Having exiled myself from all things iRC and Crossfire for a week, I think now the detox may be complete and its time for TosspoT to reflect upon the Crossfire devotii Challenge 3 (part 1!)There will be no photos and really there won’t be any social stories because until the final night, like many of the Crossfire team there was no time for such activities, the Challenge project is hard work.
Don’t get me wrong, its hard work but it is fun. I can't speak for Cash but I get the same thrill out of running the event as I do going to events with QuadV and iTG in the past. The pressure to perform, the obstacles to overcome matched with both determination and a good team is really is an adrenaline rush as much as it is tiring work. I remember coming home from CPC2 and my Dad telling me "You look absolutely shagged" - Who uses the word 'shagged' in that sense these days I've no idea! This time I went back to uni instead and far more subtly my housemate Ben said "Stu you look like shit" (actually he says this a lot, but there was something more shit about this one!). Whether its shagged or shit, its the sign of a job well done in my books and that is what CDC3 was, a job well done.
After CPC1 I was just glad that it was over, I was incredibly nervous about CPC1. It was the first for Crossfire and whilst expectations were low from the attendees, failure would have seen the concept never get off its feet. Upon reflection, it was a huge hurdle to overcome and a massive learning experience, however I don’t look back on the event as a selling point. CPC2 was a huge leap also, so many more teams, so many more attendees, a brand new LAN centre, a produced live stream and going into it a massive sense of unknown. The jump from CPC1 to 2 was phenomenal and I still look back upon that as the biggest jump and achievement for us.
For CDC3 it was difficult to know exactly what constituted a success. We were in the same venue, and we didn’t have Call of Duty there. The challenge in changing venues was what presented our biggest success from CPC1 to 2. Moving CoD2 is like turning the temperature down in the oven.
Regardless of what your opinion is of the game, it has an expectant community who for whatever reason enjoy the Challenge events as much as the ET crowd do. We've been fortunate that in both 1 & 2 we've had THE very best teams in attendance at the time and it has been very well covered by Gotfrag, who themselves bring the added pressure of their huge user base (Their front page is seen by 1+ million people a month). ET can fail and nobody outside of Crossfire will care, for whom Crossfire has worked its arse off and maybe has some 'slack'. CoD2 can fail and Crossfire will be massacred amongst the games elite much like Wonderbase has been after their event difficulties and across many different sites. In CPC 1 & 2, pleasing the CoD crowd was another point of success, and no CoD2 at CDC3 pt. 1 means less pressure one less thing to be successful at. However that’s exactly what we wanted.
You will have seen two words occasionally used by Cash and myself to describe the event and that is "community event". When we split CDC3 into two events, it was because we knew we had reached our size limit so we split the two crowds and made the ET event a community event. When we did that, it meant that success was tapping into that community atmosphere that made the events so enjoyable. The big difference between ET and CoD is how much the players drink and laugh, so for CDC3 we announced the Poker tournament and the BBQ in a hope to get the ET'rs doing what the do best, drinking and laughing.
It is here where our plan is hinged upon a select few Crossfire members. People like Maverick, Ronner, Bulldog and Herbal are actually integral to the events success. Sounds silly? Well, if you think it is silly then ask a large proportion of those who have been to the previous CDC's how many times they've exchanged a few words with one of them at the bar! A few words become a conversation and a conversation see's you either drinking or playing poker with them at 4am, keeping the admins awake. I haven’t seen stories of people who came along and got bored at CDC, why? Because there’s always some socialable soul at the bar getting into the spirit of the matches that are being shown on the screens.
The BBQ and the Poker were just the catalyst for this reaction, we wanted more people to go and have more stories to tell. We intentionally scheduled the BBQ in a break between matches and then had the Poker at the same time as the winners bracket final so whether you hated poker or not, you could get in the crowd with everyone there. At this point, gaming was second to having fun at the tables, although the match between TLR and Dignitas did make for a case against that! I loved every minute of casting that match and looking up to see poker games either stopped to enjoy the match or one of the players getting knocked out embarrassingly. This is where we were measuring success for the event and our goal was achieved.
However gaming can never stay second for long at an event and the hope was we'd get as many thrilling matches as we did last time in the ET tournament. Unfortunately that was far from the case as TLR proved to be too good for Dignitas on Saturday night, but on Sunday in the final they were a country mile ahead of their opponents. Warsow actually gave some great matches in the tournament, however more on that later. It was in the matches that I feel like we didn’t do our best, and yet there was nothing we could do. You need only look at Wembley stadium as proof that even the biggest stages don’t guarantee you an exciting performance. Events are remembered for their matches and I saw more matches than most and I can’t remember a lot to write about. Unfortunately you cannot force TLR to play badly, nor force Dignitas to group up in sixes so Winghaven can 'surprise' panzer them (oh the evil scheme!). However, in this case there is no point crying over spilt milk.
As a tournament however, we did more than we wanted to do. We got people playing a shed load of matches, more than they would if they were playing CS at CPL. Four matches in the group stage, coupled with a consolation bracket and a double elimination winners bracket was fantastic. On their road to the final dignitas played 8 matches, which is great. The Warsow players were also able to get groups and playoffs and again they got a good amount of matches.
Things ran relatively smoothly for a schedule. I've been to LAN events the world over, matches never start on the exact time they were supposed to. On Friday we ran into a pretty major technical problem which took a good thirty minutes to fix per occurrence and then a subsequent twenty or so minutes for the player to set back up. One player using this USB rate fix with realtime enabled (a bug in the new version of the program) and the PC needed a complete format. This happened at least once in every match of the opening rounds games, so theres a one hour delay instantly on 4 matches. Once isolated the problem was easy to fix, that is until some players ignore the warnings and use the bugged version of the program anyway, so again we're behind schedule. Such is life, if you're two hours behind schedule I'm not going to lose any sleep. Scheduling delays are caused by a combination of technical and human errors that are the variable in any event especially when you are playing so many more matches in one tournament. The best you can do is have a great crew who keep fixing the problems, no matter if they are the same problems that you've announced to the players how to fix. On Sunday the ET final started about 20 minutes after the scheduled time, job done.
From a coverage perspective it wasn’t going to take a great deal to improve on our previous attempts. Coverage is something that I myself have done oh so much of over the years and it has always been a pet hate that for our events we've never quite nailed it. This time it was different, courtesy of the laptops we had been sponsored and the fact we had xRio, foonr, nellie and unblind at the event, plus chosen at home (plus more I might be forgetting) - we were getting stuff posted quickly and in detail. Then there was QuadV who regardless of my affiliation to them, have become an integral part of our events. Anything in the venue that was video and audio was down to them...along with a router, a shed load of network cables and a few other pieces of technical assistance. Need I say more on what they contribute to the coverage? Well throw in a live stream with commentary and you've got a vital cog of the coverage machine. To give you a hint of the success of that coverage, the interviews that were posted this week were viewed thousands of times. GamesTV.org ontop of that have become synonomous with ET, and have a team who never get enough thanks and praise for their efforts, they are taken for granted when I need only look at other events and games to see how big a role they play in keeping ET alive. Coverage, Job Done.
So as an event, we improved upon many aspects from CPC2 and from that perspective it was a very big success. It was very hard for me to appreciate that fact until I started writing this, because for me personally I am used to a good shoutcast being the determining factor of whether it was a good event. When you're running the event, that is simply not the case. Infact if you look at events within eSports now, having shoutcasters, having ETTV, having live coverage is actually an achievement - regardless of their quality.
So what for the future? Well in November we've got CDC3 part 2, which is Call of Duty focussed in the extreme. Having such a large prize purse is a huge milestone for us as an event. We'll be able to offer the best streamed coverage of a CoD event also, if you ever need reminding how important gamestv.org is then look at CoD2. Fortunately we'll be able to focus QuadV on CoD2 in November and get things right ahead of CoD4. You can see here, that I'm looking at November in the same way that I'm reflecting upon September, what and where we can improve.
However what about the future of the concept and the event itself? Firstly, I made no secret to the players at CDC3 in September that ET will be back at the event. Whilst Crossfire as a site has to focus on Quakewars and CoD4 more in the future (news on that to come within a few weeks), it would be crazy to disregard or devalue ET. When will it be back? I also said at the event that the very beginning of January was currently being earmarked for CDC4 with ET and PERHAPS with Quakewars, CoD4 and Warsow. Why?
Having Warsow at CDC was a challenge and an achievement. ETR and the warsow players and community made the tournament what it was, and that is a huge success. They had exciting games and the players and community had a great time with good coverage on their sites and on QuadV. Warsow is an example of us looking at the Challenge event and saying 'this can do more'. When it was first proposed to me to run it, I was sceptical even though I love the game. From the events point of view it brought in a new userbase and following, so it made 'business sense'. However the way we run the event as a whole does not make business sense.
The financial concept of the event barely breaks even, and until the point of entry fees and sponsor invoices being paid its often my credit card that funds initial expenses. One financial cock up and its me that pays the bill. That is not a complaint, I do so willingly in the hope that one day down the road we'll be able to offer an even better product whilst making a living from it. Right now, it breaks even, but still incurs some costs on the admins (food, train fares, time) and that is just about good enough. However it cannot go on like that, I don’t think anyone really knows or appreciates the time that goes into the event and after so long it must become financially appealing. Because of that, CDC4 will become the LAST Challenge event run in this way. It does not mean it will be the last event, it does not mean that the event will be the end of ET at the events, however it does mean the following;
If CDC4 happens in January it will be at the perfect time for both myself and Cash to take a 5/6 month break to finish university (rather important!) following that, the event, its name, is concept will go under complete review in the hope to make it a financially viable concept that can support not only this community but others and allow us (pay us) to spend even more time on it. It will essentially be managed seperately to Crossfire the site. In truth I dont know what shape it will come out as, but I'm excited by the prospect that we might be able to do something with it. However you wont see a spring event from us in 2008. Who knows in the summer or the winter we may be able to offer $1 Billion in the ET World Tour. I do think there is room for more community LAN events, I get so many requests for "Can we run DoD:S/Urban Terror/UT iCTF at CDC?" and I'd love to be able to say yes, one day we will be able to.
However all of that is speculation. CDC3 part 1 was successful, lets make part 2 just as successful and then look forward to the next event! A big thank you to the admins who attended and put their heart and soul into the event, and a big thank you to the players at the event that contributed so much to an excellent weekend!
Don’t get me wrong, its hard work but it is fun. I can't speak for Cash but I get the same thrill out of running the event as I do going to events with QuadV and iTG in the past. The pressure to perform, the obstacles to overcome matched with both determination and a good team is really is an adrenaline rush as much as it is tiring work. I remember coming home from CPC2 and my Dad telling me "You look absolutely shagged" - Who uses the word 'shagged' in that sense these days I've no idea! This time I went back to uni instead and far more subtly my housemate Ben said "Stu you look like shit" (actually he says this a lot, but there was something more shit about this one!). Whether its shagged or shit, its the sign of a job well done in my books and that is what CDC3 was, a job well done.
After CPC1 I was just glad that it was over, I was incredibly nervous about CPC1. It was the first for Crossfire and whilst expectations were low from the attendees, failure would have seen the concept never get off its feet. Upon reflection, it was a huge hurdle to overcome and a massive learning experience, however I don’t look back on the event as a selling point. CPC2 was a huge leap also, so many more teams, so many more attendees, a brand new LAN centre, a produced live stream and going into it a massive sense of unknown. The jump from CPC1 to 2 was phenomenal and I still look back upon that as the biggest jump and achievement for us.
For CDC3 it was difficult to know exactly what constituted a success. We were in the same venue, and we didn’t have Call of Duty there. The challenge in changing venues was what presented our biggest success from CPC1 to 2. Moving CoD2 is like turning the temperature down in the oven.
Regardless of what your opinion is of the game, it has an expectant community who for whatever reason enjoy the Challenge events as much as the ET crowd do. We've been fortunate that in both 1 & 2 we've had THE very best teams in attendance at the time and it has been very well covered by Gotfrag, who themselves bring the added pressure of their huge user base (Their front page is seen by 1+ million people a month). ET can fail and nobody outside of Crossfire will care, for whom Crossfire has worked its arse off and maybe has some 'slack'. CoD2 can fail and Crossfire will be massacred amongst the games elite much like Wonderbase has been after their event difficulties and across many different sites. In CPC 1 & 2, pleasing the CoD crowd was another point of success, and no CoD2 at CDC3 pt. 1 means less pressure one less thing to be successful at. However that’s exactly what we wanted.
You will have seen two words occasionally used by Cash and myself to describe the event and that is "community event". When we split CDC3 into two events, it was because we knew we had reached our size limit so we split the two crowds and made the ET event a community event. When we did that, it meant that success was tapping into that community atmosphere that made the events so enjoyable. The big difference between ET and CoD is how much the players drink and laugh, so for CDC3 we announced the Poker tournament and the BBQ in a hope to get the ET'rs doing what the do best, drinking and laughing.
It is here where our plan is hinged upon a select few Crossfire members. People like Maverick, Ronner, Bulldog and Herbal are actually integral to the events success. Sounds silly? Well, if you think it is silly then ask a large proportion of those who have been to the previous CDC's how many times they've exchanged a few words with one of them at the bar! A few words become a conversation and a conversation see's you either drinking or playing poker with them at 4am, keeping the admins awake. I haven’t seen stories of people who came along and got bored at CDC, why? Because there’s always some socialable soul at the bar getting into the spirit of the matches that are being shown on the screens.
The BBQ and the Poker were just the catalyst for this reaction, we wanted more people to go and have more stories to tell. We intentionally scheduled the BBQ in a break between matches and then had the Poker at the same time as the winners bracket final so whether you hated poker or not, you could get in the crowd with everyone there. At this point, gaming was second to having fun at the tables, although the match between TLR and Dignitas did make for a case against that! I loved every minute of casting that match and looking up to see poker games either stopped to enjoy the match or one of the players getting knocked out embarrassingly. This is where we were measuring success for the event and our goal was achieved.
However gaming can never stay second for long at an event and the hope was we'd get as many thrilling matches as we did last time in the ET tournament. Unfortunately that was far from the case as TLR proved to be too good for Dignitas on Saturday night, but on Sunday in the final they were a country mile ahead of their opponents. Warsow actually gave some great matches in the tournament, however more on that later. It was in the matches that I feel like we didn’t do our best, and yet there was nothing we could do. You need only look at Wembley stadium as proof that even the biggest stages don’t guarantee you an exciting performance. Events are remembered for their matches and I saw more matches than most and I can’t remember a lot to write about. Unfortunately you cannot force TLR to play badly, nor force Dignitas to group up in sixes so Winghaven can 'surprise' panzer them (oh the evil scheme!). However, in this case there is no point crying over spilt milk.
As a tournament however, we did more than we wanted to do. We got people playing a shed load of matches, more than they would if they were playing CS at CPL. Four matches in the group stage, coupled with a consolation bracket and a double elimination winners bracket was fantastic. On their road to the final dignitas played 8 matches, which is great. The Warsow players were also able to get groups and playoffs and again they got a good amount of matches.
Things ran relatively smoothly for a schedule. I've been to LAN events the world over, matches never start on the exact time they were supposed to. On Friday we ran into a pretty major technical problem which took a good thirty minutes to fix per occurrence and then a subsequent twenty or so minutes for the player to set back up. One player using this USB rate fix with realtime enabled (a bug in the new version of the program) and the PC needed a complete format. This happened at least once in every match of the opening rounds games, so theres a one hour delay instantly on 4 matches. Once isolated the problem was easy to fix, that is until some players ignore the warnings and use the bugged version of the program anyway, so again we're behind schedule. Such is life, if you're two hours behind schedule I'm not going to lose any sleep. Scheduling delays are caused by a combination of technical and human errors that are the variable in any event especially when you are playing so many more matches in one tournament. The best you can do is have a great crew who keep fixing the problems, no matter if they are the same problems that you've announced to the players how to fix. On Sunday the ET final started about 20 minutes after the scheduled time, job done.
From a coverage perspective it wasn’t going to take a great deal to improve on our previous attempts. Coverage is something that I myself have done oh so much of over the years and it has always been a pet hate that for our events we've never quite nailed it. This time it was different, courtesy of the laptops we had been sponsored and the fact we had xRio, foonr, nellie and unblind at the event, plus chosen at home (plus more I might be forgetting) - we were getting stuff posted quickly and in detail. Then there was QuadV who regardless of my affiliation to them, have become an integral part of our events. Anything in the venue that was video and audio was down to them...along with a router, a shed load of network cables and a few other pieces of technical assistance. Need I say more on what they contribute to the coverage? Well throw in a live stream with commentary and you've got a vital cog of the coverage machine. To give you a hint of the success of that coverage, the interviews that were posted this week were viewed thousands of times. GamesTV.org ontop of that have become synonomous with ET, and have a team who never get enough thanks and praise for their efforts, they are taken for granted when I need only look at other events and games to see how big a role they play in keeping ET alive. Coverage, Job Done.
So as an event, we improved upon many aspects from CPC2 and from that perspective it was a very big success. It was very hard for me to appreciate that fact until I started writing this, because for me personally I am used to a good shoutcast being the determining factor of whether it was a good event. When you're running the event, that is simply not the case. Infact if you look at events within eSports now, having shoutcasters, having ETTV, having live coverage is actually an achievement - regardless of their quality.
So what for the future? Well in November we've got CDC3 part 2, which is Call of Duty focussed in the extreme. Having such a large prize purse is a huge milestone for us as an event. We'll be able to offer the best streamed coverage of a CoD event also, if you ever need reminding how important gamestv.org is then look at CoD2. Fortunately we'll be able to focus QuadV on CoD2 in November and get things right ahead of CoD4. You can see here, that I'm looking at November in the same way that I'm reflecting upon September, what and where we can improve.
However what about the future of the concept and the event itself? Firstly, I made no secret to the players at CDC3 in September that ET will be back at the event. Whilst Crossfire as a site has to focus on Quakewars and CoD4 more in the future (news on that to come within a few weeks), it would be crazy to disregard or devalue ET. When will it be back? I also said at the event that the very beginning of January was currently being earmarked for CDC4 with ET and PERHAPS with Quakewars, CoD4 and Warsow. Why?
Having Warsow at CDC was a challenge and an achievement. ETR and the warsow players and community made the tournament what it was, and that is a huge success. They had exciting games and the players and community had a great time with good coverage on their sites and on QuadV. Warsow is an example of us looking at the Challenge event and saying 'this can do more'. When it was first proposed to me to run it, I was sceptical even though I love the game. From the events point of view it brought in a new userbase and following, so it made 'business sense'. However the way we run the event as a whole does not make business sense.
The financial concept of the event barely breaks even, and until the point of entry fees and sponsor invoices being paid its often my credit card that funds initial expenses. One financial cock up and its me that pays the bill. That is not a complaint, I do so willingly in the hope that one day down the road we'll be able to offer an even better product whilst making a living from it. Right now, it breaks even, but still incurs some costs on the admins (food, train fares, time) and that is just about good enough. However it cannot go on like that, I don’t think anyone really knows or appreciates the time that goes into the event and after so long it must become financially appealing. Because of that, CDC4 will become the LAST Challenge event run in this way. It does not mean it will be the last event, it does not mean that the event will be the end of ET at the events, however it does mean the following;
If CDC4 happens in January it will be at the perfect time for both myself and Cash to take a 5/6 month break to finish university (rather important!) following that, the event, its name, is concept will go under complete review in the hope to make it a financially viable concept that can support not only this community but others and allow us (pay us) to spend even more time on it. It will essentially be managed seperately to Crossfire the site. In truth I dont know what shape it will come out as, but I'm excited by the prospect that we might be able to do something with it. However you wont see a spring event from us in 2008. Who knows in the summer or the winter we may be able to offer $1 Billion in the ET World Tour. I do think there is room for more community LAN events, I get so many requests for "Can we run DoD:S/Urban Terror/UT iCTF at CDC?" and I'd love to be able to say yes, one day we will be able to.
However all of that is speculation. CDC3 part 1 was successful, lets make part 2 just as successful and then look forward to the next event! A big thank you to the admins who attended and put their heart and soul into the event, and a big thank you to the players at the event that contributed so much to an excellent weekend!
Thx for opening my eyes, respect TosspoT
Absolutely loved CDC3 and i hope i can get to CDC4!
A huge personal thanks to Tosspot, Cash, Ronner, Unblind and Penn for their effort in running the ET tournament with me (especially covering for me when I was playing). We had such a great team that I didn't actually feel totally stressed the whole time, which is a first for any LAN tournament I've run, and I've done 5 of them now.
Nice writeup
gonna read it bbl
Im a rtcw and ET player and tbh, neither ET:QW or CoD have something in common with the gameplay and atmosphere of rtcw or ET. I can understand why u want more coverage for those games, but im not going anywhere untill something more decent pops up.
But anyways, gj at organising and coverage. Though i missed alot of games because there was no ETTVOD this time :(
ow and gl with university
Just becuase you can't aim in a game doesn't mean the game requires no aiming or is "unskilled".
ET aiming is piss easy in comparison to CoD2.
I would perhaps like the game more, if my sensitivity didnt change upon aiming down my gun. Is there any way to change this?
Ow and when u any other fps game, u practice ur aim for other games aswell, but for CoD, ull just learn how to aim at CoD. And that type of aiming is IMO more guessing that aiming at times, because u see way less
If camping actually worked in CoD I might give this point some credit, but the fact is I get backraped and camped a LOT more in ET than I do CoD. ET has the illusion that I should be able to turn around and own them, but due to retarded shit that idiots still love to play with because they hate change (aimspread for instance is the most retarded feature in ET that promotes strafeaiming yet idiots still seem to complain when it gets brought up).
You seem to think that as soon as you get seen that you are dead... which isn't really true, firefights can still last a long time sometimes.
I can explain... there are quite a few advantages/disadvantages of having a system based on rounds, for instance you say less eventful, a fair comment, but in another way its more tense. Like say a team only needs one more round to win. I can understand someone not liking the gamestyle but it's hard to critisize the round system. Heres some reasons I prefer round based:
- Less lotto. ET can be a very lotto game. You fuckup one stage of your defence and the enemy has a lucky spawn, you might never get back into the flow that whole map, and your opponent has a really awesome time. In RtCW with 2x the same map it was harder to win by lotto. With rounds, if you fuckup you only lose that one round, instead of the whole map.
- No boring fullholds.
- A bigger range of tactics and strategy. In ET you only need one tactic, in CoD you need many for each map. If you take the same attack 10 times in a row, you might win 1/2 but the enemy will eventually begin to rape you.
- More tense. You say less exciting, but since I follow both ET and CoD I can't say which I prefer. I mean... sure it can be tense to see a close defuse or a fast docrun, but also the 1v1 situations in CoD, or when it's 1vs3 and they've just planted. With ET you could kill them or you could selfkill and respawn, in CoD you are fighting to win the round = more adrenaline.
- Penalties. You lose a round from a fuckup, not a match. Probably the main benefit of a round based system imo.
With a script it seems easy, might be hard to find the right sensitivity values but it's possible.
Not really true at all. It's two different styles of aiming. CS/CoD2 style is more about accurate flicking, whereas ET is just tracking (anyone that's played ET for a while can track semi decently, some people play CS for years and still suck).
I find ET aiming incredibly boring and easy. You track in the same way every time, some people are just naturally better than others or put more time in yes, but a lot of top players aim the same. You don't get the "OMG WOW" factor of pulling off a nice shot, because you never pull off nice shots. It's just the same boring tracking.
I mean... I didn't play for ~9 months after NC, and then I played one mix and got called a hacker. It's ridiculous. Nine months? I shouldn't be anywhere near as good as I was.
Quake as an example uses both kinds. You have tracking with the LG/MG and flicking with RAIL and prediction/stratergy with the RL. So both are utilised.
It's preference really, I can respect that you dislike the game, but you have to respect that it isn't a bad game :).
Im actually atm trying CoD2 out abit. The aiming goes as planned, but im getting killed by nades all the time :D
Any tips? Like e.g, the gun irons block my view alot of the times, could this be cuz i use the togglel for the irons instead of the button?
And i also picked the same sens as in ET when im aiming down the gun, good choice?
Any tips are welcome, cuz i cant rly find a guide for newbies. Played alot of MoH:AA, but its still alot different.
#cod2.et
I'd rather see coverage of Team Fortress 2, tbh.
Can't wait for CDC4!
I will cu @ CDC4! :=]
When I read this... :D
:)