Grambottlepudding_cupIt does bother me a little when some invite players make comments about HL that make the format seem like a complete joke. I could be wrong about this, but it seems like that kind of view sets an example for a lot of other people in the 6s community. Me and some of the people from bonus made an esea open team this season, and I was surprised by how many people tried to troll us or talk shit about us just because we were HL players. I guess shit talk will happen regardless, but I can see why some people who enjoy playing HL would feel ostracized. That's just been my experience in open though.
This paragraph almost perfectly captures what I find to be one of the worst elements of the TF2 community, especially because I remain primarily a highlander player. One of the things people should realize is that growth in 6s can be helped by the highlander community (as pointed out by VickM), in particular by those who seek the type of intensity you find in 6s that isn't in highlander (in part because people keep shitting on highlander as pub play, which is fucking bullshit). By shitting on highlander players for playing highlander you *actively discourage* them from ever moving to a 6s format. Negative reinforcement does nothing good for anybody. The fact that so many threads around highlander seem to devolve into 6s player shitting on highlander is a pathetic testament to the quality of support the highlander community gets from the 6s crowd. To those who regularly contribute to that, please grow up and shove your ego back up your ass (that's as much trash talk as you'll get out of me, lol).
I don't want to paint the whole 6s community with the same brush - obviously there are people (even players in this thread) who understand the merits of highlander. I'd like to give a huge shoutout to those who went to ETS LAN in March who not only didn't look down on me because I was a highlander player but welcomed me into the circle for the weekend and encouraged me to play some 6s scout and have a great time! This environment definitely had me fired about about 6s, although changes in life plans shortly thereafter prevented me from capitalizing on that enthusiasm. An environment like the one I encountered at ETS LAN is something I'd love to see more of here and is something which could bring huge benefit to the community as a whole.
And on that note, nice to see more invite players in Highlander. Just stop being dicks about it.
It'd be nice to not see a person who represents your entire community coming on here and acting like an idiot. Also you can't deny that the pace of HL is much closer to pubbing than it is to 6v6.
You're playing an online competitive video game, there's going to be shit talk no matter what.