twentyseven wrote:Just a simple observation from me; yuri seems to have the most popular faf streams and very popular Blitz tournaments. Alot of his followers get on those tourneys, despite short registration time. I know many of you cry for a more competitive faf, and here's a TD that has a lot of focus on low to mid-range players; which i think is perfect to entise more people to play tournaments and go for that tourney-winning fame.
You want more people to play high-level competitions? Well then they have to get the chance to start from somewhere. If "noobs" or "average joes" dont have some carrot to fight over; why would they commit to becoming better?
The "competitive" issue on FAF isn't something that will get solved by introducing more high rated players. The problem at the higher levels is that there HAS been an influx of higher rated players and yet the "real" competitive scene on FAF ends up being the same people from the start of FAF. For every 5 dudes that got their 1900 rating from farming all welcome games, 1k+ canis, dual gap lobbies, or wonder, you got 1 dude that is able to play at a competent level. And that's my idea of a competent level, let's not get into people with more requirements of players than me.
I've explained before that I view the 1000-1500 rating range to be particularly ignored in FAF and I want to focus on providing that rating group with serious 1v1 and 2v2 tournaments that have potential cash prizes. I want there to be players that gain their rating playing games that force them to refine all their capabilities not just a build order on a single map. This is the best that I can hope for before the introduction of a concept like team matchmaker. I don't have a problem with discussing concepts that focus on refining the lower levels of the FAF competitive scene with Yuri, but I also don't see him as the only TD that needs to be talked to about this. He is just one TD and while he has a large audience and is a large promoter of the community, I do not see that information as relevant in my determination of an individual's capability as a TD. If Yuri provides ideas for tournaments that are superior to other TDs and that I feel will lead to an excellent improvement of the competitive scene, of course I will support his ideas wholeheartedly. I will not support Yuri for the sake of supporting Yuri to appease Russians or in order to cash in on his fame.
When I refer to "support" here I am talking about my concept related to FAF tournament funds. I can't and certainly would never stop Yuri from hosting his own tournaments. I don't plan on becoming a Tournament Dictator. My system, barring scheduling conflicting tournaments, purely revolves around people opting into suggesting unique ideas and being rewarded for their creativity/work with portions of the FAF funds available for tournaments. If Yuri wants to help me, just like any other TD, I will always be willing to listen to him like I would listen to anyone else. I believe this is the building bridge meme everyone has been talking about.
twentyseven wrote:Yes, you can argue all day that its the responsibility of Yuri and his fellow russians to get better english or have more tournaments in times more suitable for westeners. I would however argue that this is the precise job of a PLAYER councillor: to present opportunities for uniting two - at the moment - very separated groups.
I don't think it's Yuri's responsibility to do anything. It is his freetime. It is the russian community's freetime. It is also Yuri's tournaments. I can't really discuss anything about this and neither can any other PC candidate. All people will tell you is that they plan on having a dialogue but in the end, the dialogue requires people willing to sit at the table. I can tell you that I'm willing to sit down and have a discussion with Yuri or whoever else. I can't promise you much else.
twentyseven wrote:And ridiculously, i might have to say this too; I don't mean for the PC to "force people to play with each other". I'm saying build the bridges and see if people walk across. Talk to this popular streamer on the other side of the fence and work some event out, reward good teamwork, dont just get information translated into russian - GET information from russians (theyre in the game, but certainly not a lot of them on the forums, aeolus, or slack (relatively at least)).
I wrote about wanting to work with Yuri in utilizing blitz tournies for experimental tournament concept in my initial application post. I don't really understand the suggestion of rewarding good teamwork. I do agree with the notion of getting Russians involved in the contribution side of the community and I can understand where you are coming from. You don't want it to be some passive system where the information just "exists" and there is no effort meant to put the information in front of people. This is one of the central issues that I see when it comes to communication on FAF and it is one I want to address for the English side of the community as well as the Russian one. It's a political nonanswer to your idea I guess, but being proactive about getting people involved is something I am pretty passionate about. There are a lot of people that are considered to "not matter" or be nothing but "complainers" that might not be capable of coding but are very interested in creating a better community in other ways. Often all that is required to get these people involved is asking them personally.
twentyseven wrote:Lastly, a quick note on toxicity. Here also you seem to shift responsibility to others (moderators). I would certainly vote for a PC that could think a couple steps further. A PC that could ask themselves, even if it doesn't directly fall into their realm of "authority", what THEY can do about it; however little. E.g. are you all truthful when you say you're not toxic when you play the game? Do you ever rage? Can we do more to promote good sportmanship and denounce destructive behaviour, even only in tournaments, casts or streams? Communicating with the promotors, the "faces" of faf to ask for help in accentuating good behaviour as much as possible? These are small things that dont take much effort but definitely worth trying. At the very least, you can say you try - instead of shifting responsibilites and blaming.
I never said I wasn't toxic when I played the game. Also can't recall ever proclaiming that I never raged. In fact, I've gotten mad at you in game. I don't think there are many people on FAF that would say I was a kind-hearted gentle soul, to be honest. I'm also not going to change my attitude in #aeolus or the game in order to maintain some sort of fantasy professional atmosphere. Personally, I see the inability to "lower" yourself to the levels of the "dregs" of FAF more of a hindrance than a benefit in a position equivalent to the Tribune of the Plebs of the Council.
Accentuating good behavior? I don't see any of this related to the PC, at least not in my vision of the position. I'm not going to demand TD's force their contestants to line up and high-five each other after the game. I'm not going to force people to police their language as I already view the rules of the community as enforcing a reasonable atmosphere. If a TD feels like people are breaking his rules or not respecting his authority, then he has all the rights as the TD to make a decision against those individuals. I'm not going to step in and create a set of guidelines that demand people get DQ'd for saying "fucking russians" or "that game was ass" or "this tourney bracket was bs."
Long story short, I'm not a fan of the idea of "promoting good behavior" and the implications it leads to.