What's Happened To The AoS Community?

[USABxGUNSLINGER]

So, a few minutes ago, I was on Shams Little Ponies, there were multiple people running around instant headshotting people from suspicious distances (and spawn camping, although I can't stop that). A guy who just started playing was calling them out for aimbots. I dismissed this off, at first, because I know beginners can get overwhelmed, but I started noticing that one guy, who's name I won't tell, for anti-flamming reasons, was doing above said activity, and I started getting weary. The two seemingly hackers on the server were flaming him, and a third guy (who was slightly hackerish, especially in the defense of the seemingly hackers) starting flaming him too, spurting insults and saying that these guys had some kind of natural skill built in them (I know, you get some kind of blood pulse in you, and you go on a headshot spree, but they were far beyond that). Their attitude didn't point them out to be some kind of pro's (with their flaming and stuff), and the new guy just eventually stopped trying. I tried to play for a few more minutes, and the first seemingly hacker left (without spurting some kind of ridiculous k/d ratio), and the second kept calling the rest of the server noobs, and the like...

So, my question is, why has the community down-graded to this?

[ThisFrickinSite]

They suck... and for some reason there has never been a real anit-hack put in the game except the pyspades stuff which doesnt work anymore.

[Danqazmlp]

There are idiots unfortunately. In that case, I find it best to /admin and see if one is around to check them out.

[Articsledder]

Yeah, unfortunately the community has become really hostile as of late. There isn't much to do really. It is really hurting the game and turning people away from it. As someone once said, the most dangerous thing to a multiplayer game is the community. To exclusive, and no one wants to play.

[HoboHob]

I think the forum has a good influence on people.

If we make everyone register on the forums then the hackers will see how much they ruin the game for other people and hopefully stop.

Though some will probably just be like "Trolololo" and keep hacking :/

[FaZe]

In 2024, when the current community age average of 5 years will be 15, I'm sure everything will be just peachy.

[USABxGUNSLINGER]

In 2024, when the current community age average of 5 years will be 15, I'm sure everything will be just peachy.

Is it bad that I didn't understand that?

And Shams was better tonight, I even played peacemaker, and cooled down some arguments

[Paratrooper]

Stop playing with 9-year-olds. You'll see this less often.

[bov930527]

Stop playing with 9-year-olds. You'll see this less often.

The problem is that a lot of people are 9 year olds (or at least act like they are, but I don't see the difference). And the core to that problem is that today this game is too easy to get and to play. Let me explain.

When I first joined AoS by an advise of my friend back in high school last year, it was about 0.10 or something. Literally, we had only gen maps, a rifle with a magazine of only 5 cartridges (I personally prefer it over 10) and maximum of 25 that you could carry, we needed to jump every time when going up one box, there was no sprint.

But that's just ingame mechanics, it's okay if those got fixed, even though it made the game easier and thus accessible to people with lower mental capability (a.k.a. children). The real barrier that kept immature youngsters away was the white page with about 10-20 servers on it, where you had to click 50 times to hope that for once you'll get on any server. That white page would sometime turn off and all servers might get shut down for weeks at a time. In short, usually only people who had patience would get to play the game. And children aren't known for their patience bar, now are they?

Back in those days 90% of players were aged 15-25, most of them knew fluent English. There was a lot of teamwork, everyone talked to each other, cooperated. But now, since the reduction of age, these things got forgotten. Gee, no wonder! What a 12-year old would consider difficult to understand, a 17-year old would just take as common sense.

I have a theory, in fact, that we might get that old community back. But to understand my theory, you must first acknowledge the following argument: if you want a mature community, you must have it consisting of mature people.

So, what needs to be done, is to raise the age of players in order to prevent having a bunch of people who need to be taught common sense. And how do we do that? We put up barriers. Barriers that will literally force children out of the game due to their own impatience or stupidity. There are many kinds of these fences, but I will take into example three possible for this very game:

Barrier #1: Physical. Make the game cost money. This will physically force people that cannot get money or don't have a credit card in RL to quit playing the game. 90% of these people are below 18.
Barrier #2: Mental, ingame. Make the game harder. No sprint, have to jump all the time, slower reload times. When you read this, you might think "damn, this guy's crazy. no way i vote for this sh*t" . But let me tell, I would too find this game much more annoying if these things would get back. BUT, I would consider it a price worth playing if it would get rid of all the kids, because kids are usually impatient (which is why there were almost no kids when AoS hit 0.16. Good times...).
Barrier #3: Mental, geting the game. Making it that all players have a 2% chance to get on a server. That means you would get an error approximately 49 out of 50 times you try to log in. Just like in the good old days. Ohh, and make site randomly shut down at times and don't work for hours. This would also force impatient people to quit the game.

These would be harsh methods, yes, I know that. But barriers are the only thing that could possibly force youngsters out of here.


Who are impatient people anyway? Do they deserve to get "deported" away from this site? Yes. I believe so. Impatient people usually (not allways) are:

a) Kids below 15;
b) Hackers, botters.

Do we want to play with these people. I sure as hell don't. I have nothing against children, It's only natural that they are intellectually inferior to grown-ups or teenagers. But that's also why I wouldn't like to play games with 'em.


Perhaps we don't need to force them out. We could, for instance, divide the community. If we could get us back 0.10 version of AoS, I'm 110% sure that none of immature people would play it. There, old timers like myself, could get together to play with tactics and teamwork. And the youngsters would get to stay and enjoy the "easy" version of AoS, the one we have right now, more suited for their minds.

It's all really simple logic. Pateince requires maturity. Make the game contain something that requires patience, and you'll force the impatient/immature players out.

So, to conclude it. My solution for the current problem of this community and the particular troubles that rise in it is:

Make two versions of the game. "Easy" one for younger people, and "Old Times" version for more mature and patient part of the community.

[Fett316]

I've been here since nearly the start, and from experience I can say not a damn thing has changed really. In fact I'll go one better; This community is actually better than it was about this time last year.

I remember that shit with Lexsym, "Deuce" (lol censor) and LoT, all of which were extremely annoying. The forums were shit. (Not startin' shit, just tellin it like I saw it)

In game, it was dealing with fly/grenade/bullet/block hackers and trying to find a nice gen map before they got to it.

Compared to what we used to deal with, an aimbotter and children screaming "HAXX" is minor nuisance. It's on par with "How due I git outta da water//?" 1000 times a session.

We're doing fine. Great I dare say.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GELYB9Gb ... re=related

[Varun]

I agree with most of what you said (bov930527).
Most immature players are below the age of 15, although that is not to say that if you are under 15, you are immature.

[MrHaaaaaaxFF]

Heheh im 13 and im mature enough :D
Yeah i kinda agree with you, bov930527, but we must have another way.
If you take a look at the upcoming Ace Launcher, you will see a register-thingy. Hopefully that could stop some "youngster" since no kids can register stuff without their parent's permission, right?

[bov930527]

I've been here since nearly the start, and from experience I can say not a damn thing has changed really. In fact I'll go one better; This community is actually better than it was about this time last year.

I remember that shit with Lexsym, "Deuce" (lol censor) and LoT, all of which were extremely annoying. The forums were shit. (Not startin' shit, just tellin it like I saw it)

In game, it was dealing with fly/grenade/bullet/block hackers and trying to find a nice gen map before they got to it.

Compared to what we used to deal with, an aimbotter and children screaming "HAXX" is minor nuisance. It's on par with "How due I git outta da water//?" 1000 times a session.

We're doing fine. Great I dare say.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GELYB9Gb ... re=related

Have you been here without taking any major breaks from AoS? Because I quit since 0.46 and didn't join until, now really, 0.75. And I gotta tell you, it was like getting a "BAM!!!" in the head.

And I see what you're talking about, and I know that those were real issues (especially hacking). I, though, did not encounter those too usually and actually, didn't find them too annoying either. And even then hackers and griefers themselves were mature! They would allways find funny ways to hack, like that youtube video. I actually laughed loud when I saw it. And it was not that usual too.

All-in-all, I honestly disagree with all of you statements. And as you see, some people agree with me. That is why we should give those people a chance too. I say, give us back the 0.16 (without hacking off course) and let old timers enjoy it while those who wish can enjoy the newer versions simultaneously.

[Fleischgeruch]

@Danqazmlp: I know what you mean. Every time I log onto a sham's server (IF i manage to log on. Those things area full all of the time) it's 30 people out of 32 that are absolute noos/polaks/brs who I never saw before. As a result I don't tend to stick around in the game anymore and just log off, this making my average time spent playing AoS per week about 30 minutes. Comparing to the 20 hours I used to have back in the good old days of Sw prosperity.
So yea, the game has attracted some 'unwanted attention' since the good ol' times of 0.whatever it was in june.
and australians...

[DoomSplitter]

I'm sure the fact that AoS is free has something to do with it. Once it goes payed we might lose some of those 'trouble' players.