Tribe of Judah members not playing on Tribe of Judah server?

I've noticed this for a few weeks now, but finally remembered to create a forum thread about it.

It seems that when I check Steam to see who in ToJ is playing TF2, I see at least a few members playing--but no one on the ToJ TF2 server.

What's up with that?

Members have invested time and money to bring a server online and maintain it, but it seems like members only join the server if I get on first and spam my Steam friends list with invites.

Are any members willing to join the server when it's empty and invite their friends and other members to get things rolling? I don't mind getting on and sending out invites, but it can be frustrating when I see the server empty most nights.

I could be completely out of touch here. Maybe the server is active when I don't see. If that's the case, then please let me know. I'd like to hear of the server being full even on nights when I can't get on.

I'd be willing to come play with you guys if no one is in the Chocolate Shoppe at the time.

Many times in the past I have waited around for people when TOJ folks weren't on, but no one showed. When I see at least one other person there, I usually join, but most the time that's not the case since I have an odd timezone. (By 9pm, it's late everyone else.) When I have got like 3 other people on there, the map was way too large so they left. Like Goldrush and Dustbowl. I like playing on the server, but it's hard to keep non-TOJ guys playing when we aren't there. When looking for servers, I usually go for the HLSTATSX tag, but I recall someone saying that they didn't want to add that to the server. You could put the server on the internet tab for now add the like "NO CRIT" or something. More info on the server wouldn't hurt.

I generally only play during the day when there aren't many people online from ToJ, so it's hard for me to sit around in the server and wait for enough people to join. Altho I'm willing to try it a few times and see what happens.

I generally only join if the server's not empty, though I'll keep an eye out from now on for other ToJ members and invite them if that's the case.

I dunno what TF2 is like in terms of gameplay, but in my Q3 & CS days i used to just hang in the server by myself and practice tricking until people showed up. Its always fun to try and find new ways to get round a map quicker. And hones your skillz

You know, I'm sensing the same trend here I saw with our Clan, everyone saying "I'll only join if it's not empty."

Guess what? If everyone says that, the server will always be empty! (logic, I has it)

Here's what I do when no one's online on our server. I join a map, and use the time to do things like learn where pickups are, learn where I can sticky/rocket/double jump to, learn good sentry gun placements, etc. Like Rizz said, it doesn't have to be "wasted" time.

If no one joins by the time the server switches to a new map, I see who's on my friends list from our clan and spam them to come play. If no one responds or can't come play, then I look for a new server.

Also, most pubbers won't come join your server until it hits a certain tipping point, which we've seen to be about 8 people. Our server goes from 8 to full very quickly most nights we're in there.

If you want a popular server that's full a lot, then you have to populate it yourself to begin with. Once people get used to playing there and know that people are around, it may just land on enough of their favorites lists to keep people in the server without ToJ having to populate it all the time.

HTH

Side note: are there bot programs that someone can call up for TF2? It might be something worth looking into... addbot(s) for when you are on your own and then kill when people join

There are bots, but their AI is horrible and they don't behave like the bots you see in UT or Quake.

I don't know if it would be considered bad manners but perhaps posting on the Christian Crew forums http://christiancs.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewforum&f=75 and telling them that our server exists (and posting the ip) would help get more people using it. The CC servers are full a lot more than ours but they run different maps so they may appreciate an alternate server to play on. I'm more than willing to make the post I just want to know if it would be considered polite? (The Gerbil does not excel in social skills)

I'm sure they'd be glad to. Also, their servers run a TON of custom maps, and people get tired of constantly downloading new maps (I know I do). I'd ask Stargater over there, or maybe Tykur.

Bakey said:

I'm sure they'd be glad to. Also, their servers run a TON of custom maps, and people get tired of constantly downloading new maps (I know I do). I'd ask Stargater over there, or maybe Tykur.

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I believe Tykur would be the one to ask. He's the person I go to if I have questions about Christian Crew.

Gerbil: If you decide to draft a thread telling <CC>< member about our server, please send a PM to Tykur on the Christian Crew forums and request permission to post it first. I'm almost certain Christian Crew leadership would be fine with it, but, speaking as a gaming group leader myself, a courtesy PM is always appreciated.

I've joined the CC forums and sent a pm to Tykur. I've also pm'ed Shagz about being an administrator on our server. I figure I could help out more if I was one.

I have to admit that when I get on the comp. to play TF2, our server is the first place I check. If it's empty I then tend to look and see if any ToJ'rs are on, and if they are I try to join them where they are at. I do this for 3 reasons....

1: I hate playing alone on our server as it is boring and I already know the in's and out's of the maps we currently have on our server.

2: I don't like tearing people away from a server when they are in the middle of a match. I personally don't like it when I am doing very well on a server and am asked to join another one instead right in the middle of that match. I will join a server once I have completed the match, but I do like to finish things I start.

3: I love to join a comrade on a server, just to show support and share in the experience of another server with them. I can't even begin to explain how much fun it is to make friends on another server, and share that with other ToJ'rs. (ask Icthus about the joe.to servers, we play on there VERY frequently)

That being said, I will do my best to try and join our server and send out invites to friends on a more frequent basis. I truly believe that we have seen little acitivity on our own server for a few reasons (no crits, old maps) but mostly from our own people due to a lack of activities to be involved in. Perhaps we need to look for an events coordinator to help us out with this?

Elihu said:

I truly believe that we have seen little acitivity on our own server for a few reasons (no crits, old maps) but mostly from our own people due to a lack of activities to be involved in.

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Most players who join the server either don't care that crits are disabled or consider it a minor nuisance. I've yet to hear a player say they wouldn't return to the server because they refused to play the game without crits. A few players (admittedly, not many) have commented that they prefer the game without crits.

As for maps, I'm sure several great maps have come out since we last updated the rotation. Maybe the Event Coordinator position Elihu recommended could also be responsible for planning and arranging another map playtest night in the near future?

As for the rest, I understand that people want to play on an active server and that it's boring to wait for players to join. Believe me, I know. I've probably spent half the hours I've logged as Scout jumping around 2fort or mach4 and waiting for people to join.

I'm also tired of spending 10-20 minutes of my gaming time (which is already limited, thanks to the job search) trying to get things rolling every night I play. I don't mind working when there are going to be results, but it's getting old sending out invites and only having Elihu and maybe one or two other people join me.

I've read post after post in the past how ToJ members wanted their own game servers, but I don't see many people willing to idle in the server or get things rolling themselves.

If you all want an active server, then do something about it.

If you don't care whether we have an active server or not, we can put the the 30 dollars we spend on the server each month toward our dedicated server hosting fund.

I would love to see the TF2 server full or nearly full most of the time like our Counter-Strike 1.6 server used to be, but it's going to take members making an effort to make that happen.

If server admin rights are a concern, then contact Shagz and volunteer to help out as a server admin.

I know my frustration is evident in this post, but I'm not intending to attack or offend anyone. I just want to see members make the most use of something the members pay for. I admit it'd also be nice to hop on for TF2 some evening in the near future and find at least a few people on the server before I join.

re: event coordination...I've actually had a couple of ToJ members step up and ask about helping in that regard. I've e-mailed them back to firm up some details but they haven't responded yet. I'll give them a shot first, but if anyone else is interested in helping out in that regard, please send me a PM. It wouldn't be a difficult job, you just need to pick dates and rally the troops.

In fact, your second event is already laid out for you: we need a new game night schedules to test out a new maps, and someone to compile a list of what's good. (The first, incidentally, is under way over here: a friendly scrim next friday with Clan Fudge.)

I also concur with Elihu's point - playing on other servers advertises our *own* clan and server - but Tek's point is paramount: we *are* spending money on the server, we should be taking advantage of it, otherwise we won't have it anymore.

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As for activity, I certainly feel like I must apologize to the TF2 chapter's active members for my own lack of activity and leadership in the community. It's summer time, and on top of actually being outside or away, work has been unseasonably busy and getting on the computer again when I come home after spending 8 hours on another one...ugh.

With this in mind, I'll be looking to take on more "official" staff beyond the server admins to fill in the gaps. The community's grown enough that some additional hands are justified. (We have almost 60 people in the Steam Group!)

Separate post on that coming later.

Being the rookie of this division of ToJ, let me throw some thoughts out there:
1. How do other servers do it? I mean during my CS days (which I still dabble in here and there) there were servers that it didn't matter what time of day I checked, they had people on them.
2. I know we have some people who are swinging over to other things. And I understand that. You can be sure when Fallout 3 or Gears of War 2 comes out, you won't see me much on TF2. But if we set aside, say, Tuesday night to play TF2, I'd be game to take a break from whatever I've moved on to to join in. Perhaps we could even do a Sunday after church session and share what we learned in church that day while playing. Just throwing ideas out there.

Tek, I understand your frustration. I remember our days with the CS1.6 server. Good times had by all. I remember sometimes I couldn't get in it was so full.

Perhaps the solution is to get just 3 or 4 people to agree that on a certain night, they'll be sure to be on the ToJ server. Then the next night, 3 or 4 other people take the resonsibility. Afterall, I'm hesitant to join any server with just 1 person on it and I'm sure others are too. But if there's a few people and we can have some sort of match, then I'm fine doing that waiting for even more to join.
Then perhaps during the day those who are getting the ball rolling that night can start inviting people to the session we're going to have. Maybe when you get home from work, you check your Steam friends list and tell people (ToJ or just friends) to join you at whatever time later in the evening.

I'm willing to do a little bit to get the ball rolling here. I'm off work until the 26th (when school starts and I get back to teaching) so I've got some free time between now and then.

DanR12 said:

1. How do other servers do it? I mean during my CS days (which I still dabble in here and there) there were servers that it didn't matter what time of day I checked, they had people on them.

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Before TF2 released, Christian Crew already had a large active CS 1.6 and CS: Source player base. After TF2 released, many <CC>< members just switched over to TF2. Those former CS 1.6 and CS: Source players helped populate the servers to the point where other players would join in.

As for other TF2 servers, it changes from server to server.

uber, the Server Admin for deFy, said he and his crew had a long road to keeping a server regularly populated. He and a few of the other deFy clan would idle on the server and keep an eye out for anyone joining. By idling, they increased the visible player count, then could ALT+TAB back to the game to help pick things up.

DanR12 said:

2. I know we have some people who are swinging over to other things. And I understand that.

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True. I'm sure the WoW chapter is also feeling the hurt of the imminent release of WAR.

DanR12 said:

You can be sure when Fallout 3 or Gears of War 2 comes out, you won't see me much on TF2. But if we set aside, say, Tuesday night to play TF2, I'd be game to take a break from whatever I've moved on to to join in. Perhaps we could even do a Sunday after church session and share what we learned in church that day while playing. Just throwing ideas out there.

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Both good ideas.

I'd love to see a weekly game night, but someone else would need to arrange it.

DanR12 said:

Tek, I understand your frustration. I remember our days with the CS1.6 server. Good times had by all. I remember sometimes I couldn't get in it was so full.

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The irony is that I didn't even like CS 1.6. I just played it because so many ToJ members were playing it.

Now that I've finally found a FPS game that I really enjoy, it feels like I have to pull teeth to get the server populated some nights.

DanR12 said:

Perhaps the solution is to get just 3 or 4 people to agree that on a certain night, they'll be sure to be on the ToJ server. Then the next night, 3 or 4 other people take the resonsibility.

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Another good idea. We would need at least 3 or 4 "seed" players to pull this off.

Any volunteers?

I'll volunteer to do it. Feel free to bank on me being there every so often. As for now, I can say with a good degree of confidence that I can be there every Tuesday night around 10.

I try to always join at tek's request as long as it's not too late, week days I basically stop my gaming at 10 CST so I can get ready for the next day of work, (waking up at 5:30-6:00AM doen't give much for sleep in a manual labor type job) but anything up to that time, I'm usually game if I'm home.

All I need to know is what night, I need to sit on the server as I can just idle and use my laptop for other internet junk. For me, I can Idle between 7-10 CST.

Shagz if you need help for anything, I'll give all I can offer just let me know what you need.