Hello friends,

Many of you know me as Mikal , and I used to cast a whole bunch of TF2. I’d like to briefly address a few topics related to the competitive TF2 scene, but before I start saying things that may excite, annoy, entice, coerce, or irritate people, I wanted to start by saying that I am totally non-platonically in love with this community, this game, and the people who support it. This community is one of the few gaming communities I can say I’m proud to be a part of, and all the work I’ve done to promote the game and the comp scene since the beginning has been because love it. God knows I’m not doing it for the money!

There’s a real problem with the way organizations have approached, handled, fostered, and supported the TF2 community. If you look at CEVO, ESEA, and UGC you can see that each organization exists for the purpose of giving players a place to play TF2 competitively. “By the players and for the players” is the mantra each of these organizations lives by when making decisions about rules, whitelists, configs, etc.

Competitive sports are entertainment. The NFL, NBA, NHL, etc they exist to entertain viewers. Almost every professional sports team’s website has a mission statement that mentions growing the fanbase as the reason that franchise exists. Even MLG has a mission statement that’s in line with this idea:

MLG exclusively targets the tens of millions of consumers worldwide who have a passion for playing video games as a competitive and social activity.

So many people have said “you’ll NEVER see TF2 at MLG” and they have been right so far, but I’ve never seen anyone give the correct reason: It has nothing to do with the logistics of getting 6 people there or having good computers for them to play on. The real reason is this: if you don't play it, comp TF2 is fucking boring to watch. And even if you DO play it, it’s STILL boring to watch most of the time.

Basketball had this problem once. Teams would build a point advantage and then only play defensively, never giving up control of the ball, never taking a shot, always waiting for the one perfect moment to make a push and extend their lead. Sound familiar to anyone? Then in the 1955 season: BAM! A motherfucking SHOT CLOCK was introduced. Players now had 24 seconds to try to score. No more pussyfooting- play the game or hand the ball off. They also changed the rules to allow for bigger, more explosive plays- like dunks. The game became faster paced and the fans ate it up, and the sport thrived as a result.

A lot of players didn’t enjoy the rule changes. Today, all of those changes to the rules remain in place because they weren’t made for the players, they were made for the fans. If we want TF2 to be taken seriously as an esport, the first thing we’re going to need to show organizations like MLG is that it can develop a fanbase. And not just a fanbase of just people who play the game and read /r/tf2, but a legitimate fanbase of people who think the game is cool and will watch it because it’s awesome to watch.

So how do we get fans? We change the rules so that the games naturally produce more of what the fans want to see: killing and action. Here is the beta release of the rule changes I’m proposing, including adjustments to the whitelist for both sixes and highlander..

Wanna try it out before forming an opinion? Join our pug group and give it a chance!. We have been running private pug nights 3-5 times a week and refining the rules since about mid November, and are now opening up to the public. Or, if you are on a team and wanna run a scrim or show match with this config, contact me directly and I’ll even find you a server to play on. Or if you’re more adventurous, you can download everything you’ll need right here and use your own server.

Of course, all these theoretical matches are worthless if we’ve got nowhere to show them. Thus, I’ve also been working hard with the best volunteer staff on the face of the planet to bring you: The TryHard Stream. The TryHard Stream (THS) is a non profit organization that is dedicated to growing the exposure of competitive e-sports. We are focused on creating the highest quality content possible, giving viewers free access to our creation in full HD (no paywalls here), and fostering a professional and competitive environment that will result in growth of both the player and fan bases. Keep an eye on that channel ladies and gentlemen, because it will be lighting frequently over the coming weeks.

TL;DR: Comp tf2 is fucking boring to watch. I want to make it more fun to watch, and then cast your games here, Come be a tryhard.

edit: VODs of the first cast up here: http://www.youtube.com/tryhardstream