It must be said that until last night I have been enjoying playing on T&T immensely. The maps rotations and the low ping have brought me back again and again. So thank you for that! This post started as a query of the mass ban issued last night to members of NM. After much thought it has evolved (devolved ) into a commentary on our country and our society’s continuing descent into uplifting and rewarding mediocrity and the punishment of excellence. My name is Hopplyte. You know me on the server as aXis|Nem3sis*. I have been playing this great game of BF2 since 2007. I remember seeing BF2 for the first time in a Best Buy here in Texas in 2005/2006. At the time we lived in a small city .I watched the employees play and asked many , many questions. After business hours they would pull up chairs and play for hours into the night. Every Friday night for two months I dragged my kids to Best Buy and just watched them play for 2 or so hours at a time. I was hooked. Not much later I liquidated some stock options, had a custom rig built and rationalized that it was for my business. It was really to be able to play Battlefield 2 on high settings.
What the people at Best Buy did not know, nor could they unless I shared it was that I had been a U.S. Marine for many years. I had been out for a couple of years at that time. What fascinated me about BF2 were the complexity, difficulty and effort needed to excel. It was easy to just play and die every few seconds if that is what you wanted. I was having fun doing that at first. But after a while that got really old. But if I wanted to WIN a structured approach was imperative. I had to find out how to get better. I had to learn to aim and not just shoot in the specific direction of an enemy (because that did not work 7 out of 10 times.) I had to figure out how not to get bombed by those damn jets or get killed time after time by the attack chopper. You see, I was used to functioning at a very high level as a Marine. I had been a Force Reconnaissance Marine (1st Force Recon Company, 1st Surveillance, Reconnaissance, Intelligence Group, I MEF, FMF PAC (this info is provided solely as bonafides , more specific info is available upon request ) and had paid my dues to earn that title. I mentioned my past because the intangibles needed to succeed in such a demanding cohort are present in those who cleanly achieve elite proficiency and results in BF2( indeed as in any sport as well). There had to be a way to get better and someone knew it and was successfully implementing. Just looking at the scores at the end of the round and never seeing my name in the top twenty but seeing other names repeatedly told me there was a way to get better! I had done what many of these “kids” would never do. I had skills that could surely allow me to “own” and “pwn” instead of continuing to be owned and pwned. If I was going to continue to play, I had to find a better way.
In the midst of February, when many parts of our country are still firmly in the grasp of winter, an annual ritual takes place. Hundreds of individuals pack up and head to their designated places of duty. Some are support specialists who provide and maintain the equipment that will be used. Some are reporters who will observe, report on , critique, predict and analyze. Some are scouts who will also observe and peruse. Their jobs are to provide actionable intelligence on the adversaries they will soon face in battle where the stakes are not lives but acclaim and lucre. Weaknesses, strengths, tendencies and standouts are catalogued and transmitted. From that information strategies are formulated and plans of battle are drawn. And finally but certainly not least, two key classes of combatants arrive. Around them, the battle lines will be formed and the cadences of the coming battles dictated. They are the pitchers and catchers of Major League Baseball.
These men and their soon to arrive colleagues have spent a lifetime striving to be professional ball players. It is estimated that only one in 30,000 will ever play in the Major or minor leagues. Of those, the one who will have enduring careers will be far, far fewer. Their dedications, luck, effort, sacrifice and talent has gotten them here. They have devoted tens of thousands of hours to their chosen profession.
Spring time is a time of beginnings. The birds are singing , winter is almost over and in many towns and cities in America, it is a time of renewed hope. Spring Training has begun. Maybe THIS year the Cubs will finally win the World Series(no probably not, lol). This will be the year we make the playoffs. This will be the year have a winning season. The expectations at the formerly named Legends Field in Tampa, Florida are very different than the other 29 MLB teams. This is the Spring Training home of the hated New York Yankees. The Yankees have been called the “Evil Empire” by their arch rivals the Boston Red Sox. Teams decry their ability to outspend all but a few. Generations of fans grew up lamenting the failed challenges against those “ Damn Yankees”.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damn_Yankees_%28film%29. For many it is a family tradition. For many years here in Texas the Rangers vs. Yankees game would sell out and the Rangers fans would be vociferous in their hatred of the Yankees and tepid in support of their team.
And yet I had to ask myself “How did the Yankees get so good?” The answer to THAT question will permeate to many other areas of life including and up to the mass banning of NM from the T&T server and many other servers. When the Yankees report to Spring Training, their expectation is vastly different from that of the other twenty-nine MLB teams. Right off the bat so to speak they are told what the expected standard or achievement is. It is not to “have a good season”. It is not to finish above .500. It is not to make the playoffs. It is not to win the pennant. The standard is to win the World Series! Nothing less is expected. How haughty you might say, how conceited, how full of themselves are these people ? Now ask yourself this question, what is the expected standard for YOUR team? What is the expected standard of performance and achievement for your baseball, football, basketball, ice hockey, soccer, and softball or bowling team? What about your place of work, your business or your company or department? What is the expected standard of performance there? Do they EXPECT to win? Do they demand top performances EVERY game? Do they spend THOUSANDS of hours playing ? Do they get instruction from proven performers and then practice, practice, practice against better players. If so they will INEVITABLY improve. Do they learn situations and patterns which occur over and over and then learn how to react so that speed of action married to muscle memory occurs instead of doubt, panic and unsure action ? Does your team willingly identify it’s weaknesses and then aggressively train to improve those weaknesses? Does your team know each other so well that they can move and react in non-verbal synchronicity and lethal efficacy? What we play out round after round after round in BF2 is a microcosm of what happens every second the world over in commerce , national defence, education, sports and life. Do we want our children to be just “okay” or better than we were? Do we want their education to be mediocre, okay or excellent? Why do we want that? Do we want our cities, countries, institutions to be bad , mediocre, okay or better. THAT is the essence of the competition we play out on a BF2 server. Why do we T-bag? Is it no to say ”hah, I got you, I am better this time?”
What many do not know is that when George M. Steinbrenner bought the Yankees in 1973 he paid a net amount of 8.8 million dollars. Even adjusted for inflation that is a paltry sum for a major sports franchise. The storied days of Joe Dimaggio, Mickey Mantle and Roger Marris were distant memories. They had been in decline for many years. In 1977 they were once again champions. It had been eleven years. All together they have appeared in the World Series a whopping 40 times and won 27 of those. The teams closest to them are the St. Louis Cardinals with 19 appearances and 11 wins and the San Francisco Giants with 19 appearances and 7 wins. Today, Forbes magazine has the Yankees tied for third globally at a value of 1.85 billion dollars just behind Manchester United at 2.2 billion and Real Madrid at 1.88 billion. Behind the Yankees in that list are the Dallas Cowboys, Washington Redskins, Los Angeles Dodgers , New England Patriots and Barcelona Football Club.
Well what the heck does this have to do with the T&T server and the NM ban you ask? From a perspective of nade spamming , T-bagging and Strike At Karkand not much at all. But from the perspective of looking at organizations that perpetually achieve winning results, much can be learned.
It is painful to honestly reflect on my true thoughts back in my early BF2 days. It was the Golden Age of Battlefield 2. Scores of servers were online and full of pubers. I eventually settled on a favorite, the War Machine No Hop infantry only sever. Infantry only so there was no artillery or worse aircraft or tanks to ruin my fun. And no hop because shooting the bunny hoppers was a frustrating and mostly futile exercise. In truth I was a great “team player” and a nice guy but I was not very skilled otherwise. As a regular I enjoyed an excellent reputation with the admins and became an admin myself. The server owner and I became friends. I had access to CC and kept an eye on things. But secretly I was fearful when “certain “ players joined. I tried to be on their team so I would not have to face them and inevitably lose. When other players would initiate votes to kick those I was afraid of I would vote yes. I even stooped so far as to kick them “by mistake” , forcibly team switch them and kick them for hopping when they had not. In short I actively harassed them because they were much better than me. I was ashamed of some of the things I had done. I then met a player who seemed to effortlessly excel at the game. He was always number one or two at the end of a round. As we were in squad together I started to REALLY observe how he played and what he did. I got better. I swallowed my pride and asked for instruction. I learned about my k/d. It was terrible to say the least. I learned how to “stay alive”. I learned when to run away and when to stay and fight. (I had never done that before.) I learned how to “move” instead of just run straight. I learned how to aim, about hit boxes, jumping over and climbing objects, hiding places, video settings and audio settings. I learned how to keep calm and control my adrenaline, emotions. That had a real world correlation I could connect to because adrenaline and emotions do negatively affect shot placement. I learned about server latency . I actively sought to go up against the better players. I learned from those encounters. My improvement was dramatic. I went from a below average player to above average and then from above average to very good. I shared what I was learning with my clan mates.
As this was happening the political landscape at WM was rapidly changing. The server had become extremely popular. Some of that can be attributed to our clan =1A=. People enjoyed playing with us. We played religiously, we revived quickly and we mostly won. And winning a hard fought round is so much better than losing! WM was actively recruiting and their ranks swelled. As is human nature and much like the path I followed, becoming well known and liked was much easier than becoming skilled. Additionally the admins were becoming younger more immature. Admin abuse was common. The incidences of skilled players and players in general being kicked for trivialities and made up offenses began to increase. We (=1A= ) along with some then Si| players became the cause of complaints. We played extremely well together we excelled. A few of the older (late fifties and even sixtyish) WM players who were not very skilled but were respected made it clear we were no longer welcome there. The arguments might be familiar to some of us. We have heard them all before. They ranged from us “causing players to leave “ to us being cheaters and everything in between. The older players rationalized that there were other places to play and they just wanted to be left in peace. In the end we walked away from the WM and never went back. Funny enough though, when we left the lack of admin oversight and equitability continued as we knew it would. Not long afterward the WM server ceased to host even an average of 20players. That was pre 2009.
We have seen many servers follow that same trajectory! Popularity , followed by a swelling of membership, followed by a reduction of average player proficiency ,followed by a loss of oversight regarding admin actions, followed by an increase in admins being disrespectful to players , followed by a decrease in equitability toward players followed by average server number decline. Some notables are FUB, BS, dA!,BiG just to name a few.
Right after that wide and unfair banning of those players last night I was shocked and quite angry. The reasoning proffered for that was in the least erroneous and at its most egregious just plain lies. Instead of just coasting I decided to “really “ play. Thanks to another =1A = providing some timely revives I was able to end up 32-3 for that round. During that round Simmy remarked that if it wasn’t for my ping he would “ban my sweaty ass” or some such statement. I humbly ask why?! Why? At the least this smacks of dictatorial fiat (
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/fiat) . Such behavior begs the question what else goes on here? If such is tolerated to a player who has thus far done NOTHING wrong then others will quietly take note and just opt NOT to join your server. They won’t post or complain. They will just cease to come back. That may not be a concern to you but it must not be ignored.
Finally, to the question of your server being emptied and “regulars” being “driven away”. This game has been around for almost a full decade. The average proficiency of the regular player has increased dramatically. But the separation between the skilled and the mediocre will not be erased. Those who chose to become students of the game will continue to excel. It is thus with anything in life. There is a VAST TORRENT OF INFORMATION ON HOW TO BE A BETTER BF2 PLAYER. It is all over you tube. It is on forums. Is it possible to shoot down a jet or a chopper with AT missiles? Yes. What is the best way to kill a tank? Can a tank be killed with one shot? Yes. How? How do I replenish my shock paddles faster? Where is the best place to aim at another jet in a dog fight? Where is the best place to aim my TV missile at another chopper? How do I aim my bombs in a jet? Who shot JR? Where is Hoffa buried? Other than the Hoffa question all these others and more can be answered with some patience and research.
As I type the NFL playoffs are on. Teams unashamedly fight to dominate their opponents. We cheer them on if it is our team. If it is not we have a myriad of reactions. That can range from tears to anger to disgust. Perhaps the next time our team is being dominated we can call in and get the offending team removed from that arena of competition. The next time our driver is losing we can get those in front black flagged. The next time our company comes out second or third best we can level the field by having their product removed from the shelves. Where does the insanity stop? Where does it end? In Battlefield we play at WAR. WAR!......So if the competitor is not cheating and we objectively know this should we succumb to Soccer mom rules and “call a time out” or stop scoring or remove the better player? Unfortunately our national and global trend is yes! Instead of get better and try again it is rapidly becoming “bullying” and “unfair”. We are losing our masculinity and ability to deter aggression from those who would truly prey upon us. We are becoming “Oprahfied” . Will there be a time when we look back from subjugated state and cry because we let ourselves be fettered by the allures of comfort and mediocrity? History says the answer to THAT question is YES! The soft tyranny being imposed upon us eventually hardens or we will be attacked by those who see us ready for conquest.
Battlefield 2 will eventually go away. But the values of competition , hard work to improve and the satisfaction of seeing yourself get better through the rigor of discipline will never get old. Conversely, those would have us compromise ourselves so that their mediocrity can be considered average or even exemplary will slink back to whence they came never able to look themselves in a mirror because they will be cowards all their lives. The silence of all the servers killed by such behavior echoes hauntingly. And those who have destroyed them move on like locusts to destroy the next organization or institution.
As a Marine I have seen tyranny, the undisguised variety and the misery and suffering it brings. And the soft tyrannies of political correctness slowly coalesce and eventually seek to crush all in its path. Sometimes it has succeeded. It is rife in today’s society and can be readily found in local, national and international concerns.
The members of NM have shown themselves to be highly motivated, disciplined, team oriented, non cheaters. They willingly take on ANY challenge mounted to bring their team to victory. Playing with such has forced me to up my game and has made me better.
I close with this poem from Martin Niemöller.
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Martin_Niem%C3%B6ller When the Nazis came for the communists,
I did not speak out;
As I was not a communist.
When they locked up the social democrats,
I did not speak out;
I was not a social democrat.
When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
As I was not a trade unionist.
When they came for the Jews,
I did not speak out;
As I was not a Jew.
When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.
I CHOSE TO MAKE MY STAND AND BE HEARD HERE AND NOW !
