Community Spirit

[Armadillo of Doom]

It has come to my attention that some people may be feeling a little dissuaded by the kinds of feedback received from this community. Working hard on a map for like 2 solid months, and in that time, you only get a dozen replies. Or gameday didn't go quite how you expected. (that last couple where we tried to use an extended time, and people left after 4 hours). For example, here's a snip from a conversation I had recently;

Immortal-D: I myself am still learning new things about how to manage this not so little community. Every time I log on, I'm overwhelmed by the growth. B/c I can still remember when I started TF2M as nothing but a Steam group.

Person: I think you could summarize my entire position as follows: "I did not feel like I became closer with the community, nor did my map benefit from the involvement of other mappers."
....
Person: My GF is nearly ready to leave me if she see's hammer open again

Immortal-D: bah. Every self-respecting gamers knows that girls are just a myth. On a serious note though, try to understand that the community is still incredibly new. the custom textures and models are lucky to get a dozen replies. A lot of the player base just isn't into custom content yet. I think we're lucky to get as much feedback as we currently do.

Person: yeah, and just from talking I realize that a lot of the criticism applies to myself. I should be commenting more too

So I'm hoping to get some feelings from all of you. Do think there are ways that we, as a whole, could be more helpful to each other? How can we better support custom content? In theory, every member of this community is here b/c they enjoy custom TF2. For my part, I'm doing to my best to keep this place lively, in between school (last set of classes for my accounting major ) and rl responsibilities. I thought of a couple new events I wanted to try after the contest, as well as increasing the server capacity to 26 or 28. So please share your thoughts. Feedback for the site is just as important as for the individual maps.

 

[MrAlBobo]

god no...do not increase the server size, if anything add another server, 24 slot is what valve decided, for the sake of consistency other maps should be built for that

anyways...i try to comment on the gameplay of the maps I played on gameday if it hasn't been covered already, but i don't know, im not really getting many good gameplay impressions with the shorter timeframe, its just not enough to notice anything that could be repeated, not that 30mins was that much better...

as for site feedback...make thanks display for everyone, not just blog posters...as honestly...blogs are so pointless when there is a forum a click away...
some spotlight events might be fun, like...once or twice during the week pick one map to have everyone try for a prolonged period of time, for say an hour or an hour and a half, at the same time it allows a more in-depth look at gameplay, and being that the event would only last for an hour or so it could be more of a lite event, as in not so much commitment would need to be dedicated to being there. (I thought of this while typing the 1st paragraph)

and what else...oh, some kind of points system would be interesting, this was suggested in one of the gameday topics but it would be nice to award people the ability to get priority timeslots for their maps by being in the server on gameday for a longer period of time supporting people

more to come as i think of them

 

[Icarus]

It would be best to test our map on the default configs, so keep it 24 maxplayers. If possible, I would agree with MrAlBobo about opening another server so we could run two maps at a given time. We would have more slots and larger slots.

On feedback, I generally don't give them out unless I have played them. But I try to pull as much suggestions as I can when I do in a given time. However, it's not very often I get the opportunity to play those new maps.

How about, after a gameday we keep the server open (with no RTV, 30 minutes each map) that rotates through the gameday maps throughout the rest of the week?

 

[Spike]

I think 28 is perfect.

 

[Icarus]

More players tends to have more spam/stalemates/easier defense IMO.

 

[Cerious]

28 is just right, or make another server. I'll try to advertise the server and its events on other forums, just so we can fill up.

 

[MrAlBobo]

no...28 is not right, 24 is

if you want i can set up my server with the contest maps and rotation so we can see how well the dual-server setup works on the gameday this weekend

though admittedly im not expecting the best of results

 

[TMP]

I say 24 man.

And I guess I could be nicer to people, or more importantly, I'll start making video feedback, or just some kind of feedback that isn't me saying "O_O" in the steam chat.

 

[A Boojum Snark]

How about, after a gameday we keep the server open (with no RTV, 30 minutes each map) that rotates through the gameday maps throughout the rest of the week?

It does stay open... and I think the maps do rotate.

 

[MrAlBobo]

the server is always open, the maps are always there, and rtv is the only way for non admins to change the map...and for your reference, maps do not change on their own unless there is someone on the server

 

[grazr]

Someone mentioned a highlighted map of the week. If there is going to be a secondary server it could run the highlighted map for a week, whilst the primary runs the whole rotation as it does now (or what ever). So anyone can jump in and test the map without needing admins. But obviously another server is gonna require more funds and there are a few people here who run their own servers too..

I try to give as much feedback as possible on the forums as my activity in the server is of a minimum (when ever i get dragged in from the steamchat). I find it hard to give decent gameplay feedback with a jittery screen and jumpy players. Playing on Western servers makes me want to bind -say "LAG"- to every unbound key i have. But that's no one's fualt, that's just an unfortunate circumstance of where i happen to live. I'm just a little annoyed that work changed my hours so now i can't attend gameday.

I'm a little out of touch on how the server is run, but how fluid is it in being able to test peoples just released map (irrespective of people who can play it at the time). If more people realised they can get therr new map tested, off little more than a whim and a couple people paying attention in steamchat, by like minded people here, that wouldn't be a bad thing.

 

[Nineaxis]

Yeah, I think the best way to get our community ingrained into the larger TF2 community is to make our server useful. It just sits there except on gamedays, when really, we need to be the #1 custom maps server. We're TF2Maps.net!

Having rtv, a rotation of gameday maps, and 4 rounds per map limit (no time limit), and 24 player slots is what I see as the optimal setup. And, a flashy motd to advertise us, and a server name that isn't "TF2Maps.net *Gameday* by Layeredtech.com". Something like "TF2Maps.net 24/7 Community Customs".

 

[MrAlBobo]

Someone mentioned a highlighted map of the week. If there is going to be a secondary server it could run the highlighted map for a week, whilst the primary runs the whole rotation as it does now (or what ever). So anyone can jump in and test the map without needing admins. But obviously another server is gonna require more funds and there are a few people here who run their own servers too..

i mentioned both the highlighted map and the 2nd server <_<
as for testing a map on a whim...what few people realize is that using a rtv when your the only one on the server is essentially you being given the chance to choose a map, then on the sites server, if you type in sm_admin, you have the ability to start a map vote regardless of if you have admin or not (not sure about this, i could do it before i had admin) so admins are not that important regardless
and as for that reference to more cost...i have a server that just sits around doing nothing, its available for anything, notice my sig...

as for your thought of getting a map uploaded and tested on the spur of a moment...thats a bit more difficult, for that to happen the person would either need to own a server (or have ftp to a server), know someone who owns a server while they happen to be on, or be a donator on this site and have access to the server upload

Having rtv, a rotation of gameday maps, and 4 rounds per map limit (no time limit), and 24 player slots is what I see as the optimal setup. And, a flashy motd to advertise us, and a server name that isn't "TF2Maps.net *Gameday* by Layeredtech.com". Something like "TF2Maps.net 24/7 Community Customs".

multi-round maps might not like your 4 round setup

and the maps are uploaded onto my server, if we decide to test the dual-server setup

 

[grazr]

i mentioned both the highlighted map and the 2nd server <_<
as for testing a map on a whim...what few people realize is that using a rtv when your the only one on the server is essentially you being given the chance to choose a map, then on the sites server, if you type in sm_admin, you have the ability to start a map vote regardless of if you have admin or not (not sure about this, i could do it before i had admin) so admins are not that important regardless
and as for that reference to more cost...i have a server that just sits around doing nothing, its available for anything, notice my sig...

as for your thought of getting a map uploaded and tested on the spur of a moment...thats a bit more difficult, for that to happen the person would either need to own a server (or have ftp to a server), know someone who owns a server while they happen to be on, or be a donator on this site and have access to the server upload

Sorry, it's 4:30am here and i just woke up after handing in all my uni work for the semester. But that's what i was worried about, requiring someone with ftp access or a donator with upload access to be able to "test off a whim". Which, does this include 500 post count now? My donation ran out but i'm not sure if i was ever given that oppotunity. I didn't test it.. But this is possibly something that we need to improve on then.

What i was concerned about with the rtv is how many maps can you select from that vote? I'm not sure how many custom maps are uploaded but the num pad only goes has 10 numbers :/ sometimes your map wont come up? I'm not sure..

 

[Icarus]

the server is always open, the maps are always there, and rtv is the only way for non admins to change the map...and for your reference, maps do not change on their own unless there is someone on the server

I never noticed. I think I checked a few times and stock maps came up so I just assumed gameday rotation was only for one day.

 

[MrAlBobo]

Sorry, it's 4:30am here and i just woke up after handing in all my uni work for the semester. But that's what i was worried about, requiring someone with ftp access or a donator with upload access to be able to "test off a whim". Which, does this include 500 post count now? My donation ran out but i'm not sure if i was ever given that oppotunity. I didn't test it.. But this is possibly something that we need to improve on then.

What i was concerned about with the rtv is how many maps can you select from that vote? I'm not sure how many custom maps are uploaded but the num pad only goes has 10 numbers :/ sometimes your map wont come up? I'm not sure..

the gameserver upload includes the 500 post people, and the main problem with making the server more accessible to people is due to security reasons, there was a time when the gameserver upload was more widely available, but the right was abused and that got taken away

as for rtv...it depends, it does have a nominate command within it that allows you to add a certain map to the selection, and when using the other method i mentioned, you just press 9 to bring you to the next page of maps

and honestly, where are the admins...why am i answering most of the questions...

 

[Nineaxis]

multi-round maps might not like your 4 round setup

Mappers should have it set so their multiround map is treated as one round, like Gold Rush and Dustbowl are, so it is four rounds of the map, not four mini-rounds, cutting out in the middle.

 

[grazr]

I didn't realise Goldrush and Dustbowl were setup like that.. i remember servers with that setup always changing map at the end of the second round. It was really annoying..

 

[Baysin]

Hmmm. Here's a thought. Not sure how it would work, but...
Maybe invite competitive clans to play matches on the server, featuring a community map you're trying to promote? Perhaps, for instance, take the winner of the payload contest and have that be the focus for a competitive tournament on the TF2Maps server. I have NO idea how hard that would be to organize or arrange, since I stay far, far away from "serious" competitive playing, but it'd be a way to get PR with the core group of players and maybe introduce new blood to the community. Even if not full-blown tournaments, maybe just scheduled scrims between a few different groups? Then these hard-core players go back to their respective groups and communities, and say, "We had a good match with Team X on this neat custom map over at TF2Maps" and hopefully a few people watch the demos or whatever and say, "Wow, that's a neat map, what was that website again?"

Just tossing that out there, no clue if it's a good idea or not.

 

[Nineaxis]

Does the server have psycho stats? (Never seen any tf2maps server stats)

Because when we got a good running server we could get a lot of nice stats from it

And I don't see why this server couldn't become a good running server like e.g. the NoHeroes servers. We could ask them to add it to their server list since they have a lot of members, and support this community . And that would be a great way to get some nice psycho stats

Maybe we should only add the maps of the last (1-3) gameday(s) to the rotation/rtv so the maps that need testing get the testing it needs

Great idea, our server should give us stats, considering we are testing maps. :thumbup1:

And I still think running the gameday rotation until next gameday would be a great idea (with votemap, so we can change the map to ours if the server is empty and invite people to test).

Ultimately, we need to be the server everyone wants their custom map on. And the server people go to to play customs.