Skuzzy,
Please bring back the donut. I am not a furballer, I'm not a buffmeister, I'm not a GV'er. I have no partisan agenda. I just want to play the game and have fun.
There are some strong reasons to include this map in the rotation.
Point 1 It was, from what I understand, the product of a group that put a great deal of work into its development. Map design has of necessity been a lower priority for HTC, and with the move to AH2 the community lost several incmpatible maps. A stale rotation detracts from gameplay and adds boredom -- which would affect HTC's longest standing (and thus most profitable) customers disproportionately. So:
it seems to be strongly in HTC's interest to encourage community developed content whenever possible.
Dumping this map after all the work those guys did would not only be a slap in the face, but it would give them AND EVERYONE ELSE CONSIDERING THE NECESSARILY ENORMOUS INVESTMENT a powerful disincentive to do our community a similar service again. Unless there are insurmountable probelms with a map (or skin, or add-on sound), it is very much to HTC's best interest to work with the volunteer product.
Point 2 No map will be well received by everyone. Despite the jawing, people deal with those reactions in sometimes positive ways. For example, it seems to me that Frac has generated more negative reactions than any other map; but the effect has not been all bad. At last rotation, when frac came up there was a conerted effort by all -- including guys who rarely care about capture -- to get a reset as fast as possible.
If the anti- Donut people feel that strongly, they can organize a similar effort. If they cant get enough together to reset, then there arent enough of them to reasonably expect the map to be withdrawn.
Point 3[/U] Although some may consider it a partisan argument, it seems to me quite reasonable for the furballers to have a map tha coddles their favorite activity. There are maps that make high alt buffing easier (like festerMA's single, centralized 10k base); there are island maps with few shore batteries that favor CV actions; there are maps with GV sub-arenas (including one with deliberately high mountain walls for anti-air protection). Regardless of how the rest of the community whines, doesnt it just seem right that there be at least one map that makes furballs easier??
Point 4 As in disciplining children, it is wise to remember that actions have consequences. If a vocal but noisy minority can destroy what they personally dislike, it would reinforce their dysfunctional behavior -- making it recur and spread to others. Is it better for HTC and the community to reward rational discussions (like this), or to reward the rampantly negative players who trash whatever they disagree with?
IN summary, I strongly favor Donut's being retained as ONE element of AH's rotation system. Removing the mao would be unfair to those volunteers that designed it; it would discourage important future community contributions; and it would be a disservice to the subset of players that like furballs.
Please return the Donut
With Regards,
Simaril
