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From an overbearing insult to the legacy of the ~NoHunters clan comes the next stage in Brood War derision:
The NHFFA code of misconduct - A Brood War Guide for a Post-Irony World.
Have you ever been unable to enjoy a game unless others have explained to you explicitly how to have fun? Is the very act of playing a game of ‘Brood War’ a grueling assault on your psyche that you are petrified of even participating out of some misguided idea that anything you do has some inherent value; therefore there would be some sort of loss of standing or self-worth when victory is not assured?
If this is the case, then no god can save you, and engaging in NHFFA will not only exacerbate the symptoms but will show the world (condensed to potentially a maximum of 7 witnesses) your stagnant psyche and your unwitting contribution to the rot of civilization. It is, however, for people like you that I write this.
Even the densest of invertebrates can understand the initial humorous intent and implied sarcasm in the creation of NHFFA, yet sadly even satire can no longer apply as we’ve managed to break even that wafer thin veneer.
The ~NoHunters Free-for-all is quite simple. 8 players of the Starcraft Brood War join a game on the melee setting. Allied victory is not allowed - only a single participant is the victor, the last player standing (biological or otherwise).
And this is where we encounter an inherent misunderstanding in the initial premise. NHFFA is about using every facility you have to prevent others from winning, — sometimes, incidentally, resulting in your own victory.
The idea is that NHFFA allows the underdog, the perpetual noob, bad player, the chobo, the casual and, yes, even the occasional yet rare ‘new player’ to be thrown into the vibrant incandescent fires of hell that is Brood War multiplayer and experience (mostly) human interaction and gameplay beyond the usual torture of 1v1. It is to prepare those willing to improve, to show them the abyssal plane of torment they must endure to get anywhere in this game.
Those just beginning are embarking on a journey of self-flagellation. Losing because of a single mistake or oversight, a momentary lapse in gameplay knowledge from a library that spans multiple decades. Wrong are they to think things will become better — indulging in the filthy heretical idea that this game is to be won. No. This is not the coddling world of fluff and butter of today’s mainstream gameplay promises. There is no gentle endorphin pump of compliments for ‘not being perfect’. I weep for the children that will never feel the true pain of seeing a hard fought victory slip from their grasp, all that effort — gone forever; with only a replay to remind them of every detail that led to their defeat. No points, no participation trophies or pointless account progression, only hard lessons; a callus growing on their soul.
It is the duty of the NHFFA player to do whatever is in their power to make the taste of defeat that much bitter. Yes, even at the cost of your own victory: seek your targets, grow your rivalries, and find what hurts them most. Find alliances with the depraved, the wounded and the scorned. Aid in their vengeance, perhaps only to see it taken from them. Find those that seek victory at all costs, and relish in their indignity.
It is here, and only here, that you speak to your foes. Help them, lie to them, push them and manipulate them. Speech is as much a tool as APM, and one most important for those unable to wield the latter.
Squirm, burrow and hide. Slink away in the shadows, skulk towards your target with your knife drawn, while groveling in their majesty.
Now, you ask: “But why, as an above average player, should I subject myself to this potential ridicule? To willingly enter the arena with these lesser beings, to allow them to mob me and strip me of my honour?”
Yes, yes. This is exactly the issue I prefaced at the start. It’s about FUN see? It’s about having a good time! Happy, happy, happy! Lalala! See!? HAPPY!! Why aren’t you smiling?
No, for you it’s about fear. To face the challenge of stepping outside the carefully maintained bounds of regular Brood War, to step into the arena as a gladiator, a target for entertainment in chaos. If you enter this battle with those mundane ideas stuck in your head, of optimal play, fairness, balance … Phah! Then you are indeed doomed, and should perhaps open yourself to a few lessons.
For those who are driven by only victory and efficiency - to see all of this as merely a waste of time — why that is the very focus of all this blithering nonsense now isn’t it. For you are the death of the community. Oh yes, I am quite serious, there must be leisure — there must be those that bow down deep from their immaculate, towering pedestals to entertain the children on their own level; outside the misguided dreams of high end competition.
All an NHFFA can offer you is resilience in the face of adversity and glory in other things than victory. And that is not unimportant.
It is still inconceivable that I am to write this, to make an attempt to communicate in this way, for there are those that have anchored their identity in achieving predetermined methods of success in games so deeply, that the very idea of approaching things differently has now become offensive.
Toxicity is a sickness that has infected so many realms of gameplay, so many that dwell in the limbo of self delusion, unable of even the slightest introspection. Indeed, a sad mirror of society as a whole. And so it is paramount that we take this step to defend our little pit of revelry and continue on like we always have — teaching the ways of the carnival to any who have the misfortune of wandering too far from the flock.
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Oh wow - haha, I blacked out there a moment! Anyway, disregard that, and don't worry about all that stuff above when you Join the NHFFA discord! A place of casual good fun!
Only a small fraction of our players ever truly fall into the Abyss. It's ... Barely and issue.
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I and my 150 cousins think this is a great and inspirational text and we all intend to join NHFFA games from now on.
Edit: I definitely read this in your voice: It’s about FUN see? It’s about having a good time! Happy, happy, happy! Lalala! See!? HAPPY!! Why aren’t you smiling? and I think the way I imagined it was perfectly accurate of how you would actually say it.
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Northern Ireland23396 Posts
Beautiful blog man, as ever!
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Toxicity is more a problem with team games, which are very popular nowdays. Toxicity in a 1v1 based game like brood war, not so bad in my opinion. FFA should not be team based either but that will always be up for debate in those nhffa games. #NoAlly
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Good community that just wants a game with pure chaos.
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On July 14 2020 20:01 Greth wrote: Now, you ask: “But why, as an above average player, should I subject myself to this potential ridicule? To willingly enter the arena with these lesser beings, to allow them to mob me and strip me of my honour?”
Yes, yes. This is exactly the issue I prefaced at the start. It’s about FUN see? It’s about having a good time! Happy, happy, happy! Lalala! See!? HAPPY!! Why aren’t you smiling? For the average-to-above-average player, the reality is that it's just a matter of time before everyone in the Discord starts allying at the start of the game against you, rushing you immediately, and then if you somehow survived, then coordinating assaults and unit choices to best destroy you first, so that the insular inner circle of low level players who haven't improved in over a decade can then proceed with a more or less normal FFA + diplomacy.
The reason for the above-average player to play is thus just a question of whether or not they want to test their patience being constantly double teamed - some may welcome the challenge at first but every success also raises the likelihood of even more insurmountable odds, until the entire process is simply not even fun anymore because you have to play at 100% just to not die at the beginning of the game, a far cry from the self-purported "casual" atmosphere of NHFFA and what they advertise to be as a haven for casual play.
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TLADT24920 Posts
Nice write-up overall. Enjoyed the read and it's mostly spot-on too. 5/5
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Splax, Greth, etc... huh, blast from the past with some of those names.
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On July 21 2020 05:21 Jealous wrote:Show nested quote +On July 14 2020 20:01 Greth wrote: Now, you ask: “But why, as an above average player, should I subject myself to this potential ridicule? To willingly enter the arena with these lesser beings, to allow them to mob me and strip me of my honour?”
Yes, yes. This is exactly the issue I prefaced at the start. It’s about FUN see? It’s about having a good time! Happy, happy, happy! Lalala! See!? HAPPY!! Why aren’t you smiling? For the average-to-above-average player, the reality is that it's just a matter of time before everyone in the Discord starts allying at the start of the game against you, rushing you immediately, and then if you somehow survived, then coordinating assaults and unit choices to best destroy you first, so that the insular inner circle of low level players who haven't improved in over a decade can then proceed with a more or less normal FFA + diplomacy. The reason for the above-average player to play is thus just a question of whether or not they want to test their patience being constantly double teamed - some may welcome the challenge at first but every success also raises the likelihood of even more insurmountable odds, until the entire process is simply not even fun anymore because you have to play at 100% just to not die at the beginning of the game, a far cry from the self-purported "casual" atmosphere of NHFFA and what they advertise to be as a haven for casual play.
That's mostly because you profile yourself as someone who wants to play the straight game and win, and not partake in the politics. People can smell that attitude from a mile away. It is normal to have at least 2-3 people allied against you when you are perceived as the largest threat, and if you have a history of playing straight, then that threat has a much higher baseline. It doesn't take much to have the horde focus someone else. Hell, if you were to come back now, Vis is the go-to target.
There are also those amongst the low level rats that get taken out almost as a point of tradition - like Lucky and Borisu - as they are not allowed to establish whatever scheme they might have in store.
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On July 21 2020 05:21 Jealous wrote:Show nested quote +On July 14 2020 20:01 Greth wrote: Now, you ask: “But why, as an above average player, should I subject myself to this potential ridicule? To willingly enter the arena with these lesser beings, to allow them to mob me and strip me of my honour?”
Yes, yes. This is exactly the issue I prefaced at the start. It’s about FUN see? It’s about having a good time! Happy, happy, happy! Lalala! See!? HAPPY!! Why aren’t you smiling? For the average-to-above-average player, the reality is that it's just a matter of time before everyone in the Discord starts allying at the start of the game against you, rushing you immediately, and then if you somehow survived, then coordinating assaults and unit choices to best destroy you first, so that the insular inner circle of low level players who haven't improved in over a decade can then proceed with a more or less normal FFA + diplomacy. The reason for the above-average player to play is thus just a question of whether or not they want to test their patience being constantly double teamed - some may welcome the challenge at first but every success also raises the likelihood of even more insurmountable odds, until the entire process is simply not even fun anymore because you have to play at 100% just to not die at the beginning of the game, a far cry from the self-purported "casual" atmosphere of NHFFA and what they advertise to be as a haven for casual play.
You have it all backwards... Its BECAUSE you play at 100% u MAY get ganged up on... Vis for example has now the MOST NHFFA wins (its not about the wins but he is another thicc headed one) and people usually leave him alone because he is just too strong to deal with.
IF you VISION people and say HEY Im getting 2v1ed, 3v1ed, 4v1ed , 5v1ed , 6v1ed, 7v1ed, 8v1ed (happens when u attack urself) THEN I personally will IMMEDIATELY backstab my allies and try to save. After SOME damage has been done. Like 5 of ur 10 bases are taken out for example...
IF you just say "I WILL PLAY MY BEST AND STILL CRUSH YOU NOOBS" then the ONLY resonable response is to murder u ASAP before u murder every1 else... And STILL u probably have above 50% winrate in NHFFA (again its not about the wins...)
THERE IS ONE PROBLEM (I will grant you that)... Once the fire of Revolution has started it is hard to stop... PPL get carried away. But USUALLY you will NOT get eliminated. And instead u will leave prematurely.
COME BACK TO US!
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ALSO A NEW ERA IS UPON US!
Maps are converted into OBS mode (this means once u lose all ur buildings u CAN stay in the game).
This is actually what is supposed to happen but now we are making it automatic.
The person ALSO gets vision of everyone.
So they have the ultimate power to tell every1 who is the strongest and who they should kill.
Or just go after the person who killed them and lie to the rest.
It adds another layer to the onion that is NHFFA.
DO NOT ATTACH YOUR SELF WORTH TO WINNING AN NHFFA! INSTEAD ATTACH IT TO ANNOYING THE MOST PPL!
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On July 21 2020 05:21 Jealous wrote:Show nested quote +On July 14 2020 20:01 Greth wrote: Now, you ask: “But why, as an above average player, should I subject myself to this potential ridicule? To willingly enter the arena with these lesser beings, to allow them to mob me and strip me of my honour?”
Yes, yes. This is exactly the issue I prefaced at the start. It’s about FUN see? It’s about having a good time! Happy, happy, happy! Lalala! See!? HAPPY!! Why aren’t you smiling? For the average-to-above-average player, the reality is that it's just a matter of time before everyone in the Discord starts allying at the start of the game against you, rushing you immediately, and then if you somehow survived, then coordinating assaults and unit choices to best destroy you first, so that the insular inner circle of low level players who haven't improved in over a decade can then proceed with a more or less normal FFA + diplomacy. The reason for the above-average player to play is thus just a question of whether or not they want to test their patience being constantly double teamed - some may welcome the challenge at first but every success also raises the likelihood of even more insurmountable odds, until the entire process is simply not even fun anymore because you have to play at 100% just to not die at the beginning of the game, a far cry from the self-purported "casual" atmosphere of NHFFA and what they advertise to be as a haven for casual play.
CHOBO COME BACK! We all miss you and we need NHFFA to become even stronger and with great fights. And we need to fight VIS! :D CHOBO vs VIS gogo! Chobo must return! gg!
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Warning: I'm sorry but this isn't exactly a very polite or gentle post. Please be warned and do not read if it bothers you. If it does, please know that it is not my intention to offend anyone. It's also just my opinion. That's literally it. If you don't agree, that's fine. I'd also suggest that you can always just carry on with your day and go do something that makes you happy.
Irony of idiots and imbeciles:
will to get good (okay so far) ->
inability to question popular ideas (common idiocies, many fall there, spiral down and never really come out) -->
squashing all the virtues that seem childlike (playfulness, curiosity, trying things etc.) -->
suppressing the most encompassing and influential element that could properly navigate their own, personal growth -->
unintelligent grind guided by commonly promoted instructions on how to get good -->
extreme imprecision, lack of calibration, even hostility relative to individual's natural strengths and tendencies -->
unintelligent (imprecise, inaccurate, mis-calibrated etc.) preparation and lack of real resilience due to shutting down one's compass relative to one's own needs and strengths -->
blaming lacking effort or improper application of common methods -->
continued failure to recognize that for excellence, unlike for mediocrity, extremely personal and individualized calibration is required
(what I mean is, if you are part of a mass-instruction institution such as school, that's not a problem - but if you're not responsible for yourself, if you aren't adjusting and tweaking your own methods to see what works for you, in most cases, you're naive, you fail and you're a failure relative to reaching excellence) ->
self-perpetuating cycle of misguided efforts that keep the individual internally misaligned and wasteful relative to individual's best strengths and gifts.
Most people participate in some kind of a cycle that looks like the one above.
That's because if you do it how you really need to do it, to work for you individually, it tends to look silly and weird to others. It doesn't look very serious and respect-worthy. There's a lot of childlike fun and playfulness in it. There's a lot of trying and failing in ways that look silly in the eyes of dumb imbeciles.
It's not doing what they do. It gets mocked and laughed at, ridiculed etc. They don't want to look bad on the way to excellence. They don't want to get burned. Instead, they go the easy route and join the idiots and imbeciles, i.e. the path of pretending to get good instead of actually getting good.
That's why, in general, there's such pressure on "if you want to get good, you have to do the prescribed x y z things that lead to becoming good". Simple reality is that there is no magic universal pill for becoming good and that actually enjoying the process on the basic level, having fun, playing with things, childlike curiosity etc., these are the real most important ingredients.
These are the things that actually generate real resilience and ability to stay on the path long term. This is what naive idiots and imbeciles fail to understand. They don't recognize how giving up to some external pressure and copy-pasting some common way or method that's in no way aligned to what they personally need, isn't going to bring the outcomes they're looking for.
They're like a bunch of musicians that were convinced that they don't need to tune their instruments so they all try to tune it "the way", more or less, and then play shit that never stops being shit. The few who don't play shit are the ones who recognize that they need to tune properly tune what they're working with.
Some of those then learn to play great and phenomenal, and this becomes new version of "the way". The next waves and masses of imbeciles and morons jump on that "way" and then they all try to tune their instruments the way these great musicians did. They also ostractize those who try tuning their own instruments, i.e. when they see someone trying different things and so on.
This phenomenon's present in most communities, including Brood War. If you went back in time and tried things with Bisu PvZ build before Bisu showed it to the world, you'd be heavily criticized and nobody would want practice with you.
Obviously, initial tests and attempts would all be failures - and all the masses of idiots and imbeciles would judge it (wrongly and visciously, as idiots do). According to their group-think regurgitation, it'd be a waste of time, laziness, you not really caring about getting good etc. etc. etc. Or any other theme of how idiots and imbeciles tend to group-ridicule something new that happens to not be what they're doing.
Then Bisu happens and over time, that becomes the new standard. This did not enlighten idiots and imbeciles. No. Idiots and imbeciles do not change their ways. They continued with the same idiotic pattern they were working with before. It's just that previous version of "the build" and "the way" shifted to Bisu build. Idiots and imbeciles do not change.
Idiots and imbeciles continue shuffling and fighting wars over surface level cosmetics, while failing to change anything underneath. Save for prideful surface decorations and claims, idiots and imbeciles do not change much. That's precisely what makes them idiots and imbeciles. This is also why there is this phenomenon of overly toxic masses of frustrated players.
Check out this pack of bisons vs pack of wolves, here's some BBC Earth footage. www.youtube.com
Idiots and imbeciles are like this clump of bisons. They feel safe repeating what everyone else around them repeats. They think it's okay that they don't quite know what they fuck they're doing. They also feel like they are doing what they should be doing and that they belong because they're like others.
Meanwhile, much less numerous but organized pack of wolves, quickly reveals their nature. The bisons start to run. A simple pack of wolves makes them all run in fear and panic. It's also very interesting how one of the last bisons headbutts his fellow bison who tripped and fell, to ensure that he'll be caught instead of him.
In most communities, most people are just clumps of bisons.
There are few wolves. Bisons just repeat the currently safe-to-repeat shit and ostracize those who don't do the stupid shit that they do. They also let out their accumulated frustrations on fellow bisons. Meanwhile, wolves play the game to play the game and have fun, and don't give a fuck about these morons, idiots, imbeciles and masses of dumb shits.
Now, in honesty, most people are idiots and imbeciles to some degree. Me included. There's pretty much no way around it, it's not like you can do whatever the fuck you want or that you don't need to deal with pressures of the environment.
The keyword is degree. For example, road signs serve everyone and not respecting those is absurd idiocy. But extending this approach onto all kinds of areas that are subjective, e.g. how to learn, or how to play a game such as brood war, what build every noob should use to learn etc., that's another absurd idiocy. It so happens that many people are dedicated and deeply commited to this kind of idiocy.
This is how most communities are - clumps of bisons that impose bullshit at each other and keep getting nowhere by trying to follow the few groups of wolves that actually know what they're doing.
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^ Follow this guide and you too can be as good as coffeesession.
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At being an idiot and an imbecile?
Rest assured, sometimes, I'm spectacularly good at that. I think I might have broken a few records in this category~
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As a member of ~NH I approve of this message and encourage all to participate in daily FFAs to improve mental health.
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On July 25 2020 20:10 coffeesession wrote: At being an idiot and an imbecile?
Rest assured, sometimes, I'm spectacularly good at that. I think I might have broken a few records in this category~
coffeesession hahahaahahahahah
Well said! ; D Also Caff is that u?
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On July 28 2020 02:01 Psyonic_Reaver wrote: As a member of ~NH I approve of this message and encourage all to participate in daily FFAs to improve mental health.
PRACTISE WHAT U PREACH and join a game once a year...
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