An Open Letter To The Community

[Adam]

Before I begin I would like to give a shout out to people who have put a lot into this game since I've been gone(you know who you are). The changes I see to the game and the possibilities of modding make me very optimistic for the future of this game.

Since I decided to come back, I've been browsing the forums and reading. I've seen a lot of conversation and argument about how to promote the game and to improve the community. I've also seen a lot of infighting.

I have a proposal to help reinvigorate the community and bring more interest to the game. But first I want to say a little about myself so you can understand where I am coming from.

I started playing WC2 when I was 7 years old(I'm in my 30's now), my oldest brother showed it to me and I immediately fell in love with it. I played it on and off for a few years until I found BNET, which was probably one of the funnest times of my life. I pretty quickly joined a BGH clan on USWest called Indepth Insanity [II], which specialized in BGH2HF. I played on USWest on and off until the player base slowly began to dwindle, which can be attributed in large part to the release of WC3. I resisted the change and stayed on USWest for as long as I could but eventually decided to move to USEast, along with many other players who chose to stick around. For the next 10 years I played mostly under the name DaMa(on USEast and RU).

Prior to the death of BNET I joined a 3-man clan called Ax] which became the best BGH N/A clan on USEast of the time, despite the fact that our one clan rule was: always play humans. If my memory serves me, it was aound this time that I noticed chat bots promoting War2RU and I became friends with Burnt who was a fellow USWest native. Burnt encouraged me to join War2RU to help preserve the commnity because BNET's days were numbered.

I joined War2RU and eventually USEast died as well, although it took much longer compared to USWest. Ultimately, anyone who continued to play War2 online moved to RU. I played on RU off and on for a several years until  I reached a point where I couldn't justify spending the time on the game anymore, I became jaded with the state of the community. Logging in every day to find only GoW and Mini Chop being hosted is not fun for a lot of people. And the atrocious behavior from some of the veteran players - even for someone as seasoned as me - was no longer tolerable.

I've always respected the BNE community even though I never considered myself part of it. And there is something to be said about hardcore GoW players keeping a certain amount of life in this game. Unfortunately what I have seen take place over the years has been what I consider a slow de-evolution. The BNE community which included GoW players has really just been the GoW community for many years now. And the Custom community followed in the same path with Chop. Now what do we have? We have the GoW/Chop community. Is that what people want? The GoW/Chop community?

I'm not going to shit on GoW players or Chop players. Those are both great maps and many great players of the past and present play both. That's not the issue.
The problem with the community is the same problem that War2 has always had: toxic elitism. You know it, I know it, everyone knows it. It's bad for the game, it's bad for the community and it's a turn off for new players. I've seen so many new players come and go because they didn't have anyone to teach them how to play and they were treated like shit. I've been gone for something like 10 years and I come back to people being rude and banning others because they suck. More of the same. Does that create a good environment for growth? The answer is no.

If there is truly a desire for this community to grow and to attract new players - and old players - then it needs to be a friendly environment that is inviting to new players and old players alike.

Regardless of how loud one small group of people is, the truth is that so many players have left this game because there is no variety. And stating the obvious: this game is old as fuck. That already makes it challenging enough.

With all that being said, I would like to say again that I am extremely impressed with the progress that I see happening in the game and the community. Some of the mods that have been made to the game are a dream come true. And despite the stagnant state of the community and gameplay, there is a lot of promise.

I consider War2 to be a huge part of what shaped me in my early years. I love this game and I look back on the times I had with many of you fondly. There is no reason why War2 can't be preserved for another 10-20 years if people really want it to. If I'm going to play this game, I want it to be fun and I want others to have fun.

So what do I propose? I am starting a little project to help promote more variety and a friendly gaming atmosphere. This isn't just for Custom players but for anyone who likes variety in their gameplay. Anyone who is interested in being a part of the project can message me here or on the Discord(link below). I am currently working on compiling a list of players who enjoy custom maps, which isn't necessarily limited to only custom players but can include players who enjoy variety(i.e. any BNE/Classic other than GoW) and when published it may include a small bio on each player.

THIS PROJECT IS IN THE BEGINNING STAGES OF CREATION. I WELCOME INPUT AND IDEAS. WAR2 IS OLDER THAN DINOSAURS, I DON'T EXPECT THIS PROJECT TO CULMINATE OVER NIGHT.

WHAT DO I WANT / HOPE TO GET FROM THE COMMUNITY?: Collaboration, cooperation, assistance

WHAT DO I WANT FROM THE ADMINS HERE ON WAR2RU?: STICKY THIS SHIT. WE NEED OPEN DISCUSSION. PEOPLE NEED TO SEE IT.

Edit: After some thought and a little more research I am exploring the possibility of this becoming a cross server/community project(thanks for the suggestion @Rareskills).

__________________________________

My YouTube channel which I plan to utilize to promote the community: http://www.youtube.com/user/War2Custom

New Discord I am building specifically for Project W2C: https://discord.gg/G8d6yz7K

__________________________________

Reference Threads / Messages:

https://forum.war2.ru/index.php/topic,5579.0.html

https://forum.war2.ru/index.php/topic,6747.0.html

https://forum.war2.ru/index.php/topic,6390.msg96893.html#msg96893

https://forum.war2.ru/index.php/topic,5710.msg90066.html#msg90066

This is the mentality as to why it won't work. The elitist's are fucking assholes (see equinox). You call them out and they get "permaban" butthurt. Grown crybaby ass men. It's sad really. All that really needs to happen is mother fuckers just be nice to each other and help each other learn.

I wish people played more maps, variety..you see me online im playing classic and differnet maps versus the same recycled ones. I hope more people have an open mind

[Mistral]

if u want mods we have many new inventions and tools now (especially in last 1-2 years)
also there is open source codes on my github for all custom campanigns and war2mod

[Adam]

if u want mods we have many new inventions and tools now (especially in last 1-2 years)
also there is open source codes on my github for all custom campanigns and war2mod

Thank you for your contribution to the game. Your work is something I always hoped could be accomplished. You are pretty much who I wanted to be in-a-nutshell when I was a little kid. I always loved map editing, but I have zero programming/coding experience.

[Rareskills]

I would caution that there is already a "variety" project in both what babyshark is doing on USA server and what Trogallart is doing on GOG.....

If you want a real evolution, combine these and bring the communities together. If you just split off another segment you not achieve what your vision is

[Adam]

I would caution that there is already a "variety" project in both what babyshark is doing on USA server and what Trogallart is doing on GOG.....

If you want a real evolution, combine these and bring the communities together. If you just split off another segment you not achieve what your vision is

I am aware of the USA server but I was under the impression that there wasn't a lot going on there and that it was more of an attempt at an alternative to RU. I could easily be wrong. I will look into this more.

I am unaware of a GOG project. I will look into this as well.

Thank you for the input @Rareskills

[Rareskills]

Check out their discords

https://discord.gg/G6ffUbtKVg

https://discord.gg/4w5dvHzB

[Dudakurten]

The best thing should be bring people who only play US and GOG to Ru server. Maybe check with their communities what is needed from it?

[Harrywangs]

Clan DW welcomed all new players, played games with everyone, and played many different maps. Unfortunately (b/c he is gone), that was ran by Burnt... Get him back and motivated and that'll be a huge plus to your project. Also, there you have it, copy his model. A clan of new players or players who will play with anyone. I think a lot of DWs went to USA actually. I may be wrong.

I train any new players I see and ask them if they plan on playing this game for a bit or just randomly here and there throughout the year typically. I tell them to msg me the next day to play more or get games, but most do not. I spend at least an hour teaching and talking to them. To see it go nowhere does affect my future motivations though.

Only a few new players have stuck. We had a top SC player who got good real fast and kept getting banned for being a smurf (EQ). I taught him but it didn't take a ton of effort due to the similarities in the games. He got tired of the community and quit too. TheOneCrow I think? I taught ForTheKing I think was his name. He may smurf now, but he played a lot and was getting a hang of it. The smurf king, Bloody, at an early point. Momo, I think he plays on USA, and 1 other, I forget.

I would also urge new people to NOT smurf. I think that really hurts their chances of playing games.

A TRAINING MODE NEEDS TO BE MADE!! (ie- infinite timeouts to explain- resources reset for teaching different/new spots in the same game- unit resets, etc) Very difficult to show things with the correct timing when you are building and typing.

[Adam]

Clan DW welcomed all new players, played games with everyone, and played many different maps. Unfortunately (b/c he is gone), that was ran by Burnt... Get him back and motivated and that'll be a huge plus to your project. Also, there you have it, copy his model. A clan of new players or players who will play with anyone. I think a lot of DWs went to USA actually. I may be wrong.

I train any new players I see and ask them if they plan on playing this game for a bit or just randomly here and there throughout the year typically. I tell them to msg me the next day to play more or get games, but most do not. I spend at least an hour teaching and talking to them. To see it go nowhere does affect my future motivations though.

Only a few new players have stuck. We had a top SC player who got good real fast and kept getting banned for being a smurf (EQ). I taught him but it didn't take a ton of effort due to the similarities in the games. He got tired of the community and quit too. TheOneCrow I think? I taught ForTheKing I think was his name. He may smurf now, but he played a lot and was getting a hang of it. The smurf king, Bloody, at an early point. Momo, I think he plays on USA, and 1 other, I forget.

I would also urge new people to NOT smurf. I think that really hurts their chances of playing games.

A TRAINING MODE NEEDS TO BE MADE!! (ie- infinite timeouts to explain- resources reset for teaching different/new spots in the same game- unit resets, etc) Very difficult to show things with the correct timing when you are building and typing.

Thanks for your input @Harrywangs

The clan model definitely worked in the past. Being part of a group is fun.

I've always enjoyed teaching people the game, and more specifically the customs that I excel at. I think it does a lot to encourage people to stick around.

I think training mode is an interesting idea. I can see OBS being super useful but maybe there could be an additional mode. @Mistral might have some insight on this.

Big customs are really good for training because you start out with max resources in a lot of them. Learning to progress without high resources is important though if you want to play classics and BNE.

[Shotgun]

Most new people who log in just want to muck around for a few hours and then never come back, they are not interested in becoming good players.

Ofcourse good players are not going to want to ally people who have played for 2 hours

[Adam]

Most new people who log in just want to muck around for a few hours and then never come back, they are not interested in becoming good players.

Ofcourse good players are not going to want to ally people who have played for 2 hours

I don't know that your first statement is true.

And I definitely don't think your second statement is true. Maybe it's true in GoW.

[Shotgun]

Most new people who log in just want to muck around for a few hours and then never come back, they are not interested in becoming good players.

Ofcourse good players are not going to want to ally people who have played for 2 hours

I don't know that your first statement is true.

And I definitely don't think your second statement is true. Maybe it's true in GoW.

Then you obviously have no sense of reality

[BGN]

Mistral delete my message for no reason.

I am Equinox.

[Mistral]

if you really Equinox then write from your real acc
why create 10000 billion new cursed smurfs

also you writed inexplicable insults about good members of our community, which is real Equinox would never do, as everyone knows he is a good guy, not someone like you who going insulting everything for no reason

[BGN]

if you really Equinox then write from your real acc
why create 10000 billion new cursed smurfs

also you writed inexplicable insults about good members of our community, which is real Equinox would never do, as everyone knows he is a good guy, not someone like you who going insulting everything for no reason

1: I got 2 accounts on this forum, Nox and BGN, and i just created BGN today, not 10000 billions like you try to pretend.
2: I cant use Nox account cuz i dont have the password anymore and i dont have the e-mail either.
3: Everyone know who is BGN, BGN mean '' Big great Nox '' It's not a smurf, and since when do you cares about smurfs, this server is compose of 60% smurfs.
4: Im not the one who talk about suppose ''good'' members of our community, harrywang is the one talking about me for no reason, read above your post.
5: You have never like me, dont act like you do.
6: Remove that approval moderation on my posts, what the heck is this.
7: Now i must re-write my post for Adam, what a waste of time because of you, thank you very much.