CommunityFortress

As a community contributor, my level of production has gone up and down throughout my year here at Community Fortress. As with everyone in this scene, my involvement has been affected by real life distractions. Players disappear and come back as their school fluctuates or other commitments appear. Most recently a move and a return to the cooking world (gotta make that dollar) have sucked up my free time, and slowed my involvement. For a moment there, it looked like I was heading for unemployment again (my choice) and the potentials of working harder on eXtv and trying to make a living with that and other freelance work seemed very appealing. But, the situation at my work has changed favorably and I'm going to continue to cook. Working a good number of nights means my availability for the SpaceWhales, casts, and other things is a bit more limited. Good thing eXtv is post-produced and I can get plenty of work done during the day. I just need to crack the whip on myself.

Anyways, I wanted to start up doing a new series of blog posts for this site that appear more frequently, to ensure that I'm staying involved and eXpressing my opinions on this game and big events in the community. Posts will be about updates + changes, about desired updates, map rotations, news analysis, and all sorts of tangents.

Like the World Cup. Oh boy am I excited for tomorrow's match between the USA and England... Soccer is a unique sport that actually can give us quite a bit of inspiration in Team Fortress 2. The ball in Soccer is a team-wide commitment. If one player messes up their touch and gives the ball away, the team has lost everything they've been building for. The Uber in TF2 is the same way, it should be nurtured by the whole team and is really a shared responsibility between the Medic and the other players. Formation and shape is hugely important in Soccer, with players stretching out the defense or working in close with fast passes to each other. "Shape" is an important concept in TF2 as well that's not as present in casual games as it should be. How are the Medic, Sollys, and Demo working together? Are the scouts properly watching the flanks, or are they getting too aggressive and shut down? When a TF2 team is scattered all over the place, they are almost always ineffective. When the team moves with purpose, things happen.

Plus, who doesn't love a global throwdown? It's just great to see different playing philosophies and cultures come together in one place. Hopefully we'll see more intercontinental TF2 matches, and perhaps even down the road a NA regions cup. Man, that'd be sweet. Till next time...