Sportsmanship

What does sportsmanship mean in the realms of TFC? What would I consider to be sportsmanlike?

(Disclaimer: My main focus here - as usual - is on pubs games. Clan members will find many points mentioned below not fitting for clan matches. Yet I think sportsmanship has its place in clan matches as well, but requires a different focus).

To start with I’d say: Fairness and Fairplay.

Playing fair means not to use any tactics or actions, which are against the rules. But I would like to point out that the ’rules’ of TFC are laid out very roughly and are by no means neither explicit nor exhaustive.
The Physical rules are defined by the creators of the game. Eventually it’s up to them to decide which actions are parts of the game or not. The removal of the quickdet script was such a case where Valve stepped in to adjust a bug in the game engine.
This is the layer most people look at: Playing inside the boundaries of the game engine without cheating. However, it is clear that there are other components involved, like game ethics, behaviour and conduct. For example there is no explicit rule, which forbids to block a door by building a sentry there or to kill a teammate when friendly fire is enabled. Yet I think a vast majority would agree that such behaviour (usually by what we call lamers) is against the way the game should be played.
Between this behaviour and the way of playing the game properly is a grey area that often enough is controversial and discussed fiercely, like respawn camping, spamming, etc.

Sportsmanship adds another layer to the subject. It has much to do with the way you treat other players and your code of conduct inside the game.
In relation to the other players it means to treat them with respect and to acknowledge their right to enjoy the game as well. I would even go that far to say that it also holds the obligation to try making the game enjoyable for the participating players (inside the boundaries of common sense).

But it also suggests a certain level of conduct.
This includes refraining from cheap tactics, to keep from harassing other players and to show a little dignity, especially when facing defeat. It also means to keep teams even, definitely in numbers but sometimes circumstances suggest including skill to the equation.

What would I consider ’cheap tactics’?
Respawn camping, Spamming, Camp’n’Spam and similar things (a pet peeve of mine is building sentries in the enemy base on servers with few players or lots of newbies).
While these tactics may hold a certain tactical value in many cases they are not required to play the game successfully and often enough just damage the atmosphere on the server. Often enough people are using these tactics for no tactical value at all, but solely to piss other players off. In such cases I fail to see any difference to the actions of your common lamer.

So why should a player act sportsmanlike?
Isn’t it enough to refrain from cheating, to play fair and to follow the rules of the game?

The simple answer is: It helps enormously to keep games enjoyable!
Some people might consider being sportsmanlike as a weakness. It is not!
A sportsmanlike conduct does in no way veil your skill. Being polite and to acknowledge other people’s skill does not make you appear a bad player. Trying to extend the term fairness to have some regards for weaker players or newbies is not a sign of weakness (IMO quite the opposite).
Playing in the spirit of sportsmanship does by no means keep you from playing competitively and to strive for victory.
The common misconception is that sportsmanship would restrict you. But that’s wrong. Sportsmanship represents no restriction for a good player. Being skilled and playing effectively and successfully while playing sportsmanlike is no contradiction.
In fact I believe that such players are held in higher regards and are more respected than skilled players who display poor behaviour.
BTW, sportsmanship does not presuppose skill. I think a player has much more chance to gain some respect while not being very skilled (yet) when being sportsmanlike than otherwise. Nobody respects an asshole that isn’t even skilled

But of course it could have an impact on that precious personal score of yours.
To disregard sportsmanship and to go deathmatching, or respawn camping, or to join the leading and more skilled team works often wonders on a personal score. And a lot of people like to define their level of skill by personal score (lol).
After almost 2 years I still fail to see what people draw from their personal score on pub games and how people can take pride or joy from their score when the game offered few comptetition. (Not to mention that both personal score and even the team score is rather fleeting as much as pub games are concerned.)

In my opinion there is nothing more enjoyable than playing on a server with a good and friendly atmosphere, where people treat each other with respect and where the game is tough and competitive without cheap tactics and poor behaviour.