As Barrack Obama can attest to, change takes time however here on Crossfire we are on the eve of great change. Six weeks ago this site regained its independence from Heaven Media, a move that allowed a freedom to push the site in a new direction. That new direction is fuelled by an efficiency requirement, Crossfire has for too long been dependent on too few items for success. Those items are precious, they are our history and they must be revered however they also mustn’t hold us back.
The most noticeable change will be all around you, as I’ve alluded to in many comments recently, Crossfire 4 is real and its right around the corner. I will defend Crossfire 3 against its fiercest critics, it served a brilliant purpose for a long time. I remember sitting at CPC1 looking at it with taLa right before its launch, at the time it had a number of features it competitors didn’t have and even to this day it boasts certain things other sites can’t do. However times have moved on, user requirements from their websites have evolved several times since CF3 was first conceived and CF4 will meet many more of those.
Leading up to Crossfire 4 you’ll start to see a change in the content posted on Crossfire by its main contributors. In one sense there just isn’t enough ET to go round anymore, people's gaming interests have moved on. Proof of that is in the fact that any SC2, LoL or HoN journals will garner lots of comments these days and this weekend’s ESL & MLG tournaments will only provide more proof of that. For Crossfire to survive it must provide content around things users are doing, a statement backed up by a declining traffic trend.
Yet for Crossfire to survive it must not forget where it came from. The Battle For Berlin tournament that starts on Thursday should provide proof that Crossfire will always continue to serve the needs of its faithful. Crossfire will remain true to its values and be a home for all forms of ET and its community, whilst looking to maintain the interests of those who have flown the nest. Don’t for a second think that Crossfire is going to look for a piece of the Starcraft 2 pie over that of the ET pie (we all know what pie tastes better!!).
When you speak of survival, you need to also analyse what made the site successful in the first place. Whilst a common theme of RTCW & ET was what brought people together, this site owes as much to its produced content as it does to its User Generated Content. By that I’m specifically referring to the journal section, which is very much the heartbeat of Crossfire. In Crossfire 4 we will look to emphasize the key attributes of this further. The journal section itself will be largely unchanged, yes it's still on the right nav bar (all be it slightly higher up!) but the basics like commenting will be faster. Users will have the opportunity to utilize their profiles a lot more, whilst it's no facebook, Crossfire 4 allows profiles to be far more interactive. Users will also have the chance to ‘break off’ and use Crossfire 4 for their own purposes with user controlled, public and private groups, in one sense it could allow clans to better manage their activities, in others it will simply allow for more centralized postings of random gifs! There are a lot of CF 4 features that will be revealed nearer the time, but whilst it's much bigger in feature set, it’s also much faster for users.
So in the last months of this year you’ll start to see a different content strategy, a new website and new vision for what Crossfire can do for its users. The goal is that Crossfire will be many things to many people. I think the future for Crossfire is bright, change is coming, but heritage is key to identity. I hope you are as excited about the potential this community has as I am, together we have achieved a great deal, and together we will continue to do more!
The most noticeable change will be all around you, as I’ve alluded to in many comments recently, Crossfire 4 is real and its right around the corner. I will defend Crossfire 3 against its fiercest critics, it served a brilliant purpose for a long time. I remember sitting at CPC1 looking at it with taLa right before its launch, at the time it had a number of features it competitors didn’t have and even to this day it boasts certain things other sites can’t do. However times have moved on, user requirements from their websites have evolved several times since CF3 was first conceived and CF4 will meet many more of those.
Leading up to Crossfire 4 you’ll start to see a change in the content posted on Crossfire by its main contributors. In one sense there just isn’t enough ET to go round anymore, people's gaming interests have moved on. Proof of that is in the fact that any SC2, LoL or HoN journals will garner lots of comments these days and this weekend’s ESL & MLG tournaments will only provide more proof of that. For Crossfire to survive it must provide content around things users are doing, a statement backed up by a declining traffic trend.
Yet for Crossfire to survive it must not forget where it came from. The Battle For Berlin tournament that starts on Thursday should provide proof that Crossfire will always continue to serve the needs of its faithful. Crossfire will remain true to its values and be a home for all forms of ET and its community, whilst looking to maintain the interests of those who have flown the nest. Don’t for a second think that Crossfire is going to look for a piece of the Starcraft 2 pie over that of the ET pie (we all know what pie tastes better!!).
When you speak of survival, you need to also analyse what made the site successful in the first place. Whilst a common theme of RTCW & ET was what brought people together, this site owes as much to its produced content as it does to its User Generated Content. By that I’m specifically referring to the journal section, which is very much the heartbeat of Crossfire. In Crossfire 4 we will look to emphasize the key attributes of this further. The journal section itself will be largely unchanged, yes it's still on the right nav bar (all be it slightly higher up!) but the basics like commenting will be faster. Users will have the opportunity to utilize their profiles a lot more, whilst it's no facebook, Crossfire 4 allows profiles to be far more interactive. Users will also have the chance to ‘break off’ and use Crossfire 4 for their own purposes with user controlled, public and private groups, in one sense it could allow clans to better manage their activities, in others it will simply allow for more centralized postings of random gifs! There are a lot of CF 4 features that will be revealed nearer the time, but whilst it's much bigger in feature set, it’s also much faster for users.
So in the last months of this year you’ll start to see a different content strategy, a new website and new vision for what Crossfire can do for its users. The goal is that Crossfire will be many things to many people. I think the future for Crossfire is bright, change is coming, but heritage is key to identity. I hope you are as excited about the potential this community has as I am, together we have achieved a great deal, and together we will continue to do more!
Agreed
I'm so excited and I just can't hide it
And I know I know I know I know I know I want it
and a filter for the journal section is really needed, pls. like "et filter, hon filter, lol filter, youtube filter) and so on.
great news tosspot!
http://www.moddb.com/mods/etxreal
Anyway, it's a good news. Thanks for what you did, you are like our spiritual father after all.
Well anyway, I'm honestly looking forward to CF4 and can't wait to see how it's like!
e: tell me if there's something I can do to help
Also on a decision like this specifically, admins know best what is manageable and what isn't. This feature would create too much admin work if the +'s had any implications. We created something that rewards users for quality contributions, which is a half way house.
If you release Crossfire 4.0, is it possible to introduce every feature with some kind of "pros and contras at the discussion". At least the community doesn't feel so left behind then, because we can understand the decisions..
for example like on this austrian newspaper online site:
http://derstandard.at/1318725986340/Dritte-Lohnrunde-Metaller-vor-langer-Verhandlungsnacht
just scroll down to the comment section and see how other users either chosed brilliant (which whould be green) or unnecassary (red).
maybe you can use it!
U dont have to understand the language just take look at the system.
Edit. I still think some sort of management game for each tournament would reap benefits. i.e. fantasy premier league but ET style. You could use gtv stats for these awards/points and each user that wanted to play had a starting fund and each player would be a certain value. Smth along the lines of player in a winning team gets 1 point, highest fragger 2 points etc etc. I know this is a big hit on hltv for example.
Apart from that small idea everything about cf4 sounds great!
besides this (personal?) critic you totally hit the point! but imo dont forget et is old, and it was the will of the majority to switch back to ETs best setup - 6n6. everybody knew what the consequences of +1 player will mean to this already dying game (the ones who really believed in a return of the glory days are idiots). surely from time to time there will be some activity impacts with things like JeeET and BFB or maybe even a cc8 announcement. time will tell :)
but sadly I'm not talented ;d
edit: please add auto-hide funktion for any type of pictures :/
my brother cant reg on cf because we have almost the same ip, and his account was delited/deactivated by a sloppy admin who tought it was me and he cant use the website
also my friend who lives in the same city as me and playes the game for 3years has named himself sparky(yes just like me) and he also got deactivated from crossfire and cant re-register because of the ip thing
try fixing that
nice column. Crossfire would probably die as soon as ET will once and for all unless other games were introduced here.