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Doc you bring up a few excellent points in that post, but I don’t doubt my interpretation of events. A problem at the time was that observers did not know the personalities involved, nor the history of XDC up to that point, and my perspective of the problem was somewhat different.
The XDC ethos, once upon a time, was absolutely central to everything we did, but I found it very interesting how different people interpretted what I had written in the introduction when we started expanding. The “we don’t take gaming seriously” thing became a problem because definitions of what “serious” might include varied across the board. When it was written the internet was new to me, as it was to the rest of our initial membership, and the concept of a clan in particular was something we all felt a little uncomfortable with. The classic clan setup back then was ridiculously geeky, and generally led by spotty teenage Hitler types who enforced rules which were tailored to boost their own egos, and that was what XDC was setup to combat. We used to laugh at people who would organise anything online, and in particular practice sessions. This wasn’t an anti-teamwork stance, it was more a case of laughing at people who made concessions in their social life to turn up for organised meets online, which was perceived as geeky back then. We were rebels against organised gaming; the anti-geek clique, and at one time we were quite militant in this respect.
I have to admit that the initial practice sessions we held for ’42 had me wondering about the people trying to organise them, but because I was active and involved, I also started to appreciate the benefits of the XDC team ethic developing, which was something 7 and Eggy didn’t see at the time. I had previously been involved in practice sessions for clans I’d tried out for on the gaming zone, and on wireplay, and I saw the benefit in terms of gameplay, but the concept still didn’t sit well with my concept of what XDC was about. I let it play out though because I was confident in who we’d recruited, and I thought we might be able to find a middle ground where you could gel as a team without having to commit ridiculous amounts of potential drinking/social time to practice sessions. 7 and Eggy were not involved in the recruitment drive for ’42 and, as a result, didn’t know the people involved, so didn’t appreciate my confidence that things would work themselves out for the best. They saw us going down a path towards what we’d been setup to combat, and questioned our direction.
The irony is that in questioning this, their backs went up, and their opposition became “serious” in itself. I was actually sympathetic towards their views at this time because I had my own doubts, but the difference was that I was involved enough to be able to influence events if they went too far, whereas they had no idea of who the people involved were, and even started questioning my judgement. They reacted really badly and in the court of public opinion found themselves alienated, and it became a vicious circle for them, in that respect.
Eggy was the youngest and flipped the quickest but 7, to his credit, stuck with it, but the damage had been done as he was seen as a trouble maker thereafter. Something must’ve happened behind the scenes though, because after some time I detected a new found respect for XDC in my convos with 7. I think some of our older boys had something to do with this (Pharty, Badger, and/or Queeks) via pm.
7 has asked me whether he’s still welcome in XDC, and I’ve told him he is, because at the end of the day I see the whole thing as having been a problem of perspective. Nobody is perfect, and I think he appreciates his initial reaction was over the top, but I also failed both him and Eggy in that I couldn’t help them settle into the new group. 7 has become quite involved with his work over the past few years, but I wouldn’t rule out a return eventually.
I also wouldn’t say this this is a shadow hanging over us; it was an experience I personally learnt a lot from (I was 22 at the time), and 7 brought up problems which needed discussion, the results of which made us a stronger entity. The XDC ethos has evolved in part because of what happened then, and we have a group now comfortable in it’s identity. With any group of people you’re always going to have arguments, and my experience elsewhere online is that this is what normally brings down clans/whatever we actually are. That we’re still here after 11 years, despite episodes like this one, is testiment to the quality of the group we have here, and this is something those of us still active should be proud of. Despite the negative impression he gave at the time, 7’s argument was hugely influencial in our development, and I think we’re worse off without him. We’ve had many characters in XDC over the years, but few have affected change as much as 7 did, and personally I appreciate it.
Base rape is another interesting one and which we need to debate on TS before kicking
I still hear calls about base raping on TS, but not everyone reads the forums regularly so as a reminder of my position on the subject:
This is my one main worry re open admin of the server by XDC.
The original XDC_Insane is not the same as our current console fanboy of the same name btw. SOC_UK turns up once every 3 or 4 years for about 5 minutes, then goes back to drooling over alloyed wheels and ridiculous spoilers.
Wolf, Queeks, Jar, Beermonster (although only part time back then), and yourself, are the only XDC currently active from the RS days, apart from me. You could normally include Spunker in that list, but he’s dropped off the radar recently, though we think that has something to do with spanish ladies.
On the subject of admins, anyone can do it:
I got to the first page which says you need a good browser 🙁 Can’t be arsed typing into google to get one, so guess I’ve died at level 0 🙁
I shall be back on tonight after a break saturday and sunday. Apologies in advance if I lose the rag at any stage as I’m a little on edge 3 days into quitting the smokes.
Rush is actually on the map list but i’ve yet to work out why it’s not being applied. As for kill streak messages, I’m not sure how much people want to see my kicking ass being rubbed in. I’ll try and find out how it’s done tomorrow, but in the meantime will take paddy’s word that it’s done.
I’m confused following a conversation with Gonzo the other day regarding the hardcore settings we have on the server. According to him if hardcore damage is selected on the server, it overrides the minimap settings, preventing us from tailoring HC to the way we previously agreed. This would explain why minimap is not on throughout the majority of our rounds, but I’m confused why the first play of Hastings always has the minimap and HC damage appears to be off? From the second round, and on all subsequent maps/rounds, full HC settings apply for some reason. As far as I can see, I can’t tailor the settings for individual maps 😕
Anyway, while I sort this out, the server name is not quite accurate, but it’s pretty bland anyway, so I wondered whether anyone else has some better suggestions?
Yea definitely a great weekend, crowned by the return of Max who’s picking up the game at a scarey rate 🙂
Oh and Hasting’s is my tank map, especially when I see choppers in the air 🙂 Shoot at me in your chopper, I’ll be hunting you down in my tank; kill me in your chopper, you’d better just land 😈
Good job tonight guys, and in fact over the weekend. Sever was active quite a bit over the past few days, and seems it’s spent most of the later evening tonight filled to capacity, or at least close to it. It’s also been a long time since I’ve seen 7/8 of us on TS at midnight, and it’s great to see again 🙂
Sorry I couldn’t get back on tonight, but got sidetracked after a late dinner. I’ll be on again early evening tomorrow.
Prone coming back will be good, but not really too fussed about the 64 player thing. 24-32 players was always the ideal number in bf2, in my opinion anyway.
