i dont think splitting the playerbase in a game thats lucky to have 1-2 pugs running at any given time is a good idea ngl. i don't play that much and now im basically locked out of playing the pugs that run whenever i try to add up

experiencing waves of mental anguish as i see people still mention a grands i lost to a team running pyro on bagel several years after the fact

also us having scarfs on scout was the most egregious thing about that team

ALSO, to stay on topic for this thread; sandbagging is incredibly overrated as a concern. The best advanced team having a few low-mid invite players is GOOD for the division. it makes things much more exciting, and makes it much easier for up and coming players to get recognized.

Like when I played on milkies (team of move ups), we got so much more clout, respect, better scrim opportunities and the chance to get picked up on invite teams the following season, BECAUSE we were playing well against "sandbaggers", proven players that could act as benchmarks to measure ourselves against.

For some reason I have very positive associations with 27-12. I think some esea playoff match where I thought I played super well on flank scout

100000% yes please if you are in NA play on the spaceship servers instead the ugc server has such bad performance but i have to play on it because the spaceship ones are always empty

something i feel like is super underrated (or at least i neglected) is custom mouse skates. i noticed a huge improvement when i took the default skates off my g pro wireless and put on some hyperglides

if like 95% of the people in the division who have to play someone think that person is cheating they should probably just get autobanned tbh. basically everyone who's been witch hunted over the past few years was actually cheating lol.

one of, if not the, best players i had the pleasure of playing with in my >5 years playing 6s. can not recommend enough.

(and i mean best along every dimension, both in and out of game)

yes but only to men under 30

b4nny is a grown man and im sure he can handle existing public information being briefly revisited in a doc. i think something in the style of emplemon's hungrybox video could be a big hit, there's a lot to talk about when it comes to b4nny, good and bad.

though in the interest of remaining respectful and professional i would keep it mostly focused on the tf2, bringing in the whole clockwork / lauren stuff seems unecessary, its not like you're lacking material. just the pre froyo -> start of froyo -> ash situation -> dominant period -> RGL era stuff is plenty for an hour long video essay imo

interesting ....

https://i.imgur.com/5lXsbW2.png

https://i.imgur.com/txYPMDw.png

great taste. some of my favorite SF shorts I read this year

learning to be me - greg egan (an implant in your brain observes your every thought and learns how "be you")
the gentle seduction - marc stiegler (one of the best pieces of "post singularity" fiction ive seen)
it looks like you're trying to take over the world - gwern (the classic ai risk parable)

I also read and really liked the Three Body Problem (first contact made by cultural revolution china) books by cixin liu, and blindsight (first contact with very strange aliens) by peter watts.

for non-fiction im currently reading the vital question (research into the first multicellular life on earth) by nick lane and its really good and accessible (i have nothing after highschool biology)

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/130542696312864768/1025098462355796059/dontcometogully.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/uRwawTq_d.webp?maxwidth=640&shape=thumb&fidelity=medium

ive never really cared about prizes but also never really cared about paying the fee lol. if it goes to stuff like making lan happen then its worth it IMO, though I think EU already runs more lans than NA? so I guess they don't need it.

(btw "ill never see the money because it will just go to sandbaggers" is such a bad mentality lol, do you have no faith in your own improvement? just get good lol)