Lets talk about the next Exhibition Game!

LeSwordfish

semi-trained quasi-professional
aa
Aug 8, 2010
4,102
6,597
As with the jam, lets have a thread to discuss what we could do differently for the next exhibition game.

Some suggestions made before:
  • A dedicated host, or someone to drive the discussion. Drive the discussion, incorporate the big personalities more.
  • A dedicated streamer - someone like the hosts for comp games, to keep the camera moving and showing interesting things more so than a player could.

Any other thoughts?
 

Viemärirotta

sniffer
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Feb 5, 2016
1,013
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There could be several exhibition games if necessary or have exhibition maps be only on the rotation for a week or two after the exhibition game.
 
Nov 2, 2010
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Seeing as we were talking about this in group chat I'll put it here too. I think it would be good for exposure of the Map Jam if it got featured by a prominent TF2 YouTuber who would put it at the forefront and has actual experience in making videos that appeal to the average player. In my opinion, b4nny wasn't the best choice to include considering 99% of the stuff made in the jam had nothing to do with competitive and that audience are a tad 'divorced' from the kind of thing you're trying to do. If anyone watched his stream last time, nobody in the chat was really interested and b4nny himself didn't seem particularly engaged either.

A specific host for the exhibition is essential. The conversation in the last exhibition was all over the place and some topics went on a tad too long and others barely got a showing. It would be much better if the conversation was restricted to a smaller number of people at a time with a more rigid schedule.
 

Crash

func_nerd
aa
Mar 1, 2010
3,315
5,499
IMO I think it should be unfocused like it was before, but us as the hosters just need to try not to make it more than it should be. It had always been just an exhibition game of a bunch of known people playing and shooting-the-shit. We tried to add to it by directing questions at people, but it ended up being too disorganized and viewers felt like it was all half assed interviews, when it was originally just supposed to be a for-fun gathering of people.

We tried to make it a bit more than it was, and it lead to the perception that it should be a LOT more than it was.
 

Yrr

An Actual Deer
aa
Sep 20, 2015
1,308
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i think it needs to be really clearly defined beforehand what its meant to be so that people know what theyre signing up for in that regard
 
Jul 6, 2015
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prominent TF2 YouTuber who would put it at the forefront and has actual experience in making videos
Perhaps one of my friends would be of assistance? He has shown interest in the mapping community before, just not enouph to do anything. He actually wanted to cover the April fools day thing but got busy at the last min. due to shit planning.

Since its a month away, maybe he can help out?
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC321K1FNkR2-OYdzTHSY9hg (tf2dove)
 
Sep 19, 2010
475
499
IMO I think it should be unfocused like it was before, but us as the hosters just need to try not to make it more than it should be. It had always been just an exhibition game of a bunch of known people playing and shooting-the-shit. We tried to add to it by directing questions at people, but it ended up being too disorganized and viewers felt like it was all half assed interviews, when it was originally just supposed to be a for-fun gathering of people.

We tried to make it a bit more than it was, and it lead to the perception that it should be a LOT more than it was.
I disagree, though I was under the impression the goal of the event was to promote TF2Maps as well as show off what was created in 72hrs. If you go into without any organization, that's exactly how it's going to come across and that's not what viewers want to watch. I'm sure regulars from TF2M would enjoy it, but it's not going to help expand the audience.
 

leprecan

L2: Junior Member
Feb 10, 2013
96
89
From the outside looking in on the streams, the interviews and conversations felt very disconnected from each other, and I think it caused a lot of empty or awkward airtime. There were so many people involved in the different facets of TF2 but they couldn't comment about the hobbies the other chat members had.

If it was meant to be casual, the chat environment wasn't really reflecting it either, most of the chat sounded unprepared to talk when engaged and the gameplay was rarely involved in chat between interviews. TF2 is a fun game, the maps made for it are fun, but you couldn't hear that through the chat.

Streams where creators talk about their hobbies is cool and all, it can be greatly informative! However, its incorrect to assume that people will enjoy hearing about a hobby without trying to engage them on the commonality between everyone involved, TF2. Many of the interviews would do well outside the stream though.
 

killohurtz

Distinction in Applied Carving
aa
Feb 22, 2014
1,016
1,277
Quoting myself from the VIP discussion thread for the last jam. I think the last point would be particularly useful this time around.
killohurtz said:
  • Shortened map times. As a viewer, I felt that everything there was to see about a map was shown in ~10 mins or a couple of rounds. This would also leave time to showcase more maps and other types of submissions.
  • Map author "interviews". Of the maps I saw played, only 14bit did this, but I think it would be nice for every mapper whose work is featured to talk about their map a little on-stream.
  • Stream chat interaction. In the time I spent in Crash's stream, I saw countless relevant questions ignored, or answered by other viewers instead of the hosts. However, I don't blame the hosts for this, because they were busy playing the maps and having discussions amongst themselves. This is where I believe a dedicated host would improve the event - someone who can pick out questions from the chat and relay them to the mumble so that the hosts can answer it collectively.
  • The mumble overlay. Crash said the overlay didn't agree with his stream, but if a fix exists, it would be tremendously helpful for viewers to know who's talking at any given time.
  • Requests for jam participants to submit a blurb with their entry. This would help the exhibition organizers find things to say about each submission so that they can receive more than a few seconds of screen time. Despite the entries being evenly split between maps and non-maps (56:55), the non-maps got a disproportionately small amount of attention (which I also don't blame the hosts for; it's hard to talk about someone else's work when all you got is a single sentence on the upload thread).