Recap: January 18, 2013

Ubisoft released the update to Xbox platforms on game day, promising no more “ghost players”, improved lobby joining and no more being blocked out of a lobby for incompatible profile settings.
Well, one out of three ain’t bad.  Oh, wait… yeah, it is.
While no one got the infamous incompatible profile message, we had the usual number of “I can’t join the room” and ghost player issues as before.  Looks like there’s still a lot of work to do…
The room was busy most of the night.  Here’s a recap of the maps we played:
DapperHayden007’s Kaiyu Shiki Teien opened the night with some 2 on 1 and 4 on 3 action.  This pretty and small garden map played very well in both Domination and Team Death match modes.  Players for this map included Broken Piggy, DapperHayden007, CrazyUncleDave, Panyc333 and Cold Justice.  (If I left anyone out, please let me know in the comments.)  This map has Silver status with twelve plays and nine votes.
We took an early look at Broken Piggy’s latest constructed map, New Camelot.  This map played well overall with a small room, but the bland nature of the concrete wall pieces combined with late evening lighting left little for the eye to look at.  The time of day setting was an oversight and BP plans on removing some of the middle area pieces in order to buy back some of his object budget.  Getting some more color on the map, as well as some daylight shadowing should perk up the look.  The occluded arena style of this map would benefit from some explosive elements, which, with Far Cry 3, limits you to barrels.  I believe we only played TDM on this map, though from what I’ve seen of the layout and spawns, all game modes should work well.
The published version of Contained by Broken Piggy was put through its paces once Darksteel Titan came on the scene. As always, this map delivers well on its promise of constant action in tight spaces.  TDM and Domination modes were enjoyed by all.  As of this morning, the map has three plays and three votes, putting it in Bronze status.  This map deserves some love y’all… let’s get it to silver!
Another newly (some would say finally) published map for this session  was Cold Justice’s historical Jonestown map.  We played all four game modes, somehow garnering the map Silver status as of this morning with six votes and eight plays.  Niko Anonamix joined in the fray during this map and shared perhaps a bit too much regarding his personal hygiene habits…  As always, this map is a blast to play on all game modes, with, perhaps, Transmission being the dark horse – fun, but not as much as the other modes in this author’s humble opinion.
We then took a look at an early version of Niko Anonamix’s Camp Crystal TEST.  This Friday the 13th homage features a very nice-looking oval lake at its center.  The lake is surrounded by various campgrounds and a bit of stake carnage.  The group consensus was that the map is very good looking and laid out, but the game modes and spawns need serious reworking in order to be enjoyable.  Cold Justice volunteered to provide a modified version of the map with reworked spawns and objective points.
We took a spin through Broken Piggy’s other work-in-progress, Septic.  This map has not been modified since our last session, but its gameplay warranted it a spot in the playlist.  Hillbillee and D0PEB0T made an appearance while this map was in play.
Ancient Arena, Broken Piggy’s temple-themed arena, was also published this past week and got its turn in the spotlight.  TDM and Domination got their workouts on this map, but unfortunately no Firestorm this time around.  (I have a fondness for how well Firestorm plays on this map and since I write this thing – I can take the liberty to complain.)  This map also showed three votes and three plays this morning.  Hopefully we can get it promoted to Silver during next week’s session.  FC2 mapmaker Nacho Woo made a cameo appearance while this map was on the block.
Maps on the playlist that didn’t see action were: Workman’s Comp, Suspended, Katatonia, Smuggler’s Airport and Island of the Dead.

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We had a couple of incidents during the session that will result in one or more long-term (possibly permanent) player bans later this week.  This is not something I take lightly – and it’s not the first time I’ve had to do this.  FCF is very much my baby and I can’t let the disruptive behavior of any player or players tarnish the reputation that FCF has built up over the past seven years.  My first priority is to provide an experience that is as enjoyable and comfortable as possible to the majority of the people in the room.  The maps and their evaluation comes second to that.  When individuals take things too far or violate our Code of Conduct repeatedly, it becomes my responsibility to do what needs to be done.  It’s a pain in the butt, but it’s what I do.
There are plenty of rooms where you can play custom maps.  FCF isn’t just another of those rooms.  Those who have been a part of it for any length of time know that it’s something special and I intend to keep it that way.