The People vs. SpookedOne

[Beast]

Bring back TWD.

[Rab]

nah man free isn't +0.5 player he's -10.0 players

[Viruk]

I always said if you want to fix pub just ban freespirit.

There are some problematic pubbers but it takes a dev to really screw up the game.

Freespirit or vina on your team? - count them as half a player and either convince another player to base terr or get in a fast ship and speed to FR yourself.

If you can !buy baseterr or spawn in mid due to low pop you may not even need to do this. I have won and enjoyed many a flag game with freespirit or no terrier.

Remember that half a player is way better than none. AFKers are much worse for team balance but the bot seems to do nothing about them.

[Joe_]

I’ve tried to have conversations, but often it feels like talking to a wall.

This made me lol. So it's like having a conversation with you?

[Rab]

I always said if you want to fix pub just ban freespirit. Instead they added attachmode, which devalued terr entirely. For a good basing game you need each team to have 1 terr only and that terr actually going to fr and trying to play normally.

if your terr is freespirit and he is in narnia instead of fr, you lose.
if your team has multiple terrs and people are split up, you lose.

If in your timezone the only thing happening is pub, that's the game dead to you.

[damageinc86]

"a committee cannot work unless it has power/authority, power which i would need to grant, if i don't trust the people on the committee... i'm sure you can figure out the rest"

There's just no point anymore. It's like talking to a brick wall. On top of canned corporate customer service replies NOT actually answering anyone's questions outright and directly, we finally got to this point above. So it is a power and ego trip. End of story. You call out the dancing around the actual issue, and you are muted for 24 hours lol. This entire debacle is a complete and total JOKE. "we've made it clear in 10 different languages" said another commenter.

Another commenter continues, "You dont want to spend your free time making changes that you don't agree with, that's fine. Will you allow a committee find a dev who would, including reverting changes youve made? And will you avoid making changes that nobody has asked for, especially without getting the okay from a committee?"
No answer on that. Spooked wants to be met halfway "Not saying my arguments are all sound either, but ultimately, it is up to me to decide if I'll work on something or not. If yall stay positive, try to see my position/objective and work with me towards achieving those goals, I have no doubt we all can find some middleground."

"If everyone meets you halfway on things that only you wanted, you're still in control of the entire direction of the zone". Yeah,....NO SHIT.

It's just ridiculous at this point, that pride and ego are getting in the way of the users of this game being able to enjoy the zone that some have played in for over 25 years! put the old settings back in place with minimal tweaks to ship settings, have the round timer turned on all the time. find some sort of attachmode solution for low pop that most people can agree on, SET IT, and WALK AWAY. That's it! I can't imagine any universe in which that is too complicated of a tastk for such a talented dev to accomplish. Then you can go deal with all the MMR people that are pissed at you next lol. But at least then you've taken care of pub.

[Lupin]

He's much more active in the Discord, and noted he did make an explanation for removing attachmode there which admittedly I missed. Basically from what I've read it's to promote terrier usage, since he believes terriers are necessary for proper basing in pub. I can see that, but don't really agree if everyone still had fun or more fun with attachmode and no terriers. He wants more traditional basing, I want whatever maximizes pub activity. I am glad attachmode was brought back, albeit an alternate version of it, and am willing to play it and see.

I like Spooked and knew him for a long time as a squadmate, so don't agree with much of the hate he's getting. So long as he keeps up communication with us and giving rationale for his changes, and is willing to roll back / re-think changes if the community pushes back I don't really have issue with him being staff.

[Viruk]

I was wondering why attachmode was removed. These sound plausible, but sad and surprising since I know/remember Spooked to be a nice guy.

I am sure some - or even most - of the changes he has made have had legitimate reasons, but he doesn't want to say what they are! You can still screw up a game for legitimate reasons.

Is he a nasty guy? Does he have a repellant personality? I would guess not, though I don't know him well. I respect him as a player and as someone who has put their time into developing this zone.

BUT - once someone has has gained the habit of abusing their power, can we trust them with that power? Especially when they are abusing other staff who also deserve that respect.

I say it is time for him to step down.

hope he had reasons for these changes that aren't totally self-motivated, and does the right thing by listening to the community on the points we've been rallying behind.

Well, I have seen some attachmode and flag games back but still get screwed by low pop random/deep spawning.

I have not seen any response, or explanations from Spooked...

[damageinc86]

Ok so whats the result of these posts? What happens now?

Nothing probably. Unless people start putting their money where their mouth is and actually make something happen with this frickin' game.

[paradise!]

Ok so whats the result of these posts? What happens now?

[Lupin]

• Used his dev time to remove the !block command from being used on staff — just to shield himself from criticism and warranted community pushback.
• Gives himself bursts and decoys during public games in front of players to show off his power.
• Removed attach mode from pub so he could practice Terrier without interference.
• Removed MMR multi-arena matchmaking to limit matches to one arena. Now, if 30 players queue up, only 10 play. The rest get benched. People log off. Under the previous system, three 5v5 matches would start, keeping all 30 players engaged. That change alone severely damaged player retention. His reasoning for this change was he only wanted to play with top-tier players like Stayon and did not want to play in jd4 with y0gi/Shaun.

I was wondering why attachmode was removed. These sound plausible, but sad and surprising since I know/remember Spooked to be a nice guy. I hope he had reasons for these changes that aren't totally self-motivated, and does the right thing by listening to the community on the points we've been rallying behind.

[Ekk0]

Did Pure_Luck retire? He was great at running things.

btw - hey friends.

DEATH ROW BACK FROM 2005, LOG IN, WE WILL SAVE THIS GAME YET.

-your biggest fan

- Ekko

[Ekk0]

Lol, I actually agree with Ekko, even though I no longer play the game and have no intention of returning. The main reason I’ve stepped away completely is because of the direction the game has taken under Spooked’s leadership. One guy making major changes without any community feedback or constructive criticism has completely ruined what made the game special.

I remember when the MMR system was well-designed, and the boys would be up til 2am grinding the ladder and it actually felt rewarding lol. Now it’s just a lazy point system that kills all sense of progress and competition.

This selfish, four-eyed virgin geek refuses to take feedback that could benefit the zone, but he’s quick to force in personal changes nobody asked for. He’s never led anything in his life, has no sense of community, and just keeps breaking things that were never broken in the first place.

I still remember when this clown Spooked removed antiwarp, a feature that was untouched for 25 years because I was spawning him. Game always had spawning and somehow it was an issue because it was him being spawned. I abused the broken mechanic just to show how stupid the change was, and he reverted it, only because he didn’t even understand how +1 worked. That’s the level of incompetence we’re dealing with.

It’s disappointing to see a game we’ve loved for over 20 years fall apart due to one person’s unwillingness to engage with the community and make collaborative decisions that benefit the player base as a whole.

Someone hit up qon probably the only real savior we’ve got… sad

Fuck DookedOne, the Tyrant.. #FreeOurBelovedZone


- Your Boy El Bigmon

Thank you for sharing your thoughts, Best. I appreciate your support and perspective, it's clear you, like many of us, care deeply about this game.

That said, I want to say one thing: I don't support personal attacks on SpookedOne or anyone else. It's obvious he puts time and effort into the zone, which deserves respect in itself. I believe he loves the game, otherwise, he wouldn’t still be here.

The frustration isn’t about malice, it’s about direction and accountability. The problem is a lack of checks and balances. When one person is able to make sweeping changes without real community feedback, it creates a disconnect. That disconnect is growing, and it’s pushing veterans away.

The changes feel arbitrary and unaligned with the majority of the player base, which defeats the purpose of building and maintaining a competitive, fun environment. I think we’re all feeling the same thing: like our voices don’t matter, and that’s not how community-based games should work.

I’ve tried to have conversations, but often it feels like talking to a wall. There's a condescending tone that makes meaningful communication hard, and it’s disheartening because I do think Spooked has good intentions buried somewhere in there. Maybe he's dealing with personal things, maybe this game has become an outlet for control — I don’t know. But whatever the cause, the outcome is hurting the zone.

The idea some upperstaff have that only a "vocal minority" is opposed to recent changes just doesn’t hold up anymore. The community is speaking, loudly and clearly. We want collaborative decisions, stability, and the potential for more leagues, more content, and more of what made Trench Wars special.

I’m not trying to divide — I’m trying to protect something I care about. I want to help create an environment where respect flows both ways, where creativity can thrive, and where we don’t lose what little momentum this game still has. I do not need to be staff to make changes, we have moved the revolution to non MMR arenas such as .?go base, in protest, however, I've still added spooked to games and let him exist freely.

We were on the cusp of something exciting with the MMR system and a potential new league structure. Now it feels like we’re watching it all slip away..

Let’s course-correct. There’s still time..

[paradise!]

spooked used to be cool. but there is clear consensus that this has crossed the line. Absolutely indefensible things.

[damageinc86]

Who has the power to remove spooked, and who can replace him?

from what I've seen the entire community supports his removal. but there needs to be a plan. the problem is clear, and if we could offer a solution (a replacement and a path forward - ekko has given some excellent examples above) perhaps we could get the ball rolling and appeal to whoever has the power to make the changes.

what plan!? just set the damn stuff up and leave it alone! you could probably pay a monkey to do that and then tell him he's laid off afterwards.