Thread: Some concerns of mine.

In the past few weeks I have seen some things that concern me but first let me make this perfectly clear so as to not seem like I am trying to bring any ill will towards anyone or any group of people currently playing BF3. I just simply want to have a conversation with the community without any animosity on some things I have you know.

My first concern is this. I have been having the feeling that we are losing some of the team play in TS. It just feels like we are having more instances of going Rambo and it feels like there is less communication. I think even if you are a very good player you still need your team to win and we should all keep that in mind.

Secondly I think we should be more inviting in the server. We should make and environment for the pub connects that will bring them back time and time again. Also we should promote TS more. The more people we have on TS the more people we have working together as a team. I know BF4 is close but it is never to late to keep our server going strong.

Finally I think we need to start respecting each other a bit more. I am bit guilty of it myself but it feels like there has been an angry atmosphere and I think we need to keep in mind we are all here to have fun and play games. So let's just take a step back and breath in deep for a minute and remember we are all here because we share the same passion.

Anyways that's just how I have been feeling lately. What do you guys think?

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Note 2.

This game doesn't exactly promote teamplay and sometimes a player has to "Rambo" a situation in order to help their team or squad. Other then that it's a regular thing for the players in my squad to be attacking/defending a flag in their own way. I won't ask for my squad mates to follow me or go a certain way, unless I really need them to.

Anytime I'm in a squad by myself when all the other regulars are in full squads I always type out to my squad mates, "You guys have TeamSpeak?" Every once in awhile I'll get one or two of them to join and we'll have a good time. Goes to show you that if we put the time and effort in, we could reach out to non-TSers. (I'm sure there are other regs who do the same thing, but not all.)

The only asshole in the BF3 community is Tenrou. And he's like a puppy that won't stop shitting on your carpet. He's just so cute you can't kick him across the room.

I don't feel any of that at all.

A lot of the raging comes from people who are known for it, so it shouldn't affect your perception of community cohesion. Also, sometimes people just get frustrated and start venting. It goes away the next time they play. Smack talk is also something I've become desensitized to. It happens in every game that we've hosted: BF2, 2142, Counterstrike, Team Fortress, etc.

As for promoting Teamspeak, it's in our server name, it's broadcasted every few minutes in-game, and most people just ignore any messages from us about getting on Teamspeak.

In regards to people going Rambo, it happens sometimes. I know I've been guilty of it on several occasions, but I consciously try to re-focus and regroup with the squad. If you name some names, we can start pressuring those people into working with their squad, though from what I understand, some people play better without a squad to slow them down. I know that sometimes I find myself able to fight and think more efficiently when on my own. Just call people out when it happens, you're not going to get into trouble.

Overall I think the problem lies with Battlefield 3: It's an environment that encourages Call of Duty style play where the team doesn't matter. On top of that, you can't force anyone to hear certain things because VOIP doesn't exist properly. Text is easy to lose on a full server, but anyone in your squad should be forced to hear what you have to say on VOIP. It's an issue that was brought up when we first started the BF3 server, and it's one that continues to hamper our ability to recruit new people.

Originally Posted by Allane

I don't feel any of that at all.

A lot of the raging comes from people who are known for it, so it shouldn't affect your perception of community cohesion. Also, sometimes people just get frustrated and start venting. It goes away the next time they play. Smack talk is also something I've become desensitized to. It happens in every game that we've hosted: BF2, 2142, Counterstrike, Team Fortress, etc.

As for promoting Teamspeak, it's in our server name, it's broadcasted every few minutes in-game, and most people just ignore any messages from us about getting on Teamspeak.

In regards to people going Rambo, it happens sometimes. I know I've been guilty of it on several occasions, but I consciously try to re-focus and regroup with the squad. If you name some names, we can start pressuring those people into working with their squad, though from what I understand, some people play better without a squad to slow them down. I know that sometimes I find myself able to fight and think more efficiently when on my own. Just call people out when it happens, you're not going to get into trouble.

Overall I think the problem lies with Battlefield 3: It's an environment that encourages Call of Duty style play where the team doesn't matter. On top of that, you can't force anyone to hear certain things because VOIP doesn't exist properly. Text is easy to lose on a full server, but anyone in your squad should be forced to hear what you have to say on VOIP. It's an issue that was brought up when we first started the BF3 server, and it's one that continues to hamper our ability to recruit new people.

Personally I have to disagree with your deductions on promoting TS and BF3 promoting a certain environment. I think we should be able to promote any environment in our server we want. It just requires us changing it and putting in the effort to do that. Just because there isn't VOIP doesn't mean we can't do it.

Also the lone wolf attitude isn't conducive to helping the team. Sure at the end of the round you might have had a great game with a high score and k/d but really if you didn't win that score means as much to me as the guy who sat on the hill set up with his bipod sniper with 12x scope. Now I know the difference between a close game but that's not the situations I reference here so keep that in mind.

I don't disagree that some people in TS are repeat offenders when it comes to getting moody and frustrated. Me for example I can get pretty annoyed but I blame myself more than anything because everytime I do bad I know I can do better but just couldn't get there and I can get pretty frustrated. But it is still a good exercise to keep calm you know.

But hey like I said before I did ask your opinion on it and I don't think what I said just now is necessarily representative of how everyone feels or what we should do because I said so. But talking about issues and ideas is always good.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Note 2.

We've pretty much all said it, but it's difficult to promote and enforce teamplay in an environment where the most basic function, communication, is severely hampered. Battlefield 3 remedies its predecessors' issues by making the kill log separate from the chat log, but the chat log also disappears after a few seconds, making it very easy to miss any announcements made to your squad or team. The only effective means we have to notify people outside of Teamspeak are admins using server-wide announcements that appear in the middle of the screen, and even then not everyone listens.

Even Call of Duty 4 got it right. There was built-in VOIP, and we picked up people that became regulars pretty easily. Every game that we've had up until Bad Company 2 and Battlefield 3 has gained regulars steadily, but only BC2 and BF3 have not.

One solution I've always wanted to try is get a bunch of regulars to split up and each form a squad of their own and take in only pubbers, but every time I suggest it to myself, I think about how badly that team would lose. Every time I squad lead with pubbers, only one actually sticks with me, but even then only when it suits him/her. I honestly have stopped trying to type in squad chat to have people follow me and my orders because it has never worked. Maybe the BF3 player base has changed, but my experience tells me that people just don't.

So, instead of leading pubbers like we used to and showing them the way through good communication (via in-game VOIP) and leadership (enforcement of teamplay rules), we band together in squads of four (not like we have a choice in the number) and set out to win the game without others' help. It's an unfortunate mentality that has developed and I wish we could go back from it, but at least we make the most of the bad situation Battlefield 3 throws at us. Perhaps Battlefield 4 will be better if they decide to get serious.

I am guilty of trying to get in a squad with people in TS, but when I am in a squad w/o TS I end up being a lone wolf. That is bad because I am not good at this by myself. Therefore I am no help for the team (not that I am much anyway).

Originally Posted by Allane

We've pretty much all said it, but it's difficult to promote and enforce teamplay in an environment where the most basic function, communication, is severely hampered. Battlefield 3 remedies its predecessors' issues by making the kill log separate from the chat log, but the chat log also disappears after a few seconds, making it very easy to miss any announcements made to your squad or team. The only effective means we have to notify people outside of Teamspeak are admins using server-wide announcements that appear in the middle of the screen, and even then not everyone listens.

Even Call of Duty 4 got it right. There was built-in VOIP, and we picked up people that became regulars pretty easily. Every game that we've had up until Bad Company 2 and Battlefield 3 has gained regulars steadily, but only BC2 and BF3 have not.

One solution I've always wanted to try is get a bunch of regulars to split up and each form a squad of their own and take in only pubbers, but every time I suggest it to myself, I think about how badly that team would lose. Every time I squad lead with pubbers, only one actually sticks with me, but even then only when it suits him/her. I honestly have stopped trying to type in squad chat to have people follow me and my orders because it has never worked. Maybe the BF3 player base has changed, but my experience tells me that people just don't.

So, instead of leading pubbers like we used to and showing them the way through good communication (via in-game VOIP) and leadership (enforcement of teamplay rules), we band together in squads of four (not like we have a choice in the number) and set out to win the game without others' help. It's an unfortunate mentality that has developed and I wish we could go back from it, but at least we make the most of the bad situation Battlefield 3 throws at us. Perhaps Battlefield 4 will be better if they decide to get serious.

Regs are always welcomed to do this. If you have tried to get people to follow you and they are not listening call out to the admins. They can give shouts to those people or kick them for not following the SL. I think the most important aspect to start off with is to get people in TS. If you have a new person in your squad let them know to join TS. Tell them that it will help the squad and may also improve their game play, even if they don't have an active mic. At least they can listen and follow.

Originally Posted by SuperBadAce

I am guilty of trying to get in a squad with people in TS, but when I am in a squad w/o TS I end up being a lone wolf. That is bad because I am not good at this by myself. Therefore I am no help for the team (not that I am much anyway).

Same, I would rather not play if I can't get in a squad with TS.

It's like trying to build a castle on quick sand. The game was build lacking key elements.

In reflection of our PR server, getting firm with teamplay can kill the server. Our anti "squad name" position for example went against generally accepted practices and often lead to a number of upset pubbers and disconnects.

I honestly think there is little reason to put hope and effort into the cause. A certain fact is BF4 will kill BF3. Our group of BFers is going to move to 4 or there won't be enough blue berries playing the game to support the game for the hold out regs. In the end, the last few PR rounds was made up of about a dozen TTP regs.