: But basically, I won't be running Musical Chairs any more. I never officially
: released the map, and I won't. So... yeah. I absolutely get what you're
: saying, and I hate it being true, but I can't do anything about it except
: throw the entire concept of Musical Chairs in the garbage. Which just
: needs to happen, because it's not possible to make it fun.

This makes me sad... and sadder still that I never played it in Halo Reach. :(

: I want to make games that don't require explaination. That's my goal. I
: really hate having to stop and say, "okay, if you want to zoom across
: the map, jump and thrust." --but I also never tested that map, so I
: wanted to see how it went.

lol - it was fine, as a one-off. I was just giving you a hard time. ;) It's the Ultra MLG of Infection games. :)

: Z Fighting, Onslaught, Hog Hill, Beacon Brawl, Shrinking Sumo, Paintball,
: (Actually) Fiesta.. I think those are pretty intuitive. But I don't have
: enough stuff yet to keep a customs party going for 3 hours :-). Some stuff
: was pretty bad, I admit. Musical Chairs, Musical Mongoose, Lava Cube,
: Flood on The Cube, Infinity Slayer on Adrift, CTF on Paradux (which I
: meant to make shotguns only).. yeah.

Musical Mongoose could actually be a lot of fun with the right amount of people. I think 3 might have been too few, but 16 was definitely too many. As a 6-player game, I bet it would be a blast. The best part is trying your hardest to get there before someone else, and accidentally going over the wall. ;)

Lava Cube is another one that could be a lot of fun with a warning (and maybe rocks that were a LITTLE closer together; I didn't mind so much falling off during a fight, but I didn't really enjoy missing my jumps by a few inches because I didn't take off from exactly the right spot).

Infinity Slayer on Adrift was almost identical to the matchmaking version (no extra grenades on the outside platforms, but otherwise it seemed the same to me) - not sure what's wrong with that.

Was Paradux that early map with the really steep ramps? That map would have been fine if I'd had 3 minutes to sprint through it before we started; I couldn't figure out how to get from the bottom to the top while under fire. I don't think I was alone. (I finally figured out there must have been a lift in the back somewhere, because we could see you using it to score... but I never had a chance to find it on my own.)

That Shotgun-only Dominion game was a lot of fun - so was the lavapool Extraction game (despite the framerate death).

: If/when I run another customs party, I'll plan a stronger playlist. I ran out
: of good stuff pretty quickly and I was trying to make it up as I went
: along. I also wasn't sure how to handle having 4 different teams
: spontaneously form, although I'll admit it was pretty amusing and it might
: be worth having some multiteam games available.

That part was totally fine; I don't think anyone really minded the unfair teams, and we certainly didn't have a leg to stand on if we DID mind, because WE MADE 'EM. :)

There were a couple of games where the entire purple team was Mrs Untouch0ble and me - we set our own goals (don't go negative, or don't come in last, or whatever), and were pretty happy to meet 'em. :)

There's a fine line between keeping the night running smoothly and overthinking the organization. You stayed on the right side of that line pretty much the whole night - even if it seems like you're second-guessing yourself now. ;)

: I liked the FFA games the best because we could all chat and laugh together.
: It got pretty quiet during some of the other games when you didn't have
: the chatty people on your team.

Yeah, I totally get that. (I also find that my own chattiness seems to fluctuate wildly - from never shutting up to never talking at all - so the more people who can fill in the gaps, the better. ;) )

: I was hoping you'd just say the serious enjoyment was obvious. :)

It was. ;)

: I'm really glad you came, and I just want you to know, as host, I not only
: take your feedback seriously, but I totally agree with it. So if I do host
: another one, I hope you'll join in again, knowing that it should have less
: of the stuff that you didn't like.

I bitched a lot about stupid stuff. I bitched because I got suppressors 3 or 4 times in a row during a fiesta game, and died to Incineration cannons fired from 3 sides at once. That's not your fault, and that's not something you have control over. And it's not something I should be complaining about in the first place, because THAT'S WHAT RANDOM WEAPONS ARE ALL ABOUT! :)

Don't take my bitching as a sign of unhappiness... I had fun. Sounded like pretty much everyone had fun.

I should have been smarter and left before 2am... but again, not your fault. :)