The Hack #2

[TurkeyXIII]

Gooey: You know where to find us

Raum: Java is our SL, not Ryj.

Ryj: Your sense of humor is even worse than mine

[IB_]

QUOTE (ryjamsan @ Jan 13 2010, 03:33 AM) If you hog all the players we will just be 4 elite squads and 5 struggling squads who need players, and DSM

Welcome to reality.

[Cadillac]

QUOTE (TakingArms @ Jan 13 2010, 03:54 PM) Whatever dude, people join where they want to join, and why should Sysx not take them if they're talented players?

Agreed.

Ryjam, you cannot blame SysX for people wanting to join them, that's just being petty. It's very easy to pick on those who are doing well at the moment, and piling scorn on those who join them but SysX have every right to do whatever they feel is best for them. To be honest your comments about l1ngus just come off as a cheap, unscrupulous attack on him and doesn't do you any favours, even if you feel you might have had a valid point. At the end of the day, while there is a certain amount of community spirit, each squad (and player) has to look out for themselves.

You cannot expect squads to refuse players or donate them to others who have less talent in the interests of fairness. If this were to happen, there would be no motivation for people to win squad games, because aside from the instant gratification of winning, I'd like to think that people are also playing to get better at the game (and thereby bettering their squads), to get to the top of the league, progress to a certain stage in the knock out tournament, or perhaps beat (a) certain squad(s). While it is commendable that ACE tried to do such a thing, MrC, imho it probably was not the best of decisions and I don't think they would have had sufficient clout to pull it off (which is probably why their attempt ultimately didn't work).

It's good to have a system like this which encourages squads to battle their way to the top. It keeps everyone on their toes, no matter where they are skill-wise. If the struggling squads have a real problem trying to recruit or retain members, then imho they should look within, because that is where the problems are most likely to exist. And if they cannot solve these problems, then perhaps they should consider disbanding. We've already seen this sort of natural selection process with squads in the past, old or struggling squads die out and new ones arrive to take their places (or existing ones absorb the members) and it seems to have worked quite well as far as I've been here.

Long story short, it is my opinion that trying to "balance" squads would just make everything boring. I'd even go so far as to say that there would be no point in having squads at all. There would be no fun, no challenge, no competition, no ultimate goal to achieve and it would eventually diminish the entertainment value of the game (not to mention the inherent rights of people to have the ability to apply to whatever squad they want to and to leave them whenever they wish).

[Gandalf2]

I still don't know who these "top 4 elite squads" are. I mean I know who the top 3 are but 4th is up for grabs isn't it - and neither XT or SF have trouble with turnout or quality. Neither do SRM really.

Re squads, RT has at times, directed newbies to other squads instead as we were getting too big, for the good of the community. I *think* others have done this too. But for a squad to refuse pilots because "we're too good" sounds a bizzare thing to contemplate.

[Koln]

QUOTE (GetHoffMyLawn @ Jan 13 2010, 07:16 PM) and to leave them whenever they wish

Who said you can leave RT whenever you want?

[Raveen]

Saying that, RT have never and will never recruit solely on ability. We'll happily turn people away if they're not right for our squad ethos (and that's how DSM happened children, that's biting me in the ass now isn't it?).

[Andon]

QUOTE (guitarism @ Jan 13 2010, 10:36 AM) In the interest of fairness, I will leave XT and join BS. This will promote intra-squad understanding and help BS retain their position in the ladder and league. Please contact me for more information.

LAst time you switched squads to help, the one you helped ended up going the way of the Dodo...

[SaiSoma]

QUOTE (guitarism @ Jan 13 2010, 09:36 AM) In the interest of fairness, I will leave XT and join BS. This will promote intra-squad understanding and help BS retain their position in the ladder and league. Please contact me for more information.

It's a conspiracy! gui lead the destruction of SPQR, now he will do the same to BS. do NOT accept him.


And, speaking of conspiracies:
http://news.freeallegiance.org/the-hack/

[guitarism]

[TeeJ]

SRM gladly accepts pilots that are new-ish in order to help them get better. Many times they may leave for other squads. There usually isn't much drama within our squad when this happens, unless the person went about it in a shady way, but even then, most of our members get over it quickly after a few rants on our off-site forum.

We probably have turned more people down due to their public relations problems within the community than we have over skills, or lack thereof. I mean, hell...they recruited me, didn't they? Believe it or not...we don't like drama that includes SRM. I personally would rather spectate external drama then deal with it within our squad. I will admit, that as the avaerage age of squad members drops, this can sometimes be difficult. Even then we try our best to allow certain incidents to be "teachable moments". Then there are old heads/ACE material pilots we have like me that may throw a few $#@! YOU's aroubd at times, but still try to keep the drama-meter at a minimum.

I guess we are a lot like RT, as in attempting to determine if they are "right" for our squad. Being an older squad, we also have taken people back due to the "once an SRM..." policy that we maintain. It usually works out okay, and when it doesn't...they leave quickly, willingly or otherwise. There are, however those who would probably get a swift "no" if they re-applied.

As far as numbers go for SG events, it varies because we have lots of different time zones, and many of us are adults with careers and such. IMHO, we are not struggling....and even after several kicks in the nuts...aren't going anywhere. If one of us in leadership have to break out the "pimp hand" (which I don't hesitate to do) then we handle it. If the member can't handle that...then meh.

Aside from all of that, I am pleased to see that our master plan is coming through; Nuke and Xeretov leave SRM for SysX. Nuke works his way up the officer's ladder and eventually takes hold of the command chair of their epicness so that we can disband them and slap an SRM tag on them all. We are almost there! _SRM_SpideyCW ftw!