So I've decided to give the report the article is based upon a quick read through. I have a couple of points that I think are important to note.

1. This report/research was conducted with support from BeGambleAware, an independant charity advised by the Gambling Commission set up by the UK Government. That is not that unusual with reports such as these, and charities like BGA tend to be non-invasive when supporting research, but its always good to bear such information in mind when conclusions are drawn.
   
2. The '40% of children have opened a lootbox' statistic is taken from a 2020 study where its explained that its a little more complicated, especially when you frame it in the context of problem gambling. From the study itself: while establishing a statistically significant link between loot box engagement and problem gambling, our data do not allow conclusions as to whether loot box engagement promotes problematic gambling or if problematic gambling leads to gambling-like loot box behavior in gaming.. (It's behind a paywall you'll just have to trust me on this one).
   
3. Most of the studies used in the review of the data are not longitudinal (aka examining over a longer period of time) and utilises surveys which have their own host of issues, especially if they are your only source of data collection.
   
4. Their own individual data collection started during the COVID-19 pandemic and their sample for their survey was collected on the 19/11/2020, at a significant peak of the UK pandemic. This presents a potential skew in data that can only be verified by a reproduced study (someone else doing the exact same study to see if they get the same results).

This isn't to say that this is based on inaccurate conclusions or shoddy research. There is a link between problem gambling and video games, any player who plays games with loot boxes in them will tell you there is an issue. Valve especially has a problem in regards to reselling items and artificially forcing them into a seperate digital currency, resulting in scandals like CSGOLotto and what have you. There definitely needs to be some form of child protection from such things, and you can make the argument that developers (or more accurately publishers) can't be trusted to deal with microtransactions themselves. But at the same time, parents should be monitoring their children, especially when it comes to games that feature microtransactions.

TL;DR - Study makes good points about lootboxes being bad (who knew?), but the article have missed some key points in their reporting, as always.

5CP best allows the style of play that we've decided upon for competitive play. There is a heavy emphasis on deathmatch and mobility, where one player can turn the tide of a fight yet cannot do so without the support of their team. 5CP simply gives 6s teams more freedom in terms of mobility and what teamfights to take etc. By all accounts, we can run other gamemodes in 6s (Payload and Attack/Defend tends to be the ones brought up most), but it becomes a question of whether or not we should. Does having more gamemodes create the sort of competitive game that we want? Are what makes comp tf2 good promoted in these modes?

That isn't to say that 5CP is flawless. Unlimited rounds with a round timer reset per cap means that stalemating is an option that doesn't have any significant downsides whereas stopwatch necessitates constant action. In order to create the 6s meta we wanted, we've had to cut out certain classes from being generally usable to prevent 5CP from being absolute torture to play which can be seen in HL or even Casual matches on these maps. Fixed match limit creates potentially 4-5 minutes of garbage time which is unfun for players and spectators alike. But we put up with these flaws because we've determined that the alternatives are worse.

And again, 6s has its issues. However the community decided that 6s promotes the best of what TF2 has to offer and the meta we run is just one consequence of that. Sideshow made such a point in that video, in that the meta isn't what is 'best' but the one that is the most fun or conducive to our preferred playstyle. The one flaw I think should be addressed is encouraging a bit more flexibility in classes/weapons outside of just last holds, but the challenge is how to do that without breaking what we already have. Without external incentives, there's little reason to shake things up for the hell of it.

Yay! More opportunities to voice my opinions that noone asked for. To be honest, the first couple of minutes of this video actually brings up a couple of decent points. FACEIT's AC is particularly annoying and invasive and if their EULA is anything to go by it seems to be a good way for them to sell data (but at this point which website ISN'T selling your data?). Secondly, the marketing around the platform did seem to try to say that this was some sort of 'replacement' of casual, which from the beginning I thought was a little...off, I guess?

I think their main critique was that they were not transparent about sponsoring (or incentivising) content creators to speak good things about their platform. The rest of the video involves them saying that FACEIT is a very corporate entity focusing on profit, not really caring of TF2 as a game. To that end, I agree that we should remember that such companies seek to gain from the game and its community. But then again, FACEIT want the system to have high player counts for more money so they themselves are incentivised to keep us around, so its a double-edged sword.

Again, like my previous post discusses, having a company like this on board is important for a community like ours and that offering alternative casual modes is great in the absence of constant development from Valve. Competitively, the platform is a good chance to make it easier to get more people into 6s/HL which is always a good thing. I think that FACEIT has a way to go in being a platform for both competitive and casual audiences, but from what I've seen it's a decent start.

TL;DR: Did you guys know that FACEIT...is a FOR PROFIT COMPANY!?!?!?!

I know that I'm a little late on this, but that video is one of the worst takes I've seen on the FACEIT Platform. Man goes in wanting to play casual TF2, is surprised when a competitive platform isn't full of hoovys, trolldiers and people who kill bind when they get funny kills. He spends 10+ minutes basically saying that the system sucks and is going to die then says "I want it to succeed". Basically equating it to Meet Your Match and blames the competitive community (???) for both.

Thing is, the system isn't perfect. Matches are still unbalanced, partying up is almost a guaranteed win, map pool is a little limited etc. But FACEIT provides another option to play TF2 thats a mix between 'wacky' casual and 3rd party competitive. With the addition of a 6s queue we actually have a nice transition for players from being new at the game to starting their first season of comp.

Fresh Install -> Casual -> Community Servers -> FACEIT 12s -> FACEIT 6s -> In-house PUGs/TF2 Center -> 6s/HL

A seamless transition from casual to competitive is something we've needed for a while, as its currently really hard to get into actual competitive. So this pubber YTber whining that "ITS NOT CASUAL" is so ridiculous it would be funny if it weren't so infuriating. FACEIT needs improvements, as all things do, but having an actual organisation like them behind the competitive community only benefits us.

So long as FACEIT is receptive to feedback for their 12s and 6s queue, if and when it happens, I think that the competitive community should try to support it when possible (notsponsoredbtw). I don't want this to go the same way that Pro League did, where both sides were unwilling to compromise or put in the effort, and it seems that they are quite keen to continue working with TF2 so long as it benefits them.

TL;DR: YTber is dumb, FACEIT needs improvements but is good for us.

Ultimately this is nothing more than quite an impressive technical piece for the developer. The amount of work to keep the original style but in a modern engine is massive and I think it does a really good job at that. But I would not put a lot of weight in this being of consequence at a gameplay level outside of what a more modern tf2-like game may look and play like. Support it, provide (constructive) feedback, and the rest. But don't expect that this will amount to anything.

Hey everyone, really excited to announce another series with DreamHack! This time we're hosting both an NA and EU tournament, with both being over two weekends each with more details to come on the structures & qualifiers for invite. If you have any questions feel free to post them here. Another thread will be posted in the future when more information arrives. In the meantime, keep an eye on our social media (@TF2Essentials on Twitter) and our Discord.

Random people who don't know how AC works think they know more than AC Admins, more at 11.

I'm no medical expert, but the first thing you should focus on is improving your general health first, both mentally and physically. These are the largest factors that affects your performance and the amount of time you can focus on specific tasks, so get plenty of rest, eat healthily and have some physical activity outside of sitting at your computer.

Outside of health, this sounds like it may be a mentality problem. Try approaching the game(s) with different goals in mind like "I want to improve" or "I am going to try to relax and not worry about losing/dying too often". Give yourself an explicit task to focus on and everytime you notice yourself deviating remind yourself what you aimed to do, The goal of this is to have something to work towards and training your mind, reducing the likelihood of getting flustered.

Finally, if this seems like a consistent and unsolvable issue where you cannot manage excessive stimulation you may want to get a medical opinion. It may not be anything, but it's better to err on the side of caution.

It seems a combination of these and locking the mouse to one screen seems to have mostly solved the issue. I think the rest can be solved with graphics configs. Thank you for the help!

I tried the 1.3.0-rc1 and that didnt seem to improve things. Might need help getting 1.2.20 installed

For me it is the latter. I run tf2 at around 140 fps so a consistent drop in 20-30 factoring in fps drops from general play can drop below 60. Dropping polling rate seems to have an positive effect but with diminishing returns at 500/250hz. The problem persists. Raw Input is on.

It isn't that expensive so I can get a replacement. But whats weird is that this is a fairly recent issue (at least in the past 3-4 months) and has gone through 2 of the exact same mouse. It seems like it may be an issue with the PC than the mouse but if all else fails I may just replace it.

I've used Dual Monitor Tools which has screen locking as a feature. This seems to reduce it slightly but still has issues in more chaotic fights. It feels like a powerpoint at some moments.

PC Specs:
Intel i7-8750H @ 2.2GHz
16 GB RAM
64-Bit Windows 10 Home
NVIDIA RTX 2060
250GB SSD
2TB Hard Drive

Let me know if you need anything else. Its a Laptop fyi.

Hey guys, need some help with mouse issues. I have a Logitech G403 for reference. Moving the mouse during play seems to drop the frames by around 30. This issue seems to be worse when using mumble for some reason. On my old config this would make the game borderline unplayable but having reinstalled and using dx95 has made it stable(ish) with some moments of stutter. It seems to happen on other games but only when there is a cursor (Halo:MCC).

At its worst I noticed that I could see the mouse cursor in game on my crosshair and would briefly appear on the second monitor which makes me think its something related to how the mouse interacts with fullscreen applications.

I have tried a lot of solutions such as playing in borderless windowed, reinstalling drivers, monitors (have dual), refresh rate, power, priority on task manager, and so on. I'm getting a little frustrated so I'm asking on here if others have had similar issues and what solutions (if any) they have.

Much appreciated. I will check on this when I wake up.

DreamHack TF2 Community Clash is officially over. Congratulations to Ascent.NL and thank you to all the 72 teams who signed up for this event! Prizing and medals will be worked on over the coming days/weeks so I ask you to be patient. We will also work on getting VODs out as soon as reasonably possible (yes, we did save them this time).

Personally I want to give special thanks/shoutouts to:

• ArchRhythm for holding down production for 9+ hours on both days;
  
• Jon & Kirsty for all their behind-the-scenes work making this event happen;
  
• Justin & Kyle from DreamHack and the DH brand as a whole for the opportunity to work with them;
  
• Ridge, Sodium and Nash for being great Tournament Admins making my life a lot easier;
  
• All the observers and talent who lent their time for the stream, both pre-recorded and live;
  
• All the staff team, who without them this would never be possible;
  
• All teams for (mostly) staying on time.

We at EssentialsTF hope you had a great event, as both a player and as a viewer. GGs!