As this forum will be public at some point, I wanted to include quotes from players about the consolidation:
Sent: Tue Feb 10, 2015 9:27 pm
by tox
wow, I am positive surprised to find that over the extinction of the leagues makes thoughts! I also think that we should always think about a new concept that time. What I read as a step in the right direction. Teams should be more flexible, so that you can form teams in most cases, which would lead to more offis and thus the league would be alive.
About the diehard ducati player I would not make me really worried. Everyone knows about the extinction of the leagues. Therefore, I think that a new concept for all would be more stimulus for playing again more. Or not ?
This theme is definitely among us, but important player should you include in this discussion. You're one of them ...
am happy to open for new
tox
Yvaika in fb pm: I've actually had similar thoughts
Sent: Wed Feb 11, 2015 2:43 am
From: ahs3
To: kierra
I have always wondered why bzflag leagues were so competitive, it seems natural to join the leagues. Especially when activity is low. I think it is a great idea.
Sent: Wed Feb 11, 2015 9:33 pm
From: muhkuh
To: kierra
Hey kierra!
tyvm for sharing.
Seeing the problem with a thinning player base and guessing there is smthg like a 'critical mass' of players for one or more leagues to exist. So if players forced to switch, and let's say 2/3rd are willing to do so - there is another 1/3rd lost
what possibly might not be a problem if this 1/3rd already is inactive.
Talking for myself i'm strictly playing non-jumping servers (might be the only one) and did not play offis for weeks or even months because it's just not happening and my time for bz is much more scarce than ever.
A problem i see is that commited leaders (the alpha wolves of players) are leaving the place, maybe in frustration, maybe for other reasons ... i don't have the insights to that processes - but the development is not good for overall continuity in general because leagues go arphaned and inactive.
Thwarting that trend seems a necessity.
I might be one of the die hard duc players you mentioned and if cost of administration or stabilizing a league player base makes it required i'm fully with the idea (if not forced to play jumping servers and will join happily!
hope this helped in some way,
cheers & surely confidential
muh
Sent: Thu Feb 12, 2015 11:10 pm
From: leviathan
To: kierra
Hey kierra,
thanks for writing.
Your effort is honorable, but here are my honest thoughts.
A league only works, when every team has the same conditions. It bz its the map, the amount of shots and the ability to jump or not. You mix it and you lose competition. Style specialization will take place.
What could however do the magic is (and maybe you also meant that): A simplified server structure. One US server that has all your mentioned maps via mapchange command, and one European. They would be called something like "league server" and would be the place to hang out for league players. A duc match going on, while I want to play gu? Come on its 15min. A gu fm going on while I want to play an offi? Come on use the fm to warm up (or even switch to the US/Euro server if so urgent).
Get rid of all these mirrors, all these different settings, admin-groups, ports, and even the public servers. You open bz, you check this server, you see who of the guys willing to fm/offi is online and you immediately get into action.
But if you really think one league could be a good solution, I will fully stand behind. You know the league, you know every player and every dynamics of time and space in this game.
Believe me, I would play like usual, but I share my WiFi with 6 more people now. Never a stable connection with an average of 10 devices connected to the router. Time is also more and more a problem, as I'm doing my PhD now.
Get back at me with the outcome of your survey and good luck with everything that is on your mind.
Best,
levi
Sent: Sat Feb 14, 2015 11:41 pm
by alezakos
Q: Should we do this?
I don't know. It might just have the same or just a larger "special event" effect. Or it might bring back ducati matches. Or GU maps might still prevail, for the reasons I mentioned above, plus old habits die hard. I'd like to listen to what other people say. But it will definitely be easier to have a ducati match.
If we don't unify the leagues, ducati has a chance of dying. If we get them together though, I believe there will always be at least a few players who will want to do something different than GU, and they will just type /map ducati instead of having to go through the hassle of rearranging ducati teams. They won't have to be bothered to organise themselves again to play on OpenLeague. Personally, I'm actually curious to play some matches on different maps.
If you want to increase overall BZFlag activity, there are better ways, such as making an actual in-game tutorial for new players, like every game should have.
But we won't lose anything that we haven't lost already if we implement this. So you've got a yes from me
.
Sent: Fri Feb 13, 2015 10:52 pm
From: Slyther366
To: kierra
Hey Kierra,
I love the idea! It would make both leagues active because if someone joined the server and duc was going they would just roll with it. It would be really interesting to see how well it would go.
Sent: Sun Feb 15, 2015 9:40 pm
From: Moto Unit
To: kierra
I like your idea a lot. I think it would make for a better league, would also mean less headaches for admins etc too. I think it would give folks an opportunity that they may not have had before to play more often as well. Keep me posted. I will keep it quiet for now but if you need any help gaining any support let me know. Thanks!
Sent: Tue Feb 24, 2015 12:09 am
From: figurines
To: kierra
YESSSSSSS!!!!
Sent: Tue Feb 24, 2015 1:26 pm
From: MlG
To: kierra
Hi kierra,
in general i think this is a good idea. It already works in the 1v1 league (3 different map styles). Everyone can simply choose which map to play on. Seems fair...
I dont think die-hard GU/DUC or whatever players could really complain about this idea. Everything is a matter of choice. If you dont want to play on the other maps... Just DONT. Simple. No one will force anyone else to match. There are just more possibilities and more flexibility.
Personally I would like to see officials on Pillbox again really, really, really much!! I agree that making an own league for that does not really make sense right now.
Sent: Fri Feb 27, 2015 1:53 pm
From: kajo
To: kierra
Generally, I like the idea of combining those two leagues as it adds new spirit to the competition itself, competing on different levels. I'd presume, though, that as you mentioned, many gu players won't choosing their gu team over ducati, but still it may add an incentive to try out other game modes.
Question: This would mean that all teams (gu, duc) are going to be dissolved, right? Not sure how I feel about that. As GU is more active but Duc has also lots of traditional teams, this could raise conflicts..
f.e., not sure how i feel about a "new" FF, but still the general idea is great.
Regards
kajo
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Bomber on bzflag:
http://i.imgsafe.org/e291540.png
Neofit's is posted in this thread above.
Chatting with Monster on bz: he was excited about it, esp the idea to play on several different maps in a league setting.
I've spoken to many more: gorgo, Major Dee and more....all favorable in their response - just didn't have sshot or chat. But they all have access here and had the opportunity to weigh in.
"Sometimes people try to expose what's wrong with you, because they can't handle what's right about you."
"Measure your words -- they determine the distance of your relationships"
"If serving is beneath you, leadership is beyond ypu."