ENOUGH WITH THE ARGUMENTS
By Goalie

Ok. I admit it.  When I heard that TF2 was going to be a stand along product, I was understandably upset.  I mean, TF2 was really one of the major reasons for my purchase of Half-Life (other than the fact that I thought the Houndeye's were cool looking).  But then I started to think.  One of my thoughts was "Wait.  Who said that Half-Life was required? Game players have said that.....but did Valve....."  Becoming annoyed with the amount of heat Valve has taken for this move,  I decided to get off my ass and write my own personal opinion.

For those of you out there who are now completely put off of TF2 now that you have heard you will have to spend at least 70 bucks (I am Canadian) minus whatever rebate is thrown in, please think a little harder.  Think of the reasons behind the act.  For one thing, Team Fortress is as complex a game, if not more so, than Half-Life.  It has more entities and a hell of a lot more coding.  (Not that I'm knocking Half-Life here.  Half-Life is still the best game I've ever played.)  For example, remember back to the days of Quake.  Remember TF1.  Was TF1 anything like Quake? Well except for the models and a couple weapons, NO.  With a little bit of work making a front end, those fine mod makers could have sold that product as an official game based on the quake engine.  Was TF1 more fun than, say, Hexen? Hexen made a decent amount of money and was in my opinion, very very similar to quake.  TF1 was revolutionary.  But did the makers of Team Fortress charge MONEY for it? Of course not.  They had a lot of common sense and determined that they would get a better following if they didn't charge money for their mod, but instead allowed the average Quake player to go download for free. These guys were SMART and in doing so made their mod probably more popular on the 'net than regular quake dm.

Now we reach the present.  Team Fortress 2.  Following recent market trends, the now famous among the quake community Team Fortress makers are swept up by a company (Valve) so that the sequel to this revolutionary mod can be made for their game, and in turns promote more sales for their original game, namely Half-Life.  The gaming community hears about this, gets excited about the prospect of a HALF-LIFE Team Fortress, and starts deciding to themselves and among themselves about their feelings on this new mod.  Now here is where things start to get muddled.  Was their EVER an official press release about Team Fortress being sold for "this" much money and "these" requirements.  I never ever remember hearing from the valve dudes on any site I've been to about the requirements for TF2 and whether you would need Half-Life for it.  It is in my opinion that this was expected, but it was never stated.  So I would hold no validity for an argument about buying HL for TF2.  If you did do that, you should maybe have researched a little bit more or e-mailed a few people to ask about that.

Now for the gamer feedback on this move.  I read quite a bit of it to prepare to write this article, and some of it is disgusting.  After reading quotes like "OK you b@st@rds at Valve and TF2..... we aren't 'freaking' stupid" to "You can suck my balls and everyone else's, becauce we aren't standing for this 'stuff'", I had to sit back and think.  Were these accusations justified? My answer: No. For the comment about buying HL for TF2:  why didn't you wait until TF2 came out and then see what you would need to play it?  Just assuming that what is said by the gaming population 6 months before the release of a product is accurate is and then whining after you buy one thing only to learn you dont need it, that is not Valve's fault.  They provide us with info on a kick ass game, then info on how they acquired a VERY kick ass mod, then release the game, then decide the mod is going to be sold as a full game, NEVER once saying that the game was needed for the mod, and people have the nerve to complain?  Game companies can do what they want, we just buy the product.  So if you disagree with what they are doing, DONT BUY the product.  And don't send the company hate mail either.  It's not their fault that you assumed something.

So in closing for this little piece I decided to write I want to say the following. Dont blame a game company for your mistakes. Take responsibility for your own actions.  And to those who are boycotting HL AND TF2 because of this:  It's your loss.  To me you are just one less person that will increase my lag.

                                                                                                                                    -Goalie