: Y'all got spanked. Embarrassed. Humiliated. If it weren't for [TSD]NartFOpc's
: assistance in the Shotty CTF game, and the help of non-HBOer LOGIQ in the
: Adrift CTF game, it would have been a complete rout. But I'm not going to
: trample on a dead team's grave with a recap or write-up. Instead I'd just
: like to visit a few things that went wrong.

: 1. Notable absences. If Snipe and Avateur had played, it would have been a
: competitive night. Snipe had plans unfortunately, and Avateur refuses to
: play Halo 4. MoltenSlowa flaked out. Xenos kind of committed but didn't
: show up. CARDO's non-HBO friends and NartFOpc had to help out just to even
: the numbers out.

I plan on basically replying to you and Pkmnrulz240 in the same thread here. How did Snipe and I get the blame for this one? For the record, Snipe could have been there and odds are TSD would have still been stomping away.

I also don't completely totally refuse to play H4. I just refuse most of the time. That thing where we went on H4 a few weeks back and just crushed people was a great time. Reach's game where we barely squeaked out a tie was a much more satisfying tie, though.

: 2. Disparate interests. Pkmnrulz saw the night as a chance to beat TSD in
: battle. IsThisThingOn and Malagate, seldom-active holdouts from the
: Golden Age of HBO, wanted to chill out and relive 2005. CARDO just wanted
: to play Halo. TSD, even though we had to bring some members out of
: retirement, presented with a united front and united with a common
: purpose. Except for UnrealChief whose purpose diverged at a critical
: moment near the end of the Shotty CTF game (he is currently serving out a
: two-game suspension).

Well, the original post you made potentially could have created confusion. Yes, you said your competitive juices were flowing, but this was in relation to the prospect of HBO battling 343. And did you see the battle? A crazy gametype filled with nothing but no-scopes against random 343 employees (aside from Askan). It was whacky, but I'm sure it was fun and challenging. It was fun to watch. This presents a vibe of something beyond some total competitive hardcore gameplay-fest.

That and your post even said:

Gametypes: mostly a mix of objective, some Slayer (nothing too competitive or too silly)

So it's no surprise that some people wanted to show up, have a good time, play with people they haven't played with before, and maybe didn't go all hardcore on it.

Also I would love to know what happened with Unreal, because this is news to me. lol

: 3. Lack of leadership. Snipe was the ostensible captain of Team HBO, but did
: not act as such. This is probably because he had a feeling he wouldn't be
: able to play anyway, but regardless, the lack of leadership on HBO's side
: made planning and organizing difficult. There was no one person on the
: other side for me to negotiate settings/gametypes with, or to beat a team
: out of the HBO userlist. It got to the point where I was the one
: corralling Team HBO. That's not a good situation.

Wait, Snipe was the captain? I thought he couldn't make it and never fully committed. Sure, I could have captained it, too, but hey, we know how that turned out. But why is Snipe taking a beating here?

And if HBO was being thrown together and communication was whack, why wasn't this postponed to when maybe Snipe could do it or something? Start off the new year with some big rumble or something.

: 4. General lack of interest/malaise. This might be TSD's fault as much as
: HBO's: I might have done too good a job of recruiting the skilled and
: ambitious players from here, leaving behind only non-competitive
: canon-peddlers. With one email to our patented "mailing list" I
: had succeeded in rustling up a team of men, some of whom hadn't touched
: Halo in months but were nonetheless eager to compete. Even little kanbo,
: cooking pot on head, enlisted. Why not HBO?

I wouldn't go that far. There's plenty fruit ripe for the picking at HBO, and like you said, a captain or leader of sorts could have sent out the call to assemble. Coulda been Snipe, coulda been me, coulda been others. Didn't happen. But hey.

: I would like to play the real Team HBO. I know it's out there. Snipe,
: Avateur, etc. But I'm not going to force the issue, the challenge would
: have to come from you. If you can get the real Team HBO together, we're
: ready. Halo 4, Reach, or Halo 3, when the roosters are crowing and the
: cows are spinning circles in the pasture: ducks fly together.

Real Team HBO? Like TSD, there are many different types of gamers assembled together, especially here. A post like this doesn't encourage people here at HBO to want to jump in and try to give it their all, even if they aren't that great but might want to try out the competitive side. They don't want to be ridiculed for getting crushed or not being the "real" deal even though they are every bit as much about this community.

Like you said, ducks fly together. I've been put on some severely less than ideal teams in Epic CTF and other Classic Customs games, and sometimes we get crushed, but other times we actually manage to come out on top over a team with both you and Nart on it. This falls under your lack of a leader or captain thing, so you have a good point with that Schooly. This part is mostly in reply to Pkmn.

Overly casual or not, you have no one to blame but yourself (not directed at Schooly) if no leader stepped up during the games. I made it pretty clear I wasn't gonna do it from the get go, and Snipe was a maybe if that. People not calling things out? Ask people to start communicating and calling things out. Snipe being there, my being there, or even both of us being there probably would have changed things, but who knows if it would have changed things enough to win. To Pkmn still, it sounds like you got pretty upset and potentially got mean and rude to your fellow HBO teammates, which probably wouldn't have helped motivate them any better. I wasn't there, so I don't know.

People clearly weren't interested in the super competitive. Some HBOers said they would show up but didn't. Stuff happened. Schooly just made it clear that he won't be trying to do TSD vs HBO again unless it's HBO challenging. I'm considering it, but who knows. I still like the idea of "ducks fly together" being going onto H4 with some other HBOers and just stomping people in matchmaking.

Speaking of which, I'm going on H4 right now as a matter of fact.