Experiment: A few occasional custom dm maps

[Whirlingdervish]

I don't play much on DM anymore, but when I did on a regular basis, it was to play those q2dm# maps and nothing else.
I don't mind the powerup/nopowerup rotations or the added quad on dm1 in the one incarnation.

When it comes down to it, playing on the DM server is the only time I really get to play on dm2, dm4, dm5 and dm7.

The rest are used regularly in other mods (tdm/duels/insta/etc) but those few originals are ones I rarely get to play otherwise. (playing dm2 on vanilla is like being kicked repeatedly in the balls by a large herbivorous animal due to the camphappy server regs...)

I can play custom maps on almost every other server, so making DM more like the others in that regard doesn't really make a lot of sense to me. It has a certain character and protecting it from the sort of changes that go on regularly with other servers seems like a good way to retain that character.

[CodeBlack]

Playing dm2 on vanilla is like being kicked repeatedly in the balls by a large herbivorous animal due to the camphappy server regs.

Funny because its true!

[Acer]

Personally, it's true that if both servers were equally populated, I'd probably choose mutant more often than dm.

That right there should tell you everything you need to know. DM is more populated for a reason.
Because it's plain DM.

No it's not that simple. To play at mutant you need to download a lot of stuff and most players are lazy to learn new maps. As with every other online game people just have a list of favorite servers that see the most action and where they get the best ping. It's the chicken and the egg. After all this time DM has become a server people know will have players on. You know that when you're alone in the server it's usually a matter of minutes before someone else connects but it sure wasn't always like that.
Before the whole GOTO system the DM server was unmodified and as good as empty most of the time. If being "plain DM" were the only reason for its popularity then give the server a different name and IP, something like DMPURE. Have only dm1-dm8 and leave Quad on all the time, disable Weaponstay and spawnprotection "as it should be". See if all the plain DM fans will go there or just deal with the odd few mymaps and stay.

[Acer]

The self-proclaimed protector of stock DM and heavy user of Quad Damage thinks it is unfair. Are you concerned people might not like to type 'goto dmpure' instead of 'goto dm' and stop connecting and playing altogether?

With a multitude of mods and custom servers on tastyspleen, I don't understand the objection of having at least one server dedicated to classic FFA DM.

I think it's perfectly understandable that they are experimenting with a few other maps. It's still very rare that they get mymapped so I don't see what you're so concerned about.
Do you know of a better way to give people the chance to play other dm maps with 15 players than to do it this way and slip one in every now and then?  You know just as well that a multitude of servers sits rather empty because of the reasons I mentioned.
By the way if you want stock dm how come you haven't objected to the q2dm1-arenaquad version?

[VaeVictis]

creating another dm server called dmpure or whatever would lose you players none the less...

not everyone makes use of the goto system, there is people who may just have the server adress saved or something, and with that youll also split up the players from dm onto both servers because for the most part the dm server as it stands is quite good, mostly stock maps with a rare classic map to mix things up... either that or no one would even touch the dmpure server

i dont see why people mind so much :/ even with the 7kbps download speed, by this point in time these really classic maps that you can mymap should be in everyones q2 folder...

there is no reason to be complaining about it, it is highly limited as quadz said requiring at least 4 maps in between each mymap leaving the server old school as it needs to be for people who want pure dm, and still giving the occasionally custom in there to keep things lively for everyone else

[[BnC]MissingNo.]

I vote for having a dmpure server in the goto.
Actually...
What if console decides to do another one of those 'Quad in the middle of dm1' things? Would that go to a dmpure server as well?

[Whirlingdervish]

there is no reason to be complaining about it, it is highly limited as quadz said requiring at least 4 maps in between each mymap leaving the server old school as it needs to be for people who want pure dm, and still giving the occasionally custom in there to keep things lively for everyone else

There was a time, before the current age of campers, spammers and aliases who won't use AC, when the DM server was the only place where you could hope to play dm1-dm8 in a row without pause, and people were there daily who actually knew how to play the maps while MOVING and not just standing in a camp spot spamming at spawns.

The majority of the current players on there (a lot of whom are more vanilla calibre players) didn't even touch DM for longer than a map or two back then, because they would get fuckin schooled by the FFA DM regs who were pretty darn good, and who played dm1-dm8 almost exclusively.

Some people like to play that whole rotation, in a row, without modifications to the maps and item placements that were made to suit latter day players who just wanted to mill around and get kills and not have to worry about getting run down by the better players.. That's the main reason there are currently 2 rotations on DM, one with powerups and one without, and in some people's opinion, the server started going downhill right around the time that was instituted because it changed the feel similar to lengthening the holes on a golf course to make it tougher for the long drivers, while not changing the hazards or the size of the green.

You know you're on the same course, but the game you have to play is completely different if you want to do as well as you were before.

Sadly, with the dm1-quad/ra edition, even the rotation with powerups is noticeably different than the "mostly stock" that it was in years past. New item placement of the most powerful items changes the whole playstyle on a map, just like breaking up the flow of the dm1 -> dm8 rotation with a map that looks nothing like them changes the whole feel and look of a day on the DM server.

[V!RaL]

  I fuck j00 all