Crit
OG
In my experience growing anything has some basic principles that determine success or failure. The same goes for protecting anything. If you enjoy high level team strategy along with a thriving community of skilled players it requires effort as it does not just happen. The 20-24 bracket is growing and we owe our gratitude to those that have built it over the last year. Many of them are free to play (F2P) account players. Thank you guys/gals for your effort, deliberate or not, it is appreciated. 
The principles for growing and protecting are often quickly met with resistance from those that can't see beyond the end of their noses. To them it is all about them and their little world and anything that speaks to more or others challenges the little box they live in and requires them to think and possibly change. Expect it and see it for what it is, fear. Fear is a visceral, gut level reaction and it lives in the immediate, here and now. There is such a thing as a healthy fear but we are addressing the prolonged fear that is stuck and says and does anything to protect itself, right or wrong. This is not about treatment or diagnosis it is about the damage this short term mentality can do to a community. Protecting something requires you know what you are protecting it from. I will attempt to condense my argument but the foundation must be laid for those who are new.
An example of short term mentality is leaving a battle ground (BG) early. The term for doing so is "AFK" and means, "away from keyboard". There are instances where life dictates you leave a game which are entirely understandable. However, that is rarely the reason given. The most often excuse is not "real life demanded my time", instead the reasons given reflect that all about me, short term attitude mentioned above. Some of the excuses given are:
Another short term mentality that damages a bracket is often called "farming". It is when a superior team deliberately delays winning a game to focus on killing the weaker team over and over again. Often it results in what is called "graveyard camping" as the superior team waits for the weaker opponents where they re-enter the game after being killed. No one enjoys losing but being farmed is worse. When a weaker team is being farmed or graveyard camped often players will AFK out of the contest. They get a debuff that does not allow them to queue again for 15 minutes which slows the queue times of players waiting for a contest. Some don't queue again after the debuff which further increases queue times.
Why do some superior teams and their players "farm"? The main reason given is that you get more honor points which is false as anyone who can read and do basic math can figure out that more honor is to be earned from winning quickly and often. Diminishing returns results from killing an opponent repeatedly which means less honor each time you kill that player. If you kill them at the GY you get nothing if it is within 15 seconds of their re-entering the contest as the are an "honorless target". Once the more honor myth is destroyed the next excuse offered up is that "they do it to us". Again, an often unfounded and more importantly, short term perspective. Making players AFK and not re-queue hurts the queue times. Slow queue times hurt the bracket. The point, farming and GY camping slow the queue times, don't do it. There is nothing to be gained by delaying a game repeatedly killing a weaker opponent. We must speak out early and often against this practice.
These are just a few examples of what we need to protect against by being proactive. Making the effort to stand up for what is right can be rewarded with insults and having to listen to the same old failed arguments but it is worth it. Over time it gets easier as it becomes the standard but we must put the effort in up front to protect from AFK, farming, GY camping and other things that undermine the success of the bracket. If we protect the 20-24 bracket NOW it will continue to grow and the game will elevate rather than go into a tail spin like the 15-19 bracket. Besides speaking out against what hurts the bracket we must also seek out ways to come together and communicate in ways that build rather than tear down. Trolling, while popular with some, is a detractor and thereby an enemy of anyone looking to attract more players. If we are not growing we are dying. Lets elevate our game by elevating our complete game.
Please pardon the wall of text and the use of smiley's. Thanks for the read and good luck.
The principles for growing and protecting are often quickly met with resistance from those that can't see beyond the end of their noses. To them it is all about them and their little world and anything that speaks to more or others challenges the little box they live in and requires them to think and possibly change. Expect it and see it for what it is, fear. Fear is a visceral, gut level reaction and it lives in the immediate, here and now. There is such a thing as a healthy fear but we are addressing the prolonged fear that is stuck and says and does anything to protect itself, right or wrong. This is not about treatment or diagnosis it is about the damage this short term mentality can do to a community. Protecting something requires you know what you are protecting it from. I will attempt to condense my argument but the foundation must be laid for those who are new.
An example of short term mentality is leaving a battle ground (BG) early. The term for doing so is "AFK" and means, "away from keyboard". There are instances where life dictates you leave a game which are entirely understandable. However, that is rarely the reason given. The most often excuse is not "real life demanded my time", instead the reasons given reflect that all about me, short term attitude mentioned above. Some of the excuses given are:
- "The team was not worthy of me"
- "Its just a "PuG" (Pick up Group)
- "I work too hard on my skills and gear to take a loss for this fail team"
Another short term mentality that damages a bracket is often called "farming". It is when a superior team deliberately delays winning a game to focus on killing the weaker team over and over again. Often it results in what is called "graveyard camping" as the superior team waits for the weaker opponents where they re-enter the game after being killed. No one enjoys losing but being farmed is worse. When a weaker team is being farmed or graveyard camped often players will AFK out of the contest. They get a debuff that does not allow them to queue again for 15 minutes which slows the queue times of players waiting for a contest. Some don't queue again after the debuff which further increases queue times.
Why do some superior teams and their players "farm"? The main reason given is that you get more honor points which is false as anyone who can read and do basic math can figure out that more honor is to be earned from winning quickly and often. Diminishing returns results from killing an opponent repeatedly which means less honor each time you kill that player. If you kill them at the GY you get nothing if it is within 15 seconds of their re-entering the contest as the are an "honorless target". Once the more honor myth is destroyed the next excuse offered up is that "they do it to us". Again, an often unfounded and more importantly, short term perspective. Making players AFK and not re-queue hurts the queue times. Slow queue times hurt the bracket. The point, farming and GY camping slow the queue times, don't do it. There is nothing to be gained by delaying a game repeatedly killing a weaker opponent. We must speak out early and often against this practice.
These are just a few examples of what we need to protect against by being proactive. Making the effort to stand up for what is right can be rewarded with insults and having to listen to the same old failed arguments but it is worth it. Over time it gets easier as it becomes the standard but we must put the effort in up front to protect from AFK, farming, GY camping and other things that undermine the success of the bracket. If we protect the 20-24 bracket NOW it will continue to grow and the game will elevate rather than go into a tail spin like the 15-19 bracket. Besides speaking out against what hurts the bracket we must also seek out ways to come together and communicate in ways that build rather than tear down. Trolling, while popular with some, is a detractor and thereby an enemy of anyone looking to attract more players. If we are not growing we are dying. Lets elevate our game by elevating our complete game.
Please pardon the wall of text and the use of smiley's. Thanks for the read and good luck.
Last edited by a moderator:
