Boingo's Final Post Regarding the DooM Server flag For Remov

[Boingo the Clown]

*This post is a copy of the final post in ZDaemon's Feature Requests forum regarding the BFG.  After making a request for a server flag to turn off the BFG in deathmatch games last Friday, I have been flamed and insulted repeatedly, and had my ZDaemon server hacked by BFGers, who feel that DooM is their own personal domain, and that nobody should be allowed to set up the game unless it is their way.  This will be my final post on this subject as the BFG lamers appear to be too stupid to listen to reason.  I have no time to argue with people who think they are superior to everybody else, just because they like to shoot walls.*

For all those repetitive posts that I don't know how how the BFG works, and that I should learn to dodge the BFG I may as well say this:

1.) I have read the BFG FAQ, and I know how the BFG works.

2.) I am not a newbie.  I have been playing DooM since 1994, and deathmatching since I first got a net connection in early 2000.

3.) I am quite capable of dodging the BFG.  I do it often, and frequently manage to take out BFGers without resorting to BFGing myself.

4.) I am not anti-BFG.  I use it on occasion myself.  What bothers me is the fact that it is used in an excessive and abusive manner by a small minority of players, who usually turn out to be completely unskilled with the other weapons. (I know this to be true, because I have switched to BFGless levels a number of times, and watched BFGers go from top dog to dead meat on these levels without the BFG.)

5.) My request for a server flag to remove the BFG was largely in reaction to what I have been seeing on my server.  Frequently I see a group of players deathmatching happily, until BFGers shows up and starts blasting them without even attempting to use the other weapons.  After less than a minute, the players who had been having fun up until that time usually disconnect.  I have also heard a fair number of complaints about the BFG from players on my server.  I am not out to ruin people's fun.  I am simply trying to prevent a small minority of players from ruining the fun for everybody else.

6.) I have no idea why anyone is up in arms about this in the first place. The BFGers keep saying that use of the BFG is the mark of a skilled player.  If this is true, then the removal of the BFG on a server shouldn't make any difference at all.  A skilled player should be able to kick ass whether he has a BFG or not.

7.) I am not saying the BFG should be removed from all servers.  The flag is an option the server can choose if he wants to just like any other server option. I am pretty sure that most servers will leave the BFG in their games.  Having a server without the BFG would simply give players the choice of playing without the BFG.  Players who like the BFG do not have to player on a server with the BFG removed, and players who do not like the BFG do not have to be forced to play with the BFG if they don't want to.  Freedom of choice is a major part of something we commonly refer to as DEMOCRACY.

8.)  Sportsmanship: It is not to say that the BFGers don't have it, but all the evidence I have seen seems to point that way.  From what I have seen they seem to be interested only in crushing their oponents, and accuse everyone who disagrees with them of being a newbie, as if that is a bad thing.

8a.)  As far as I am concerned, there is nothing wrong with being a newbie.  We all started out as newbies at one time (If you read number 2, then you know that I am not a newbie.).  When I play against newbies, I usually try to dumb down my playing a bit to give them a fighting chance.  I even play a game I call "shooting gallery" every now and then, where I quit shooting, and purposely start running around in front of the newbie players to intentionally give them a good shot at me.  I even take the time to show new players around the map if they haven't played on it before.  I do not see newbies as being there simply to be crushed anymore than I believe 5 year old kids should be taught to play baseball  by playing them against the New York Yankees.  Recognizing that newer players deserve a fighting chance to help get them started and giving them that chance is one of the major things sportmanship is all about.

9.) The BFGers have repeatedly claimed that I am trying to ruin DooM, but it is my opinion, and the opinion of many others, that the behaviour of the BFGers over the last week that has been more of a detriment to the DooMing community than a simple server flag could ever be.

.............

This will be my final statement in regard to the BFG "debate".  I will not respond to any more "arguements" about this subject.  Everything I've seen is the same thing repeated over and over again anyway.

Over the last five days I have been flamed, called childish names, and had my server hacked.  All because I wanted to make my server a better one for most players.  Anyone who has agreed with me has also been flamed and told he knows nothing about DooM.  Even John Romero, one of the creators of DooM and the most respected member of the DooM community, has been told that he knows nothing about deathmatching in DooM, in spite of the fact that he is an avid DooM deathmatcher, and was the person who actually coined the word "deathmatch".

In the end it doesn't really matter anyway.  I am still going set up my server the way I want it to be, whether a server flag exists or not.  If the players who try it enjoy the game the way I have it set up, they are more than welcome to return any time they feel like it.  Any players who do not like it are more than welcome to leave.  There are plenty of servers to go around.

As for the attacks on my server, they seem to have stopped for now.  Should they continue, however, I will take whatever means legally possible to make sure they stop.

I am a DooM player.  I like to play DooM.  I would much rather be playing deathmatch and having a good time than having to put up with this horse shit.

This final reply will also be posted on:
The ZDaemon General forum
DooM Center's General forum
New DooM's Rants and Raves forum
Team DeiM's Rants and Raves forum
John Romero's General Discusion forum
 
 [ November 28, 2002, 01:04 PM: Message edited by: Boingo the Clown ]

[Auran]

Ok... i didnt read that... personally i dont care what you do on your server... just like i dont care what you had for breakfast or how many times you rewear your undies... Some things just arnt newsworthy... Next week are you going to list the map cycle for us? or perhaps treat us to the names of your users? or maybe the wonders of server logs? Some things the rome.ro community just dont need to know but if your willing to share lame news like "i put my coffee in my orange juice to save washing up" you are going to get flamed.  Bit like the harry potter chick thread...

[lonewolf]

The ZDaemon General forum
DooM Center's General forum
New DooM's Rants and Raves forum
Team DeiM's Rants and Raves forum

I feel for these people too.

[carsomyr]

Actually, I think it'd be good to seperate BFG lamers from everyone else, because I often get pissed when I, say, walk by a small doorway and die because someone's fired a BFG in the other room, or respawn, then die before I can even tell where I am. I don't really care if the flag isn't made, and I know you probably don't care that I feel this way, but still, I hate having a good game spoiled by BFG lamers.

[Aliotroph?]

I agree about the BFG thing. If you're in a game with a lot of people that can happen pretty often.

As for the Harry Potter thread, you can't flame the guy for starting something that irrelevent. That's why this is called general discussion. As for his opinions on that girl, I'm not going there.  

[RacerTex]

I think there are some valid points to Boingo's discussion. I think the BFG is a great part of doom and should remain in the game as a whole. At the same time I feel Boingo has a right to dumb down the BFG on his server without hack attempts. Just as I would have the right to make chainsaws shoot BFG blasts on my server if I so chose to. Mods are great and the rights of us as pc gamers to modify games for better or worse is what sets PC's apart from the console crowd.

I have shot the BFG in deathmatch and I liked it. To this I admit. As I have chaingunned and even berserk punched once or twice. I played the game with the tools id supplied.

People have preferred weapons as well. I used the rockets myself until I hit a crate maze then reached for a shotgun or chaingun.

Firing a BFG won't take any potatoes off your dinner table, but then again, Boingo's server with a limp BFG won't either.

In the end, it's just a game.