being paid by people complaining about a lack of game balance and basic game development. We've seen over the last few years where the effort has gone between the two of these.[/QUOTE] [T]http://i.imgur.com/WJQ8Ufr.png[/T]

[QUOTE=ComodoreBluth;52625938]This probably isn't really possible because the server doesn't actually know if a match is going to end until it does with some exceptions, like the timer counting down on the final point on the second match of attack/defend or payload maps. In other scenarios like say 5CP or CTF the server doesn't know when the human players are going to cap and will keep adding players until the end.[/QUOTE] What I mean is, don't match players into a game [I]after[/I] it ends. I'm not suggesting that the system should try to predict the match end ahead of time. Sorry I didn't make that clear. I know there's a delay between a person getting matched and actually being fully connected. I accept that sometimes I'll be matched into a game that hasn't ended only to see that it has ended by the time I connect. That is unavoidable; however, players clearly can be chosen to be matched into a game that [I]has ended[/I], during the scoreboard/voting period. You can tell because sometimes they're added to replace players who only left after the scoreboard drops. This is what I think should stop. If they combine that with closing servers out that finish a game with too few players, it would prevent the situation where there are far too many servers active to be filled by the number of active players. Backfills would return to the levels they were at before they implemented map votes.

Darn, I wanted to post this two days ago, but all the HL2:Ep3 news distracted me. In any case, [url=http://www.teamfortress.com/post.php?id=11332]happy birthday to TF2's "bi-annunal" special comic series.[/url] It's four years old now.

I want a framed picture of the word "Boyos" signed by every TFTeam member

[QUOTE=chandlerj333;52628018][T]http://i.imgur.com/WJQ8Ufr.png[/T][/QUOTE] Ah yes free market capitalism. Gotta love that good ol' baby labor eh?

I'm hearing the maps were picked. It's getting closer. Edit - Single email unconfirmed and unknown source fyi. Don't get too excited.

[QUOTE=valvenews;52628088]I'm hearing the maps were picked. It's getting closer.[/QUOTE] Were they gravel-y pit-y?

i wanna get hype but all that energy went away a looong time ago

[QUOTE=Mort Stroodle;52628093]Were they gravel-y pit-y?[/QUOTE] -snip I don't like this joke 5 minutes after I wrote it-

[QUOTE=valvenews;52628088]I'm hearing the maps were picked. It's getting closer.[/QUOTE] No, Tyler, No! I've only managed to stop actively anticipate it, and you bring out this. My heart could not handle this

The community's been waiting for this for I don't even know how long and they're still not done I really hope all this waiting's worth it Surely it is, right?[I] Right?[/I]

[QUOTE=Pyraax;52628104]The community's been waiting for this for I don't even know how long and they're still not done I really hope all this waiting's worth it Surely it is, right?[I] Right?[/I][/QUOTE] I just heard it from a passing email, it's probably not true. However I just wanted to see what people even think of this anymore. It's been a long time and a lot has changed since the hype train started rollin.

Recently I've helped a fellow newbie and showed him some tips. He was really thankful, I'm planning to give him a hat as a welcome gift to the game :smile:

[QUOTE=valvenews;52628088]I'm hearing the maps were picked. It's getting closer.[/QUOTE] Wasn't the blog post asking map creators to finish up their maps like, two and a half months ago? [url]http://www.teamfortress.com/post.php?id=30112[/url] When they said content creators had time to polish up, they really meant it, huh?

Wait, so you tell us maps have been picked, then tell us it is probably not true? Some people here will do unmentionable things when you toy with them like that.

After that ep3 story fragment I've felt so dead to anything I used to get excited about, I can't explain it, but TF2 just doesn't feel the same ya know?

[QUOTE=Le Tomi;52628117]Recently I've helped a fellow newbie and showed him some tips. He was really thankful, I'm planning to give him a hat as a welcome gift to the game :smile:[/QUOTE] Yeah, just the other day I joined a server and saw someone at the bottom of the scoreboard with a squeaky voice. But I didn't hear one single complaint from anyone. He was excited about playing, describing how much he loved the "Meet the Team" videos and asking all sorts of questions about the game, and everyone was answering him and congratulating him when he was thrilled to knock a sapper off of his dispenser. There is hope.

[QUOTE=Darth_Toast;52628158]Yeah, just the other day I joined a server and saw someone at the bottom of the scoreboard with a squeaky voice. But I didn't hear one single complaint from anyone. He was excited about playing, describing how much he loved the "Meet the Team" videos and asking all sorts of questions about the game, and everyone was answering him and congratulating him when he was thrilled to knock a sapper off of his dispenser. There is hope.[/QUOTE] Hope would be a large shift in everything, gameplay, communication, distribution model. I'm sure the few people who currently work on it love it, but I'm also think this update would have been as draining on them as it was on us. Probably more so.