07 Nov 12, 10:00AM
AC has some exceptional circumstances that if taken advantage of properly will allow it to not only succeed but even excel at the competitive level. The maps and the guns are constantly evolving but the tactics and the strategy required to become good and downright versatile still demand a level of focus and dedication that is rare elsewhere. We also have a solid playerbase that is not determined by whether or not they have the money to play, but by the desire to play. AC finds the shimmies who for whatever reason can't play the other games you mentioned, CS and Quake and URT and gives them a chance to shine without any financial burdens. AC will forever be played because it's simple to learn, hard + easy to get good at, and it rewards a desire to THROWDOWN old school style!
The problem we're currently experiencing is finding a balance between competition and casual. Games by definition are supposed to be fun. They are aesthetically pleasing to their genre. AC is a realistic shooter that focuses it's gameplay on real life. Many people find this enjoyable because they don't have to contemplate such foreign concepts as aliens, plasma rifles, boom jump thrust smorgasborg flying space grapes, or time travel (xept lag). AC mirrors real life. It's maps are richly detailed and so tactically that it's as if one were really there, in the heat of battle, canteen in hand, taking a sip, sniper in the other, yearning for the coveted Pink Mist. It's a game that with a little imagination puts you on the battlefield. Yet you never forget that you are playing a game and that's the fun part. You choose the time, the place, and the action. You choose your AC experience. This is the essence of this game. This is why we play.
AC should offer everyone, regardless of who they are, where they connect from (with exception ofc, GET SUM BRAZIL :P) the opportunity to play endlessly. There should always be a consideration for the noobs, newbs, and newfs, that play our game and give our new talent the trials by fire they need to get good.
Competition... ESL much? Yeah I remember that. It was a joke not because the idea was bad but because ESL was so poorly organized and so ridiculously administered that one couldn't help but wonder Why In DAFUQ are we WHAAAT? Don't get me wrong. ESL was AWESOME!! I remember the excitement of our first matches. Everyone was IRC'd on XChat (least that's what I used) and we were all itching to play. You could feel it. This silly little shooter that we were apart of was becoming something. We could win stuff here. We could win money?? NO WAY!!! Yes this was actually possible at the time. It was new and it was beautiful... oh so beautiful! The reason this feeling didn't last was because there was no communication between the clans. There was no communication between main AC and the fringe. What we needed was a group effort to truly pull everyone together. What we needed was a shimmy to take all of our concerns and complaints, our issues and our problems, and reassure us that this would work and that it AC would be just what it had always been... Awesome.
Eradicating or ignoring different sides of a game in favor of a general direction is never a good idea. By definition it narrows the focus and potential for true development. It crushes idea in their birthing stages and steals greatness from the AC before we even have a chance to see it. No idea, no new thought, no spark of inspiration, should ever be relegated to a single direction, a single purpose, with no consideration of it's possible effects on other aspects of the game.
Competition is good. AC is very very VERY competitive. It has the potential for a true league, born not of foreign entities, realized not by outsiders who have no understanding of what AC truly is, but by those who've dedicated their time and effort to keeping it alive and fragging. A league of our own, that offers fabulous prizes, that inspires and motivates players to new, higher levels of mastery, to more exquisitely lethal artistry.
Here's what we need.
1) A respected and established method of posting demos. We also need a site from which to view them. As well as a method of labeling and cataloging them.
2) We need a form of Team Recognition. Some kind of rewards or badges that acknowledge a player's skill and their accomplishments stretching from past matches and into the future.
3) In regards to #2 we'd need an established ranking system. Something that we can shoot for. Clan ladders are an example but we need something supported by Main AC i.e. the forums, the dev team, the mod squad, and the vets.
4) This one is probably being discussed in the TPG but we need a set Match Rules. A list of the do's and dont's that encompasses match play and will help formalize it. Many matches are played and won or lost by screenshot, time to play or no?, and demo posting on a clan site. The AC Forums should have either a dedicated website / page / board just for clan matches and posting of the results. The same thing should be done for competitions like the AC Weekend Cups and the AC World Cup.
5) We shouldn't stop at World Cup and and Weekend Cups and Two Girls One Cup? (srry had to do it :D). Let's instead take the most prestigious sports event and make qualifiers out of them? Say we have an AC Universal Cup. All the nations would have their respective epic event to determine who plays. North America could have a AC World Series or AC Superbowl for example. Canada could have the AC Stanley Cup... etc etc. (Only ones I could think of off the top of my head, sorry don't get abroad much :/ -meep- AC World Tour -meep- eventually...)
6) The real problem is that ideas such as these need to be supported by Main AC. What is Main AC you ask? It's AssaultCube made and supported by the devs and their solid community of veterans who value AssaultCube's RISE ABOVE ALL other games. The forums need to open up to the possibilities. They need to delve into the risks and give many things a shot. If something doesn't work? Simply cross it out and move on to the next idea. The AC Forums give anything they support the credibility of being downright awesome and having the full weight of legitimate AssaultCube behind them. That says a lot to the masses of players we have out there in the wings.
7) Never give up. This is of utmost importance. You don't play AC for anyone but yourself. Because you are a true shimmy and the very essence of awesome you take pride in playing a game that's so underground. You take pride in being one of the resistance. One of the shimmies who plays for fun first, competition second, and downright awesomeness last. Everything AC is everything you want in a game. It may lack at times, it may even suck at times (rare), but you started playing for a reason, and you loved it for a reason. Never forget that reason. Revive that reason and bring yourself back to AssaultCube because you never give up. WE NEVER GIVE UP.
AC will remain in our hearts and minds forever no matter what happens. We're better than just a summation of our parts. AC WILL NEVER DIE. AC will be a league of it's own. AC will COMPETE with all the other leagues out there and WE WILL establish our dominance, our preeminence among those titans of the gaming world because we have the greatest playerbase, the greatest community, and the most BADASS EPIC GAME EVER.
The problem we're currently experiencing is finding a balance between competition and casual. Games by definition are supposed to be fun. They are aesthetically pleasing to their genre. AC is a realistic shooter that focuses it's gameplay on real life. Many people find this enjoyable because they don't have to contemplate such foreign concepts as aliens, plasma rifles, boom jump thrust smorgasborg flying space grapes, or time travel (xept lag). AC mirrors real life. It's maps are richly detailed and so tactically that it's as if one were really there, in the heat of battle, canteen in hand, taking a sip, sniper in the other, yearning for the coveted Pink Mist. It's a game that with a little imagination puts you on the battlefield. Yet you never forget that you are playing a game and that's the fun part. You choose the time, the place, and the action. You choose your AC experience. This is the essence of this game. This is why we play.
AC should offer everyone, regardless of who they are, where they connect from (with exception ofc, GET SUM BRAZIL :P) the opportunity to play endlessly. There should always be a consideration for the noobs, newbs, and newfs, that play our game and give our new talent the trials by fire they need to get good.
Competition... ESL much? Yeah I remember that. It was a joke not because the idea was bad but because ESL was so poorly organized and so ridiculously administered that one couldn't help but wonder Why In DAFUQ are we WHAAAT? Don't get me wrong. ESL was AWESOME!! I remember the excitement of our first matches. Everyone was IRC'd on XChat (least that's what I used) and we were all itching to play. You could feel it. This silly little shooter that we were apart of was becoming something. We could win stuff here. We could win money?? NO WAY!!! Yes this was actually possible at the time. It was new and it was beautiful... oh so beautiful! The reason this feeling didn't last was because there was no communication between the clans. There was no communication between main AC and the fringe. What we needed was a group effort to truly pull everyone together. What we needed was a shimmy to take all of our concerns and complaints, our issues and our problems, and reassure us that this would work and that it AC would be just what it had always been... Awesome.
Eradicating or ignoring different sides of a game in favor of a general direction is never a good idea. By definition it narrows the focus and potential for true development. It crushes idea in their birthing stages and steals greatness from the AC before we even have a chance to see it. No idea, no new thought, no spark of inspiration, should ever be relegated to a single direction, a single purpose, with no consideration of it's possible effects on other aspects of the game.
Competition is good. AC is very very VERY competitive. It has the potential for a true league, born not of foreign entities, realized not by outsiders who have no understanding of what AC truly is, but by those who've dedicated their time and effort to keeping it alive and fragging. A league of our own, that offers fabulous prizes, that inspires and motivates players to new, higher levels of mastery, to more exquisitely lethal artistry.
Here's what we need.
1) A respected and established method of posting demos. We also need a site from which to view them. As well as a method of labeling and cataloging them.
2) We need a form of Team Recognition. Some kind of rewards or badges that acknowledge a player's skill and their accomplishments stretching from past matches and into the future.
3) In regards to #2 we'd need an established ranking system. Something that we can shoot for. Clan ladders are an example but we need something supported by Main AC i.e. the forums, the dev team, the mod squad, and the vets.
4) This one is probably being discussed in the TPG but we need a set Match Rules. A list of the do's and dont's that encompasses match play and will help formalize it. Many matches are played and won or lost by screenshot, time to play or no?, and demo posting on a clan site. The AC Forums should have either a dedicated website / page / board just for clan matches and posting of the results. The same thing should be done for competitions like the AC Weekend Cups and the AC World Cup.
5) We shouldn't stop at World Cup and and Weekend Cups and Two Girls One Cup? (srry had to do it :D). Let's instead take the most prestigious sports event and make qualifiers out of them? Say we have an AC Universal Cup. All the nations would have their respective epic event to determine who plays. North America could have a AC World Series or AC Superbowl for example. Canada could have the AC Stanley Cup... etc etc. (Only ones I could think of off the top of my head, sorry don't get abroad much :/ -meep- AC World Tour -meep- eventually...)
6) The real problem is that ideas such as these need to be supported by Main AC. What is Main AC you ask? It's AssaultCube made and supported by the devs and their solid community of veterans who value AssaultCube's RISE ABOVE ALL other games. The forums need to open up to the possibilities. They need to delve into the risks and give many things a shot. If something doesn't work? Simply cross it out and move on to the next idea. The AC Forums give anything they support the credibility of being downright awesome and having the full weight of legitimate AssaultCube behind them. That says a lot to the masses of players we have out there in the wings.
7) Never give up. This is of utmost importance. You don't play AC for anyone but yourself. Because you are a true shimmy and the very essence of awesome you take pride in playing a game that's so underground. You take pride in being one of the resistance. One of the shimmies who plays for fun first, competition second, and downright awesomeness last. Everything AC is everything you want in a game. It may lack at times, it may even suck at times (rare), but you started playing for a reason, and you loved it for a reason. Never forget that reason. Revive that reason and bring yourself back to AssaultCube because you never give up. WE NEVER GIVE UP.
AC will remain in our hearts and minds forever no matter what happens. We're better than just a summation of our parts. AC WILL NEVER DIE. AC will be a league of it's own. AC will COMPETE with all the other leagues out there and WE WILL establish our dominance, our preeminence among those titans of the gaming world because we have the greatest playerbase, the greatest community, and the most BADASS EPIC GAME EVER.