I certainly agree that adopting an adversarial tone is the wrong course, but I can also understand the folks that feel that way - and lack of communication is the cause.
There are some easy fixes here that could restore both good faith and help get the dialog going again between server operators and the TF2 team (good ideas come from all kinds of places, and games are better off when the devs keep the lines open). First - I think the team needs to simply let us all know what they think necessitated the change in the first place. That was something they've never specifically told us, and it's certainly hard for a server operator to help fix something if they don't know what's (perceived to be) broke. Second - they need to take some feedback about the best way to go about fixing that problem while still treating the community servers as equals within the system. There is a ton of good ideas this community can generate, but we need to be allowed to offer solutions to the problem, not simply thrown under the bus with no explanation. Third - I think we all need to approach this the way the Valve team probably is, and that is "what is the best thing for TF2 in a "business" sense?" Looking at the overall traffic stats, despite TF2's popularity, the worldwide player traffic for the game has remained stagnant for the last couple of years (neither growing, nor shrinking to a great degree). Now, perhaps the TF2 team considers that a validation of their decision to route the majority of players to their own servers, BUT I would instead suggest that player traffic is stagnant because the game is no longer developing the kind of long-term players that community server fostered. New players are no longer finding "regular" servers to play on, and are instead playing random games on random (official) servers for a short amount of time, getting bored with the lack of diversity (not to mention the lack of TF2's teamwork-oriented "culture" that community servers build), and moving on to other games. If that were not the case, the numbers would be seeing a slow, steady climb...instead of the virtual flat line we've seen for the past 18 or so months. The problem with that (in a business sense) is that new players are a finite resource, and sooner or later that well is going to start drying up. The question the TF2 team needs to ask itself is it then worth it to try and once again support and advocate communities built around TF2 that foster longer-term players, or are they simply resigned to allow the cash-cow that TF2 is to continue to stagnate and die on the vine? In short - I believe the way to bring Valve around to our way of thinking (i.e. that community-driven servers are essential to TF2's continued profitability and success) is to show them the value we bring to the game. ....but first, we need to know that they're listening. On Mon, Feb 9, 2015 at 3:51 PM, Robert Paulson <[email protected]> wrote: > It is rather rude of you to assume that all blocked emails were simply > blocked due to a large size. While that was the reason I deleted all the > replies this time, I have previously received messages like this even with > all the replies deleted and having the wording rearranged 10 different > times before I just gave up: > > The reason it is being held: > > The message headers matched a filter rule > > This is a "holy war that will lead to humanity's extinction"? We are some > of TF2's biggest fans and the TF team even seems to think we are a threat. > Some of us have spent thousands of hours and dollars on this game and > policies that are killing our servers have been unchanged for over a year > now. > > You probably haven't put in as much time and money into TF2, but don't > assume everyone else is in the same position. > > On Mon, Feb 9, 2015 at 12:17 PM, Lyrai <[email protected]> wrote: > >> The fact that the first thought is "They're working against me" and not >> "Technical limitations" speaks volumes to the general attitude of this >> entire mailing list and gives good reason for Valve to never set foot in >> it. >> The entire mailing list acts as if they're on some holy war that will >> lead to humanity's extinction if some rules regarding how servers hosting a >> bideo jame aren't tweaked to be more receptive. While the quickplay >> solution has its issues, enacting psyops roleplay and treating Valve like >> they fucked your mother and made you watch is not how you get to any sort >> of solution, or any reaction short of dismissal. >> >> On Mon, Feb 9, 2015 at 11:58 AM, Korrey Moore <[email protected]> wrote: >> >>> >One of my most recent replies to this thread went into moderation for >>> some >>> >reason, and was eventually rejected. Contained nothing harmful, rude or >>> not >>> >truthful, only honesty. But it was rejected. I wonder if this mailing >>> list >>> >will start having posts moderated... >>> >>> The more likely explanation is that you quoted a large number of posts >>> without editing it down and your post went over the maximum allowed size, >>> so it was trashed. >>> >>> I forgot what the post size limit was, but it's pretty easy to reach >>> with all of the extraneous headers, footers and formatting that gets added >>> to every reply. >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list archives, >>> please visit: >>> https://list.valvesoftware.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/hlds >>> >>> >> >> >> -- >> Tee hee hee hee >> >> _______________________________________________ >> To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list archives, >> please visit: >> https://list.valvesoftware.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/hlds >> >> > > _______________________________________________ > To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list archives, > please visit: > https://list.valvesoftware.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/hlds > >
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