This is the first time i put a real post on this website, altough i played Quake for years.

For those who don't know me, i'm French, my real name is parad1se, and i played Quake since 1999. So I began with Quake 3. I'm not very active today, but keep playing when i have some time. And i keep following the news and what's happening in the community as well.

If we could attract new players, we will definetely manage to keep QL alive. It is our objective, isn't it? And we need players in TDM & CTF!

I think one of the main problems in QuakeLive is that it is extremely difficult for a new player to learn the basics quickly, and also to integrate into the community. The level has probably never been that stronger, and there is a significant gap to catch up. Especially in TDM, which is the mod I always played and I will focus on it in this article.

I remember in the early 2000's, so much people added in pickups, and from every level. Everyone improved step by step. TDM leagues registered like 5 or 6 divisions (with 4 groups by division)... and to me, what motivated each of us at this time was the activity of the community: to watch league matchs every night on GTV, to meet new people, and mainly to improve and to join the higher division. I started in division 6, then i wanted to reach number 5, etc etc.. We could progress and saw our evolution. It was so stimulating. We had everytime a new objective. This is what every new player needs.

But today, a newbie who begins in QuakeLive must learn much more and much faster than we had to when we began. He has to be very talented just to be able to play a nice and decent game with few hours of play. If not, he will be raped so hard and will get tired of it quickly, then will quit.

So the new ones go to CA, which is more accessible and more easy to play (no timing, you have all the weapons. You just need 10min to understand that you have to regroup and shoot)..
But the worry with the Clan Arena is that this people keep playing this mod, and even believe at the end that this is QuakeLive itself. I'd say they're afraid of the other mods or are becoming not enough openminded to try them, because they look too complicated (especially the TDM of course). I won't mention or even talk about 1v1 because everyone can play it and the ELO suits perfectly to this mod. And to me, 1v1 mod doesn't really gather a community (which is what we need, and is the object of this article). 1v1 is certainly the main mod, this is right, but the community needs more to live.


The new current players inevitably find the game harder: the average level is very high. Therefore, it is harder for them to have fun. So there is a blockage to go to TDM and CTF, as they're more complicated compared to what they're used to play. And moreover, our community is... well. There are too many dumbasses, like everywhere. The funniest is that this people want new players, but when they meet them, they close the door by being bitches or owning them in 1v1 or in pickups that newbies will never replay. "You don't know the map? Well, learn it, let's play." Well done!

So here I come to what i wanted to present you. I think I might have a solution, or an idea which could help. I definetely think Quake, and QuakeLive isn't over. But it requires some investment from us. QL can still be successfull, and there are still so many players who want to play this game and these mods.

We could figure it out last year:
Zerg-Spirit and I, and others old school players from France tried to promote TDM in our country. We created a channel on IRC and a blog to complete our mission. Our goals were to teach the basics by editing videos, shoutcasting games, and organizing tournament with mixed teams..
It was very successfull and everyone enjoyed it: oldschool players were happy to see new ones, and the new players were happy to meet people who took the time to help them.

I dont think shoutcasting is enough: what Disrepute, Vor, etc.. are doing is very great. They promote and explain QL so well.. but it's not enough. New players need more to learn and to be motivated.

Here's the link: qltdm. This blog registers everything we did. It's in french, but you can still check it, you'll understand the principle and will find the links of our videos, the vods of the major event we organised and so on.
Firstly, we promoted the channel everywhere, on irc and on quakelive, in every public games.
We focused on people who wanted some help for their config, or to learn to play TDM (yes many of them wanted to!). Then we created the blog, where maps by maps, we explained what was the goal, what they had to do. We did it by editing videos and also by wroting articles. Here's a link of one video we made: OSP5. It's still in french, but you'll get the point. Link of an article: click.

They really enjoyed it. French esport websites helped and promoted us, and we attracted.
Unfortunately, 2 months after the begginning of this project, I had to leave and stop Quake because of my new job. And none maintained it alive.. But with only 2 months of action, we managed to start something.

This is not a post to say "hey look what we did, we're cool don't you think?". But I don't know, I recently read so many articles and posts where people say "this is over", "let's play another game" and so on. You have now understood that I don't agree. I really think there are still so many things to do. But it's up to us. So I post this, to give you some ideas. It just need time and motivation.. What do you think? Am I wrong? You should try it in your own countries.
I'm really convinced that, if I had the time, or if someone would have continue to keep our project alive, we would have now a new community in France.

(sorry for my english)