Kill the speed servers and make the minimum re-spawn time 45 seconds. Nothing is more frustrating than playing an expansive map only to be killed by re-spawns once you get to the flag. The speed servers and short re-spawn times have also contributed to a culture of rushers who think that if you stop moving you're a dirty camper. This game used to be infinitely more tactical and now it's just about who can hit every ice jump and fly at a million miles per hour into the enemy base. I suppose you could create a new game mode called 'speed', so that the mappers can create maps which cater to that particular gamer (then admins can drop one or two in the map list to keep everyone sweet).
Educate the server admins on new maps (and classic maps), new rotations and new game modes. No one wants to play 5 KOTH maps in a row, but 1 in 10 might make a change. If you wanted to create a speed-like server but without the constant re-spawning you could use some careful map selection (smaller, linear maps) to create a similar gaming experience. It might be controversial, but I still think Snipen was the best server admin because he would put on a 'popular' map to get the GT servers populated, then the next map would be more obscure, or new, and that way everyone got used to playing a wide variety of different maps... then he'd viewgib you and temp ban you for an hour.
I agree with you Jitspoe, regarding the jails on every map. In those rare moments where I've actually thought about mapping again I always incorporate a jail into my design to keep people interested (and to stop recon
). I've also thought about stretching the limits of the game play by using the game modes in novel ways, but I just cannot be bothered to build the maps when I know that people will never play them.
I suppose you have to make a decision about the type of community you want - we used to be small, every player knew each other even across the pond. Now you've got significantly more players, but you've lost that community; I think there are fewer matches now than there were with a smaller number of clans/players.
If I thought people would populate the servers then I'd fund a couple of Pubs and Match servers with 'classic' settings and good map variety, but I don't think people would be interested. We'd tossed around the idea of setting up a DP Olympics (I think this has been done on a small scale) with different countries competing against each other in a range of game modes, but I think the logistics would be difficult to manage. I've also thought about creating a '7 minute' server where the overall game time is quicker and you get to play more maps in one sitting - would this appeal to anyone?
