CommunityFortress

TF2 sure has taken a lot of shit this week, no?  This has been the kind of situation, like the computerized stock market fart Thursday that sent the DOW down a thousand ticks faster than you can say 'wow the server's lagging again,' that prompts you to pause a second, take stock of things and ask...just what the fuck is going on here?

The status quo is the status quo because it's the status quo...

We all know that when it comes to the general scheme of things in gaming, TF2 is a second class citizen to a decade old game.  We understand and accept that it's just the way of things currently, as it has been for any team game that isn't CS.  (If that's too much truth for you already, you should probably stop reading now.)  But it becomes another issue entirely when gaming's current world order is used as an excuse for not delivering services paid for, ignoring perfectly rational solutions to problems, and meeting legitimate concerns with bullshit half answers dripping in three coats of arrogance.

Frustrations with ESEA's mismanagement came to a head this week, and in my opinion, rightly so.  The fine print in whatever membership agreement regarding rules and regulations matters little here when it's shown in public forum just how much contempt is seemingly held for members to their service.

In a Gotfrag forum post (a rarity for me) earlier today, I made the point that ESEA has the right to run their business how they want, citing that they never operated under any sort of false pretense of primarily advancing the gaming community.  And they do, but I certainly wasn't defending their behavior as of late - I was simply trying to make the point that every business owner has an equal opportunity to get in the way of their own progress.

Making an ass of you and me

See, to understand what point of view one has to have in order to take such a defiant stance in the face of paying customers, you have to allow yourself to assume the following: (a) that they've essentially got the TF2 community by the balls, so tossing around lines like 'nobody's forcing you to play here' won't have any consequence, and (b) that somehow time will pass gaming by and CS will still be widely played in five, or even ten years.

I don't begrudge them for making the decision of taking up Counter-strike as the keystone of their business and sticking with it despite every indication that robust growth in the competitive CS scene is history.  If they want to ride that ship until it runs ashore, and then not get off for another year or two, it doesn't bother me.  What I'm not thrilled about is that valid criticism has been responded to with claims that TF2 as a whole has been an unprofitable effort, and painting the whole scene as ungrateful for the support they've given.

I'm sorry, whose fucking fault is that?  And what are you, a public service, or a business?  You can't switch hats on this point when it suits you most over the course of a conversation.  If you exist for profit, the monthly fees paid are the higest form of gratitude that you should expect; anything above and beyond is just that.

They might not have done their homework properly, the research that should have been done before launching a TF2 branch for their operations.  Maybe they didn't take accurate stock of the size of the community.  Maybe they foolishly thought they could take the vast majority of the league-play market share in just a season or two.  Maybe they didn't anticipate that constant updates to the game would break the client on a monthly basis and incur costs that don't exist in their CS operations.  Any way you slice it, blame does not rest with the players.

The prize money ceases to matter if everyone's in the red at the end of the season anyway due to travel costs.  Was the LAN finals last season worth it?...Probably not.  I thought the whole point of the service was to make everything horribly convenient...well, is it?  The premise is that the quality of the league experience is supposed to be vastly superior...well, is it?  When there's constant recurring issues with matchmaking, server reliability, and completely non-existent anticheat, people are going to start questioning if they're getting what they're supposedly paying for.  And it's our transgression for even bringing it up?

Only results matter

If you build it, they don't have to come; your efforts, fabricated or real, don't mean anything if the result isn't GOOD.  It's an attitude that has run rampant across competitive gaming since it's inception: look, I built this, I'm doing this, out of the kindness and goodwill of my soul, now appreciate me or you're all ingrates!  Support isn't support if it's shit and clearly not meeting the needs it's supposed to.  This isn't tee ball, you don't get a trophy just for showing up.

Case in point: the folks at eFragTV setup a LAN event.  They announce a TF2 tournament before doing the appropriate homework, like interfacing with top teams and getting a few to commit to showing up first, thus ensuring that they'll fill their bracket and a good competitive turnout will follow on the date they're planning.  Instead they just poop out a thread in the Gotfrag forums, do a terrible job following up or promoting it, and then proceed to blame the community at large for not being grateful enough for the golden opportunity they so graciously placed at our doorstep, as they make their huffy exit.

Give me a break.  Are you contributing to growth or aren't you?  Are you just trying to make a buck or are you trying to help?  Or do you just have delusions of grandeur that you're going to be gaming's pied piper, and then get pissed when it doesn't go to plan?

Onward

So, what happens if the threats are made good on and TF2 is history at ESEA after this season?  We all sit around and cry in our Dr Pepper that we all buy in bulk because of their Gotfrag ads?  No - we instead should use it as an opportunity to bring actual legitimacy to TF2 as a sport, and do something to break the unending chain of leagues serving their own interests over those of the teams and players.

But that is for another post.  Your comments are welcome and encouraged-