yeah Wait you're right.. it went a little 'off topic' eh.. shame really, but i think the subject had run its
course anyway, and those with a opinion had said what they wanted 
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 well... the last ten posts don´t belong in this blog 
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(and working on a "special-Dutch" track)
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Wut it's DAKKON
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@ fallout..
why do you feel you are a 'underrated' author? Looking at your Profile page i see 14 awards for
your 3 tracks.. is this not a good thing?
Some uploaders get much less than this, or even nothing atall.
Don't judge the success of your tracks purely on the number of awards received.. If you are happy
with the finished map and get at least some positive feedback/replays etc after submitting to MX
then you can smile, yes?
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I don't think you can claim both "Everyone has their own definition of difficult" and "Difficult tracks get too many awards."
In reality what you are thinking is: ... says:
"This map is too difficult for me; now I'm frustrated and envious and bitter towards the author/map because they get more awards than I personally believe they should."
There's no peace in trying to control something you can't.
Instead of complaining about "overrated" maps, take some time to promote "underrated" authors. (like me!  )
This community is what you make it.
(Please award all my maps, especially the bad ones.)
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Ass you wish Fulloud!
For starters, I've not been to active on MX since TM2. But this discussion, specially between you two, is about TM in general. If that is the case, then I'd like to explain a little, just to clear some stuff out...
I love driving tracks. Specially tracks that are awesome. What makes a track awesome? When the author creates something, you think is awesome! And why is that awesome? BECAUSE YOU THINK IT IS. Opinions, opinions and opinions. THat is what this discussion is about.
All I see is someone who dislikes hard tracks. But in a way it might seem an extreme form if disliking. On the other hand I see someone who is a very good driver! (And even created, very few, awesome maps!! But very hard ones...) Those two are not easy to allign. And this discussion shows that.
I agree with Alcator that many tracks are just H A R D. And imho, perfect driving doesn't mean you make that one in a million perfect runs possible on a map. But perfect driving shows one of the fastest lines possible to drive on a track. Ultimate perfection doesn't exist, simply because Nadeo put in to many parameters, to calculate your speed, to control it.
What I think he meant with hard tracks: Are tracks that require you to drive that one line *(ALWAYS INVISIBLE!!!) that makes you shoot through that gap, or make the transitions smooth instead of crashing. I've driven loads of such tracks. Specially in previous TM versions. I besicly hated all of them, since it requires luck. Cause it is an invisible line. For some that is natural and for most it is not. At least that is what I like to think. And many tracks that were "undriveable" like that, got loads of awards. But that's a different topic. Cause friends-awards have always been an issue.
Ah well, upon writing this I forgot what point to exactly make....
Last time I step into a discussion anywayz...
Well have a good life and keep it friendly!
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Full length dissection and counter argument: (summary at the bottom)
Alcator says:
It's like the Arms Race of the Cold War. "What? They built a nuke?
Then we have to build two!" - "They built 2 nukes! My god, let's build at least five!"
If you want to make a simile to the Cold War, you should have used the Space Race as an example.
It's much more fitting than mutually assured destruction.
... says:
I find it pathetic when someone builds a simple "no-chance-to-get-lost" track and somehow HAS to add a GPS to it.
Someone builds a map easy enough for you to finish and you still find something to complain about. Bravo.
... says:
I find it even worse when their choice of how to do it is some kind of retarded
"WAIT FIVE/FOUR/THREE/TWO/ONE... GPS LOADING IN 3/2/1... GPS STARTING... [fade from black]"
message stuck in the middle of the screen right from the start.
I've never seen someone lazy enough to leave it in the middle of the screen.
I'll admit I usually don't pay attention to the text, usually I'm focused on the driving.
If it was in the middle, and interfered with driving, it would certainly annoy me.
... says:
Where are the good times of TMN
They're in the past, if they existed at all.
... says:
where builders added, TO THE SIDE, a little: "Hints? Drive back!"
message, and you actually had to DO something to trigger the GPS ??
Every gps MT text I've ever seen has been in the bottom third of the screen.
... says:
Why does every moron and his mother start the GPS on the start
because they want you to see it
... says:
I was actually the one who made Jozii add the "Adding a GPS does not relieve you of your moral obligation
to provide navigation signs..." rule to Monthly Track Contest rules,
At last your complaining did something useful.
... says:
because it was enfuriating how many builders
thought that just because there's a GPS, they don't need to place signs around the track
This is probably the only statement in this rant I can agree with.
Pooorly designed maps are, in fact, poorly designed.
After this brief reconance with reality, he drives straight off a cliff.
... says:
Yet I am a minority, it seems, just as I seem to be a minority when I criticize overly precise tracks which won't
tolerate a single speed loss or wall scratch anywhere.
Driving into a wall at 500kmph isn't a "scratch."
... says:
I am shocked how many awards these overly difficult tracks
are getting, just as I am shocked that they are promoted as "the best of",
People award maps that they enjoy, isn't it just shocking?! /zap
... says:
while my maps are buried deep in the database, with hardly any award, where they belong.
Good riddance to bad rubbish, I assume.
... says:
We're doing this to ourselves -- we're needlessly adding nonsensical requirements and pushing ourselves to crazy levels
of precision and difficulty and then we're frustrated when it doesn't work.
"You're doing this to me -- you're adding resonable requirements and pushing me to basic levels of
precision and difficulty and then I'm frustrated and whiny when it doesn't work."
... says:
Majority of the BLOCKMIXed tracks are blockmixed
I'm going to misquote here just so you can appear to say something right for a change.
... says:
just because the creator simply won't say "It's all right, it doesn't have to be fullspeed noslide, it's all right if the driver
has to slow down" No, they drive themselves crazy with "OMG, how am I going to make this turn fullspeed when I've already placed other things there!?
I need to blockmix!"
Alcator now grows complete awareness of everyone's intentions. It also feels like he's complaining about a single particular map.
... says:
I fully understand there are "customers" (players) who demand hard tracks. I get it, good for them, I have nothing against builders building hard tracks.
"I don't care, but I'll complain until I'm blue in the face."
... says:
But it seems to me that many builders confuse HARD with PERFECTION-DEMANDING.
It's pretty obvious to me that you don't know what the word perfection means.
No one would be able to upload a "PERFECTION-DEMANDING" map because they wouldn't able to validate it.
Show me one single builder who can drive a map perfectly.
... says:
In my book, ideal track is this: The slower you drive, the easier it gets, simply because you have plenty of time to avoid obstacles,
plan your jumps, go through curves. As you speed up, the time you have for reaction is shortened, requiring better and better driving.
But there should not be any "make or break" places where you either make a jump, or smash into a wall and have to restart.
LE, SL, UL, NC, FET, GC, TGC, etc.
http://www.et-generation.com/
Summary:
Blah blah, omg I can't drive the top awarded maps, I better start complaining, vaguely.
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guys, don't make it personal.. everyone's entitled to a opinion, right?
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I doubt you've ever built a map Alcator didn't find "too hard".
He was talking about people like you when he said overrated authors/maps, dumbass.
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Typical fallout comment...
lol read well and see that he (alcator) is right!
I dunno your history together, but his points are quite valid and what you say is not in this case
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I have to laugh any time Alacator complains about hard maps.
He's the kind of person who, when he fails, blames it on other.
And when he says "hard" he means anything past Nadeo B5. (And even those are tricky!)
He always complained for years and years about hard tracks on TMU.
If he spent half as much time driving as he did complaining...
After several years he was still as bad as someone who had never played before.
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 very nice post Alcator, some good points well made..
your comments got me thinking.. and yeah, personally i don't much like the text on-screen either, and much prefer to see a suitable sign (well placed and visible from the Start position) showing me that there is a GPS available, with a clear idea where to put my car if i want to watch it. This way there is nothing obstucting the view, and i can go right ahead and start my lap - the choice is given entirely to the driver.
But i guess as with most things, it's down to the authors personal preference how he/she wants to present it.. some will like it and others will not etc etc
But i also think your comments regarding track difficulty are valid too, and probably the topic for a completely new Blog?
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It's like the Arms Race of the Cold War. "What? They built a nuke? Then we have to build two!" - "They built 2 nukes! My god, let's build at least five!"
I find it pathetic when someone builds a simple "no-chance-to-get-lost" track and somehow HAS to add a GPS to it. I find it even worse when their choice of how to do it is some kind of retarded "WAIT FIVE/FOUR/THREE/TWO/ONE... GPS LOADING IN 3/2/1... GPS STARTING... [fade from black]" message stuck in the middle of the screen right from the start.
Where are the good times of TMN where builders added, TO THE SIDE, a little: "Hints? Drive back!" message, and you actually had to DO something to trigger the GPS ??
Why does every moron and his mother start the GPS on the start?
I was actually the one who made Jozii add the "Adding a GPS does not relieve you of your moral obligation to provide navigation signs..." rule to Monthly Track Contest rules, because it was enfuriating how many builders thought that just because there's a GPS, they don't need to place signs around the track.
Yet I am a minority, it seems, just as I seem to be a minority when I criticize overly precise tracks which won't tolerate a single speed loss or wall scratch anywhere. I am shocked how many awards these overly difficult tracks are getting, just as I am shocked that they are promoted as "the best of", while accessible, easier tracks which actually do allow some variety of driving styles, are buried deep in the database, with hardly any award.
==========
We're doing this to ourselves -- we're needlessly adding nonsensical requirements and pushing ourselves to crazy levels of precision and difficulty and then we're frustrated when it doesn't work. Majority of the BLOCKMIXed tracks are blockmixed just because the creator simply won't say "It's all right, it doesn't have to be fullspeed noslide, it's all right if the driver has to slow down"
No, they drive themselves crazy with "OMG, how am I going to make this turn fullspeed when I've already placed other things there!? I need to blockmix!"
I fully understand there are "customers" (players) who demand hard tracks. I get it, good for them, I have nothing against builders building hard tracks. But it seems to me that many builders confuse HARD with PERFECTION-DEMANDING.
In my book, ideal track is this: The slower you drive, the easier it gets, simply because you have plenty of time to avoid obstacles, plan your jumps, go through curves. As you speed up, the time you have for reaction is shortened, requiring better and better driving. But there should not be any "make or break" places where you either make a jump, or smash into a wall and have to restart.
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I've noticed some useless fancy gps's too indeed, but that was also the case with TMUF.
I think the GPS is there for the reasons Wait so nicely wrote down indeed. I would also like to add the fact that there's no reason to make an extra text telling me the GPS has been aborted. The original warning should just disappear when i drive on.
Maybe not a blog but a seriously good point
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well... the last ten posts don´t belong in this blog 
)
very nice post Alcator, some good points well made..