Toggleable features (No Flaming plz, k thnx)

[Comm539]

The discussion is why can't toggleable features be implemented in a patch. The non-competetive community gets to keep JA the way it is (with the bugs fixeed), but the competetive community can turn extra features on and play happily.

I'm posisitve any request that would allow the competetive community to play again would be whole heartedly supported by the competetive community. In addition to this, numerous non-competetive players have supported this.

 

All that you need post is whether you support it or don't support it and why. No need to flame.

[Kurgan]

I support the adding of togglable features in a patch if Raven decides to do this.

 

That's my biggest concern with any future patches, that they add options and fix bugs while increasing stability and compatability, but not altering gameplay.

 

Good luck Raven!

[Vanor]

I'd support that, more options are always good.

 

There was comments before about this very idea, that said such a thing would fracture the comunity so much that it would harm the game.

 

You'd have both kick/NF/SO/CTF servers vs No-kick/NF/SO/CTF servers, then kick/NF/SO/Duel vs No-kick/NF/SO... So take each group out there and spit it in two... The more cvars, the more devisions.

 

But I don't see that as being inherently harmful to the comunity really... I think it could be harmful for the competive comunity, unless the comunity as a whole adopted a standard.

[Comm539]

I don't think the community could be more fractured than right now. Basically there is no s/o ff competetive community atm. And anyone who tries to set up one would face the same gameplay bugs spoken about.

Toggleable features were an option of hex's x-mod used in most ff s/o competetive gameplay. It didn't fracture the community. But he could make xmod2 (and solve all the problems) if the sdk was released >.< but its looking increasingly unlikely that it'll arrive any time soon.

[Akshara]

I'll add my voice of support for such a feature. It would seem to be the best approach to accomodate both types of player communities. If it isn't officially supported in a patch, it would be nice to have the SDK released so a mod could be made which accomplished this.

 

However, I would also have to request that any official modifications made in this direction are in addition to the current feature set, and not in place of. We definitely don't need or want another landscape altering patch fiasco similar to what happened last time with JO.

[StormHammer]

Originally posted by Vanor

There was comments before about this very idea, that said such a thing would fracture the comunity so much that it would harm the game.

 

You know...when you really get down to think about it seriously - is it really fracturing the community - or making the community as a whole stronger?

 

Yes, you're right in that individual players will prefer certain sets of features turned on, and others turned off. There will indeed be a wide range of servers out there all running slightly different feature-sets.

 

But at the end of the day, is that a bad thing, if it keeps people playing? By having a wider choice of servers, it should be a little easier for some people to play the game the way they want to play.

 

Look at it the other way. If all the servers out there ran the game with all the default settings, without any changes whatever - would so many people still continue to play? I think not. Some people would undoubtedly get tired of the same old gameplay, get bored and leave to play something else.

 

Increasing variety offers new challenges and ways of playing...and to my mind that makes it more interesting. Just look at the people who like to roleplay using JO/JA. Without getting into argument about honour dudes, etc...the real RPers out there run their own servers and have a good time. They found a new way to play. The same goes for some of the recent mods that have come out...like the KOTOR flying school, the racing one...the Wampa Joust.

 

Yes, I know those are mods...but they are different ways of playing the game - and at the end of the day, that's all that increasing the feature-set will allow you to do.

 

As long as there are not sweeping changes to the fundamental gameplay/movement etc. (like there was with Rune, which did split the community and cause an uproar), then I'm all for adding extra features that allow other people to play the way they want. In a way, it would even be helpful if gameplay patches were modular in design - so that you could easily switch between the old gameplay and new gameplay formats, without having to do separate installations of the game. And in fact it's a proven possibility - Unreal Tournament's mutators being a shining example. Instead of changing the core of the game itself...simply add a mutator to get the feature you want. Then it's up to the server whether or not they enable it.

 

At the end of the day...the choice really does remain with the individual. If you join a server you don't like...then add it to your personal ignore list, and move on to find one you do like.

[Kurgan]

Yeah that's the thing, if we're to think seriously about the JK communities.. they've been fractured from day 1 back in 1997 with the "saber duelers" and the "gunners."

 

That's not a bad thing, it just shows there's a lot of variety in the game and that's a strength the various design teams have played off of in each successive installment.

[Azymn]

Originally posted by StormHammer

You know...when you really get down to think about it seriously - is it really fracturing the community - or making the community as a whole stronger?

Indeed, it doesn't seem that Half-life suffered very badly from the 'fracturing' that spawned dozens of mods and variations.