Let me convey the events of yesterday from my perspective.
Our collective view: We feel that with the development of persistant stats combined with leaderboards in this latest release EA had created something that they didn't quite foresee the effects of. The well-intended competitive environment unintentionally fostered a seething mess of jealousy, suspicion, and prejudicial rivalry amongst gamers who's negative reactions are not held back by normal social standards due to the anonimous nature of the internet. Complaints poured in almost immediately.
In an effort to combat this EA made a second mistake. Instead of hiring a staff within its corporation to interface with the BF2 community they employed a chosen few who were charged with recruiting volunteers (within this community) to police it (enter BF2Ranked Servers). This is similar to forming a militia or town watch.....little training or screening of civilians who were empowered by the a government (essentially EAs role in this BF2 society) leads to abuse of that power. This is more evident amongst a group of volunteers as opposed to a group hired by EA as those that abuse suffer little more than losing that power and not their livelyhood as EA employees would have. To put it simply the various "snitch groups" are a cost-cutting measure to put a band-aid on an unforeseen circumstance.
This environment breeds resentment and at times vindication outside of the confines of the game itself...aka someone can report a rival to EA to get stats wiped as revenge instead of challenging him in the actual game.
I am sure many people who are now attached to this game and the communities and freindships gained here may have not even bought the game if they knew that other gamers would be policing them and at anytime for the slightest infraction they could be punished excessively. It just doesn't sound like fun.
Some Background: TOP members suffered their first "wiping" at a total of five. This not only affected them by taking stats away as it also had the effect of damaging a "reputation". This frustration was exacerbated by the fact that is EA's practice not to tell those it punishes why it was done as well as not offer any real opportunity to appeal even though it is stated that you can.
In our particular case we did not find out the reason for this initial wiping (which was done en-mass to the tune of 100+ players) until recently. The reason.....blackhawking....excessive use of what EA retroactively conisidered an exploit. Not only did they do this MONTHS after a patch limited the use of this "exploit" thereby erasing half of the months worth of stats but also is plainly EA's attempt to correct a mistake THEY made by punishing it customers in order to "level the playing field". Ah, the corporate world does move slower than the gaming world.....and the little man suffers.
TOP is not simply a clan.....it is a society....with a unique culture. This experience had a strong effect on this culture adverse to EA's intention (punishing to stop bad behavior) due to the clumsy way it was implemented. The response was a growing resentment of stats all together. With the waning importance of stats in TOP came a growing sense of FREEDOM.
THE EPIPHANY: This is simple.....if you don't care about stats then nothing in the BF2 community can threaten you. The constant concern with when you will be punished is gone and you end up having more fun. Those that would irk you with threats of turning you in :
http://www.bf2rankedservers.com/forums/ … php?t=6100http://forums.bf2s.com/viewtopic.php?id=31270now actually entertain you. The game has actually gotten more fun for us. I would dare to say that we are having more fun with this game than anyone else at this time. This is evident in our growing numbers whilst other clans are struggling to survive.
STATSPADDING: Focus for a minute on what constitutes statspadding. You will find that the definition differs from person to person. With this concept in mind all players stats could be at risk despite their best behavior simply due to the fact that EA can change its definition and retroactively punish you. EXAMPLE...some of you may have a lot of fun commanding all the time. At one time EA could consider the fact that one who commands exclusively or excessively denies others that ability. This may be construed as abuse. Something that you enjoyed could turn you from a good commander to a criminal and you will be punished.
Another example....Some may think I sold my account. It is possible that someone maliciously put my account up for sale as it took only a link on an ebay website to prove ownership in the eyes of that buyer. EA may wipe my NASTIE_BUTLER account on the suspicion that I was the one who sold it when in fact it was someone that meant to harm me. I could be punished as a result of another's actions.
NEPETISM: Known as favoritism. I like Firestorm. I wouldn't want to see him punished but I MUST use this example. His stats were wiped do to the commander bug. No one but Firestorm knows if this was intentional. Its quite possible that he was curious about this bug....just for a minute...and tried it for a round. After all it was done on his server and I believe that bug requires admin control of the server in order to reset it.
But due to a stellar reputation and a close relationship with the powers that be OR the fact that he is responsible for running a successfull server he was given an opportunity not afforded to most of us who have been punished. He was able to appeal and was responded to in kind.
CONCLUSION: Stats take more away from the actual experience of BF2 than they give. If you simply reject them you will find that you will enjoy this game exponentially more than in the past....guarding your stats...and your reputation. Try this for your own sake.....start a new account....don't touch your old one....AND ENJOY.
THE MASSACRE AT TOTALBF2: This was not a planned event. Someone brough up the event in a conversation early on Saturday. I asked around to see if anyone would be interested in playing against people WE AT TOP view as an elite society in BF2 with influence on the game yet lacking true knowledge of the actual experience of BF2. I guess this was such an attractive prospect that every member in our TS at the time lined up immediately.
The result was an aweful massacre yes....and I am sure we ruined the STAFF's fun day. Honestly that was not the intent. I sincerely expected more of a challenge from the people the write about, host radio talk shows about, and police our community than we recieved.
WE ARE NOT A CLAN....we are a group of friends that play together ....WE DONT PRACTICE..we simply play pubs. THIS SHOULD HAVE BEEN A LEVEL PLAYING FIELD as the entire staff numbering 32 shared a Teamspeak and were able to communicate just as the 20 of us could.
But yes it was a rout, we absolutely humliated them and my brothers should be proud. We cleaned them out...I remember one game not exceeding two minutes with a total ticket loss on our side of 5!
A classic engagement. Its like robin hood....the "undesireables" fighting "the system". The beauty of this was this concept rather than the skills of the individuals involved.
I am sure the irony of this does not escape those who understand.
Not surpisingly we will not be able to carry this conversation on TotalBF2 as it will be promptly erased. Another example of censorship, elitism, and exclusivity that exists in what is supposed to be an open environment. Maybe just the raw human emotion known as humiliation.
POWER TO THE PEOPLE.....paste this message if you see fit....dont link it...paste it. That is if you agree.
TOP press release:
"Yesterday twenty of my gangmembers in TOP attended the TBF2 "play the staff day" to take our frustrations on the ego-heavy pretentious and exclusive societies that believe they hover above the community.
Total BF2, EA staff, MyIS, BFROE, BFMP (BF Military Police, a division of ROE), Sir Community, those droning podcast hosts, and who ever else considered themselves "staff" felt what it was like to challenge the group I am sure they have all at one time or another have taken stabs at and made examples of....TOP.
In a show of solidarity we all appeared at once and proceeded to pound them. Out of ten rounds they never brought us under 250 tickets and one round lasted only two minutes with us losing only five tickets.
This group showed their true colors and mirrored those that they protect, the masses of complainers that have dumbed this game down to its present pitiful visage, and did what was expected........complained, kicked, banned, reset the server, and ended the game.
We have made no friends this weekend amongst the "elite" of the BF2 community. And you know.....we don't really care. Payback is a bitch."