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the current state of Darwin as told by ttv/PotterSauce

Hello. for those of you who do not know me, my name is PotterSauce. I have been amongst the top 10 for show directors since beta, I finished the newly implemented director "prestige" system in second place overall, I am still on the leaderboards in the top 10 for total time directed, etc etc etc.



so basically, i've been around for a quick minute and I feel like I might be able to provide some insight into the current state of directing, the feelings of myself and several other "competitive" directors and finally where this leaves us right now. Please bare in mind, I'm not an english major, I don't ever do things like this and I will most likely not be going back through this to compulsively squash bad grammar like I normally would. I just want to get this all out as quickly as possible. but first I think it would do well to start from the beginning.



THE OLD DAYS AS DIRECTOR.



When I first found out about this game, it was through LIRIK's stream, and I was instantly drawn in by the show director feature. I knew that this system was an instant "game changer" for me, as this could potentially be an area of a game that I might finally excel in. (i'm not good at games) and sure enough, I quickly found myself very competitively rated, and I was immediately hooked. I started to spend more and more time looking at twitch.tv to see if I could recognize any of the names of people I had seen in game, which turned into meeting the amazing people I have met, me starting streaming off of advice from other streamers, creating my community which is still thriving and flourishing to this day. I have darwin to thank for this, and I will be forever grateful. I love my stream, I love this game (still, just need to take a break for a bit) and I love SCAV for making this game. now onto the rest.



AND THEN THEY TOOK AWAY RATINGS.



now, don't get me wrong. I like the new system for what it is, as long as we all call it what it is. The new director system is no longer a skill-based or skill-rewarding system, it's a myers-briggs personality test that only rewards people who can mindlessly grind. Albeit the old system had its flaws (toxic players had an outlet to hold newer/more timid/other players hostage by their ratings, 1-stars would MASSIVELY impact ratings..etc.). But unfortunately by removing all competitive aspects of the game and changing the system to a 4x participation ribbon system, the competitive nature is now completely gone. What once used to be a masterfully delicate system of intricate social manipulation and cunning has been entirely reduced to a zombie grind. "who has less of a life". who can just shut off their brain and play the most games. I've even thought of coding a program that just drags electronics from their spot to the bottom right for the crowd vote, but not even bother streaming the game... just play for the sake of playing since players don't actually read which "participation ribbon" they're giving you at the end of the game. (although lets be real, that sounds pretty puppet master-y to me)



SO what can we do about it?



I think this game has tremendous potential. I believe WHOLE-HEARTEDLY in SCAV as a development team (Fuck yeah Canada) and I think Darwin has a recipe for success that no other game has ever had. I love this game, and I will definitely be a player for as long as the developers are creating new and exciting content for me to experience in the arena. I have huge huge huge hopes for more seasonal events such as the egg hunt, (i'm thinking permanent-blood moon and extra spooky gamemode for halloween where you can also hunt pumpkins?! imagine a new fog-of-war concept that can only be seen through if you use the flashlight that the director gives to players, but players can activate it themselves, and it's the ONLY WAY to see through the fog/darkness. idk could be cool. BUT BACK TO THE IMPORTANT STUFF



I think this system for directing was a cool attempt, but for me it's taken almost everything that has been keeping me in the game out. I don't feel rewarded for my skills/abilities as a director at all. I feel virtually no incentive to continue to grind.. and quite frankly even with streaming 12+ hours every single day, I legitimately cannot keep up to some of the other players who are able to grind for 14-16 hours+ every day. that's not healthy, it's not enjoyable.



SO where does this leave us?



Well, I'm not sure where this leaves US.. but I know that for me personally and for several other "competitive, or top rated" directors, this system is not lovely. there's no reward or incentive to be a top-rated director any more other than being invited to top 100.. but it seriously begs to question "is that really enough of a prize?"



I don't have an opportunity to answer that YET, but I'll be sure to let anyone who's interested know what my opinions are post-top 100 tournament that's happening this coming Saturday.



to those of you who have made it to the end, Thank you so much. T H A N K Y O U SO MUCH for your time. I love you, and as always, I'll continue to be streaming top-quality darwin project content as soon as I feel re-invigorated with the game, but I HOPE it's because I get to try my hardest to be a top rated director again <3



-PotterSauce

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