I’m an appreciator of the e-sports scene and a beginning competitive player. Having recently joined a team that plays in the UGC Highlander league, I found it really increased my enjoyment of TF2 and got me thinking about how difficult it is to get started in competitive play. It’s extremely intimidating for new players to have to go on IRC or TF2Lobby and get yelled at by more experienced players. This single issue keeps the large majority of casual players from ever getting to try out one of the most balanced, deep and enjoyable multiplayer experiences there is. In addition to this issue, the problems that the PubComp system tries to solve are as follows:
A proper competitive game should have a centralized ranking system and an easy way to find scrims or play pickup games as quickly as possible. Team Fortress 2 is a fantastic competitive game and deserves a system like this.
PubComp can be set to 6v6 mode or Highlander mode (and later possibly expanded to others, such as 8v8). I’ll be using 6v6 to illustrate how it would work.
When there are less than 12 players in a 6v6 PubComp server, the server functions as a normal deathmatch (SOAP-TF2DM) server. Players can vote to change maps and play deathmatch as usual, and they can also nominate maps they would like to play for comp. MGE could also be an option for the warmup period. Once a 12th player has joined, a vote goes up, and the players vote on which map they would like to play. The map is then changed to the selected map in tournament mode, an appropriate config is executed, and players choose their teams.
The server admin may define rules that restrict the classes players can choose. Once they have chosen a class, they may also be further restricted on what classes they can switch to. For example, rules for medic may be:
Rules for soldier may be:
Items may also be restricted.
Once everyone has chosen a class, they ready up and the match begins. Once it’s over, players vote whether they would like to play another match, but they are free to disconnect at this point without penalty. If after a minute or two there aren’t enough players to continue, the map will revert to warmup mode.
The website plays a key role in PubComp. Here are some details by section:
Players can register with their Steam accounts, similar to how it’s done at tf2lobby or tf2logs.com. They will then be eligible to join games and have their statistics recorded.
Players can view their lifetime statistics with match-by-match details, class-specific stats, and other “fun” stats such as medic picks, airshots and killing sprees. They can also view and address complaints made against them. All PubComp servers will have advanced statistics plugins for more interesting logs.
Each class will have a ladder, and users can view players in a specific class by ranking.
Players can create teams with other members of the site. Teams will have their statistics tracked much the same as players and will have an overall team rating. Once a team has been created, they may also enter PubComp tournaments and put out open invitations for scrims scheduled for a certain time.
Teams can browse scrim requests and agree to meet at the time requested. The team leaders will then be provided with a link and password and will be able to log in to the server at the agreed upon time.
Every match that is played will have its logs parsed with the statistics in an easy-to-read format, available to the public. Ideally, demos will also be recorded and stored for each game played, although depending on monetary limitations this may not be possible.
Users can see a list of current matches being played and choose to join the SourceTV to spectate.
Players can view matches that are requesting a ringer and join.
Special events or games may be scheduled, such as live casting either streaming or on Mumble. Users will be able to subscribe to recieve emails when new events are announced.
Users may choose to follow their friends or favorite players, receiving a notification and/or email message when the chosen player joins a game.
Rankings are important to the success of any competitive scene. Rankings give people goals to shoot for and also allow them to be placed with similar competition. TF2 is strongly class-based (an awesome medic may not be an awesome scout), so the rating system should be class-based as well. I’m still considering how this should work, but I think in 6v6 you would have roles instead of classes. Medic would be a role, Demoman would be a role, Soldier would be a role (which encompasses heavy, pyro and sniper), and Scout would be a role (which encompasses pyro and sniper). Every game will have its stats automatically recorded and posted, so we will have lots of metrics to work from regarding ranking individual classes. Players will also be able to have their rating boosted by being recommended by other players.
Once a player recieves a high enough ranking, they will be able to move out of the Beginner servers onto Intermediate and then onto Advanced. Intermediate and Advanced players can still join lower-tier games, but they won’t receive as many points. Players who have received a higher tier in one role or class will be restricted to that role or class until they boost up their other roles/classes to that tier.
It also is fun and gives a sense of accomplishment for players to earn achievements and badges that they can show off on their profile page. Granted, this functionality isn’t absolutely vital, but it would be nice to have.
Disconnections during a match will result in the game being paused. If the disconnected player does not return within a minute, the rest of the team may vote to allow spectators to join, to wait for a substitute player to join, or to cancel the match and return to warmup mode.
There is no way to truly stop griefing, but we can aim to punish it harshly. Because stats from each game will be logged, players will be able to visit others’ game page on the PubComp website and denote the player as having griefed that game (as well as giving a short explanation of the manner of griefing). Players that receive enough complaints will have their Steam IDs banned. A similar system could be set up for players who are abusive or display poor sportsmanship.
Stats gaming for rank will also not be tolerated. There will be systems in place to detect when stats are particularly “off” and appear to be gamed, and the player and the match in which it occured will be flagged for inspection.
This may not need to be added immediately, but PubComp could also be converted fairly easily to run automated tournaments or seasons. Players could form teams at the start of the season and, once a set number of teams has been reached, could agree on a time to play (through the website, by the captains). When the time comes, members will be automatically provided with a link to the server they will be playing on, and the match results will be automatically recorded.
We’ll want a server setup where players can join a server depending on their region. We may have a set amount of servers per region, or we might possibly have a sort of “cloud” system where, when a server is requested for a region and there are none with slots available, a new server can be dynamically created.
I’m of the opinion that if this is executed properly, the community would really love it. TF2 Lobby is good, and I’m sure they put effort into building their system, but I could see them converting entirely to something like this. In fact, I think we need people like CommFT, MyGamingEdge, TF2TV and TF2Lobby involved, as a lot of what makes this mod work is awareness. People should know that A) the mod exists, B) it’s easy to join, and C) there is more to it than just servers.
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