Hi all, most of you know me from when I was DCrossman. I will probably also be changing the zendar name to jjafma, because the numbers are to much. Anyways, I'm writing because I have a slight concern over things that I've observed. I've taken 3 days to think it over of how to present this. Hopefully it will come out coherent and not be judgemental. (The exact message will be on both ladders, this one and FS double). I hope that with everyones help we can find a good solution.
I came back to double cross because I love the game. My main reason for leaving before was because of WON's actions. What many of you don't know is my extended conversations with Sierra, the company that owns the rights to the game. Given all that, it was best to get away from WON, since I'm sure all the conversations got back to them.
When I was looking through the games to see what was available so I could find my 5 ladders for platinum, I had heard that flipside was now going to let us back in. There was an FS double ladder under cases, so I was like great, I'll just join. Then I was curious to see if the other ladder still existed, sure enough it still did. So I joined both leagues.
About 1 week ago, I decided to become a TD again for more then 1 game. Given my psychological disability, and agorophobia, I'm home in the house probably more then anyone on here. I use the tourneys as a structure, and commitment. And of course playing helps break up the monotony.
I happened to have the FS Double page open because it was the last place I reported to. So while waiting for a tourney, I filled out the application. Then I filled one out for friend2daend, it came back as the screen name already applied. After speaking to administrators, I've learned that the people who are committed to keeping that ladder open are against td's td'ing for both ladders, because it's a conflict of interest.
I can respect the view that players are dedicated to a ladder that stuck together through the idiosynchricies of WON. I can even respect the reasoning behind not letting people td for both ladders. However now, I would like to point out a few things, and I hope you'll think over them.
1. I have no intentions of trying to get either ladder closed. In fact if the threat ever comes up from someone, that someone can expect me to fight to keep the ladders open.
2. I don't care one bit about my rank, wins, or any statistics that are about my playing. All I care about is running the tourneys and providing fun. To prove this, I looked up a few things. With a 51.724 win % I'm 7th on FS, and with a 44.776 win % am 15th out of 119 on the friends ladder. So basically I am an average player, and as you can see my win % doesn't reflect my rank. So now you see why I don't worry about those things.
2a. This doesn't mean that you can't though, just so I'm not misquoted.
3. Knowing the two things above, I think I'm able to give unbiased views over a couple of things.
3a. There are people who are torned between loyalty, and fun. This is a rough predicament for many. There are people forced into a decision of which ladder to TD for. Furthermore it sometimes affects their decision of whether to play on both ladders anymore.
3b. There is now a new type of competition that has arised, and it's not a good one. The competition of which ladder to be on. The competition should be in the game, not between the ladders.
3c. If you're gold, or don't have an extra status then the bux you earn can only remain on the ladder you're on. So lets say you want to stay on only one ladder, because most of your friends are there. However it would be nice to win some bux to exchange for prizes. What happens if it's a ladder that can't run as many tourneys, or extras. What happens is that it becomes a rough choice between which to do. And one of the reasons that the choice gets presented is because people are now switching leagues.
It's true, that my conversation with the administrators of friends, didn't go as well as I hoped. Part of it was my interpertation of the decision made. Part of it was what I called it. Since its' probably already in the air waves. yes I called it petty. However the other part is I'm watching things happened that do when conflict arises. I was told that just because I believe something, doesn't mean that things are just going to change to please me. I COMPLETELY AGREE, IT SHOULDN'T CHANGE JUST BECAUSE OF MY VIEW. But, I also said that I was upset because players get robbed of things. So I guess that's where I need the major help. What can we all do to keep people from feeling like they have to make choices? Because as I hear people quitting one ladder over loyalty issues, I get pissed. Sorry but the reason I see that as petty, is because there is no threat of either ladder closing. Could someone please fill in the gap of what the huge concern is?
John