BnS - Progress vs. Tradition
Posted: Mon May 02, 2016 9:08 pm
People are probably going to accuse me of being a "Arkger-tier alarmist" for this topic. So be it.
The war waged by several BnS members on CoD influence and "progress" in the community, and the purity yearned for by the vets of the game, is almost as old as BnS itself. As my brother, an AoS classic vet, puts it: auto-jump, sprint, new weapons, it was all met with some stiff resistance. The SMG might be one of the most identifiably mainstream shooter elements in AoS, but I think what shock must have ran through vets' minds in 2012 must have been when the appeal of this chaotic weapon gained a lot of ground.
This continuous BnS cold war tends to go hot periodically, just as I watched it (and participated in it) in 2013-2014. One of the last threads of this type that I posted on, "Well, This is Sad", had the old standard battle lines being cast, and like most battles in the purist war, both sides being defined by extremes as opposed to a more true measure of feelings, creating a polarized environment where little understanding could be garnered.
So in an attempt to power through the rhetoric, here's a more cool-headed attempt at an opinion...
“Kill Hallway, Pinpoint, and others already” vs. “All you're doing is disenfranchising that player base”
The BnS server list is the real battleground in the purist war. When the argument is made that more older maps, the knee-jerk reaction from the majority of BnS users usually is that eradicating CoD-influenced maps and game modes would kill off a very large chunk of what BnS has left of a player base.
You can’t argue taste when it comes to gameplay, but it is impossible to argue against statistics, and the statistics shown on Alexa conclusively state that views on BnS are on a downhill trend. Conversely, AoS purists that think that "CoD maps" (Hallway, Pinpoint, Assault, etc) have no place on AoS, and that servers should only host Classicgen and the like are doing just as much of a disservice. By saying the current formula needs to swing in the complete opposite direction and wholesale eliminate mainstream shooter influences, they negatively typecast the more common pragmatic purist argument that is simply looking for balance. A complete flip of the server list format would in turn disenfranchise the mainstream player base and put BnS on just as much of an collision course.
Something commonly misunderstood by this community is that just because someone is pushing for "classic" stuff, they want to completely eradicate the modern. Putting an overall emphasis on showcasing the the best and most appealing material AoS has to offer is the way BnS, and in turn AoS, can preserve its viability.
That is why balance and quality is what must be strived for on the server list. But at the moment, there's an imbalance towards the mainstream maps/modes side, clearly shown in a quick look over at the server list. Aside from Babel, every decently-populated server is hosted on one of these maps and/or game modes despised by purists.
All of that being said...
Let me disclaim now that this is less of me ranting, but rather simply clearing the air. I was part of this asinine fight in times past, and after reading it over, I wanted to restate my honest opinion on the matter.
I do also have to state one thing: simply telling someone who brings the subject up to "start an event and watch the server grow" - that may sound like a good idea on paper, but sadly, that isn't how that works at all. It would last a day at best.
The war waged by several BnS members on CoD influence and "progress" in the community, and the purity yearned for by the vets of the game, is almost as old as BnS itself. As my brother, an AoS classic vet, puts it: auto-jump, sprint, new weapons, it was all met with some stiff resistance. The SMG might be one of the most identifiably mainstream shooter elements in AoS, but I think what shock must have ran through vets' minds in 2012 must have been when the appeal of this chaotic weapon gained a lot of ground.
This continuous BnS cold war tends to go hot periodically, just as I watched it (and participated in it) in 2013-2014. One of the last threads of this type that I posted on, "Well, This is Sad", had the old standard battle lines being cast, and like most battles in the purist war, both sides being defined by extremes as opposed to a more true measure of feelings, creating a polarized environment where little understanding could be garnered.
So in an attempt to power through the rhetoric, here's a more cool-headed attempt at an opinion...
“Kill Hallway, Pinpoint, and others already” vs. “All you're doing is disenfranchising that player base”
The BnS server list is the real battleground in the purist war. When the argument is made that more older maps, the knee-jerk reaction from the majority of BnS users usually is that eradicating CoD-influenced maps and game modes would kill off a very large chunk of what BnS has left of a player base.
You can’t argue taste when it comes to gameplay, but it is impossible to argue against statistics, and the statistics shown on Alexa conclusively state that views on BnS are on a downhill trend. Conversely, AoS purists that think that "CoD maps" (Hallway, Pinpoint, Assault, etc) have no place on AoS, and that servers should only host Classicgen and the like are doing just as much of a disservice. By saying the current formula needs to swing in the complete opposite direction and wholesale eliminate mainstream shooter influences, they negatively typecast the more common pragmatic purist argument that is simply looking for balance. A complete flip of the server list format would in turn disenfranchise the mainstream player base and put BnS on just as much of an collision course.
Something commonly misunderstood by this community is that just because someone is pushing for "classic" stuff, they want to completely eradicate the modern. Putting an overall emphasis on showcasing the the best and most appealing material AoS has to offer is the way BnS, and in turn AoS, can preserve its viability.
That is why balance and quality is what must be strived for on the server list. But at the moment, there's an imbalance towards the mainstream maps/modes side, clearly shown in a quick look over at the server list. Aside from Babel, every decently-populated server is hosted on one of these maps and/or game modes despised by purists.
All of that being said...
Let me disclaim now that this is less of me ranting, but rather simply clearing the air. I was part of this asinine fight in times past, and after reading it over, I wanted to restate my honest opinion on the matter.
I do also have to state one thing: simply telling someone who brings the subject up to "start an event and watch the server grow" - that may sound like a good idea on paper, but sadly, that isn't how that works at all. It would last a day at best.
