even though skill stacking ruins games, the game is still only fun(ner) when playing with friends, people just got to deal with it and become better so then they become the skill stack.
There was one server where admins could do everything they wanted to enforced no stacking rules and keep games fair. the training server. I used to kick / ban people all the time. I got quite a few complaints about things as well. People don't like being kicked for skill stacking, nor do they like being slayed for "unfair" tactics. Personally, on the training server when I policed it, there was no ninja ing or tactics that caused massive amount of confusion. Things like barracks on the hill behind enemy base in Mvalley etc. I enforced head on straight forwards fighting. Generally speaking, people seemed to not mind this. Some vets threw fits though. I banned pickled heretic more times than I can count. The thing is, If an admin enforces any type of rule, they get bitched at for admin abuse. When they don't do anything, they get bitched at for not doing anything. Personally, I liked the training server. If I could, I would help you guys with a server that had rules like it: Straight forwards tactics and no risky attacks (Destroy enemy base before putting up the racks in the case of the "ninja" tactics. No com rushing) Skill stacking would be discouraged, but the above rule would reduce the amount of problem skill stacking would cause. Limited use of the say command. No "banter" between teams. ("lol you got du? you guys are noobs" <-- none of that shit.) I generally don't like forcing people to change teams half way through a match. If the team stack existed at the start and the admin didn't notice, I would prefer to simply let the game finish out. Asking people to help the other team never hurts, but I hate the idea of forcing people to change mid game. Some games you'll have a shitty game going. Some games will be awesome. Not always because of a skill stack. The idea is to have fun. The rules above make sure that people understand why they have lost and that they aren't upset at others when they do lose. Anyhow, If the empires community could support a more nooby server without hurting the population of the larger servers, I'd be all for it.
KM used one, and the server died. People will sit in spec, just like they do now if they can't get on the team they want. No, not really. Long time players can pick out all the skilled players and assign them veteran or skilled status. True, but in many cases, they are the only option to do anything. The admins are all veteran players for a reason. They play often enough to know who's skilled, and how to balance teams if need be. You're too new to have seen it, as it was buried long ago. A lot of things were different then... The level of bitching and whining over admins doing their job was more reasonable, probably because it had absolutely no effect (evasion didn't work, people ended up with perma bans). Excuse my ego for a moment, but the reason the Training Server worked is because (a) I played and policed the server on a daily basis (setting an example for, and monitoring the other admins), (b) all the excellent admins that we had were handpicked by me, and finally, (c) I had the final say in all matters of abuse and bans, and the admin team was assured that they were not in danger of losing their privileges. The point is that enforcing controversial policies only works if everyone is on the same page. That must have been under Steven, since I'm pretty sure I removed those directives. tl;dr If the system is unavoidable, it may work; however, people may just stop playing, because no one wants to waste an hour on a silent team of people who can't build a refinery.
That was when Steven ran it. I removed those directives, made a couple of other changes, and the server took the #1 spot.
The training server was always fairly well populated. Also, I wasn't around when it died. Who was steven, coffee? Also, Fuck vets who go into a server labeled training and ninja shit. It's annoying. The point of the server was never supposed to be the main empires server. It was supposed to be a training server. Thus the name. There is no need for a pickled heretic (for the most frequent example) to join up, jump in com, run over the entire enemy team, place a barracks next to the enemy rax, get it up, and then kill the entire enemy main base by himself. That is what I mean. I don't know how to say "Don't come here and be an elite douche bastard" in a nice way. There are other ways to win empires games against new players other than putting a barracks right next to theirs because they don't realize what is going on and it dies before they can figure it out. When it's only 2 players doing it while every other player is fighting somewhere, it becomes even more retarded. If the training server was ever "on top", then it lost it's concern for what it was, and just became a regular server competing for playercounts.
No. As you said, you're talking about another server. So the newbs should learn that the game is boring and drawn out, and get owned when they go to a "real" server? I think not. I don't think you really know what you're trying to say. If they read the manual, they'd know it was a rax, and if they were playing on a real server, the experienced players would be yelling to throw nades at the rax. As I have always maintained, there no need for a "training server," and that's not what the server that I ran was (granted, people were always encouraged to help newbs, but that existed and continues to exist regardless the server). Personally, I don't think newbs will learn anything on a server where tactics are restricted, and the majority has no idea what they're doing. When they eventually get to a real server, they will get crushed. If they instead start playing on a regular server with a mic and asking questions, the skilled majority will teach them, and they'll learn much more efficiently.
I spent an entire day once adding in fall off to the weapon wikis, and updating values. It's a lot of thankless work.
Any game that has an apparent skill gap will have skilled players being absolute jackasses to the unskilled players. Unless you know the noob, 90% of the time, you rage at them for them ruining your game. There are some nice people, but they are not the majority of empires. having a server where people don't get crushed and don't get raged at and don't lose without being able to figure out what is happening in necessary in games with apparent skill differences. If you want any sort of general public game that is half way decent, you need a casual server that not only encourages people to help others learns, but is required by a written rule.
EVE Online must have no skill gap then... There's a difference between noobs and newbs. The noobs are morons with no mics, who don't communicate or try to learn. Newbs realize they need a mic, get one, and use it to ask questions, and participate in the game. I have no problem with the latter; sadly though, they are a minority. I don't think I've ever seen a skilled player refuse to help or teach a new player. I don't think that even pickled, complete asshat that he is, would refuse, if asked directly, to teach a new player. The rule that's needed is to require the new players to try and learn the game. As such a rule is absurd, providing a more... shall we say... easy to access option, in the form of tutorials, is the appropriate solution. Back in the 2.12 days, I offered on these forums to teach new commanders. One person responded, and I taught them. Only one person in the entire community was interested in learning how to command? Personally, I find that to be a bit depressing, and not accurately representative of the number of new commanders who don't know what they are doing. The disconnect is the new players not asking to be taught by the old, not the other way around.
maybe you need to play more. Often the question is asked "How do I spawn" and they are usually answered with "enter" instead of "alt-tab" or "windows key".
