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Competitive isn’t dying because of good players raging on pubs, if someone wants to compete he’ll find a way to do it (as long as he’s aware there’s such thing as competitive TF2) and won’t stop because of some nerd shouting at him across the cable :D

When I first started 4 years ago I could barely speak english, but I was so interested with the whole thing I’ve managed to contact the guy who used to run then inactive polish pickups and reactivated them.
No I didn’t even know how to use IRC then, I didn’t know programming languages, but it didn’t bother me.
I got source code from him, free vps from my buddy, configured it with the tutorials I’ve found online and just made it happen.
Did I get raged on when I didn’t buff demoman in my first game? Of course, but why would I quit because of it? I did feel bad a little, but I made sure to add as a medic in the next game with him and play properly.

I do understand that not everyone might be as keen as 14 years old me (I’m certainly not), but competitive isn’t supposed to be a “better pub”, it’s supposed to be competitive like basketball or soccer is. If someone wants to play it he has to either gather with his friends or get his shit together and play at local field alone, take all the things other players say in anger as an advice, meet new friends and improve eventually score goals and tackle ones that used to shout at him as this is what motivates to keep playing.
Would you just stop attending PE because someone called you a clog? I seriously doubt it, you would just get your shit together and make sure to make him feel stupid one day.

TF2 isn’t special, most games like CS:GO and DOTA are the same just as everything team based, arguments, raging, shittalking are everywhere and the only difference is that in those two first games I’ve mentioned newbies have a safe environment and can play against each other, but if you want to keep new players coming you can just create it, help fraac organize newbie mixes, link new players to tf2center.com and keep competitive TF2 “from dying”, just remember that they may just not like it, and you can’t force them to play comp or assume they would if it weren’t for other players. Competitive TF2 is a great thing for you, but a lot of people just enjoy themselves on pubs.

Also this whole dying thing is more suitable for tf.tv forums where Lange and CEVO fiasco really ruined morale, ETF2L didn’t have as many teams signed up as it has now as far as I’m aware and S20 will still be bigger than S19.
TF2Pickup.net’s has few hundreds 6v6 pickups in a month(?) and 9v9 has gotten quite a nice score too ever since Hajdzik took a wheel.

lol

i made an NA team win iron

classic and what did you do @author except forum posts crying?

Let the mildly drunken Christmas rant begin :)))))))
(pls no rape i am virgin ;(( )

On a more serious note, i have read this thread with a great interest.; there are a lot of good points being thrown around, and i want to make an input into it as i just want to contribute my own opinion:
I love the competitive community with a great passion; for almost 2 years now it has provided me with many laughs and i have met tons of great people (it actually forms the main reason i still actually play TF2 these days). In ETF2L’s case i remember reading some of the old recruitment posts (from the old recruitment section) late into the morning, laughing for hours over the shittalking comments make by people such as Scissors and Smitz (at least i think it was them, and they weren’t the only ones of course, but i seem to remember them fondly). As amusing as the community was back then, i also felt that it was intimidating to me, who was relatively new at the time. Now this culture doesn’t exist anymore to the degree it was. but Author made a point of some players being general twats to pub players. Personally, i have noticed this recently, but for me i know there has been worse happening within the ETF2L community (focusing on it btw, as i know it best). However i can see Author’s point of it being quite intimidating for a newer player fearing the shittalking which can be spruced out: personally i, for example, still dont like being shittalked about my (lack of) skill (despite the fact A- i know it is a videogame, so who actually cares and B- I know it has been, and still occasionally is, a semi-regular occurance for years (and C- Cause i am shit :)), however I think my old self, and perhalps others, see this kind of thing as being somewhat off putting.

To take a more recent example, let us take Stephen and Clark’s interactions in the thread thus far; when i read them, as always i got the wonderful laugh which i love the community for, but then i got round to reading the rest of the thread, and i got a little nostaglic as i remember that i did have that fear of being the next person to be shittalked by some of these people (got a strange feeling that may happen in this thread but rum is a glorious substance). I can relate somewhat to the idea that people may be put off the community, for me i just found it amusing and integrated into it, but that doesn’t mean that the fear disappeared initially. Of course, people dont like being shittalked and all that, but for me, that became part of the game, you just dealt with it and carried on; for some I dont see that route being the most desirable way of overcoming that fear and thus wont approach the community. However to be honest, if people dont want to participate for that reason, i dont see it overly being a problem, after all, in real life we can meet others who are also assholes and such, we dont like them etc, but we have to deal with it anyway; the points made by Nymthae earlier are also valid: TF2 is one of the better communities out there: and the abuse in other communities does not put off people from playing them: having been an irregular player of LoL for around a year, people who play the game as their primary game, just acknowledge it as another element in it, TF2 does not need to be any different to be honest, as competitive enviroments can cause this “abusive” (to use that very lightly) culture anyway: if people don’t want that aspect from TF2, there are many diverse communities a player can turn to.

Going to throw out something about the “killing of TF2” as this thread’s title mentions. Now my memory wont serve me right (and i can edit accordingly) but Lange in his recent video said something along the lines of “people will keep playing if they enjoy it…and it will always be available to them should they want it” (probably paraphrased :)). TF2 competitive probably wont be around forever, but so long as the people who participate want it, it will live on so to speak; if others want to join in the fun we have, i feel we should let them, but i dont think that we need to do a complete personality overhaul; i feel to change the attitudes of people participating, as much as it would be benefitial for prolonging comp tf2’s life, would not be the most fitting thing: as i said, i practically integrated myself into the culture and learned to enjoy it: perhalps from a moral outlook, i can look upon Stephen and Clark’s interactions with dismay, but actually i personally found it hilarious; i find these little things, makes tf2 fun to me as the comp community is vibrant and fun, hosting a massively diverse group of people, providing many opportunities to learn about people, their interests and even cultures: perhalps people need to be a little more nicer to the newer players in the game, but offers are out there for those who want that: we had the Highlander Open, and now the Archimedes Cup: if you want to introduce more people into the community to enhance your enjoyment it is a gloious opportunity. So long as we all can enjoy the game it will live on, as Lange said, as long as we want it to; anyone else who we can drag on the wonderful rollercoaster of comp tf2 is a fun little bonus; if people dont want it, then it is no problem, so long as people can continue to love it.

(If this isnt corherent in any way, blame the rum industry, cause i barely see any :D)

Anyone i mention in the thread, i dont mean no disrespect at all, you kind of people keep the community fresh with your distinct personalities and attitudes, and i love it :)

I am going to quickly thank the whole of comp tf2 for being a diverse enviroment over the years and keeping me playing in the process :)
Love you all, and have a Merry Christmas <3

If you read all this, you are a trooper :)

TL:DR??
Many good points have been made in this thread which can summarise this wall of text, (arguably this wall is unnecessary but heyo, i wanted to contribute to this :))

Honestly TF2 is only going to die whenever we are going to pull the plug on it: some people's attitudes are not going to get that plug pulled faster, so long as there are people out there who care for the community, then it wont die out, to which there obviously is people who care for it enough to put their own mark on it
Love y'all

How is it dying? I must have missed that.

i like how everyone in every game keeps saying “oh this community is terrible everyone shittalks and stuff”, i’ve seen 0 games/communities that doesnt have any shittalkers?