It is with increasing regularity that I find myself loading the CoD2 page on ClanBase and ending up with my head in my hands not knowing whether to laugh or cry at the latest rule changes by Leon, the game supervisor, and his cronies. My latest theory is that they have created a long list of "decisions that will make people not want to play this game" and every week or so pick one out of a hat and post it on the main page.
These have so far included creating a PAM mod that has the wrong rules for their own cups, removing hitblips only to add them again a few weeks later and having totally different rule sets for all its competitions, the list goes on. The latest farce perpetrated by this team of "admins" is the announcement that all ClanBase games are to be played on servers streaming to one of two sites, either PunksBusted.com or PBbans.com by the 26th of June. While in theory this seems like a good idea, when you actually look closer it's a logistical nightmare that is actually not physically possible to achieve.
To begin with, I got in contact with the Chief Administrator of PunksBusted (PsB), Terry Patton, to talk about the actual streaming process and what it involves. In order to set up a server for streaming you need a special account on their site and to get this you need to submit yourself and your team to a lengthy manual procedure done by the PsB staff. The staff will run a check on your clan website, email address and team background. According to Terry Patton you need "A real functioning websitem not a one pager." so all the clans that signed up with basic websites to ClanBase better start paying a designer to get your website up to scratch fast. Not only that but you also have to have email addresses from the same domain (gmail, hotmail, etc are not accepted) so get ready to start paying a monthly fee for web hosting.
If you've managed to get this far (bought a new website and web hosting), then all that's left is the team background check. Patton gleefully informed me that they recently rejected a team's application for the third time in 6 months because they had a player that had in the past been caught cheating on their roster. So forget about playing if you ever cheated in another game, even if your ClanBase ban is up, you won't be allowed through here! Basically ClanBase is letting another organisation overrule it's own anti-cheat setup.
It was about this point that I figured that all this crazy stuff would actually take a long time to do so I asked Patton about how many clans they normally accept in any given time period. He has happy to report that at the start of the game they managed to process 1,000 applications in close to a month. Let's see how they deal with the 2,500 CoD2 clans from ClanBase applying. I guess it's not so likely it'll be done in the 12 days deadline we have been given.
So ClanBase have given us an impossibly short period of time to purchase a website, purchase web hosting and of course submit to the vital background check. Not only this but you are also required by this new ruling to give the rcon password of your server to your opponents so they can check that you are streaming. I for one am not comfortable in giving away this private password to every Tom, Dick and Harry I play in a ClanBase ladder match and like me, you're probably thinking, what could be worth all this stress? I decided to find out and pressed Terry Patton further for the benefits of this scheme.
According to him, the real benefits of their system lie in using the AMBL feature, the one which shares bans across all the streaming servers but strangely, ClanBase has opted NOT to use this. Instead all they have decided to enforce is the streaming of the logs from the server, which Patton was at a loss to explain the use of in this situation. He seemed surprised that ClanBase already stored a player's IP and GUID as recalling those are the main features of the streaming system requested by ClanBase. Also, despite currently streaming from over 1,000 servers CoD2 servers since the release of CoD2 these guys have only managed to make 250 bans. Sure PsB could help ClanBase by offering advice and verification of PB screens but is it really necessary for us to be streaming from every server in every match just for this?
After further questioning, Patton seemed to back track and responded to my questions with the following cryptic reply, "I know it is difficult to suddenly try to see all the benefits or why they are benefits. But as you say ClanBase is large. They really could use our help to sort out various issues". Translation: "I don't have a clue". ClanBase already has access to all the player identification methods that PsB offer and has an anti-cheat section set up that has served us well since the release of the original CoD. Patton eventually admitted that the move would only make sense if they were to include the AMBL feature, but of course ClanBase opted not to. The AMBL would in fact conflict with ClanBase's present rules regarding cheating as it will not distinguish between an official match, a practice game or just a public.
I was quite surprised by this and figured if the Chief Administrator of PunksBusted couldn't shed any light on this new ruling then maybe the ClanBase admins themselves could. I decided to get back on irc and continue the hunt for any scrap of information I could find on this bizarre turn of events.
Wabbit, the EuroCup supervisor, was my first port of call and I was treated to the very predictable, "I'm sorry, I can't answer on this subject as the decision was made above me". Next up was Wabbit's co-supervisor, Yami, who I contacted, expecting the same. You will understand my shock when I heard the following...
According to Yami, himself and Wabbit had been told by Leon, the game supervisor, to accept this ruling for EuroCup or be removed from their positions. Yes you read that right, the head supervisor for CoD2 threatens his fellow admins with removal if they don't go along with his decisions. Suddenly a lot of things become clear and a worrying trend is exposed. It makes you wonder how many other decisions our EuroCup admins have been blackmailed into by this dictator of a gamesup. It chillingly brought me back to a comment made by Leon a few weeks ago on the ClanBase site in a discussion on the inclusion of hitblips, here he admitted that if it was up to him there wouldn't be any crosshairs in the game either. How long will it be before he can do exactly what he wants? Yami has admitted he intends to retire at the end of this EuroCup season and then how many figures of resistance will remain?
So far Leon has split the community with every step he takes. He has created a PAM mod containing the wrong rules for EuroCup, he has ruled the commonly used Dawnville window you can shoot is a bug which brings with it a forfeit loss if used, he has tried and failed to remove hitblips and now this. He has decided to force through an almost purely cosmetic ruling that will cause untold problems not just for the existing community but also to any players or teams considering trying out CoD2. The server log streaming is a decision the organisers themselves can't even explain and the fact that he had to blackmail other members of the CoD2 crew to accept the decision gives indication enough of their thoughts on it. How much more are we going to let him get away with?
At some point there has to be a last straw, I'm just afraid that by that time this comes we will be playing with no crosshairs, shellshock on and driving up and down the maps in tanks and jeeps. This is obviously a man with no scruples about using his position to get whatever he wants and this leaves us in a seriously dangerous position. It's no secret that CoD2 has got to where it is now in Europe because of the backing of ClanBase and the hard work of people like Wabbit and Yami. Over 500 sign ups for the last EuroCup was the culmination of that effort and saw us attain a €9,500 competition with LAN finals. Ask yourself though, do you think this is likely to happen again?
Why would existing teams sign up for a cup that would require them to get used to a totally new set of rules if they were to qualify, and why would new teams from other games sign up to play in a game that has such frankly laughable rules introduced every week. We cannot allow this to continue, right now we have a game supervisor that is abusing his power, admins that are being forced into retirement because they are sick of the corruption and a community that is being repeatedly divided by the mistakes of those leading it. We are struggling with a broken system and every day we let it continue, slowly but surely, Call of Duty 2 moves towards it's extinction.
These have so far included creating a PAM mod that has the wrong rules for their own cups, removing hitblips only to add them again a few weeks later and having totally different rule sets for all its competitions, the list goes on. The latest farce perpetrated by this team of "admins" is the announcement that all ClanBase games are to be played on servers streaming to one of two sites, either PunksBusted.com or PBbans.com by the 26th of June. While in theory this seems like a good idea, when you actually look closer it's a logistical nightmare that is actually not physically possible to achieve.
To begin with, I got in contact with the Chief Administrator of PunksBusted (PsB), Terry Patton, to talk about the actual streaming process and what it involves. In order to set up a server for streaming you need a special account on their site and to get this you need to submit yourself and your team to a lengthy manual procedure done by the PsB staff. The staff will run a check on your clan website, email address and team background. According to Terry Patton you need "A real functioning websitem not a one pager." so all the clans that signed up with basic websites to ClanBase better start paying a designer to get your website up to scratch fast. Not only that but you also have to have email addresses from the same domain (gmail, hotmail, etc are not accepted) so get ready to start paying a monthly fee for web hosting.
If you've managed to get this far (bought a new website and web hosting), then all that's left is the team background check. Patton gleefully informed me that they recently rejected a team's application for the third time in 6 months because they had a player that had in the past been caught cheating on their roster. So forget about playing if you ever cheated in another game, even if your ClanBase ban is up, you won't be allowed through here! Basically ClanBase is letting another organisation overrule it's own anti-cheat setup.
It was about this point that I figured that all this crazy stuff would actually take a long time to do so I asked Patton about how many clans they normally accept in any given time period. He has happy to report that at the start of the game they managed to process 1,000 applications in close to a month. Let's see how they deal with the 2,500 CoD2 clans from ClanBase applying. I guess it's not so likely it'll be done in the 12 days deadline we have been given.
So ClanBase have given us an impossibly short period of time to purchase a website, purchase web hosting and of course submit to the vital background check. Not only this but you are also required by this new ruling to give the rcon password of your server to your opponents so they can check that you are streaming. I for one am not comfortable in giving away this private password to every Tom, Dick and Harry I play in a ClanBase ladder match and like me, you're probably thinking, what could be worth all this stress? I decided to find out and pressed Terry Patton further for the benefits of this scheme.
According to him, the real benefits of their system lie in using the AMBL feature, the one which shares bans across all the streaming servers but strangely, ClanBase has opted NOT to use this. Instead all they have decided to enforce is the streaming of the logs from the server, which Patton was at a loss to explain the use of in this situation. He seemed surprised that ClanBase already stored a player's IP and GUID as recalling those are the main features of the streaming system requested by ClanBase. Also, despite currently streaming from over 1,000 servers CoD2 servers since the release of CoD2 these guys have only managed to make 250 bans. Sure PsB could help ClanBase by offering advice and verification of PB screens but is it really necessary for us to be streaming from every server in every match just for this?
After further questioning, Patton seemed to back track and responded to my questions with the following cryptic reply, "I know it is difficult to suddenly try to see all the benefits or why they are benefits. But as you say ClanBase is large. They really could use our help to sort out various issues". Translation: "I don't have a clue". ClanBase already has access to all the player identification methods that PsB offer and has an anti-cheat section set up that has served us well since the release of the original CoD. Patton eventually admitted that the move would only make sense if they were to include the AMBL feature, but of course ClanBase opted not to. The AMBL would in fact conflict with ClanBase's present rules regarding cheating as it will not distinguish between an official match, a practice game or just a public.
I was quite surprised by this and figured if the Chief Administrator of PunksBusted couldn't shed any light on this new ruling then maybe the ClanBase admins themselves could. I decided to get back on irc and continue the hunt for any scrap of information I could find on this bizarre turn of events.
Wabbit, the EuroCup supervisor, was my first port of call and I was treated to the very predictable, "I'm sorry, I can't answer on this subject as the decision was made above me". Next up was Wabbit's co-supervisor, Yami, who I contacted, expecting the same. You will understand my shock when I heard the following...
According to Yami, himself and Wabbit had been told by Leon, the game supervisor, to accept this ruling for EuroCup or be removed from their positions. Yes you read that right, the head supervisor for CoD2 threatens his fellow admins with removal if they don't go along with his decisions. Suddenly a lot of things become clear and a worrying trend is exposed. It makes you wonder how many other decisions our EuroCup admins have been blackmailed into by this dictator of a gamesup. It chillingly brought me back to a comment made by Leon a few weeks ago on the ClanBase site in a discussion on the inclusion of hitblips, here he admitted that if it was up to him there wouldn't be any crosshairs in the game either. How long will it be before he can do exactly what he wants? Yami has admitted he intends to retire at the end of this EuroCup season and then how many figures of resistance will remain?
So far Leon has split the community with every step he takes. He has created a PAM mod containing the wrong rules for EuroCup, he has ruled the commonly used Dawnville window you can shoot is a bug which brings with it a forfeit loss if used, he has tried and failed to remove hitblips and now this. He has decided to force through an almost purely cosmetic ruling that will cause untold problems not just for the existing community but also to any players or teams considering trying out CoD2. The server log streaming is a decision the organisers themselves can't even explain and the fact that he had to blackmail other members of the CoD2 crew to accept the decision gives indication enough of their thoughts on it. How much more are we going to let him get away with?
At some point there has to be a last straw, I'm just afraid that by that time this comes we will be playing with no crosshairs, shellshock on and driving up and down the maps in tanks and jeeps. This is obviously a man with no scruples about using his position to get whatever he wants and this leaves us in a seriously dangerous position. It's no secret that CoD2 has got to where it is now in Europe because of the backing of ClanBase and the hard work of people like Wabbit and Yami. Over 500 sign ups for the last EuroCup was the culmination of that effort and saw us attain a €9,500 competition with LAN finals. Ask yourself though, do you think this is likely to happen again?
Why would existing teams sign up for a cup that would require them to get used to a totally new set of rules if they were to qualify, and why would new teams from other games sign up to play in a game that has such frankly laughable rules introduced every week. We cannot allow this to continue, right now we have a game supervisor that is abusing his power, admins that are being forced into retirement because they are sick of the corruption and a community that is being repeatedly divided by the mistakes of those leading it. We are struggling with a broken system and every day we let it continue, slowly but surely, Call of Duty 2 moves towards it's extinction.
