FCF: October 31, 2008 @ 8PM CDT

Party Host: Cold Justice
Host Connection: Cable - 16Mbps down/2Mbps up
Match Type: Player (unranked)
Game Modes: Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, CTD & Uprising
Max Players: 16
Private Slots: 0

A special Halloween edition of Far Cry Friday! NOTE THE TIME CHANGE FOR THIS WEEK ONLY!

Since we are still trying to get out the word, it will be open rooms again this Friday. This means that the Code of Conduct will not be enforced, but please play respectfully.

Map List (FINAL):

Gamertag	Map Name	New?	Published?	Description/Comments
Pumba70	Cargo Ship	No	Yes	Remake of a CoD4 map. Best with 4-8 players. Crazy with a full room.
Broken Piggy	Pig Creek Training	Yes	Yes	Symmetrical, objective-based map. 4-12 players. Two miliatry training headquarters on oppositte sides of a small creek. With lots of destructable cover, this one is sure to serve up a bang...
Broken Piggy	Sand City v4	Yes	Yes	Fortified desert city location with pathways around, through and on top of all the buildings. Built around a central courtyard. Ample ammo locations and physics objects. Best for 8-12 players.
Broken Piggy	Apocalyptica	Yes	Yes	Post-apocalyptic landscape where the battle continues to the last man standing. Large deathmatch map. 8-16 players.
Broken Piggy	Ghost Town	Yes	Yes	Just in time for All Hallows' Eve! A deserted town dominated by a hilltop church. Tight, urban deathmatch map. Medium, 4-12 players.
Cold Justice	Njebe Haki Valley	Yes	Yes	Medium-to-large sized jungle map (1km x ½km) set on a stagnant river joining two lagoons. Designed for team play, but works for deathmatch with a large group. 8-16 players. (Njebe Haki is Swahili for Cold Justice.)
Cold Justice	Boot Hill	Yes	Yes	Nothing says "Halloween" like a spooky graveyard. This is a team objective-styled map with a decaying graveyard on a central raised promontory set between two "Old West" themed bases. 8-16 players.
SILO 5 alpha	Lost Island v2	Yes	Yes	Jungle swamp with lots of elevation changes -- buildings on stilts, guard towers and high-risk explosions. It it looks like a good position, it's also likely to blow up in your face. Medium to large map. 8-16 players.
SILO 5 alpha	last Stand	Yes	Yes	A one-horse western town, an earthquake and men with automatic weapons... Serves 4-12 players
CrazyUncleDave	camp wobegon	Yes	Yes	Large team objective map set in a rocky jungle. There are at least 7 different paths between the two enemy camps -- will you take the river, the caves or the footbridges? 12-16 players.

Help us save time by downloading the above maps from the UbiSoft Map Community Server before joining the party.

Want to submit a map? See how to do it in our Map Submission Guide.

Be sure to make a Friend Request to "Far Cry Friday" at least one hour before the party begins.

Recap: October 24, 2008

Well, we saw one or two decent maps and a whole lot of really bad ones... sorry for that folks. The game's only been out for a few days, so there are bound to be a lot of dogs in the mix.

Thanks to all who participated -- over 100 different people joined the room over our five hour run! We were able to keep 16 player rooms going for most of the tail end of the night with no lag. The only network problem that cropped up was the inability of some players to hear others in the lobby and on the battlefields.

Next week we should see a few more maps from our internal group of map makers. If Ubi starts posting map ratings, we'll pick a few of the best to round out the night, otherwise, we'll play on factory maps.

This week was all Deathmatch. Next week we'll look at team play.

Stay tuned!

FCF: October 24, 2008 @ 7PM CDT

Party Host: Cold Justice
Host Connection: Cable - 16Mbps down/2Mbps up

Map List:

Gamertag	Map Name	New?	Description/Comments
Broken Piggy	Pig Creek	Yes!	Not on UbiSoft's servers -- sorry.
Broken Piggy	Oasis	Yes!	Not on UbiSoft's servers -- sorry.
WoH D3MAR	Desert Warriors v3	Yes!	Kaboom! Small map for 4-8 players
Spying Scissors	DAISY CUTTER	Yes!	Small map for 4-8 players
LA TENEBRA	LA PRIMA	Yes!	Small map for 4-8 players
Banshee360	Swamp	Yes!	Medium sized map
Lord Nastyman	my block	Yes!	Medium sized map
SERIAL KILLER J	BACK BONE	Yes!	Large map
DAT	BEBOP STADIUM	Yes!	Medium sized map
Pumba70	Cargo Ship	Yes!	Small map for 4-8 players
DrumZildjian71	The Puritans	Yes!	Small map for 4-8 players

Help us save time by downloading the above maps from the UbiSoft servers before joining the party.

Want to submit a map? See how to do it in our Map Submission Guide. Note that this week, the submission deadline has been extended to 11:59 PM on Thursday.

Be sure to make a Friend Request to "Far Cry Friday" at least one hour before the party begins.

What Is Far Cry Friday?

Far Cry Friday is a weekly online party hosted by Cold Justice and Broken Piggy (aka: nin1939, A Vicarious NIN, The Evil Dad, etc.) where we play Far Cry and test, evaluate and criticize user-created maps.

HISTORY

The very first Far Cry Friday was actually held on Tuesday, October 4, 2005. Cold Justice invited a number of Far Cry: Instincts map makers to show off their wares as part of Gamertag.com's Community Game Nights. The session was an instant hit, and at the suggestion of Capt Von Ryan (now known as Sh0tgun Murphy), became a weekly event. Cold Justice dubbed the event "Far Cry Friday" and the rest was history.

FCF events were held regularly for several months, coordinated through the Gamertag.com forums. Some parties went well over 10 hours and often involved players on two continents.

Sadly, when Far Cry Instincts: Predator was released on the Xbox 360, the implementation was terribly buggy and the lobby introduced problems that made it difficult to conduct parties in the way we had in the past. Interest in Far Cry Friday languished in part due to the bugs and also due to a switch in platform preference for the Xbox 360 over the older original Xbox. FCF was officially pronounced dead by Cold Justice in late 2006.

UbiSoft eventually corrected a majority of the online problems, but it was too little, too late for FCF. A revival of FCF was attempted, but too many of the original players had moved on or even traded-in their copy of Far Cry Instincts: Predator. Cold Justice eventually had to sever his ties with Gamertag.com and Far Cry Friday began to be nothing more than a pleasant memory.

Far Cry 2

UbiSoft reincarnated Far Cry: Instincts into Far Cry 2, with a beautiful new look,a next-generation map editor and improved online play.

The new Far Cry Friday started with the introduction of this blog.

We had two main goals in reviving Far Cry Friday:

• Create a party atmosphere with a core group of English-speaking adult gamers, both seasoned map creators and newbie players, who are more concerned about having good fun with good friends than they are about getting kill counts.
  
• Set up a support environment for amateur map creators where their maps can be play tested, evaluated and critiqued. We want to encourage people in their map-making endeavors and help them learn not just how to make maps that are pretty or unique, but to make maps that people actually want to play.

The Far Cry 2 version of FCF ran from October 24, 2008 until the Great Ubisoft Server Failure of June 7, 2009, which lasted almost two weeks.  The last FCF for Far Cry 2 was held on June 26, 2009.  FCF was cancelled permanently after Cold Justice’s TV died from heat issues on July 1, 2009.

Far Cry 3

With the release of Far Cry 3 eminent, Cold Justice and Broken Piggy, of course, brought back the question of “Should we reboot Far Cry Friday?”  And the answer was “yes!”
Unfortunately, the game, while having significantly improved online gameplay, was released with a broken and severely hobbled lobby.  But some things are bigger than a broken lobby, and many of the FCF regulars have, once again, rallied around the campfire to swap maps, stories and gunfire.

---

UPDATED 12-JAN-2013

How to submit a Map

So you want to get your map into this week's rotation? Here's how to do it:

1. Upload your map to the Ubisoft servers from inside the game.  (From the Far Cry 3 main menu, select “Multiplayer”, then “Multiplayer” again and click the left thumbstick.  Select “My Maps” to see a list of your maps.  Select the map you want evaluated and select the option “Make available online.”)  Note that you do not have to publish your map to have it evaluated or played.  It only needs to be made available online.
   
2. Send a Xbox LIVE text message to Cold Justice before 11:59 CST on the WEDNESDAY before Far Cry Friday.  The message must contain all of the following information:
   
   
   • The map name;
   • The Gamertag of the map owner – even if it is the same as the person submitting the request;   This is important because map names are often duplicated.
   • The desired game mode(s) for the map. We will select the author's desired mode when the map is played for the first time.

Map submissions of either type MUST CONTAIN all of the above data in the request. Failure to include all three pieces of information will result in your request being rejected immediately.

Map requests submitted after the deadline will be deferred to the following week.

Your map will be reviewed for playability and we will let you know if it makes it into the rotation. You will also receive a detailed critique of your map.  If the map is rejected, we will let you know why. (Maps may be rejected for quality reasons or because the number of maps submitted has gone past our weekly quota.) If your map is rejected for quota reasons, we will automatically submit it for inclusion in the following week's party.

DO NOT submit a map that we've already played unless you have revised it in some significant fashion. Once a map has been played, the FCF hosts will evaluate how well it played with the group and what its frequency should be in the map rotation. If we aren't playing your map, it's most probably because it didn't play as well as other maps already in the regular rotation.

All of this may seem rather regimented – and it is!  There’s a reason why Far Cry Friday is what it is.  Our ability to ensure that only maps that play well (even if they aren’t pretty) are on our list is a big part of things.  We’ve been doing this stuff since Far Cry: Instincts on the original Xbox and requirements like these have brought people back to our lobby with every Far Cry game released. 

FCF is a volunteer effort.  We have lives outside of Far Cry.  These rules help us have real lives and still serve the Far Cry community fairly.

---

REVISED: 12-JAN-2013 for Far Cry 3 workflows.

Code of Conduct

I'm the first to admit that the idea of needing a Code of Conduct can be a downer. But, as adults, we have to recognize that communities run better when guidelines are well-defined and well-enforced.

Our #1 goal with Far Cry Friday is to create a fun party experience playing user-created maps. The key word there is "fun." Note that we aren't trying to create a party that is fun for everybody -- because some people are, well... jerks. And jerks ruin the party for everyone else.

So to keep our sessions fun, we need to weed out the jerks -- or at least the jerky behavior. And thus, we have the following Code of Conduct:

1. Racial, ethnic and religious epithets will not be tolerated.
   
   Please take your hatred and ignorance somewhere else.
   
   Blatant racism will result in an immediate ban without warning.
   
   
2. Profanity and blasphemy will generally not be tolerated.
   
   A rare slip of the tongue will usually go "unnoticed" by the host, but habitual profanity or a stream of profanity said in anger will earn you a ban. Turret's Syndrome is not an acceptable defense.
   
   The host is responsible for giving a warning on the first offense during a party. Any repeat offense will result in a ban without further warning.
   
   
3. Cultural, national, sexual or religious stereotyping must be kept good-natured.
   
   If it becomes hurtful or hateful, it will not be tolerated.
   
   Any joke, in good taste, that starts out "A priest, a rabbi and an imam walk into a bar..." is probably going to be fine. Restarting the Crusades is not.
   
   The host is responsible for giving a warning on the first offense during a party. Any repeat offense will result in a ban without further warning.
   
   
4. Sexually explicit or sexually offensive conversation will not be tolerated.
   
   Telling the group that you need to go away for a while because you just saw your wife come out of the shower naked is funny... telling the details of what transpired when you get back is offensive. If you can understand that distinction, you should be fine.
   
   Put even simpler: naughty = okay; nasty = bad.
   
   The host is responsible for giving a warning on the first offense during a party. Any repeat offense will result in a ban without further warning.
   
   
5. Sexual innuendo, if kept good-natured will be acceptable -- as long as it does not get out of hand.
   
   Avoid directing sexual comments at an individual, especially if it is likely to make them feel uncomfortable.
   
   The host is responsible for giving a warning on the first offense during a party. Any repeat offense will result in a ban without further warning.
   
   
6. Annoying behavior is unacceptable.
   
   Yelling, playing loud music that keeps your mic open, singing off-key, humming, room fans, screaming children, incessantly barking dogs, reciting 16^th century poetry no one is interested in or any other sound coming over your microphone that doesn't contribute to the party's conversation should be minimized.
   
   Yes, we know life happens and some things (like screaming children, fire trucks in the driveway and police battering down the front door) are not completely under your control, but at the same time the party does not need to be subjected to it. If there is something going on in the house, the best thing to do is excuse yourself from the party (or mute your mic), take care of business and come back when the situation is under control.
   
   Constantly provoking people, trying to make them angry, teasing with malice are also examples of annoying behavior that won't be tolerated.
   
   Avoid hogging the conversation. VOIP delay already makes communication awkward. Microphone hogs just add to the frustration.
   
   And while no one should complain about a libation or two being consumed during the course of the evening, oiling the wheels of the party wagon, a drowsy, slurred, boorish drunk on a microphone is no fun.
   
   The host is responsible for giving a warning on the first offense during a party. Any repeat offense will result in a ban without further warning.
   
   
7. Bullying and similar rude or destructive behavior will not be tolerated.
   
   The host is responsible for giving a warning on the first offense during a party. Any repeat offense will result in a ban without further warning. In extreme cases, the host can elect to ban an offender without an initial warning.
   
   
8. Players with no headset or faulty headsets will be banned from the session.
   
   We mostly play team games during Far Cry Friday, so you must have a working headset to play.
   
   The host will warn players with no headset to plug a headset in. If after a reasonable time (usually 15 seconds) no headset has been plugged in, the host will ban the offender from the session.
   
   Faulty headsets cause all sorts of problems, be it noise, crackling, feedback or echo (which is a form of slow feedback.) We just can't tolerate this in our sessions -- it gives people headaches and makes them justifiably cranky.
   
   Players with faulty headsets will be given an opportunity to plug a different headset in or will be asked to leave the session. If the player does not comply, they will be banned.
   
   Note that the host cannot mute a player. If he did, he would not be able to deal with other violations of the Code of Conduct. So a kick/ban is the only reasonable option.
   
   
9. Attempting to dominate the lobby, even unintentionally, will not be tolerated.
   
   This is actually an extension of #6, but it deserves its own spot in the Code of Conduct.
   
   The lobby is for everyone. Please try to conduct a conversation that is meaningful to everyone in the room. Some personal interchange is fully understandable, but be conscientious that you are speaking to a room full of people, not just your buddy. And honestly, no one cares to hear what your current diamond count is... we can see it plainly in the lobby display.
   
   The host is responsible for giving a warning on the first offense during a party. Any repeat offense will result in a ban without further warning.
   
   
10. Children are not welcome to participate in Far Cry Friday parties
    
    Okay, this sounds prejudiced -- that's because it is. Far Cry Friday is an event for mature gamers and Far Cry 2 is an M-rated game. Children and younger teens tend to not understand nor care about documents like this Code of Conduct. And, as much as I love children, little boy gamers who sound like little girls sucking helium through their headsets are, on the whole, utterly and devestatingly annoying when playing video games online. As a result, children, and anyone acting like a child, will be automatically banned from any and all FCF parties without warning or recourse.

What Makes a Good FCF Host?

I feel very strongly that a significant contributor to the success we had with Far Cry Friday back in the Instincts days was a set of guiding principles I tried to follow as the FCF host. Assuming that Far Cry 2 has been implemented well for online multi-player, it is my expectation that we are going to quickly build a sizable FCF community. Before too long, one host will not be sufficient. So here are the guidelines that I try to follow when hosting.

1. Keep it fun!
   
   Our #1 reason for doing FCF is to have fun. Just like the host of a party, an FCF host is responsible for making sure the event goes off well and is fun. You are literally throwing an online party and should approach it that way. You are supplying the entertainment, keeping the conversation going, and bouncing the drunks. Food and drink are BYO, though.
   
   
2. If a map isn't working, drop it for the night and move on to another one.
   
   This follows in the footsteps of rule #1. While we don't want to devastate the creator of a map that just isn't working, we also don't want to bore our community with a low-quality map. Admit that the map isn't working, dump the map session if necessary, and move on to another map. Moderate the post-game discussion, guiding the criticism to issues of why the map doesn't work and what could be done to make it better. As a help, we will soon be publishing a guide to making playable Far Cry maps.
   
   Whatever you do, don't get into an argument with a map maker on the merits of her map. If she gets defensive, politely let her know that not everyone sees things the same way and that the map isn't working within the dynamics of the current group.
   
   
3. Don't force your own maps to be played, no matter how good you think they are.
   
   It's only natural to want to share something you are proud of and put some effort into, but we need to consider Rule #1: Keep it fun! It's no fun for the other map creators to see their maps being shunned because of your hubris. And if your map isn't working you need to suck it up and move on to another map. (See Rule #2.)
   
   
4. Keep the party lively and moving.
   
   If people aren't talking, then its your job to move the conversation. It's also your job to get the next map running in the rotation as soon as everyone is happily debriefed.
   
   Part of this is organizing yourself prior to the party. Know ahead of time which maps you will be playing and in what order. Avoid spending time searching through lists of maps for "that perfect map" while the room languishes.
   
   Eliminate any environmental distractions when you are hosting. Family, house guests, pets, secondary TVs, radio, phone calls, custom soundtracks... these are all things that can distract a host and cause the quality of the party to go south. When you are hosting, your focus is on the people in your party and you are directly responsible for making their FCF experience an enjoyable one.
   
   
5. Schedule your breaks
   
   Humans have needs and not all of them can sit for six hours straight playing Far Cry without taking a break for a drink or a visit to the toilet. I keep an oven timer next to me and set it to go off every hour.
   
   Your community will come to trust that you are looking out for their animal and hygiene needs if you regularly provide for them, and you will be less likely to have people getting antsy about how much Mountain Dew they've consumed.
   
   
6. Constantly evaluate your Internet Connection
   
   If your connection as host is sub-par, then the FCF experience will suffer. A good host will recognize this and yield hosting duties to a secondary designated host with a better connection.
   
   I recommend direct-connecting to the Internet when hosting -- that way you can guarantee that no other devices on your home LAN are leeching off bandwidth from the party.
   
   
7. Don't be afraid to enforce the Code of Conduct
   
   The Far Cry Friday Code of Conduct exists for one purpose: to keep our FCF parties fun. If someone is violating the CoC, inform them immediately that they are in violation and kick them out of the room on the second offense. I refuse to let one person's conduct ruin the spirit of what we are trying to build here -- and I hope that all our other hosts will have that same vision.
   
   Yeah, it's not fun being the disciplinarian, but that is part of your responsibility as host -- to make the hard decision, make it quickly and then execute it. Let the room know why a person was kicked and let them know that they are not to be invited in for the remainder of that night's party.
   
   Also, be flexible. For example, someone may let an F-bomb slip. Evaluate their attitude. If it really was an "accident", and they seem contrite, then let it slide. Just make sure that it doesn't become habitual. Our main goal from the disciplinary angle is to eliminate intentional bad behavior or habitual bad behavior. Habitual is harder deal with, because sometimes that's just the way a person is. But if someone is a habitual jerk, it still ruins the game for everybody else. So give 'em the boot!

It's out!

Far Cry 2 is out! Let there be no doubt: We will be restarting Far Cry Friday this week! 7PM CDT -- be there! (We may have warm-ups going around 6PM if you want to get an early start.)

If you want to be a part of the action, send your friend request to "Far Cry Friday" and he will get you in. (Apologies to Daniel DeFoe.)

Have a map you want us to test? See our Map Submission Guide.

Far Cry Friday Friends List Gamertag sign up!

I just set up the gamertag for a community friends list. Add the gamertag "Far Cry Friday" if you are interested in joining us on Friday nights. Map editors are welcome but anyone can join in and play/test and have some fun!