Kuiper

Points: 4,987, Level: 48

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Discuss Kuiper's "miscellaneous issues" blog post here.

The paper has no central thesis; it's more of a laundry list of ideas than anything. If I write posts for the blog in the future, rest assured that they will probably be significantly shorter.

For those who are wondering, this was indeed styled after Chro's publication. I was surprised by how well-received it was by both public and competitive players alike. Hoping to ascertain what it was that made it such a praiseworthy paper, I dissected it in an effort to determine the critical element of quality. I discovered that its arguments all derived strength from one thing: the length of the publication.

I didn't pad my own post for length. In fact, ironically enough, I ended up shortening it significantly before posting the final version. My first drafts was over twenty pages in length. I realized that your time is probably more valuable than mine, so I took an axe to the article and trim out all of the useless bits, weeding out verbosity where possible.

I'll try to respond directly to posts in this thread as people make them. Feel free to post any comments or criticisms in this thread.

extine

Points: 10,606, Level: 71

Activity: 3.0%

Great essay Kuiper!!! Very intriguing stuff. Would love to hear other peoples thoughts and will chip in myself.

daniel

Points: 1,317, Level: 21

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i actually thought it was really really good, all of the points you make are dead-on and your analysis is very insightful

i wouldn't hesitate to read anything else you published if it was anywhere near as well-written and interesting as that article

Kuiper

Points: 4,987, Level: 48

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Thanks for the feedback, guys! The post seems well-received in most of the places I've seen it discussed, including gotfrag and Steampowered. (Most of the replies on Steampowered have been critical, but the thread rating suggests that people like it even though they haven't taken time to respond.) I've also gotten some PMs on Steam from people who read the article. (If you'd like to talk to me on Steam, feel free to add me.)

If there are any ideas in particular you'd like to see implemented, you could try emailing Valve. Robin Walker would probably be the guy to contact, his email is robin@valvesoftware.com

If you're going to write an email, try to mention the parts of it that you found particularly relevant or interesting instead of just linking to the article. For example, I would try to avoid writing an email like this:
Here are some better examples of how to write an email:
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These are just examples, I advise against copy/pasting since I'm sure that Robin prefers to receive unique hand-crafted emails.

Graham

Points: 48,465, Level: 100

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We definitely need to bolster our presence with the Valve team if we expect them to make changes for the competitive community. Send Robin an email if you haven't already.

aznbob

Points: 313, Level: 6

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Great Read and I agree with many of the points you made

p1k4p1k4

Points: 267, Level: 5

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I believe Valve is catching on with competitive players now more so than before.

One of my two points of evidence is the TF2 Beta as mentioned earlier in the week, which has been stated by MMZ>eXtine "Word has spread on the internet about some sort of Team Fortress 2 Beta going on for a select group of European competitive teams with the plan to further balance the game for competitive play."

Second is Valve taking notice to Waar, a TF2 competitive community member, who has written A Beginner's Guide to Competitive TF2, this demonstrating that they are keeping a watchful eye on the competitive scene and encouraging players to join.

Although Waar's posted guide came quite some time ago and the TF2 Beta which is in progress could have been here earlier to make those balance changes, if problems with certain gameplay aspects of the game do seem bothersome to the competitive community or anyone playing the game we should contact the Valve team to make those key changes.

I do agree with you Graham that we must always make sure we keep our presence intact so balances can be made toward competitive players, as stated before let us continue informing Valve on certain issues.

Hitman Smurf

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This is an excellent article. It is well written, makes valid points and provides some solutions that are quite feasible. It really made me think about some of the issues in the game and food for thought, so to speak. Great article for raising even the casual players awarness of these issues. Good stuff.

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