Two months have passed since the AEF event -- seems like time flies. The holidays are over, and that depressing nine-to-five job is knocking on the door again. If it ain't that lame ass job, it's those miserable school days. Looking outside the window, the rain is pouring down like a motherfucker -- it appears the sunny days are definitely over. I can't help but notice grumpy people everywhere. After yet another day at the office, things on the internet might look a bit more positive in contrast.In times where stress, deadlines, and annoying colleagues prevail, it's good to see that other work is going in a more enjoyable direction. I'm talking about our little community website Crossfire, of course. Even though it's easy to criticise and flame the hell out of it, Crossfire and the ET community are heading for a brighter future than most might think.
Crossfire has not had a decent upgrade in about four years. After Nellie's depressing column, I've got to admit that I'm delighted about the recent Crossfire update, which introduces a new Cup section and some crucial security patches. It's surely not the complete overhaul that some of you might have been expecting, but the thing is that this is just the beginning. Next week, we'll deploy the next milestone -- altering the entire anti-cheat policy in order to encourage a more 'monoaccountous' life on crossfire. In addition to that, there are many new back-end features in the pipeline. The admin crew will be able to act more consistently, and will be held more accountable for their actions. Over time, we will continue to implement features which will make your daily Crossfire visit more enjoyable, and these will lead to the grand release of Crossfire 4.0 in a couple months.
The release and acceptance of SLAC into our community could very well be that silver lining that we've been searching for in our fight against cheaters. There will always be sceptics who will criticise this project -- which is good and needed -- but one should try to put things into context. It's no use to criticise a promising project to death before it has been given the chance to prove itself. How many were flaming SLAC for not supporting Mac & Linux out-of-the-box? Although this functionality might seem pretty crucial, the EC and OC admins have yet to receive a single request to play without SLAC on Linux or Mac. It just proves the futility in arguing about things that do not really matter if you put them in the right perspective. SLAC is the way forward, and the faster we all accept that, the stronger we'll stand against cheaters.
Even though the Aalborg and Croatian LAN have been cancelled, we still see numerous teams being picked up by promising MGCs who have the means to send teams to LANs. The Crossfire LAN is approaching, a brand new LAN for ET called OOF for ET is also in the works, and the next AEF instalment is surely something to look forward to. A promising time is ahead of our community, and even though there's a small pause between LANs right now, the online competitions are keeping up activity. Not only the established ESL EMS and CB EC/OC, but also privately hosted cups, with decent prizes such as the one from Dignitas and upcoming cups from Speedlink, Aero and perhaps even TLR and Heaven Media One Night Wonders!
When taking a good look at the aspects that make this community what it is today, I simply have to conclude that we're on the right way. We're in a time where generally accepted conceptions will finally be proven wrong. The assumption that cheaters will forever reign freely on our beloved community site and in ET itself. The assumption that our website is forever doomed to be a dinosaur. The assumption that ET will never break through in eSports.While I'm not a dreamer, and generally consider the light at the end of the tunnel to be a train, there's simply a positive vibe hanging in the air that can't be ignored.
It seems like the sun is getting through those thick clouds after all.
When?
Aalborg? :)))))) "Insert your sarcasm there"
He does however, state that what you said is useless. Which it is.
how does one cancel that which does not exist
Though unless ET is played in major eSports competitions I would never call it a breakthrough. Many games have one or another LAN a year and still are nothing special in the eSports world.
My personal expectation is that it'll stay as is, that we might grow within our scene and host more LANs than we used to. And probably have a few less cheaters than a few years ago, but we'll still miss the big stage. So that noone outside of the few websites/mgc cares.
Nevertheless change needs time and I might be totally wrong. If it is ever gonna change this looks like the right way. Just I have my doubts.
Let's all make the best about it to keep CF and ET alive!
GIVE ME THE SEARCH BACK
too much ET i'd say :]
have seen loads of things on ettv where players have problems with SLAC (for what ever reason) ;) and the opposition have told them to just leave it off as we do not care :)
Nice read, makes a change from the daily cf jibber jabber! :)
so whats this OOF you mention?
Here it's still sunny and at least 20°C everyday :P
PEace out,