The Mailbag

Remember, if you get tempted to send me a question or problem, DON'T! Check The Unofficial Quake II FAQ which is written and maintained by Richard Connery. He's worked very hard on it so people like me don't have to answer dumb questions. What's that you say? Your question isn't in the FAQ? Well, try the messageboard! There's a link in the frame. Lots of people will read your problem and try and answer it. Another good resource is the Gamer's Guide, which can be found on Blue's.

The ever-lasting Camping debate
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Camping
submitted by Dennis Pendleton

Players get pissed when people camp but I think it is part of the game. Isn't the object to win? War is war and "camping" or "sniping" is a good way to rack up some kills.

Quake2 deathmatch usually isn't a 'war', it's just a bunch of guys running around in a disorganized mess... the real problem people have is how it detracts from the overall experience, and makes it less fun.

Is camping in deathmatch play ethical?
submitted by Camp Master

My response to this question is.... Of course it is ethical! It is just another tactic that is used to pile up the frags. Some people seem to have a problem with camping. But I say "Quit crying about us campers and just just come kill us. Otherwise, shut the fu*k up and play." I'll keep the camp fire stoked. You just keep bringing me all of the good weapons so that I don't have to go out and get them myself.

As I mentioned before, and something I recently discovered, is that camping is really really annoying to some people. That's why they whine and complain, somehow being killed by a camper isn't a good reason to die, so they get mad, or something like that. I don't encounter camping much anymore, seeing as how ALL I've been playing for the past week is Rocket Arena 2. :)

Is camping in deathmatch play ethical?
submitted by AggroNaut

Yes, camping in deathmatch is ethical.

I don't camp unless I'm waiting for a weapon to spawn. I have changed attitudes on this subject since I first started deathmatching in Aug 96. I used to get really upset with campers and I'd hunt them down armed to the teeth. Now, I have realized that usually someone who is camping is a beginner and they don't have the radical moves and level knowledge that the experts do. When I come up on a camper, 9 out of 10 times I will kill them and they get at most one shot off, therefore they are not that big of a threat.

There is one thing that bothers me though and that's killing someone who respawns and just stands on the spawn point without shooting at me. I seriously feel bad for killing this type of player but I know if I don't frag them someone else will. Some say there is no such thing as a cheap kill but I believe fragging a just respawned non-aggressive player is quite cheap.

You know, you're right, it IS cheap to kill someone who's still just kind of sitting there... but in a disorganized mess of people running around shooting one another, often you don't care if the person is shooting or not... the thing that REALLY bothers me is people who will WAIT for an unresponsive, non-aggressive player so they can take him out.

Enduring Arguments et al
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RE: Just a quick note...
submitted by r0tfish

(quote from last week)
I'm an avid player of Quake II, especially Lokis Minion and Zoid's CTF. Since I've been around in the Quake world, obviously I realize they're aren't too many other Christians. In fact, some are right borderline on Satanism. I wanted to thank you for your mentioning of Easter and the resurrection of Christ on your website. It shows that, even if you don't believe in event (which I can PROVE--LITERALLY--that the Bible is true), you still have enough respect for those who do and their beliefs to bring recognition publicly on your website.
(end of last week's quote)
=============================================
I'd like to comment on the part where you say "I realize they're aren't too many other Christians. In fact, some are right borderline on Satanism." Who gives a flying F*CK if there aren't many Christians!? That's got to be one of the most out of line comments I've ever heard on this mailbag. Satanism? How do you figure? Because they have names like bEElzebUb? (my previous name) That's so damned ignorant. Quake2 is a dark and scary game. So why not have a name that fits that mood? bEElzebUb is the name of the Devil (Unless you look at Paradise Lost. Don't argue with me on that.). So what? Does that mean I worship Satan? Let me ask you this... If my name was Chia Pet, would you think I worshipped a hunk of fertilizer shaped like a dog?

There was a reason I decided not to say anything in response to this mail last week... religion is a VERY touchy subject for many people, and the sort of thing people really DO go to war over. r0tfish, I must admit, the thought you mention had crossed my mind. Do you remember the heat Satanic took for his name several months ago, before it was just 'Sat'? Do remember how mad he was, explaining 'It's just a name, I'm not REALLY a Satanist, leave me alone!'... I think you make a good point, and that Lt. Ripley (he who sent in the original e-mail) may have jumped to conclusions. Hey, while we're on the subject...

happy easter note
submitted by RiverRat

Hey, i just wanted to comment on the fact that you wished those who worship the resurrection of Christ a happy easter. It makes me glad that at least someone that plays quake/quake2 actually associates easter with Jesus, and not easter bunny, etc. For a long time, I hated quake because of its satanic/antichrist nature in the quake community, but after seeing that happy easter note, the quake community's gained another member: me.

I can picture a Christian being offended by the whole Quake/Satanist thing quite easily, seeing as how there are all those pentagrams prominantly displayed. I once read that the reason id decided to use the whole satan theme is because that's what they thought it would be like if it really was happening, and they thought it would help to add mood to the game. No-one (OK, VERY few people) in the Quake community is an actual practising Satanist. Most just do it because of the way Quake was made. Repeat after me: It's just a game. It's just a game. It's just a game...

colors
submitted by pHaTbOwL

I thought that since everyone one else was bitching about the colors (colours?) that I would too. The thing is that Quake2.com could make it black on black and it wouldn't really make a difference. Just set your browser to override the colors. Then there won't be anything to bitch about at all. Oh, and what is so wrong with being American? The U.S. happens to be the dominant world power, how can that be a bad thing?

Oh sure, you could do that, but it would get kind of boring, wouldn't it? Doesn't that override colours on EVERY page you visit?

I little bit here
submitted by HappyStoner, a faithful American

I saw this in the mail bag
(quote from last week)
Do you know how hard it is for Canada to have news big enough to cover the front page of USA Today? I can tell ya, it doesn't happen very often. It's enough to annoy most of us... how many Americans could name all of the candidates who ran for Prime Minister in Canada's last election?
(end of last week's quote)
Now, ask how many American's can name all of the candidates for America's Presidential election. =)

Come on, there were only 3... Clinton, Dole, Perot. Piece of cake. How could you mess that up?

what the hell is going on?
submitted by Da Meez

with all of this buz about quake 3, it seems that ID has given up on quake II. the last update or new feature came on march 3. ID is tho only place to get quality gaming and I just wanted to know if they are going to kill quake II while developing quake III or are they still going to work on it?

There is a reason the last update was so long ago - everything's fixed! (more or less, anyway). id's work on Quake2 seems to be essentially done. Zoid is handling all of the future releases of Quake2, and is adding more features, but id software themselves is not doing much more related to Quake2. All that's left are the mission packs, which are not being handled by id. Zoid is working on version 3.15 and a Q2CTF upgrade to watch for.

Miscellaneous Stuff
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Only one this week, that's a bit of a surprise...

Server crashers!
submitted by Jim Lewis

I hate server crashers! I mean really really really hate them. Almost always there little kids getting on daddy's machine and screwing things up. Here's a good example. There's this guy whp used to call himself Player and who now changed his name to Niger Bitch who must have no life cause he's always at sm.iquest.net screwing things up. He tagged a really long repeated message "I'm the best" to a key and then he hits the key until the server floods and every one gets kicked off. If you offend him or tell him to shut up he just does it again. I even challenged him to a duel, and, once he played by the rules I set up, got his @$$ smeared all over the ground! Then I see him again and he says he beat me! Arrrrrg! I could see what a sophisticated guy I was dealing with when he changed his name to Nigger Bitch. I won't ask you for help since you told me not to but if anyone else who reads this know of a CTF no flooding program or some type of solution that works for CTF pleeeeeeeeease! E-Mail me at jimlewis@timeandmoney.com and help me stop this punk! Thanks. It felt good to say all that! Oh, and if you read this player, just wait I'll until I get that program!

Anything like you describe could only be server-end. There is nothing a client can do to prevent another client from being a jerk and spamming the server. If, however, you were playing Rocket Arena 2, you wouldn't have to put up with that crap! Ah, anti-spamming features... the peace and quiet...

And so ends my latest mailbag. If I didn't post your mail, then you didn't read the guidelines! Remember, technical questions will go straight to my trash can. I will try to post submissions which contain ONLY VALID OPINIONS. Read on for the guidlines...

Guidelines

Don't send me specific hardware questions; mail them to the respective companies' technical support.
Don't send me specific gameplay questions like how to finish a certain level.
Don't send me specific problems you're having; mail them to id Software instead.
Don't send me questions about a specific mod; mail them to the mod author.

The Mailbag deals with opinions, not specific questions. Also, I don't reply directly so you'll need to check The Bag each week. If I happen to grin at your submission you are free to send another. Use it to show I was wrong; if you don't send other logic arguments or facts I will grin a lot harder. Send them to mailbag@quake2.com.

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