As you surely all know the European TF2 League ETF2L, with some cooperation with Valve, is organizing a Highlander tourney. It’s designed as an open tourney, geared specifically towards non- or semi-competitive players.
The idea is quite simply to give pub players the opportunity to get a glimpse into the world of competitive gameplay, to give them a chance to experience more structured teamplay and also to introduce them to a lot of like-minded other players in a more organized context.
As an additional incentive Valve agreed to provide a medal (similar to the Veteran medals released in April) not only to the winning team and the runner up, but also a medal to each participant (and true to the word participated in the challenge).
A very neat idea, but in retrospect probably one that might have backfired.
The initial announced limit to the Challenge was 160 teams. I’ve read a statement from an ETF2L admin claiming that this was never intended as a restrictive limit, but that they’ve always planned to allow more teams to participate. Well, they’ve got their wish.
Currently almost 1000 teams have signed up for the event.
Among those many non-European teams. While the Challenge always made clear that it welcomes players from outside Europe it also always maintained that this would be an event focused on Europe, with European servers and time zones being the default (though not mandatory).
I doubt that many players from overseas (predominantly American) would bother to participate in a European event if there wasn’t that particular carrot in shape of a medal.
And while I personally have no quarrel with such a tourney to become a global event it is also a nice demonstration how pathetic all this accessorial stuff and the obsession with it has become. People, who would have never considered in their dreams to participate in an European event join in simply because Valve offers a medal! (And for the record: Of course it would be just the same if this was an American event; European players would participate for just the same pathetic reason).
I’m really not sure I’m feeling comfortable with that development any longer ...
Back to the Challenge:
The projected timetable of the event is apparently in shambles. The large number of participating teams naturally requires a much higher effort to organize the teams into groups and to create a schedule for the event. I applaud the organizers that apparently they rise to the challenge and try to organize the event in a fashion which accommodates the diverse origins of the teams in regards of location (servers) and time zones.
Still, the projected start date of September 12th seems highly unlikely at this point.
Of course, no harm done. People will have to wait a little longer, but sadly TF2 players are not known for their patience in the first place.
On the other hand I wonder how many of those teams will actually play. Though the info stated clearly enough that only teams completing the tourney (read: playing until elimination) will receive the participation medal I guess quite a lot of people signed up simply assuming (or speculating) they would get the medal that way (TF2 players are not exactly known for their brains either). So it’s safe to assume a certain percentage of teams with either not show up at all or quickly drop out once they face the reality of getting a team coordinated for playing more than once.
In light of that I pity the organizers of ETF2L who go through all the trouble to work out an accommodating schedule for people who never seriously considered to participate (or didn’t think through the effort it takes to actually organize a team for a tourney in the first place). Somebody pessimistically estimated only a third of those teams would actually show up. Or was it optimistically ... ?
But why am I commenting on this in the first place?
For one because I think it’s basically a neat idea. I’m not the biggest fan of competitive gameplay for various reasons, but I acknowledge that comp gameplay offers the most refined teamplay and represents TF at its finest. So this is a nice PR event to make non-comp-players familiar with a higher level of teamplay. And while I have little respect for the 6vs6 format the challenge will thankfully be held in the Highlander format, which IMHO is closer to the spirit of TF.
Oh yeah, and I should probably mention that chances are that I might play in the HCC 
I’m part of a ragtag group of people composed from regulars of my beloved favourite server of clan WDG under the tag T-Regs. Given the free-spirited nature of our members I am a bit worried if we will actually be able to get this show on the road (and yes, in light of what I’m stated above it will not make me proud should we fail to pull this through), but if we do it should be huge fun! I guess I might even be allowed to play a match or two before my teammates realize that I’m rather a liability than an asset 
.
Well, we will see how it goes. Right now the organizers have to get this event back on track first. I’m a bit disappointed by the complete lack of information from ETF2L’s side even while they miss one point of their planned schedule after another. In best former Valve fashion they leave the people hanging in the air, without acknowledging their former schedule disintegrating and without a hint how this will continue.
I expect the event to be postponed, probably significantly. With college schedules resuming this might get some teams into trouble. Okay, more teams falling apart might help to get the event back to a more manageable number, but on the other hand I doubt that this represents the PR ETF2L intended, nor will it increase interest of the more ambitious pub players to try their hand on comp playing.
Yes, it’s a bit of an unfair judgment, since the organizers are all volunteers, doing this at their own free time, as a service to the (competitive) TF community. And from what little I’ve read a few things happened which were not in their control. But then again, once you kick off a public event like this you have to accept to be measured by your actions (or inactions).
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Update
In good journalistic tradition I pointed out my article to ETF2L, and I received the following answer:
We are very happy with how the Highlander Community Challenge is
progressing. Whilst we have suffered delays, as you point out most of these
were unforeseen as we are dealing with a vastly larger number of teams than
anticipated. We are also fully confident in the ability of TF2 players to
read the details of the competition, in which we have always clearly stated
how medals will be given out.We will be announcing the next stage of the Challenge shortly, so please
keep visiting ETF2L.org for information.
And true to this today, Sunday 12th, ETF2L has announced provisional groups for the event. Looks like things are getting into motion.
Thanks to ETF2L for their answer.
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For further information:
ETF2L
Highlander Community Challenge
HCC Forum Section
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