*Okay guys, I enacted on my idea and would like some support. I've created a steam group <http://steamcommunity.com/groups/fixquickplay> (Fix Quickplay Now!) as a form of petition against the changes to the Quickplay system.* With this group I'd like to show the will of the TF2 community and educate any of the newer players what it was like in "the good ol' days" before QP even existed, or just after it launched when community servers were still matched.
The group text needs to be concise in describing the problem, how it has affected communities and possible solutions to fix the situation while still taking into consideration the quality of play for the players. I have tried my best. So far the two strongest suggestions I've read have been phased entry into community servers. You are put onto Valve servers initially for a couple of hours or more after which community servers are suggested. This could be combined in the future with a simple big button to select between community suggestions and valve suggestions. This coupled with maybe some form of comprehensive rating system that could be used to rank servers and/or a individually based blacklist system. I might try and dig up some other ideas from previous discussions on this mailing list. *I'd greatly appreciate it if you'd pass this group around to your group's members and ask them to join. I am willing to make any of the server admins on here admins of the group, especially if you are willing to make this happen.* On 9 February 2015 at 23:17, E. Olsen <[email protected]> wrote: > 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: > >> SNIP >> > _______________________________________________ > 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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