We've shut two servers of ours down since quickplay for that exact reason. There's been a marked drop in players (80% of our rotation were customs on those two servers) and even with a squad of 8-12 regulars trying to seed on badwater, goldrush or dustbowl, we could be in there for an hour with zero new players joining.
Donations dried up completely so we simply stopped renting them. Our quickplay server is still fairing slightly better, but only a little, and we're forced to have the same crappy stock quickplay map rotation as every other server in the world now because the instant you try to go to a custom map or even a vastly underplayed stock map, you can watch 70% of the players disconnect on HLSW during the mapchange. It's frustrating, because it really does seem this quickplay button is training these players to be lazy, and even more importantly it's showing them there's only 4-6 maps in TF2, and I lost track of how many quality custom maps we *used* to get to play. On Sat, Dec 17, 2011 at 4:28 AM, Robert Paulson <[email protected]>wrote: > I will have to agree with Dan. I believe even the quickplay system is > having a negative effect on TF2. Quickplay is good for getting into a > game quickly, but it is featured prominently as the first button on > the screen so everyone clicks on it and never learns there are unique > servers that aren't on there. > > Most people probably never stop using it because they probably assume > the browser is just a manual way to pick the same servers available in > quickplay. I am seeing swaths of 24 slot servers with default maps and > respawn times filled all the time while some of my favorite servers > that don't fit the quickplay standard (maps, slightly faster respawn > times, larger slots) that used to be full at midnight now empty out 4 > hours earlier. Some of them are shutting down, and I find myself > playing less and less TF2. > > It becomes very difficult to find servers that aren't a cookie cutter > quickplay build because: > > 1. Players who have been weaned on quickplay probably never figure out > alternative settings exist. > 2. If they search through the browser, not only are there 4,000+ > servers to choose from, but these custom servers have to compete with > the quickplay servers that are filled with even more players already. > 3. More and more cookie-cutter quickplay servers are popping up > because they are the only ones getting filled like before. No players > = no donations. > > It is my humble opinion that quickplay is creating an unhealthy > homogeneous selection of servers and players. The average player can > only be entertained so much by the standard settings before they get > bored of them, and instead of finding a customized server that suits > their tastes, they quit the game without knowing about the > alternatives. I believe this is why the number of TF2 players have > dropped below CS:S and continued to decline until this recent update > and impending winter break. > > On Fri, Dec 16, 2011 at 10:45 PM, dan <[email protected]> wrote: > > On 15/12/2011 23:51, Fletcher Dunn wrote: > >> > >> We are working on something like this. The ability to "level" your game > >> server account. Certain benefits would only be given to servers with > >> level>= N, etc. Show the level in the server browser and give > preferential > >> treatment, etc. Get caught breaking the rules, and you lose your level, > >> etc. > > > > > > With respect. Even without details, this sounds like a really, really bad > > idea tm. > > > > (Although I suppose if you collect 500 genius game polymaths in a > building > > they'll soon see the solution to every problem is to create a game. You > > probably can't get a coke from your canteen without solving a puzzle? :) > ) > > > > You only have to read the angst in the threads that the current server > > reputation causes to see that. > > > > -- > > Dan. > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list archives, > > please visit: > > https://list.valvesoftware.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/hlds_linux > > _______________________________________________ > To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list archives, > please visit: > https://list.valvesoftware.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/hlds_linux > _______________________________________________ To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list archives, please visit: https://list.valvesoftware.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/hlds_linux
