i dont get it tweak one post above you commented on how ther server isnt any cleaner and now youre against the admins strictly enforcing rules that (they think) will make racing cleaner

Some people complain about the poor driving, and some complain about the strictly enforced rules. Some even manage to complain about both.
At the end of the day, we knew before the project was launched that you can't please everyone. It's pointless throwing energy at even trying to do that. At least you gave it a spin for a bit. If it doesn't meet your requirements, well then that's just one to chalk up to experience.

[edit] It doesn't need further discussion, no sweat. I know where I'M at with the project, and I'm satisfied we've not done anything wrong by introducing it. I'm totally happy as-is

Quote from Shotglass :

i dont get it tweak one post above you ranted on how ther server isnt any cleaner and now youre against the admins strictly enforcing rules that (they think) will make racing cleaner

It's not the same situation with those two examples I am explaining. The racing isn't clean there always... and even when it IS clean (2nd example here...), many judgements not only by admins, but by the public drivers are so ruthlessly watched... and then you get into all this debacle about situations... arguments, bans... etc. STCC wants so much attention... and nothing but that (Personally I prefered the broadcasts and the actual TOURING CAR CUP that it represents to get its stardom -- that is a much healthier way to let people be fans).

It's almost as if this mighty brute force for encouraging clean racing is in the wrong direction because people start to develop this mob mindset for catching a player's accident or one-time fault. It's flexible on other usual public servers... and the kind of racing on STCC is no better than any other server, which is what I've stated already. Only there is the kind of enforcement you'd see from the likes of an evil villain and its sidekicks. I am not online to be questioned and put at risk by those people, I am online to race and have a good time. Why should someone hang over my shoulders and be so anal about everything I do? People have taken the whole clean racing thing a bit too serious. Perhaps it is from their own personal experiences of wrecking and they can't let it go.

I wont go into this anymore, as I'll only get hounded by people who still believe they are racing for some kind of gratifying credit with the 'clean racing' somehow plastered in the back of their heads. Shotglass is the first to say I am on a rant, so fascinating.

Grab your umbrellas folks! Negative Nancy is here to rain on your party.

Quote from Tweaker :

Shotglass is the first to say I am on a rant, so fascinating.

whoops turns out i had no idea what ranting actually means ... post edited accordingly

Quote from Gunn :

Grab your umbrellas folks! Negative Nancy is here to rain on your party.

How to Choose an Umbrella
Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Thanks for that I have succesfully chosen an umbrella.

weeee

@ Tweaker

You are forgetting that any future applicants to the STCC Championship proper will need to have attained a Platinum License to gain entry. Hopefully this will make sure that they have experience in the TBO class with a busy grid.

The sole reason for the introduction of the system was because STCC drivers where having difficulty getting clean racing to practice for events, so I introduced the license system to filter in the fast guys for them, with the idea being we could moderate those to remove bad apples.

I think the implication that we are blood hounds is a little unfair. There have been a handful of incidents where action has been taken - tbh, most incidents are not reported and that is why racing can sometimes go a little downhill - when we do receive a report we act 'accordingly' - taking into account the nature of the offense. We offer the facility, that does not mean it is abused.

We provide racers with a licensed status and give access to servers based on that, currently the servers this grants access too are entirely focused around our own race series.

tbh, if this is just Mercury fall out, PM or P Off.

Otherwise i'd be happy to discuss why the license system was created and ways to improve it.

The purpose however, was never originally with the public in mind - but with our own needs in mind.

As it turns out we now offer the public a few places to come and race where standards are expected to be a little higher - you can go pickup racing at 400+ odd servers and that's fine, but - if you are good enough and if you get a little frustrated with crashes at T1 one day then maybe you'll fancy finding a server containing only qualified drivers for a bit of high quality close action clean racing.

It may not always be ultra clean on second and third tier servers, but at least you know everyone there is 'expected' to drive cleanly - sure mistakes happen and we acknowledge that, but you should at least be racing with drivers who understand overtaking regulations and wont drive back onto the circuit infront of you after an off.

It's not perfect, partly because it is not as strict as you are implying, but it is something different and it's always there for when frustrations on other servers get too much on any given day .

Anyway

Quote from Tweaker :

Only there is the kind of enforcement you'd see from the likes of an evil villain and its sidekicks. I am not online to be questioned and put at risk by those people, I am online to race and have a good time. Why should someone hang over my shoulders and be so anal about everything I do? People have taken the whole clean racing thing a bit too serious. Perhaps it is from their own personal experiences of wrecking and they can't let it go.

you are just being paranoid, I have never seen anything on the servers where a driver was punished despite not doing anything wrong. if it was a mistake ban, it has been rectified later after a discussion.

and you know, this isn't something that necessarily has to please you, you can go to other public servers if you don't like it, this is not something you have payed for and has to meet your needs and expectations (people seem to forget about this), there is no place for complaints, just suggestions, in a decent manner.

for me the silver and gold server has achieved a more competitive field, populated by the cars I want to race and as a side effect it is also free of noobs, who always manage to ruin the race in T1. there are some overambitious drivers still, but you can deal with them if you are careful enough. so I am all satisfied.

Woot! Now I can show my n00b skills in public!

Oh regarding racing for a purpose, there is a prize for the first person to reach titanium status. We can't offer much, but we are giving:

The first person gets
An S2 23 slot server to do with as you will for a few months, courtesy of UKCT.
The next available entry to the STCC, courtesy of me .

Why is it that every time a STCC related thread comes up, someone has the need to start a new drama argument, questioning the usefulness of the system or bringing in some ban related discussions? Geez guys, if you don't like it or see no use in the system, then simply don't drive on these servers. Is it really necessary to shit up each and every STCC thread? :thumbsdow

The bigger the target, the louder the guns

Nothing to stop you pretending to have the same license as the number one atm tho is there!

Perhaps you could add a "User Name" on the image as well?

ROFL!!! That's really funny because I just moved the directory on the server where the graphics are stored, so people couldn't figure out their location and go directly to them hehe

@all.. I'm not bothered by the negativity. It reflects more on the perpetrator than anything. Just please don't let the negativity breed negativity in you. We're all doing this for fun, or there's no point at all

[edit] I'm not sure if ASP is capable of adding text to graphics. I've not found a way (yet!) but we may do a PHP version to serve up a different statistics graphic. This one works for Userbars in the way Userbars are intended though

Quote from z3r0c00l :

Perhaps you could add a "User Name" on the image as well?

Don't know much about the technical side of it, but wouldn't there have to be some 4,500 different images stored somewhere instead of 6 or 7 as it is now?

@Becky...Leave the Mercury name out of this.It has nothing to do with the team but Tweaks PERSONAL opinion,ty

Quote from Linsen :

Don't know much about the technical side of it, but wouldn't there have to be some 4,500 different images stored somewhere instead of 6 or 7 as it is now?

No, you can dynamically create or modify images

*blink*

Quote from Linsen :

Don't know much about the technical side of it, but wouldn't there have to be some 4,500 different images stored somewhere instead of 6 or 7 as it is now?

The way it works now, each time our server is asked for an image (eg. SamH.gif), it checks the database and calculates the current licence status of the username in the image name. It then serves up the correct graphic for that driver.

PHP could dynamically add text to that graphic (we're using ASP, though - mostly to see if we could), but using PHP we could serve up much more information from the database, ON TO the graphic, than we can (so far) with ASP. The graphic would only exist as you SEE it, ethereally, when it's being requested from the server.. so there'd be no need for thousands of individual images, one for each STCC racer

Quote from Becky Rose :

tbh, if this is just Mercury fall out, PM or P Off.

Nothing to do with Mercury, in any way at all.... I have little to no idea what that situation was, and still don't know what was (is?) going on (I was gone on judgement day, and was totally out of the loop. I felt like being uniformed and didn't want to read anything related to it). I know you're frustrated, but please don't take it out on me. So please leave it alone.

What I've said is merely my personal feedback from someone trying to see the purpose in actually holding a license. Having platinum doesn't prove you are an excellent driver, you can play for hours and accumulate points to go up in the ranks. Linear in a way, and not filtered as I thought it would be

As for the prying eyes. I don't understand how people have not witnessed it.

And Android, the only reason I bring this up is because this is a way to flash your license in forums when in fact the status of your license doesn't prove anything other than a title. I cannot see how this is 'drama'... you are probably just sensing this based on how much guff STCC normally gets -- get used to it and maybe even consider someone's feedback.

Even if you are platinum and have the ability to apply to STCC seasons... how will you know for sure that the bundle of Platinum drivers are truly 'platinum quality'? Because as I said, there are some top drivers that are terrible, and really bumped up to that rank by playing a lot (probably a few rare podiums, a couple wins, etc). The drivers that immediately reached Platinum, those guys are worthy for a season... but now there is like an overflow of Platinum drivers, it's too hard to tell... and too hard to have someone to race with who's skill is at your level all over again.

I still think the variety of promo things is great, but the favorite of pretty much everyone is the actual STCC series, which is out of focus now kinda (is it over? new one starting?). No more broadcasts, and no more racing from the series to be a fan of.

BTW - I didn't mean to be negative about the user bars, they're really good, but I suck royally with FWD, so I can't get past copper, hence to embaressed to post my own, I'd post Bean0's! Dynamic text application is well beyond my programming ability for web aps, I'm a Java programmer, if it's not an object, I don't understand!

I was under the impression the STCC was taking a break over christmas, with just the oval special event to keep it ticking over, and that there would be a Blackwood GP REV race at the end of this month, so next broadcast being 3rd quater of february?

I sincerely hope it isn't over, I really enjoyed it.

As for the friction between racing teams? Everyone part of a team is very competative by nature, just as there is between racers there is between teams. No-one said you had to be nice to another team, you've paid for a server, to do with as you wish...

Quote from SamH :

The way it works now, each time our server is asked for an image (eg. SamH.gif), it checks the database and calculates the current licence status of the username in the image name. It then serves up the correct graphic for that driver.

PHP could dynamically add text to that graphic (we're using ASP, though - mostly to see if we could), but using PHP we could serve up much more information from the database, ON TO the graphic, than we can (so far) with ASP. The graphic would only exist as you SEE it, ethereally, when it's being requested from the server.. so there'd be no need for thousands of individual images, one for each STCC racer

Ah, I see.

It reminds a little of the philosophical question: If a tree falls over in some wood, and nobody is there to hear it falling, does it still make a sound? Applying this question to the license tag showing up in some place on the internet if nobody's there to see it, the answer would nt only be "no" then, but the license tag would not even exist if nobody's there to see it .

(yeah, a little off-topic, I know)

According to the STCC website it's not done yet.