Hi People

Totentanz already mentioned another honourable Warrior to join Fort Bundy.

I really hope this Warrior comes soon, as this community needs a mighty kick in the butt to regain some perspective on the issues at hand.

In the meantime you will have to put up with me as a substitute to do some butt-kicking of my own – in best tradition of the Fort of course – and maybe I can spawn a few good discussions and offer some useful thoughts about the game and the community.

A few facts about me for those who don’t know me yet, so you’ll have an idea who you’re dealing with:
I’m playing TFC since it was released in April ’99. I have not played TF before.
I’m not playing in a clan, nor have I ever been in one.
Maybe some people will think this disqualifies me to make statements about the game. I couldn’t care less.

I’m a pub player by choice. Granted, I’m just a very mediocre player not only by clan standards . Yet I know the game for a long time and I know how the game is played. I’m not familiar with every tactic and I have no mad l33t skillz, but I know what teamwork and communication is and how to use it. And I have a pretty good idea of the concept behind TeamFortress (and likely we will have some major disagreement in the future about my understanding of TF .

Unlike a lot of people I understand TFC as a game which main purpose is not winning or displaying personal skills, but people coming together to have a good time. Playing with people who know the game is of course more satisfying than playing with newbies. But my main indicator for the quality of the game I just left is not my personal score (screw that) and not even the teamscore, but if I leave the game with a smile on my face. And that can happen as well when playing with some newbies who make up their lack of skill with good attitude as when losing a game badly just because the opponent were better.

I think this game would have a lot less problems when more people would share this point of view instead of ignoring uneven teams, bashing newbies, disregarding teamwork for personal glory or playing the game as a deathmatch-variant.

But enough of this lengthy introduction, let’s head straight into my first editorial ...