I'm making a new thread rather than reply to the other as it will be long winded.
OK, I'm 49 years old. I have been playing video games since you had to put a 20 cent coin in a machine at a video parlour, or a bowling alley. I've actually got two of those machines in my house.
I've been playing PC games since the PC was invented. I played Duke Nukem to death, then Half Life, I was in a Half Life clan for years. Then the game tanked, as they do. One day the server just disappears and you have to start the learning curve all over. But computer games are the shit. I love them. I could play all day. All week.
Bring on Call Of Duty 4. I bought it when my daughter was born, more than 5 years ago. Being in a clan is the way to go. I searched for weeks to find one that was active. Like properly active. KKK suited me well, as I would normally play during the day, which was USA peak time for playing.
It was great. How good is the shoutbox. A cool bunch of peeps. Great servers. You could rarely beat the likes of Sargass or Pugsport. As the years went by things change. First of which, the servers.
As you know, I was promoted through the ranks. Up to exec level. Which is great as at that level you have the most input. Although that didn't seem to hold for servers. Obviously, being in Sydney there are lag issues. The old servers were no problem. Los Ang or Dallas. The latest change put most of the popular servers in NY. NY is as far away from Sydney as is humanly possible. I can deal with a 200 ping, but over 300 is unplayable. It's like half the servers disappeared. I had no say in where the main servers were going to be, I'm just the Aussie guy.
I also play on an Aussie server. Search and Destroy. Internode. Only in my evenings, when the USA servers were quiet. Late last year they changed the IP. Why, I don't know. But it killed it. You used to have to wait until a round ended to get a slot. Now, it's empty. Sad. Can't play S&D, S1 is twelve thousand miles away. So is Zombies. So is Gungame. It's laggy. Real laggy. You can fire a tube and see it travel halfway toward the target, then die, and see no evidence of you firing in the Killcam. In the past month I have had lag so bad you Hyperspace to a different part of the map. Under the map. I could scroll fire my Deagle like an RPD with Double Tap with a single click. Fire 20 rounds from a Deagle by clicking. Crazy shit.
I even rented a USA server in Cali when the servers were moved, in some vain attempt to get some action going, but it was an exercise in futility. New York was the place to be. It still is. Thankfully, Paige had the KTDs going in Cali, so at least there was some fun to be had occasionally. I thought if we get S1 up to speed like the old days, we could get a West Coast server populated. But like I said, if the focus of the Krew as a whole is not there it won't happen.
Then there's the Pwn issue. He cops a lot of flak, sometimes for no reason, sometimes not. Whatever. He wanted to start a new clan and wanted my support. Which, if it worked, meant that I had a shot at being able to play properly, on a decent server. He started a website. A free forum program, which didn't work. Then VBulletin, which had teething problems. Hell, it isn't even set up yet. It wasn't about stabbing anyone in the back. it was about getting back into the game. I'm not trying to shift blame on Pwn. I was trying to support him. Obviously he felt that he wasn't getting support in the Krew.
Don't forget that Greg is a serving USA Soldier. An officer no less. So he tends to be a bit more, I dunno, Politically Correct. For an IT guy. There are certain standards of personal interaction that they (and me) are used to. The Code Of Conduct. Our Values. And all that shit. I was a soldier for 10 years, now I have been a Tactical Commander in the Ambulance Service for 20. Same government, different day. Not everyone understands this. I cut Greg more slack than most because I know where he's coming from.
TBH, I felt pretty much stabbed in the back myself when the whole server shift happened. After all, I was only one guy. A lot of key players were in Europe. NY servers were much better for them. My opinion mattered little.
In reality, COD4 will probably tank soon anyway. Maybe. Maybe not.
The issue at work is not bullshit. I'm actually sitting here at work typing this. On the work laptop though. I wasn't about to type this much stuff on my iPad. It would have killed me. If they (the Rat Patrol, as we call them, but they call themselves the PSCU, Professional Standard & Conduct Unit) are monitoring web time, they'll probably fire me too. But it's not like I'm doing an actual job right now. Soon, I'll be in my fifth month of suspension. They call it "SAD' Selected Alternative Duties, but it's BS. I'm suspended. I wasn't at a different website building up a new army. I have limited capacity these days. I can't sit on the shout all day like I used to chatting away with Blu, Brian and Damage. I'd like to, but I can't.
If I had the cash, I would have kept my Cali server going. Maybe added a MW3 server. Has anyone played that? I only started getting into MP about 2 weeks ago. All the dedi servers are either retarded or empty. The automatic MP feature (or whatever it's called) is full of hackers. That's another story though.
What was cool was the newly invigorated interest in Kompetitions. I tried to get that going full on years ago. Stuff like that needs to have support though. Full support from at least all the staff. But not everyone is into that. People are all different.
But, peeps wanted it (Komps). So I was giving it another go. The Krew still had my support. If peeps wanted Komp, I was sure as hell going to give it to them. I guess that's why I'm Komp Admin (or was). No one else was as passionate about Komps as I am.
Who watches The Walking Dead? I got into that. There's a forum. I was a mod there. I gave it up though last year as something had to go. I had less PC time. I'd rather organise some crazy ass Deagles At Dawn Komp than talk about how Rick headshotted some walker.
Tolerance. That's a biggie. Gamers tend to be less tolerant that most anyone. You get a noob in a server and players are all over them. Trash talk and abuse. It's a bit like spawn campers. Some members want them banned outright. If you read Greg's writing about that he says to try and be more tolerant of them. They're just kids. Give them some guidance and some rules and they might come good. Not always. Talk to them. Kicking them out straight up is not the answer. Sort of like firing. In large Military and Paramilitary organisations, we don't just up and fire people. People are valuable. You dont just respawn them. Firing is the very last step. Kind of ironic given my current work situation. But that is more to do with certain officers working unethically. Hopefully, the fifty thousand bucks the Service is spending on an outside investigator (a lawyer) will bring the truth to light. Yes they are wasting a ton of money on it. My position is being back filled on overtime. It's prolly costing three thousand a week just for that. But I digress.
Anyway, back to tolerance. Like I said, we don't have much. More than most any other clan or servers though, I must say. But, no-one asked me my opinion. I've made some noise before about server locations and what not. Gary knows, he's closer (geographically) than the rest of the USA, so he understands where I'm coming from. I never heard Dee or Wally ask me what's going on, just "he must be a witch, burn him". No "let's talk about this". Just, thanks for sending me those books, BTW you're fired.
OK, I'm 49 years old. I have been playing video games since you had to put a 20 cent coin in a machine at a video parlour, or a bowling alley. I've actually got two of those machines in my house.
I've been playing PC games since the PC was invented. I played Duke Nukem to death, then Half Life, I was in a Half Life clan for years. Then the game tanked, as they do. One day the server just disappears and you have to start the learning curve all over. But computer games are the shit. I love them. I could play all day. All week.
Bring on Call Of Duty 4. I bought it when my daughter was born, more than 5 years ago. Being in a clan is the way to go. I searched for weeks to find one that was active. Like properly active. KKK suited me well, as I would normally play during the day, which was USA peak time for playing.
It was great. How good is the shoutbox. A cool bunch of peeps. Great servers. You could rarely beat the likes of Sargass or Pugsport. As the years went by things change. First of which, the servers.
As you know, I was promoted through the ranks. Up to exec level. Which is great as at that level you have the most input. Although that didn't seem to hold for servers. Obviously, being in Sydney there are lag issues. The old servers were no problem. Los Ang or Dallas. The latest change put most of the popular servers in NY. NY is as far away from Sydney as is humanly possible. I can deal with a 200 ping, but over 300 is unplayable. It's like half the servers disappeared. I had no say in where the main servers were going to be, I'm just the Aussie guy.
I also play on an Aussie server. Search and Destroy. Internode. Only in my evenings, when the USA servers were quiet. Late last year they changed the IP. Why, I don't know. But it killed it. You used to have to wait until a round ended to get a slot. Now, it's empty. Sad. Can't play S&D, S1 is twelve thousand miles away. So is Zombies. So is Gungame. It's laggy. Real laggy. You can fire a tube and see it travel halfway toward the target, then die, and see no evidence of you firing in the Killcam. In the past month I have had lag so bad you Hyperspace to a different part of the map. Under the map. I could scroll fire my Deagle like an RPD with Double Tap with a single click. Fire 20 rounds from a Deagle by clicking. Crazy shit.
I even rented a USA server in Cali when the servers were moved, in some vain attempt to get some action going, but it was an exercise in futility. New York was the place to be. It still is. Thankfully, Paige had the KTDs going in Cali, so at least there was some fun to be had occasionally. I thought if we get S1 up to speed like the old days, we could get a West Coast server populated. But like I said, if the focus of the Krew as a whole is not there it won't happen.
Then there's the Pwn issue. He cops a lot of flak, sometimes for no reason, sometimes not. Whatever. He wanted to start a new clan and wanted my support. Which, if it worked, meant that I had a shot at being able to play properly, on a decent server. He started a website. A free forum program, which didn't work. Then VBulletin, which had teething problems. Hell, it isn't even set up yet. It wasn't about stabbing anyone in the back. it was about getting back into the game. I'm not trying to shift blame on Pwn. I was trying to support him. Obviously he felt that he wasn't getting support in the Krew.
Don't forget that Greg is a serving USA Soldier. An officer no less. So he tends to be a bit more, I dunno, Politically Correct. For an IT guy. There are certain standards of personal interaction that they (and me) are used to. The Code Of Conduct. Our Values. And all that shit. I was a soldier for 10 years, now I have been a Tactical Commander in the Ambulance Service for 20. Same government, different day. Not everyone understands this. I cut Greg more slack than most because I know where he's coming from.
TBH, I felt pretty much stabbed in the back myself when the whole server shift happened. After all, I was only one guy. A lot of key players were in Europe. NY servers were much better for them. My opinion mattered little.
In reality, COD4 will probably tank soon anyway. Maybe. Maybe not.
The issue at work is not bullshit. I'm actually sitting here at work typing this. On the work laptop though. I wasn't about to type this much stuff on my iPad. It would have killed me. If they (the Rat Patrol, as we call them, but they call themselves the PSCU, Professional Standard & Conduct Unit) are monitoring web time, they'll probably fire me too. But it's not like I'm doing an actual job right now. Soon, I'll be in my fifth month of suspension. They call it "SAD' Selected Alternative Duties, but it's BS. I'm suspended. I wasn't at a different website building up a new army. I have limited capacity these days. I can't sit on the shout all day like I used to chatting away with Blu, Brian and Damage. I'd like to, but I can't.
If I had the cash, I would have kept my Cali server going. Maybe added a MW3 server. Has anyone played that? I only started getting into MP about 2 weeks ago. All the dedi servers are either retarded or empty. The automatic MP feature (or whatever it's called) is full of hackers. That's another story though.
What was cool was the newly invigorated interest in Kompetitions. I tried to get that going full on years ago. Stuff like that needs to have support though. Full support from at least all the staff. But not everyone is into that. People are all different.
But, peeps wanted it (Komps). So I was giving it another go. The Krew still had my support. If peeps wanted Komp, I was sure as hell going to give it to them. I guess that's why I'm Komp Admin (or was). No one else was as passionate about Komps as I am.
Who watches The Walking Dead? I got into that. There's a forum. I was a mod there. I gave it up though last year as something had to go. I had less PC time. I'd rather organise some crazy ass Deagles At Dawn Komp than talk about how Rick headshotted some walker.
Tolerance. That's a biggie. Gamers tend to be less tolerant that most anyone. You get a noob in a server and players are all over them. Trash talk and abuse. It's a bit like spawn campers. Some members want them banned outright. If you read Greg's writing about that he says to try and be more tolerant of them. They're just kids. Give them some guidance and some rules and they might come good. Not always. Talk to them. Kicking them out straight up is not the answer. Sort of like firing. In large Military and Paramilitary organisations, we don't just up and fire people. People are valuable. You dont just respawn them. Firing is the very last step. Kind of ironic given my current work situation. But that is more to do with certain officers working unethically. Hopefully, the fifty thousand bucks the Service is spending on an outside investigator (a lawyer) will bring the truth to light. Yes they are wasting a ton of money on it. My position is being back filled on overtime. It's prolly costing three thousand a week just for that. But I digress.
Anyway, back to tolerance. Like I said, we don't have much. More than most any other clan or servers though, I must say. But, no-one asked me my opinion. I've made some noise before about server locations and what not. Gary knows, he's closer (geographically) than the rest of the USA, so he understands where I'm coming from. I never heard Dee or Wally ask me what's going on, just "he must be a witch, burn him". No "let's talk about this". Just, thanks for sending me those books, BTW you're fired.
Being an admin, nothing could be done?
" shoulda realized it would get worse for other people
