Well as someone who competed in the first round of STCC, back when I was driving LFS, I have plenty I could say. Especially after having watched the video.
However I'll just keep it brief, and hope that the cement of the STCC, aka Becky, manages to sort out her employment and any other real life issues, and is able to return to LFS at some point with the STCC. And more importantly, is willing to return. Don't let the arsehole(s) win.
Well, I haven't read all that was said about the reasons behind this so I'll only say : Thanks for the time it lasted. Great idea. It was your stuff that gave the last little push to buy LFS.
I must have been racing your servers an hour a nite for the last month, thanks for everything, you did great.
As an Newbie driver i'm a big fan of STCC league and licence .
As a former Battlefield player what I liked about the game is the Stats and achievements(lets get too the point). With the nice addition too the LFS community of the STCC Licences which made me play live for speed more (as im not in a league or a team league) this made me wanted to achievement and improve myself.
Watching the championship videos on Utube was also great to watch and learn how drivers takes corners etc with good play by play commentary.
Hopely STCC will make it's comeback sooner but real life issues comes 1st best of luck
G'ah, i'll mist the league that took me from being an oval-racing, auto-gears using, brake-help addicted n00b to become the (imo) fairly good driver i am today, with my massive skill, huge ego and even bigger modesty
Training for the STCC has given me the skills to turn up on a public server and WIN, not finish 15th (like i used to :S), and i really can't thank her enough.
Plus getting to see my smhexy FXO winz0r (almost ) in a vid watched by 120,000 per show
M'eh, looks like J. Green will have to go and find another road car league for when his exams are over (if i have time with this UKCT championship!) - up for a "UF1000 September-hem" race, ZWR?
I need to post then here. The first time i joined in the STCC server,i had my best races ever,so close to each other,with good drivers,all was fun,then it was just going better and better,always very very good races,i couldnt wait to get home from work,so i can RACE not play..All thoose days i found many friends,and NO "enemies".I just want to say a big THANKS for every1 who made all theese good things for me and to a lot of peoples,and i hope 1 day i can enjoy again the REAL racing.
Thank you every1!
Um, please don't take offense at this, but that's a really silly reason to run away from LFS.
There are plenty of wonderful leagues out there that, while not automated and points-leveling-up-focused like STCC nevertheless provide great racing throughout the year.
STCC isn't (wasn't) the only game in town. You'll be missing out on a lot if you go to rFactor.
The STCC is quite a mammoth Project, there is alot that goes on behind the scenes. Unfortunately, Beckys Skill was a Central Part of this. I Developed the API that Becki's applications communicate with and a secion of the database structure, and SamH created the reporting system, the bulk of the database structure, and the Frontend of the Web System, However. Becky is the Lead STCC Developer. Any major changes to the system, and the way it works come from her, and the changes she makes with her application (which myself and SamH are simply not capable of doing) were the most important and central part of the STCC licencing system. Unfortunately, although the league itself could be managed by people other than Becky, the Fundimental software that the league requires to operate, and much of the Broadcast recording, cannot be done and maintained without her.
I really Hope that Becky will return soon, I didn't race much, but i really do miss the STCC Servers .. I sucked.. but at least i sucked with friendly people who raced cleanly, and appreciated the principles of the STCC League.
Yo Moose, there is great server for you
OLT on W17, believe me nice racing there... something like STCC (not really but it's kite good).
______________
Thank you Becky, SamH, Jakg... and all others for this project. I had loads of fun whit STCC. And I learned XRT and all track whit STCC, thank you for that too
I wasn't on stcc in late time, cuz of leagues and real life, but still i did few races on stcc1 whit my buddy
I hope like rest of LFS community that STCC is coming back soon, good luck UKCT crew!
Shame that Victor wiped the other thread instead of editing out the offensive stuff. There was a lot of posts lamenting the loss of the STCC and praising the programmers for all their hard work. I hope those who posted will post again on this thread to show what a huge number of grateful supporters STCC has.
So again...Thank you Becky and co, Good luck with whatever you do now, and come back soon!
And to all the other STCC racers left floundering in the dust.......
Where shall we race now? Any suggestions? Anyone got a server we could race TBOs on?
I dont really think it is a shame. I don't think that all that offensive stuff that was thrown at Becky should be left there. It was just really disgraceful what she has gone through(in her opinion). I think that SamH made a summary of what happened in the post so, ye will just have to read that.
well as for the racing of the TBO's we could definately install a TBO Class server or 2 on the UKCT box... but the best we could offer in terms of quality assurance is linking it to our wrecker barricade system... Just until either the STCC restarts, or someone else creates something to take it's place (if anyone does).. Sam will be awake soon i'm sure he'll also think of something
I think its testament to a great system when so many like myself have come to only play on STCC servers. Yes, I totally understand people's views about purchasing LFS S2 and then wanting the ability to use all the cars, but really for me, I play on STCC because each race gives the possibility to play for something. Even a few virtual points that goes toward something.
In most games I play, be it single player or Multiplayer, having the ability to play for something with every match or game, is a great feature!
I hope you get your issues sorted out Becky and by that time Insim has been sorted allowing STCC to rise to glory!
Sorry to hear the STCC's gone for now, TBH most of the fun races I've had this year have been in those servers. I hope when circumstances allow, the STCC will make a return.
Hello to every driver of STCC, I am french so sorry if I do some errors in my post... :-)
I am not sure to have understood what is the major problem running down STCC servers... but I would like to say few words to thanks the STCC admin Beckly and other for there very good job. I hope that you are going back soon.
The level of professionalism of these STCC servers was high and intelligent, so don't let other destroy your force and let us hope to a better SIM world...
I thanks all of you very good driver who have help me to progress... a little !.
I am a french software engineer so if I could help STCC do not hesitate to contact me...
If all of you want I propose to do a post with all driver name who want to encourage beckly, sam, victor and other.
If a financial help could help STCC we could try a donation coming from all drivers ?
MikeBLue.... We may just take you up on that offer
At this early stage it is hard to know what is to come. Becky brought More than just software to the STCC system... When we know what's going on, we will make sure everyone does..
Thanks for the continued support guys , we all appreciate it, really
You said it perfectly
To Becky, UKCT and everyone who helped with the STCC - I offer a thank you from myself. I never progressed past silver, mainly due to me liking the xrg racing, but the races i had were good, close and 99.9% clean races. The STCC servers provided some good racing (if they werent full that is) and will be missed by lots. I looked forward to finishing off uni and completing my stcc licence but it wont happen.
No one can blame you for your choice Becky, only thank you for the racing we have all had, wish you good luck in your other project and hope to see you racing soon.
isuppose ishould say thanks to all in the stcc,,everyone incuding devs and racers made sure that the servers were the best places to race ..just a thought on the stuff that is going on in the background concerning abuse levelled at becky,,i read the licencing agreement for when you purchace a licence and this stuck in my mind
1.5Extreme disruptive or offensive behaviour by a user, towards the developers or members of the community, may result in temporary or permanent suspension of the user's Live for Speed license.
as anything been done in this respect as it clearly states that LICENCES MAY BE REVOKED and i'm sure that people know who the giulty parties are
i hope that becky and the rest of the team come back soon as i really miss the server and was looking forward to getting into the league(maybe),,COME BACK SOON GUYS we miss you
Unlike the person who made the videos, Becky is an adult, and I hope she will get in contact with Scawen/Victor if she hasn't already. It would be good if the person is kicked out because the community just doesn't need somebody like that.*
Sam, I'm glad that you are speaking to each other again
Edit: * Well, it depends what happened between them, because of course we don't know much about it.
most of the stuff I was thinking has already been said before, so I'd just like to say that I enjoyed my time on the STCC public servers and the league as well. Looks like the league is going to be carried on with, which is good, but I'll miss the broadcasts and the public racing as well.
all the best to you Becky, I am sure you'll sort your stuff out and hopefully restart the STCC project someday.
I don't buy that. It's clear Becky is a pretty accomplished software developer, and, at least everywhere I've ever worked, leaving yourself an "out" due to developer retention is a huge concern. I'm a programmer in the Air Force where we go through people constantly, and having a plan for a replacements is just something the industry needs to do. Coming in with no prior knowledge and picking something this kind of project isn't at all impossible -- it happens all the time. Sure, it won't happen without a hiccup, but "cannot" is simply not true.
I've personally spent the last year and a half developing an open source tuning suite (shameless plug: www.enginuity.org ) and have had to deal with many of the same issues as Becky -- real life cutting in to time I had for the project or causing other stress, supporting users, maintaining a forum, threats and accusations from dirty commercial entities, etc. Recently, like Becky, I decided it was just all too much and handed over the position of program manager to another team member. It's very tough -- I wrote it from the ground up, spent countless hours researching, coding, testing, answering questions, defending myself. Luckily more and more developers came along and have made it far better than I ever could have alone. It's my baby, but unfortunately it was best for me and everyone else to hand it over to someone else and take a lesser role in the team, but not just call it quits and apologize for it ceasing to exist.
I've only been around for about a month and I love the STCC. For me, it gave the game purpose. Joining pickup races or going for personal bests is fine, but the STCC gave me the only place to race people whose skill I could even come close to, and it gave me a way to progress. I have tremendous respect for Becky and all of the other team members and appreciate everything they've done. I can't imagine that it won't return in some capacity. One more vote for finding a way to bring it back.
Becky, if you read this (and you've probably heard enough of everyone else's insight, but here's my piece), it seems to me you've wanted to be in control of as much of the STCC as possible and its hard for you to hand it over to someone else, which I can relate to. But I think you'll be happier in the end to see it succeeding under someone else than to fade in to obscruity. Thanks again for all the work you've done in making the STCC what it is.
As far as the public servers are concerned, Mikey's quite correct. You have to remember that the STCC was a community project, involving the voluntary work of Becky, Mike, me and the STCC admin team. Becky's core program handled the logic that the STCC used. The database is UKCT's work, as is the API that Becky's program interfaced with.
Without Becky, the program would cease to function anyway, with the advent of Patch X which I think is expected in about 2 weeks. From there on, the STCC application would have to be either re-written by Becky, or patched by Becky. The source files are Becky's, and only Becky has access to them. Continuing the STCC without Becky's input is absolutely not an option. Ripping the .exes would not be an option, not least since Becky's deleted it from the UKCT server via FTP (not to mention that it's Becky's intellectual property, so it wouldn't be an option anyway).
The only alternative would be a re-branded application, written from the ground up. This is an option. Unfortunately, the only programmer on the UKCT team with application programming skills to match Becky's isn't available for this project. Yet. He's off writing some weird and wonderful thing that I don't understand. It will take Mike and I a little time to get up to speed with our application programming skills before we're able to generate anything capable of interacting with InSim and running servers, interfacing with the STCC licence database etc. With Becky no longer being on-board with the project, things will initially travel at the speed of proverbial mud.
I have far more hours and energy invested in the STCC than I think anyone realises. That the rug has been pulled from under us as far as the existing STCC system is concerned has not in any way reduced my momentum on it. I would never invest this amount of time and effort in something, just to let it disappear like it has. SOMETHING will come in its place, of that you can be absolutely sure. What comes will not be as easily broken by the departure from the project of one single person. Lesson 1 learned.
Victor demolished my previous post of this, and the one before is now in a locked thread, so I'll post it again. Feel free to skip if you've read it previously:
As I said before, within minutes of me writing that the first time, I was on bl1r with a couple of super clean racers in one of the best LFS sessions I've ever had.
I'm just going to add to above by confronting the people that suggest that a league is an equal alternative: The STCC servers were a half-way house; the midpoint between pick-up racing and league racing, taking the best from both worlds. If you screw up, then you apologise if necessary, make a bit of light from it, and prepare yourself to join again at the following restart; life goes on. In a league, if you screw up, that's it, game over, there's much more of an onus on you to keep it together. In a league, success matters. That's what I meant above with "...any league can provide great racing, although with that comes enormous weight..."
I've had a lot of memorable races just over the last week or so; My charge from a crap start on so5 from about 6th to 1st, not just through T1 or even over the first lap, but over about 6 laps. I took the lead, pitted a lap or two later, and came out about 10ft behind the person I had already overtaken for 1st after a 4-lap battle a couple of minutes ago. Another battle ensued, and I managed to take the win, just about. Good race, Bravus.
Then there was the almighty so3 race a few weeks ago. The server switched to so3, which soon did what it does best: Bring out the worst in people's driving. A few people issued a call of restraint, and the following race was an example of what so3 also does: Bring out the best in people's driving. Even on such a difficult, and in places narrow circuit, there was proper execution of racecraft, and plenty of respect. The pack stayed together for pretty much the whole race, and it was enduro night. That's saying something. I think I described it as a "masterclass" at the time.
The bl1r race I referred to above was as much a race as it was a broadcast, some *epic* battles amongst people in front of me which was a joy to watch, and even more of a joy to compete within when I eventually picked the pace up. I could go on...
Since the servers disappeared there's still some TBO action on the go, notably at the OLT server, and the Dead Men's Racing server too, but it just doesn't... feel .. the same. STCC2 had a quality, an aura, a sort of ... gravity to it, everyone had their copper and bronze (and some, their silver and gold) experiences beneath them, it felt that you deserved to be there and everyone else knew that just as well as you did.
Becky (and team), thanks for the great racing. I really, really hope it's back soon, and I'd like to step forward in whatever capacity I can to help.
) in a vid watched by 120,000 per show
