Okay guys, I've been trying to wean myself off of trem lately due to a major problem I'm finding with it that I'm surprised took me 2 years to find...
Anyways, my #1 gripe lately has been the (lack of) teamwork. Trem was designed as a game with two specific TEAMS. Aliens and humans. Yet nowadays if you go on ANY public server, teamwork means competing with your teammates to see how many kills you can get. No longer (or ever, save in scrims and competitive matches) do teams work for a common goal unless members of the team are very close and respect each other.
This I would suppose could come from a few sources. I would say the most important being a poorly defined goal for teams. The ultimate goal of a team is to penetrate to the enemies base to kill their spawns, builders, and players (In roughly that order). As soon as that is completed, the game is won and a new one begins. Sadly, I'm finding more and more often that people get caught up in the minutiae of the game, and try to focus on what THEY are killing instead of focusing on what THEIR TEAM is DOING to win. The game has turned into a battle of individual killwhores and has no trace anymore of a team working towards a common goal. More often than not, games are won only when the top 3 killwhores on a team just happen to rush the enemies base at the same time, and do massive damage. Or games are won by a single rambo who manages to wreak havoc on the enemies as he approached their base and then kill the base one life at a time.
Basically, it all comes down to teammates not playing like such.
Let me give you guys an example of a game that has goals clearly defined for players and actually makes working as a team something that MUST be done or the game WILL be lost (unlike trem). TF2. Now those of you that have never played the game, please don't say "TF2 sucks," or other related, unhelpful comments. At the very least pay my attempt to help the game with enough respect to shoot down the following claims of mine with poise and precise rebuttals. Basically, for those of you that have played the game, you know that teamwork is a necessary element to it. There are whole classes that exist solely to work with others of a team to achieve a goal. Goals are clearly defined (CTF, cap points, Payload, etc..) and are understood by everyone. So when someone says "look, their intel [flag in CTF] is (someplace)," within seconds an expeditionary force is assembled to penetrate to the intel and often succeeds, unless the opposing team works together to repel them.
This leads to much better gameplay, because people feel like they're part of a team, even though everyone on their team is just a bunch of strangers. A bond is created, and often friends are made easier that provides for a somewhat nicer community.
Okay. Enough rambling. You're probably wondering how this has anything to do with trem.
Well, basically, teammates in trem need to begin to change their mindset from "What can I kill next?" to "What can I do next to help kill the enemy base?" I know. It's a lofty goal. Changing the way people THINK. Oh lord. But really, just imagine situations where there were certain team "leaders" who organized attacks, helped build bases, and all in all provided a sense of clarity to the game. So since I obviously don't expect EVERYONE to read this guide, or even follow it (Hell, I can bet 25% of the people reading it, if not more, will just write it off because I mentioned another game.), and especially not to have the game changed in any way, I would propose a challenge to those who DO read it and agree with me.
You need to improve gameplay by doing the following:
1. When games start, make sure that your team has a defined set of "leaders". Even if it leads to some bickering early, if you can manage to get even half of your team involved, the rest of the team will follow suit most of the time, or you can just take care of them by asking them to leave or whatever. Basically, let your team know in the beginning of the round that there needs to be a leader to manage attacking and defending or maybe one of each.
2. Reasoning with heretic players, and if they refuse to join in the charade, quickly do something (obviously not against the rules of the server you're on) to show them that they will fail alone.
3. Making friends. The more people you know in-game, the more likely you are to have people that respect you enough to go with a plan of yours if you make it.
Now imagine if trem teams actually did have "leaders" and these leaders had half a brain and managed to get their team to win with a punctual sweet attack on the enemies bases. Would you have fun then, or not? Eventually, if people start doing this often, games will become more competitive, leading to more fun for all.
Any suggestions/comments please post in a polite, calm, and reasoned approach. I'm just going to ignore people who make silly claims.
