How I ruined Ghost Mode

FrozenPizza[ · August 2016

As some of you may know my name is Paul, I've had a wide variety of IGNs. A few of the most notable ones are FrozenPizza and egy*pro*hero. Recently I've been eavesdropping on some of the GM posts around the forums. The content of these threads could easily be the most controversial I've ever seen. However the essential dilemma of the threads was generic. The ideology of the GM forumers was to try and prove who was better by spamming egotistical comments and screenshots that attempted to justify the demeanor of the player or humiliate another player. I was appalled by the insensitive remarks in these posts and further disgraced by the fact that the people who were making them were ex clan members, and also what I like to think of as students of mine.

Reminiscing back to the first player that I'd had the pleasure of helping was Brad. Brad had recently left Pink~Mist. This was probably around early June of 2013. When I first saw Brad I evaluated him, and some of the imperfections that were most evident was the accuracy of is pinpoint, and a bhop of more than 1 and a half generations behind what the ideal GMer of that time was capable of. Being that his GR side would have been easiest to correct, I did some diagnostic tests and tried to back-wire his logic in GR. Then I gave him a prototype of some graphic equalizer settings. Immediately I noticed tremendous results in his gameplay. I was tremendously proud of Brad, but something inside me told me not to express this feeling of exhilaration. It was the fact that subconsciously, I noticed that Brad had an ego that was growing at an alarming rate, certainly much faster than his skill. In clan wars, Brad would often make remarks about the other team after being killed. I didn't like these remarks at all, but the fact that he was just understanding how to cope kept me from shunning him about these remarks. At the same time we had started to pick up a lot of members in the clan, a notable one being Dupe_Frog. Dupe_Frog and Brad had a very close relationship that I didn't read as harmful to the clan. It is very likely that Brad was sharing my equalizer settings with Dupe_Frog because he pinpointed a few coordinates to the left, just as Brad did. As we progressed through a number of clans, these egos grew even larger. By the time we got to Inflicted-, Brad's ego was out of control. Brad was assuming a lot of control for someone we had known for only a few months now. The leader, Ryan, confronted Brad about the S5 that he'd been circulating around the forums. Brad was terribly offended by Ryan's concerns, and a huge argument spawned. When it was settled, no consensus was reached other than after that, Brad left along with some other members and remade Evil Glory.

Now that I think of this whole situation involving the evolution of these egos, I can partially blame Chop. Now Chop was known to make egotistical comments, but he meant them in a manner that was comedic. Chop certainly didn't believe he was the best GMer, in fact he didn't think he was better than anyone else. But Brad seemed to think it was okay to be egotistical. Brad didn't apply his ego in the same humorous manner that Chop did either. Brad was completely certain that he was better than other players, and he'd let them know at a moment's notice too.

I only regret the fact that I never noticed that Brad's ego was going to completely influence a wide range of players. If only I could have nipped the problem from the source, then maybe the state of GM would be better.

But also, I've noticed that somewhere along the times where I had all these students and clan members who played along with me have taken a part or piece of my technique for their own use. Remember when I said that I gave Brad some Equalizer settings to help him pinpoint? Because of that just about everyone in ghost mode uses some sort of equalizer or playback adjustment to help them play. At that time, I was also developing a bhop that was inspired by me watching CF1Female play. Some how this particular hop was being used by a few players from Evil Glory and other clans. It is a crude imitation of my hop, but they've adapted rather efficiently for frag hunting. I'm not much of a frag hunter, but rather a survivor. I play to outlast every player and be the last player standing. Other players probably don't take any form of note of what they are actually doing when they play because they don't play with a technique. They only play using excitement and adrenaline. Some of them use a little knowledge, but not much. JudgeSim is extremely good at controlling his emotions while playing, and using both his knowledge and technique to get things done. Now one thing I do as ghost, is to navigate the map, damaging as many players as I can before dying. If I have the option to plant, I do just that. And when all these damaged players come to the bomb site, I try to pick them off as best I can. Moving on; from now on I will be very selective on who I teach my techniques, or share equalizer settings with.

Now this has been my perspective on the origins on this new "ideology" of the GM player. I really wish I had enough time to collect all the current thoughts I had about Ghost mode, but I'm a bit pushed for time right now and can't elaborate as much as I'd like to. I'd certainly hope that no one took offense to any of the things I pointed out in my outline. Appropriate discussion is always welcome, and please remember that the mods will be more than willing to infract any one who starts a flame war, or makes off-topic, irrelevant posts.