Pickup channel changes to #qlpickup.eu

You might have noticed the old pickup channel #euqlctf has been traded in for a new one at #qlpickup.eu (quakenet). Why such a drastic and seemingly unnecessary act? The main reason is the fact that #qlpickup.eu can offer us both TDM and CTF games, and later possibly even more modes. The channel name can include just about any possible quakelive gametype and isn’t limited by the tag “CTF” which #euqlctf held in it’s name.

Naturally such a big change comes at a risk. #euqlctf had already become quite a popular pickup channel, with regular games and a great community. So why decide to take the risk of blowing this all anyway?First of all there was a poll about this question. Thanks to all for voting! The end result was very close, though with a slight edge in favour of a new pickup channel. Secondly, there are several benefits of having one general pickup channel that offers more than one game type:

1. Games in both game types will fill up faster. When a TDM game needs 2 more people to start and there’s 2 in queue for a CTF game, those 2 can easily notice this and just hop in for a quick TDM match. This would be difficult when 2 separate pickup channels exist.
2. Sharing the cost & use of (future) private pickup servers. When id software makes private game servers available it would be more efficient to “share” all these private pickup servers. This way all the available pickup servers in the community can be used at any time, where as with 2 separate pickup channels, servers could be left unused. (For example, when a TDM-channel has 2 games running on both their servers with one more game ready to start, it can’t use the CTF-channel’s server, even though none of the CTF-channel servers are being used since they are reserved just for the CTF-pickups).
3. One general pickup channel won’t separate the TDM and CTF communities, but keep them more together as a whole.

At the very beginning of #qlpickup.eu the CTF history will still be quite present. Possibly no TDM games will be played at first. Maybe for some weeks or even months. Yet eventually new people will join #qlpickup.eu who will actively participate in TDM pickup games and help start new games. A ‘new community’ will form itself and develop in a way that’s not yet known, hopefully collaborating with the CTF community.

Don’t hesitate if you got any questions: join & perform #qlpickup.eu and have fun. 🙂

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