So I was thinking about the lost blog writings at TGN and decided to see if Google still had them cached. Sure enough they have a few of them! So I decided to move these here. This was originally posted on May 16th, 2013. Enjoy!
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So I suppose this is going to be another griping blog about the playing the f***ing objective crowd. My last blog entry was about how we do not use the teamwork that is in Battlefield 3 and yet I see all over the various forums and in-game people shouting PTFO PTFO PTFO like somehow, with the magic of Battlefield, that is going to FORCE (not suggest or ask) people to play a very specific way to meet the needs of others demanding to PTFO!
I understand that people want teamwork and that they want to be a cohesive unit and want to dominate the virtual battlefield that is Battlefield. Also, people want to win and get their points and awards and victory. The problem is, first, teamwork just doesn’t happen and that it has to be something done, and second that I see this PTFO mentality in the strangest ways. I want to give a few examples of when I see this PTFO:
– On small/not full servers: I’m talking a pub server that has about 16 players on it and everyone is being casual. Some people are doing stupid things and chatting in the chat box and just kinda waiting for the server to get more populated. Then some guy comes in and starts running around going on about how “This team sucks!” “PTFO” “Go this way and that way!” The atmosphere on the server is not PTFO. You have to convince half a server to change their mindset and start doing something they probably didn’t want to do to begin with. Just think about this scenario for a moment and I think you will fully get the problem with the PTFO mentality in this instance
– As a Squad Member: So I have my squad, I’m the leader, and we are working OK together. I’m getting revives and we are taking some flags or whatever and then a guy joins and starts typing out how we have to do this or do that and then they run off to go do that. “Come on guys, you’re not being aggressive.” “PTFO”. All the while ignoring the commands that I am giving to the squad. Running off where they felt the squad needed to go. This goes on and the guy keeps complaining that no one is following them to their death. So what happens? I tell him to STFU and follow my orders. He goes on about how I suck….So….I kicked him out of the squad. So there were a few problems with this; 1. He wasnt the squad leader. 2. He wasnt playing MY objective. 3. He was dying A LOT and not accomplishing anything, thus hurting the team as a whole. 4. He just got booted from my squad for being a jack ass. Now I am telling this one instance, but this has happened 4 or 5 times now.
– Coming in late: The game has been going for some time and all of a sudden you have a new guy that is 0 – 0 going on about how the team sucks and we need to PTFO! The game is almost over. Tickets range from 30-240 to 30-400. I mean, its done. The game has been fought and the better team is winning. By the end of the game the PTFO guy is screaming his head off with a score of 7-23. It’s done, dude! Take the L. Also, thanks for burning those few extra tickets, I wanted to get that game over with.
All these examples above are true. They have happened to me several times and the outcome was the same; the PTFO guy was told to shut up and they hurt the team just as well as those that were doing nothing but playing.
Then there is a problem of the O in Objective. Who’s objective are we talking about? I paid my money for this game and I have my own objective that I am going to be playing before some rude strangers’. We all know that capturing a flag is an objective, but did you know these are objectives as well:
– Giving squad orders
– Following squad orders
– Defending a flag
– Blocking an attacker from getting to a flag
– Focusing on taking down vehicles
– Focusing on repairing vehicles
– Doing kit functions like reviving, supplying, blowing stuff up, etc…
As you can see from the list, there is a lot to do in Battlefield than just running from one flag to the next one.
One of my favorite strategies on Markaz Monolith is if you capture the center flag and hold it, you disrupt the entire map for the enemy. They either have to go around the map to capture everything else or they have to come through you. It is one of my favorite things to do. My objective on that map the majority of time is to capture the center flag. So don’t tell me how I am not doing anything by keeping that flag. By “camping”. I love hearing the other team gripe about me “camping” because that means I am denying them something they want to do. They are the enemy and my job is to make it hard on them. I don’t need some PTFOer telling me that I am not helping the team. I just took the high ground and am holding the position. THAT’S AN OBJECTIVE! I disrupted the map, now YOU take your squad of elite players and get those other flags.
I get the idea of the PTFO movement. When video games are becoming individualized and working as a team isn’t as necessary as it once was, or in some cases never was, people want to bring that back. It is fun working together and controlling a map and forcing the other team to move back all the time. I like to win. I like teamwork. I like following orders from my squad leader. The thing is that when I go into a game I already have a set idea of what I want to do. It can change, but I have my objective and trying to bully me or my squad into an idea of how it should be just isn’t going to happen. I will just leave. I don’t always care about winning every map. I care about having fun and doing what I want. You can convince me to PTFO, but you are NOT going to make me.
Now you might be thinking; “Man Crunch, you say you are a team player but all you’ve done is bash the entire PTFO movement and those that try to do SOMETHING about it!” Yeah, that’s a fair statement so I am going to give advice on how to PTFO that will get others to join you. I know this advice will work, because it is what I do when I want teamwork and to PTFO.
Here we go:
– When you are a squad leader, give orders. Start simple with capturing or defending a flag. You’re the leader, that means you need to make SOUND decisions. Do you really think your team of Assault is going to capture E flag with 3 enemy tanks on it? NO! Go for the closer B flag instead. If you don’t give me orders, I am going to go off and do what I want. If I get an attack order, I will IF it is a sound order. If you tell me to attack A and I don’t hear any more orders or the leader runs off to get C, I am not going to attack A. It doesn’t make sense to do so. Type out a reason why and maybe I will reconsider the order.
– Make your orders clear. This goes back to the squad leader thing. If you don’t show how serious you are about PTFO, then the squad isn’t going to mind meld with you and realize it on their own. This goes beyond just giving orders, but typing things out and communicating. This is when you got the squad that wants teamwork and this is the next step. It’s time to type information to change squad perks, classes, adjust weapons and all that. Three assaults taking that flag with three enemy tanks isn’t going to end well with the three assaults.
– Show sportsmanship. The team knows they are losing. We all see the same score. Telling how the team sucks when you are not the top player or not giving orders or have the most deaths will just shut you down. Give a THANK YOU and GOOD JOB now and again. Give a verbal command with the COMMO ROSE. People LOVE that because its not often done and it’s cool. They will start talking back with it AND you just taught them communication.
– Get the feel of the server. If the pub server is a bunch of clan-mates and friends doing whatever, you are not going to get PTFO. What you are going to get is a ban. It’s a game. Have fun with the people on it. If you just really have to PTFO, find another server because you’re going to have a bad time on a server like the one I described. This also goes with getting the feel for your team and the squad. Sometimes it doesn’t work out and you have to realize that.
–Show sportsmanship.
– Work with what you have. Not everyone is a super l33t player like you, so you have to be patient and work with what you have. Someone has to lose and it may be your turn. If people are not cooperating in your squad, kick em. If someone wants to play sniper though and you need an engineer, you should really think about becoming that engineer. You have a guy that is willing to follow your orders and even change up the kit they are playing some. Do you really want to give them grief because they are a sniper when you can fill the role you need?
– It’s a game. Always remember that the people around you also paid money to play the same game. Realize that and don’t kill yourself about it and everyone will have a better time. BF3 has flaws. People have flaws. Balance has flaws. It’s kinda like the real world in a way, isn’t it?
I think I have said enough on this. You all get the idea. Please post your thoughts and ideas.
Crunch Time 