Team Fortress 2 takes a stand against rage-quitters

By: Musa Afridi

  |   October 18th, 2012   |  

Uncategorized

Valve is clamping down on excessive quitting by players from matches before they are completed with penalties set to be imposed on the culprits. EA should take note and learn something for their FIFA games.

Rage quitting is a term used to described the act of leaving a game before its completion due to the fact that the player or the team he is playing for is losing. In one-v-one situations it is often met with the other player hurling abuses at the other who has left the game prematurely, while in team based shooters it does not matter all that much.

However, Valve seem to think that their immensely popular squad based multiplayer only title, Team Fortress 2, can do without the excessive rage quitting that seems to be taking place as they have taken a stand against the tactic employed by some players.

The CEO of Mann Co. announced the new rule to the public with the following announcement: “Bidwell’s drummed up some penalties for any coward he catches running away from the frontlines.”

For those who do not know, Mann Co. is a fictional company and so is the CEO, both exist only in the world of Team Fortress 2 and will hold relevance for those who play the game.

The announcement continued and branded all the rage quitters as cowards. “If any of you cowards out there find these penalties too harsh, don’t worry about it, because see Point #1 (I am coming for you.”

So what exactly are the penalties? Temporary bans on players? Forcing them to sit through the replays of each loss? Taking out each fingernail with a pair of pliers one by one? Putting a horse’s head on the bed?

Well no, the punishment or penalty for excessive rage quitters is actually something more annoying and frustrating, bringing a different element of pain into the mix. As it turns out the “penalties will be imposed on players who repeatedly abandon games. These players will be temporarily placed in low-priority pool and will experience longer matchmaking times.”

So in essence, getting out the game may be easy but getting back into one will be an entirely different and purposefully frustrating affair. Well done Valve, well done indeed.

It may not stop players rage quitting overnight but it sounds like it could teach a number of offenders a lesson on how quitters never prosper, or in this case, never have an easy time getting back into the game.

But what do the readers think; is the CEO of Mann Co. on the right track? And what penalty would you have imposed on rage quitters if you were in his place? Let us know your method of torture in the comments section below.