Stacking, Spawncamping and You

[Norithics]

Here's my take on it, which is bound to be unpopular by anyone.

Doom, Nikky and the like (not trying to point fingers, this is just a majority sampling of my play time on TFP) aren't jerks out to ruin your fun. All the same, those who cry teamstacking aren't wrong, or just whining without reason. These two concepts are not mutually exclusive.

Let's be real here. People like playing with their friends. It's fun. The admins of the server are not, and should not be expected to be less or more than human and not given to the temptation to do what's most fun in a game. When I'm on a team with Doom and Nikky and their many, many friends, I observe not really hateful play- well, Doom could be a better sport and I'm sure he knows that- but rather a group of people who are having fun the best way they know how.

Does this mean that it's going to be hard to be on the other team? Yes. And Witchie? Honestly, there's no fix for this without the admin job becoming exactly that- a job- something hated to do and unenjoyable by the tenant. As someone who regularly has to be in a leadership position, I understand this and would really implore you not to try and take the long, hard road on this one lest you start to dislike the whole thing in general.

I think the easiest thing at this point would be to simply say, "Teamstacking happens. Try and organize your team, or wait to be on ours." I mean, it is a server, and every server has its rules. Just... be honest about it. If people see a rule that isn't being enforced, they cry foul. If there's no rule for it, then there's no justification for the complaint.

I have fun with you guys, but honestly, this is going to turn into a monster on you if you're not careful.

[Purplecat]

Just stating that if people ask for it, I usually start a scramble poll and then scramble after my personal judgment (usually when it's around 50% or so). Just remember that I might not always be too responsive if I'm in the middle of a game though (Just use the "public" ingame chat if I'm in the same game). I do sometimes start the poll of my own if I feel that the game is stacked in one direction or another, but don't expect this to be guaranteed (so always ask). I might do something to automate this task. As for the team scramble algorithm sucking... well that's another problem.

I'm staying out of the general politics with this issue though.

[Norithics]

I'm curious, does the scramble function do anything right away, or do you have to finish the round first? I've never observed it doing much after the vote, is all.

And again, I'm totally not trying to blame anybody. Frankly, I wouldn't want your jobs. If you can pull this whole thing off, I'll be impressed.

Edit: And one more thing. Again, from experience, I want you to know something. You can't beat the mob. You can do your best, you can do the best, you can pour yourself into everything as much as possible, and there will still be a big group that wants to see you fail. Keep that in mind when you make any decisions, but don't let the legitimate ones blend in. That's been one of my biggest challenges, and I thought I should share it with you.

[Purplecat]

*shrug* It's more of a case with me trying to keep myself to the technical sides of running things around here (making sure that the server and it's download server is running fine and dandy) and keep myself out of the rest. I do of course do other kind of admin work when it's necessary though.

And the current team scramble command scrambles 5 seconds after it's "activated". It doesn't even let you finish the round, which can be awkward in some situations (which is why I at least let the round run out before I scramble sometimes, but this is a map to map thing...).

[Makaze]

[Angry_Squirrel]

Y'know, I just realized something the other day. Team stacking occurs most often when there is an incomplete server in terms of regulars - around 1/4 the people on the server get on the same team because they know each other, and the rest in the server is made up of pubfags, and 90% of pubfags don't know how to play. The team opposing the regulars' team often gets creamed until more regulars come to balance out the other side - Ragequits abound on the other side, pubfags quit when they start losing from the winning side and people newly joining don't end up getting a chance to join the regulars' side, and the cycle of ragequits continues. While the ratio of competent players is imbalanced, the game remains stacked - regulars are most often better to balance teams than relying on a good skilled pubfag coming in to balance the odds. It does happen, but not a lot, because the rest of the pubfags on the losing team don't know what teamwork is. One or two really skilled players plus no support from teammates can't trump a handful of friends who know what they're doing and how to work together - usually. Usually.

[Dravu]

[Doom]

[Purplecat]

This might be stubborn, but I will refuse to scramble teams if I realize that there's a huge reason why one team is losing badly.

Such as 50% of the teams players being snipers.

[Dravu]