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Backup Sections => Archive => HL2RP Development[ARCHIVE] => Half-Life 2 Roleplay => Topic started by: Airborne1st on February 19, 2013, 02:33:05 PM

Title: Airborne's Civilized Rant About The History of the CCA and Its Current Standing
Post by: Airborne1st on February 19, 2013, 02:33:05 PM
This post is mostly about the nearly constant accusations from many people that the CCA is "Broken." Those of you who have been around since 2011 or earlier have seen countless CCA reforms with the reason that the CCA is broken in some way, and the only way to fix it is to wipe everything and everyone and restart over and rename everything and get rid of/move around a few ranks here and there. Let me just put it out early in this post that yes, large scale demotions are necessary every once in awhile, because not everyone moves on at the same time. Eventually you wind up with nothing but 02+ units in the CCA. I understand the occasional need for mass demotions, but what pisses me off about it, is that no one ever comes out and just says, "Hey everyone, we're going to do a rank wipe due to everyone being an 01 pretty much and no one is moving on, we're sorry for the inconvenience." They always come out saying, "OH LAWDY THE GOOD CHRISTIAN CCA IS BROKEN! WE GOTS TO WIPE Y'ALL."

So with that, I'm yet to ever see anyone say just what is broken about the CCA that a wipe will fix, other than the fact that the problem lies with the players, not the system or organization of the CCA, and even still few people ever seem to realize that fact. It doesn't matter if we run the CCA with the current system, or the system we had back in November of 2011, the CCA will function as it always has. Let's look back at the 5+ "Reforms" and wipes of the CCA and see what has really changed. Nothing has really changed at all, other than a rank or two being added or removed and things being renamed. I will give a bit of credit to the latest reform, as it actually changed the way UU worked, which appears to be working well.

I'm sure I'm not the only one getting tired of hearing the CCA isn't functioning or is broken completely just because someone saw a recruit do a shitty /me. I think what happens too often is the entirety of the CCA is judged by half a handful of units that aren't that good, and thus the result is an all out, and sometimes unnecessary wipe of everyone. This leads to pissing off people and causing them to leave the community, decreasing HL2RP population semi-permanently.

I'm not making this post because I feel the CCA needs to be changed, nor has anyone said much about another reform. Its just an issue that was on my mind after reading through a few posts, mostly the recent "How can we improve this?" threads (of which I actually made one myself not too long ago). People's responses blow my mind with things along the lines of, "Nothing has really changed in the CCA, its still shit." No one actually said that, but in so many words, a fair number of people view the CCA this way, which seems completely illogical because the CCA hasn't essentially changed at all since its formation, yet a few of the people who don't approve of the CCA's layout seemed to enjoy it back before the latest reform.

The CCA can't function any other way than it does now or always has. There have to be ranks of some kind, there have to be divisions of some kind, and everyone has to have some kind of IC training. There are just certain things in the CCA that can't ever be changed, yet people scream about reforming it. When everyone says, "Okay, go ahead and reform it then since you know what's best", nothing ever changes with the core of things.

One point I'm trying to make is, you can't logically think the CCA was shitty at one point and not think it is now, and vice versa because of the fact that essentially, nothing but names and a rank or two have really changed. So stop saying "Oh, the CCA is shit these days", and before someone says, "But Section 4 is basically HELIX and OP." Section 4's sub-sections act almost as their own sections as it is. Support units don't do Logistics unit's jobs and vice versa, so S4 isn't HELIX reborn.

Just venting my aggravation with people who keep wanting to reform the CCA when its not necessary and nothing will actually change.
Title: Re: Airborne's Civilized Rant About The History of the CCA and Its Current Standing
Post by: ReDrUm?´´?´° on February 19, 2013, 02:39:06 PM
This is pretty much what I've been trying to say for the past month or so. The reform wasn't really a reform. It was a mass demotion with name changes. I honestly never understood what was wrong with the CCA in the first place that called for the reform, other than "High Command is retarded", and even at that, the High Command of the CCA before the reform is either HC or UU now. I think the CCA is fine as it is, and fine as it was before the "reform".
Title: Re: Airborne's Civilized Rant About The History of the CCA and Its Current Standing
Post by: Dallas on February 19, 2013, 02:39:48 PM
imo, shit like mass-demotions don't solve a damn thing and just end up making everyone kinda' not want to play on their units
Title: Re: Airborne's Civilized Rant About The History of the CCA and Its Current Standing
Post by: Reimer on February 19, 2013, 02:43:50 PM
I think most of it is nostalgia. I remember back before we were last on c18, when the CCA were ADRENALINE or GEAR, and even though I was a citizen, I remember things being nicer because we as gamers usually forget what made things shit over that long ago and remember the good times. Then they want the good times to come back and believe the way the CCA works now is what is wrong, because, nothing else really changed. Maybe X or Y aren't DvLs or S0 anymore, maybe there's this rule they don't like, it just ends up being vented anger towards times gone by and their perceived notion that things will never be the same, even though they have been all along. We just have to keep fighting on and try to improve the system in any way we can. For example, we could have set squads and set roles within them to prevent everyone from gradually drifting towards the higher ranks, denying us the grunts we need to do the footwork. Or maybe we could just realize that what we have is the best we can get and keep buggering on.
Title: Re: Airborne's Civilized Rant About The History of the CCA and Its Current Standing
Post by: Anzu on February 19, 2013, 03:01:55 PM
i remember i tried to fix the CCA when i was in high command before the "reforms"

nobody ever listenened to me when i said it would in the end cause some serious shit, nor did anyone deal with it or listen to me in the first place and now look where we're at

Reforms could've been avoided if people would listen but noooooo. We didnt NEED reforms for any of the stuff. Yet that is what it came to.
Title: Re: Airborne's Civilized Rant About The History of the CCA and Its Current Standing
Post by: smt on February 19, 2013, 03:08:50 PM
Just because the structure of the CCA is the same doesn't mean the CCA as a whole has to be the same too. There was a time when recruits were trained quickly and swiftly and a time where the equivalent of S3 would never be sort staffed and were always active enough to patrol, leaving the equivalents of S4 to do their thing with the right number of staff and units.

The CCA may never have been multitudes better at any point than another but for a player in the CCA, the people running your division, may that be two OfCs and a DvL or a bunch of OfCs and an S0 unit, will always be the ones calling the shots and affecting how their division runs, just because we've had wipes doesn't mean that certain divisions haven't been better or worse than they are now, and in the end that effects everyone in side it. If the leadership of S3 (this is an example, nothing personal at all and isn't an attack, it's just because S3 = the backbone of the CCA) is totally inactive and doesn't care then that trickles down through into every single S3 unit and their moral as a roleplayer is effected and they just don't feel motivated to be a good unit in general, why should they if their leadership doesn't care?

The same applies for the team running the CCA (again, not an attack and nothing is real, just examples) whether that's 2 SeCs and a couple CmDs or a bunch of S0 units, if they don't care, don't have any fresh idea and simply don't contribute, then as a player you CAN feel this and it lowers your motivation to roleplay and be a good unit no matter your rank - once again, if the dudes running the CCA haven't done a single thing to try and improve things then why should you care?

No, wiping people isn't effective, but getting the right people in the right ranks is the most effective way to making the CCA better - and I know that's a contradiction but I can't really explain it in any other way, the CCA has had up and down points in how well it's worked together but that's never ever solved by bringing everyone down to a low rank and saying "here go worm your self back up to your ranks".


just woke up from a nap so there's probably grammar mistakes, I'm just typing what's in my head about the CCA and it's just an opinion blah blahhh
Title: Re: Airborne's Civilized Rant About The History of the CCA and Its Current Standing
Post by: Sexy Frog on February 19, 2013, 04:22:01 PM
Just because the structure of the CCA is the same doesn't mean the CCA as a whole has to be the same too. There was a time when recruits were trained quickly and swiftly and a time where the equivalent of S3 would never be sort staffed and were always active enough to patrol, leaving the equivalents of S4 to do their thing with the right number of staff and units.

The CCA may never have been multitudes better at any point than another but for a player in the CCA, the people running your division, may that be two OfCs and a DvL or a bunch of OfCs and an S0 unit, will always be the ones calling the shots and affecting how their division runs, just because we've had wipes doesn't mean that certain divisions haven't been better or worse than they are now, and in the end that effects everyone in side it. If the leadership of S3 (this is an example, nothing personal at all and isn't an attack, it's just because S3 = the backbone of the CCA) is totally inactive and doesn't care then that trickles down through into every single S3 unit and their moral as a roleplayer is effected and they just don't feel motivated to be a good unit in general, why should they if their leadership doesn't care?

The same applies for the team running the CCA (again, not an attack and nothing is real, just examples) whether that's 2 SeCs and a couple CmDs or a bunch of S0 units, if they don't care, don't have any fresh idea and simply don't contribute, then as a player you CAN feel this and it lowers your motivation to roleplay and be a good unit no matter your rank - once again, if the dudes running the CCA haven't done a single thing to try and improve things then why should you care?

No, wiping people isn't effective, but getting the right people in the right ranks is the most effective way to making the CCA better - and I know that's a contradiction but I can't really explain it in any other way, the CCA has had up and down points in how well it's worked together but that's never ever solved by bringing everyone down to a low rank and saying "here go worm your self back up to your ranks".


just woke up from a nap so there's probably grammar mistakes, I'm just typing what's in my head about the CCA and it's just an opinion blah blahhh

To be honest, this.

I get what you're saying Air, but on some points I have to disagree. While the CCA as an overall whole may be essentially the same, you can say that it has been better or worse at times. For instance, the reform when everyone was named: JURY, SHIELD and GEAR was god aweful. I don't know about SHIELD and GEAR, but the concept of JURY, mixing APEX and UNIFORM like that was the worst thing that has every happened to my division. I tried my best to make the most of it, but it left me hating my rank and what I did as an OfC at the time.

However, if you look back to City 18 when HELIX was around, if you look at APEX/LEGION back then, that was the pinnacle of our activity and skill. We were literally the apex of the CCA. Albeit, elitist cunts but still we were kinda the shit. Looking back on then, or even when General Trivium ran APEX and comparing it to now, its a damned shame and almost disgraceful.

Don't get the wrong idea, I am as active as the next guy and I do try my best to make S3 at least a fraction of how good it was back then, but its kinda hard to do with the sparse trickle of units and other divisions taking the ones I do have.
Title: Re: Airborne's Civilized Rant About The History of the CCA and Its Current Standing
Post by: Statua on February 19, 2013, 04:26:49 PM
Jonco said if the new CCA doesn't work out, we go back to the old one we had in Spring 2011. I think that's the best solution right now. It was by far the most efficient system to date.
Title: Re: Airborne's Civilized Rant About The History of the CCA and Its Current Standing
Post by: Reimer on February 19, 2013, 04:34:03 PM
Jonco said if the new CCA doesn't work out, we go back to the old one we had in Spring 2011. I think that's the best solution right now. It was by far the most efficient system to date.

So pretty much the old divisions and everyone gets their old positions back? I'm all for getting 01 back but there isn't really anything that different.
Title: Re: Airborne's Civilized Rant About The History of the CCA and Its Current Standing
Post by: smt on February 19, 2013, 04:39:09 PM
I'd really prefer if we didn't all suddenly get complete random rank and position switches, that'd be silly, It's fine how it is now, to be fair I think most people are still getting used to it
Title: Re: Airborne's Civilized Rant About The History of the CCA and Its Current Standing
Post by: YankeeSamurai on February 19, 2013, 05:53:21 PM
I actually quite like the CCA in its current state. In the past, we had a lot of problems with leaders who were didn't care, were lazy, bullheaded, etc, but I think the current leadership is a nice collection of the all-star pillars of the HL2RP community. They have the best balance of activity, experience, dedication, and reasonableness that I've ever seen in a group of online leaders for a game.

The key to having a well-running CCA (any organization actually) is to only promote people with
a) roleplay sense, obviously, but also
b) good OOC leadership skills

Promoting people simply because they've been around for X weeks only results in the important ranks, 02-01-OfC being dominated with bad/mediocre players. Ideally, as you go up the pyramid the quality of the people in an OOC sense will steadily get better. In that same vein, if you have an outstanding player who's stuck at 01 and can't move up because there aren't any OfC spots open, feel free to replace one of your OfCs if the 01 is a significantly better leader. A competitive atmosphere in the organization will help a lot to ensure that only the best people get to the top.

So basically, just make sure the best possible OOC personalities are in control of the CCA and they'll handle it just fine. The current CCA leadership fits the bill pretty decently so far as I can tell.
Title: Re: Airborne's Civilized Rant About The History of the CCA and Its Current Standing
Post by: Khub on February 19, 2013, 06:14:03 PM
I actually quite like the CCA in its current state. In the past, we had a lot of problems with leaders who were didn't care, were lazy, bullheaded, etc, but I think the current leadership is a nice collection of the all-star pillars of the HL2RP community. They have the best balance of activity, experience, dedication, and reasonableness that I've ever seen in a group of online leaders for a game.

The key to having a well-running CCA (any organization actually) is to only promote people with
a) roleplay sense, obviously, but also
b) good OOC leadership skills

Promoting people simply because they've been around for X weeks only results in the important ranks, 02-01-OfC being dominated with bad/mediocre players. Ideally, as you go up the pyramid the quality of the people in an OOC sense will steadily get better. In that same vein, if you have an outstanding player who's stuck at 01 and can't move up because there aren't any OfC spots open, feel free to replace one of your OfCs if the 01 is a significantly better leader. A competitive atmosphere in the organization will help a lot to ensure that only the best people get to the top.

So basically, just make sure the best possible OOC personalities are in control of the CCA and they'll handle it just fine. The current CCA leadership fits the bill pretty decently so far as I can tell.

I am sure I'm not the only one who appreciates the first post in a CCA rant thread thats nothing but a compliment on the Civil Authority's state. First one in the few past weeks.
Thank you.
Title: Re: Airborne's Civilized Rant About The History of the CCA and Its Current Standing
Post by: Sexy Frog on February 19, 2013, 06:15:58 PM
I actually quite like the CCA in its current state. In the past, we had a lot of problems with leaders who were didn't care, were lazy, bullheaded, etc, but I think the current leadership is a nice collection of the all-star pillars of the HL2RP community. They have the best balance of activity, experience, dedication, and reasonableness that I've ever seen in a group of online leaders for a game.

The key to having a well-running CCA (any organization actually) is to only promote people with
a) roleplay sense, obviously, but also
b) good OOC leadership skills

Promoting people simply because they've been around for X weeks only results in the important ranks, 02-01-OfC being dominated with bad/mediocre players. Ideally, as you go up the pyramid the quality of the people in an OOC sense will steadily get better. In that same vein, if you have an outstanding player who's stuck at 01 and can't move up because there aren't any OfC spots open, feel free to replace one of your OfCs if the 01 is a significantly better leader. A competitive atmosphere in the organization will help a lot to ensure that only the best people get to the top.

So basically, just make sure the best possible OOC personalities are in control of the CCA and they'll handle it just fine. The current CCA leadership fits the bill pretty decently so far as I can tell.

I am sure I'm not the only one who appreciates the first post in a CCA rant thread thats nothing but a compliment on the Civil Authority's state. First one in the few past weeks.
Thank you.

Makes me all bubbly inside.
Title: Re: Airborne's Civilized Rant About The History of the CCA and Its Current Standing
Post by: kmp on February 19, 2013, 06:16:50 PM
Back when I first got Commander, I was excited and said to myself "I'll do this, fix this, make this, this, this and this". Around about 3 weeks after that I tried to do the first thing on my list which was met with much denial. Once you get your first denial, you slowly begin to stop wanting to do things for the CCA. After around about being a CmD for 2 months, I was just sitting there doing nothing. You get a new SeC, you feel it's time for change, you repeat the process, eventually you're just sitting there again not feeling like you want to do anything. Happened 7 times for me. Once you reach the highest ranks, you feel like you must do more but then do nothing because you end up not caring anymore after some time has past.

Pure boredom is mainly the cause for UU laziness, at least in my experience. Avoid boredom, you get less lazy leaders.
Title: Re: Airborne's Civilized Rant About The History of the CCA and Its Current Standing
Post by: smt on February 19, 2013, 06:17:18 PM
My post wasn't a rant, it was just general things I've noticed~ I don't think the CCA is bad in any way right now
Title: Re: Airborne's Civilized Rant About The History of the CCA and Its Current Standing
Post by: YankeeSamurai on February 19, 2013, 06:40:47 PM
Back when I first got Commander, I was excited and said to myself "I'll do this, fix this, make this, this, this and this". Around about 3 weeks after that I tried to do the first thing on my list which was met with much denial. Once you get your first denial, you slowly begin to stop wanting to do things for the CCA. After around about being a CmD for 2 months, I was just sitting there doing nothing. You get a new SeC, you feel it's time for change, you repeat the process, eventually you're just sitting there again not feeling like you want to do anything. Happened 7 times for me. Once you reach the highest ranks, you feel like you must do more but then do nothing because you end up not caring anymore after some time has past.

That's why one lone individual at the tip of the pyramid doesn't work, you need to have layers-in-depth of intelligent, reasonable leaders
Title: Re: Airborne's Civilized Rant About The History of the CCA and Its Current Standing
Post by: kmp on February 19, 2013, 07:29:31 PM
Back when I first got Commander, I was excited and said to myself "I'll do this, fix this, make this, this, this and this". Around about 3 weeks after that I tried to do the first thing on my list which was met with much denial. Once you get your first denial, you slowly begin to stop wanting to do things for the CCA. After around about being a CmD for 2 months, I was just sitting there doing nothing. You get a new SeC, you feel it's time for change, you repeat the process, eventually you're just sitting there again not feeling like you want to do anything. Happened 7 times for me. Once you reach the highest ranks, you feel like you must do more but then do nothing because you end up not caring anymore after some time has past.

That's why one lone individual at the tip of the pyramid doesn't work, you need to have layers-in-depth of intelligent, reasonable leaders

Well put. When I was CmD, we had people with varying levels of intelligence (purple, satn as examples) that can (and did) result in a massive failure of the CCA. Even I did some things, which as I look back on them now, did absolutely nothing or ruined something for the CCA.
Title: Re: Airborne's Civilized Rant About The History of the CCA and Its Current Standing
Post by: Airborne1st on February 19, 2013, 09:13:58 PM
I didn't read everyone's reply before posting this, but I'd just like to say I'm not saying the CCA is currently shitty or that we need to change anything right now. I like how things are organized and I don't think anything needs to be changed just yet. One overall point I hope I got across is that the CCA being shit isn't usually because of the organization of it (with the exception of a few changes in the past), its because of the people that its made up of.
Title: Re: Airborne's Civilized Rant About The History of the CCA and Its Current Standing
Post by: ??. McBullet on February 19, 2013, 09:24:44 PM
Here's a quick comment before I forget it.

The CCA's always been a politics game between the high-ups and the disillusioned skeptics of the current system. The leaders always surround themselves in a bubble of ignorance which is only perpetuated by the apologetic buddies they listen to. As Machiavelli stated, incompetent leaders surround themselves with flatterers. Here's an example:

SeC: "Y'know, Division Leader buddy, the CCA's in disrepair. All these motherfucking units in these motherfucking high ranks. Nothing is getting done, and I've got a bunch of useless people in command positions."
DvL: "Y'know, Sectoral Commander buddy, who I will agree with to save my own skin if you do try some radical course of action, I agree completely! We should wipe all units, that'll fix this problem. But...uh, below DvL, okay? Teehee!"
SeC: "Yeah, alright! I'll pretend that your agreement reflects a majority agreement. Let's wipe everyone below you and put more apologists, who are more likely to agree with me, in positions of power."

*The SeC decides to wipe everything. The only ones hurt here are the backbone of the CCA, the 05-01s who worked hard for their ranks. The skeptics are not affected, as they do not often possess high ranks.

And, the skeptics often convey a poorly-developed criticism which only gives rise to the mob mentality that often congeals a bunch of naive people into a single mass of buttmad. A movement based solely off of the demagoguery of the skeptics and flaring emotions attempts to oust the current leaders of the CCA. Usually, evidence of a movement like this is manifested in a single mantra: "The CCA's utter shit, everything sucks, the end is nigh."

*The two misguided parties erupt into an all-out buttmad war (in its worst-case-scenario), and ultimately, the "reform" that appeals to elements of both sides is passed, and new leaders are sworn in. The reform is usually just a name-change and "reassignment" to appeal to the skeptic reformers, and a wipe to appeal to the current leaders.
 
And this cycle repeats, and repeats, and repeats. I call it the "CCA Cycle." After countless turns of this cursed wheel, one should notice that the CCA, in principle, is largely the same as it was two years ago. We've still got a sociostability, medical, and mechanical divisions. We've got a group of division leaders who exert power over the CCA. While we've got newer divisions like "internal affairs," the CCA now is the CCA then, and, as such, the variable that determines success from failure should be identified as the competency of the leaders, not the structure of the CCA itself. A competent Sectoral Commander should be able to manage the CCA and suppress the urge to engage in these stupid backroom politics that never turn the CCA onto the right path.
Title: Re: Airborne's Civilized Rant About The History of the CCA and Its Current Standing
Post by: alaskan thunderfuck on February 19, 2013, 09:49:58 PM
Here's a quick comment before I forget it.

The CCA's always been a politics game between the high-ups and the disillusioned skeptics of the current system. The leaders always surround themselves in a bubble of ignorance which is only perpetuated by the apologetic buddies they listen to. As Machiavelli stated, incompetent leaders surround themselves with flatterers. Here's an example:

SeC: "Y'know, Division Leader buddy, the CCA's in disrepair. All these motherfucking units in these motherfucking high ranks. Nothing is getting done, and I've got a bunch of useless people in command positions."
DvL: "Y'know, Sectoral Commander buddy, who I will agree with to save my own skin if you do try some radical course of action, I agree completely! We should wipe all units, that'll fix this problem. But...uh, below DvL, okay? Teehee!"
SeC: "Yeah, alright! I'll pretend that your agreement reflects a majority agreement. Let's wipe everyone below you and put more apologists, who are more likely to agree with me, in positions of power."

*The SeC decides to wipe everything. The only ones hurt here are the backbone of the CCA, the 05-01s who worked hard for their ranks. The skeptics are not affected, as they do not often possess high ranks.

And, the skeptics often convey a poorly-developed criticism which only gives rise to the mob mentality that often congeals a bunch of naive people into a single mass of buttmad. A movement based solely off of the demagoguery of the skeptics and flaring emotions attempts to oust the current leaders of the CCA. Usually, evidence of a movement like this is manifested in a single mantra: "The CCA's utter shit, everything sucks, the end is nigh."

*The two misguided parties erupt into an all-out buttmad war (in its worst-case-scenario), and ultimately, the "reform" that appeals to elements of both sides is passed, and new leaders are sworn in. The reform is usually just a name-change and "reassignment" to appeal to the skeptic reformers, and a wipe to appeal to the current leaders.
 
And this cycle repeats, and repeats, and repeats. I call it the "CCA Cycle." After countless turns of this cursed wheel, one should notice that the CCA, in principle, is largely the same as it was two years ago. We've still got a sociostability, medical, and mechanical divisions. We've got a group of division leaders who exert power over the CCA. While we've got newer divisions like "internal affairs," the CCA now is the CCA then, and, as such, the variable that determines success from failure should be identified as the competency of the leaders, not the structure of the CCA itself. A competent Sectoral Commander should be able to manage the CCA and suppress the urge to engage in these stupid backroom politics that never turn the CCA onto the right path.
the truth. seriously, stop with the fucking reforms. it's really really fucking stupid.
Title: Re: Airborne's Civilized Rant About The History of the CCA and Its Current Standing
Post by: ReDrUm?´´?´° on February 19, 2013, 09:56:32 PM
It seems like everyone here seems to be on the same page. If that's the case, then why did the "reform" even happen in the first place if everyone knew it was just another "CCA cycle"?

I mean, people tried to express their issues with this "reform", but every time they did they were just told that they were buttmad over losing their ranks.
Title: Re: Airborne's Civilized Rant About The History of the CCA and Its Current Standing
Post by: alaskan thunderfuck on February 19, 2013, 10:00:23 PM
It seems like everyone here seems to be on the same page. If that's the case, then why did the "reform" even happen in the first place if everyone knew it was just another "CCA cycle"?

I mean, people tried to express their issues with this "reform", but every time they did they were just told that they were buttmad over losing their ranks.
which is a very good thing to be buttmad over. people shouldn't be just fuckin losing the shit they've worked for.
Title: Re: Airborne's Civilized Rant About The History of the CCA and Its Current Standing
Post by: Reimer on February 19, 2013, 10:01:03 PM
Hate to say that what BB says is likely true.
Title: Re: Airborne's Civilized Rant About The History of the CCA and Its Current Standing
Post by: Sexy Frog on February 19, 2013, 10:09:31 PM
I do have to agree. BB put it in the best way possible.
Title: Re: Airborne's Civilized Rant About The History of the CCA and Its Current Standing
Post by: Statua on February 20, 2013, 02:23:50 AM
Well said bb. I change my opinion. Keep this system and dont do anything major to it. A couple tweaks here and there are fine but there really is no pure efficient dumb proof system. Just systems with people who have logic and are real leaders. Not some BS bromoted people.

Choosing high command should be similar to how we choose admins. Choose them based on their leadership qualities, not their skills in the trade. As in, if that medical cca unit can pound back 5 surgeries in a day well and rp well, it doesnt mean he can coordinate an entire team of medical professionals, let alone an entire division.
Title: Re: Airborne's Civilized Rant About The History of the CCA and Its Current Standing
Post by: Reimer on February 20, 2013, 03:13:20 AM
Choosing high command should be similar to how we choose admins. Choose them based on their leadership qualities, not their skills in the trade.

Anyone else really digging this idea?

Title: Re: Airborne's Civilized Rant About The History of the CCA and Its Current Standing
Post by: Khub on February 20, 2013, 04:03:58 AM
Choosing high command should be similar to how we choose admins. Choose them based on their leadership qualities, not their skills in the trade.

Anyone else really digging this idea?

It's up to section leaders to choose how they select their High Command, you cannot and you shouldn't force them into anything.
Title: Re: Airborne's Civilized Rant About The History of the CCA and Its Current Standing
Post by: YankeeSamurai on February 20, 2013, 04:24:52 AM
Choosing high command should be similar to how we choose admins. Choose them based on their leadership qualities, not their skills in the trade.

Anyone else really digging this idea?

And don't promote people because "there's nobody else," this just causes more problems later.
Title: Re: Airborne's Civilized Rant About The History of the CCA and Its Current Standing
Post by: BltElite on February 20, 2013, 05:18:26 AM
Choosing high command should be similar to how we choose admins. Choose them based on their leadership qualities, not their skills in the trade.

Anyone else really digging this idea?

It's up to section leaders to choose how they select their High Command, you cannot and you shouldn't force them into anything.

That is true, but there is a point where S0 or whichever person can intervene and say whoa whoa, hold up there, that person isnt exactly the best high command material.




Haven't read all of the thread and skimmed most of it but this is my thoughts:

Changing all the shit doesn't work in terms of fixing it.

The only way to fix things is change the high ranking people if they aren't up to par, as they make the decisions and in this community and CCA, changes(small-ish ones that steer the cca on the right path) need to be made frequently. Obviously, some people stay interested and active for a long time. But majority of people don't - they get bogged down by RL, get annoyed at being spammed by 40 odd people asking this and that for help because nobody follows the chain of command, and so on.

Im not attacking anyone as IMO the CCA is working well at the moment - but if the CCA isnt working, look at the high command first. a player reform wont help. A HC reform will. Its been done once before and it worked better than a player wipe.
Title: Re: Airborne's Civilized Rant About The History of the CCA and Its Current Standing
Post by: YankeeSamurai on February 20, 2013, 06:48:49 AM
By the way, one thing I still would like to be "reformed" in some form or another is the CCA handing over certain responsibilities to the CWU. This would allow the CWU to gradually assume more of a practical function on the server, as they currently don't do much.

 For starters, I think if the CCA handed off responsibility to the CWU for assigning loyalist points and assigning wipe-the-window tasks, we would see a positive change on the server. The CCA could concentrate on law enforcement-type stuff, and the CWU would be one step closer to playing a key role in the everyday lives of citizen characters.
Title: Re: Airborne's Civilized Rant About The History of the CCA and Its Current Standing
Post by: BltElite on February 20, 2013, 06:51:57 AM
Just an addition to yankees point : We used to try and push for it but it never worked, we need a campaign(propaganda style one) to get citizens to go to the CWU rather than the CCA for doing stuff.


Also, I remember when we used to have high command training and OfC's in training beared the rank of OfC(T) for the week they were trained, returning to original rank(01/EpU) on finish unless promoted by DvL. I think a look into HC training would be beneficial and would also sort out those less suited for high command.
Title: Re: Airborne's Civilized Rant About The History of the CCA and Its Current Standing
Post by: YankeeSamurai on February 20, 2013, 07:16:07 AM
Section commanders should already have a decent idea of who's OOCly cut out to lead the division and who isn't.

In any case, trial periods of any sort are an inaccurate representation of a player's leadership potential. Any random d00d is going to be on his toes for the entire trial and do everything right - that's a given. Then once he gets the billet for real, he gets complacent or bored, dithers around, and becomes a problem.

More HC training might help a little, but you can only OOCly improve a player so much with Gmod. The best hl2rp leaders are going to already be leaders by virtue of their natural IRL personality. I don't think training courses in Gmod will affect hardcoded OOC character traits in any significant way.
Title: Re: Airborne's Civilized Rant About The History of the CCA and Its Current Standing
Post by: Yak on February 20, 2013, 08:50:17 AM
Just an addition to yankees point : We used to try and push for it but it never worked, we need a campaign(propaganda style one) to get citizens to go to the CWU rather than the CCA for doing stuff.


Also, I remember when we used to have high command training and OfC's in training beared the rank of OfC(T) for the week they were trained, returning to original rank(01/EpU) on finish unless promoted by DvL. I think a look into HC training would be beneficial and would also sort out those less suited for high command.
not everyones cup of tea is being a citizen in uniform to sell items and do minimal tasks
You cant convince someone to go cwu over the opportunities in cca when the runner decides to pick his activity up at the last minite constantly
Title: Re: Airborne's Civilized Rant About The History of the CCA and Its Current Standing
Post by: Reimer on February 20, 2013, 12:03:06 PM
Section commanders should already have a decent idea of who's OOCly cut out to lead the division and who isn't.

In any case, trial periods of any sort are an inaccurate representation of a player's leadership potential. Any random d00d is going to be on his toes for the entire trial and do everything right - that's a given. Then once he gets the billet for real, he gets complacent or bored, dithers around, and becomes a problem.

More HC training might help a little, but you can only OOCly improve a player so much with Gmod. The best hl2rp leaders are going to already be leaders by virtue of their natural IRL personality. I don't think training courses in Gmod will affect hardcoded OOC character traits in any significant way.


If HC would be chosen based on skill anyways then why not evaluate their command ability when they are at 01 level, when they should already be taking charge of small operations and doing some busywork for their respective OfCs? They would be at an 02-01 level for at least a few months before even being eligible training-wise, and their ability to command squads of 4 or 5 grunts effectively during in game scenarios such as P3 sweeps or community inspections would be the next best thing to knowing the candidate and their abilities personally. It should still be on the down low, as to keep them from knowing that they are being evaluated.
Title: Re: Airborne's Civilized Rant About The History of the CCA and Its Current Standing
Post by: Airborne1st on February 20, 2013, 09:39:10 PM
Section commanders should already have a decent idea of who's OOCly cut out to lead the division and who isn't.

In any case, trial periods of any sort are an inaccurate representation of a player's leadership potential. Any random d00d is going to be on his toes for the entire trial and do everything right - that's a given. Then once he gets the billet for real, he gets complacent or bored, dithers around, and becomes a problem.

More HC training might help a little, but you can only OOCly improve a player so much with Gmod. The best hl2rp leaders are going to already be leaders by virtue of their natural IRL personality. I don't think training courses in Gmod will affect hardcoded OOC character traits in any significant way.


If HC would be chosen based on skill anyways then why not evaluate their command ability when they are at 01 level, when they should already be taking charge of small operations and doing some busywork for their respective OfCs? They would be at an 02-01 level for at least a few months before even being eligible training-wise, and their ability to command squads of 4 or 5 grunts effectively during in game scenarios such as P3 sweeps or community inspections would be the next best thing to knowing the candidate and their abilities personally. It should still be on the down low, as to keep them from knowing that they are being evaluated.

I can't speak for anyone else, but this is the type of approach I've always taken with my subordinates both in real life back when I was the XO of my old high school's ROTC unit, and on the server with the CCA. If the top leader does everything, how can those under them learn to the job of the top leader when they move on? Some things are best learned with hands on methods. I've always allowed my units to make their own important decisions at the 02+ rank. Even still, I mostly leave my hands off of both of my Officers and I just let them run their halves of Section 4. I keep an eye on who I think will be best suited to be my replacement when I move on from my current position, and I answer any questions they may have and I step in when I'm needed. But otherwise, I let my OfC's learn by doing, rather than always watching me do everything. I hope they both allow their 01's to do things without having to always ask for permission and have my Officers breathing down their necks constantly, but I can't really control that without micromanaging both halves of S4.

Basically, a "learn by doing" approach is always good. Its not such a bad thing to allow someone to have a bit of freedom to make their own leadership decisions, appropriate to their rank of course.
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