My Take on Directing

Here we go.



So this has been started by Potter, and now other directors are joining in with their opinions on the current/future state of Directing in Scavengers Studio's "Darwin Project". I feel like it's my turn to speak on the subject, because I think there are a couple things that are being skated around that are not being addressed.



For those of you who don't know me, my name is Rabid M0ngoose and I am/was/always will be a director main. I wanted to get back into streaming after a car accident took my job and most of my ability to do everyday tasks away from me. I turned on my personal friend Dandro_'s stream and saw that he was playing this new game called Darwin Project. He was directing with a stereotypical "Mainer" accent and people were loving it. I was hooked there and then.



One of the few things that I can still do after the accident is use my voice. My father has been a radio DJ for most of my life, and I always wanted to follow in his footsteps. This game showed me that I could get my chance and be able to truly express myself. I took the opportunity and ran.



At the beginning, there was a power three in directing. There was SimplyMary, SaltSlinger, and DirectorTTV. I wanted to be them. I watched their streams almost daily trying to figure out how they were able to create their own identities and make the games fun not only for the players, but for the viewers. When I felt comfortable, I started my journey to be one of the greatest directors. I grinded games for months, developed my own style, and kept my small stream going. I knew that one day, people would find out who I was, and my work would pay off.



Throughout the starting times of Darwin, the community was tight. Everyone knew everyone, and everyone had a mutual respect for each other because we wanted the game to succeed. Unfortunately, that has been gone for a long time now. Anyone who wants to play that we are all about respect is either lying to themselves or their viewers/readers.



The first rating system was broken, but it was what we had. On the average rating side, we had 10 directors that parked after 5 games, and kept the top 10 spots forever. On the fame side, we had BicycleWalrus who was top fame because he directed the Invitational. No one was going to touch those numbers, so people didn't care about grinding. When the Darwin Tracker came out, we had our first real rating competition, but then top directors (notice the "s" there. It was more than one) noticed that Private Matches counted, and would spam private matches to get to ungodly ratings. SCAV didn't even know that was possible. Myself and some of the other directors told SCAV when we found out that it was a thing, and they had to hotfix because they were afraid it would ruin competition.



After that hotfix, they came out with a patch that made the leaderboards close to Darwin Tracker. 50 games would get you into the leaderboard. This was the second wave of BS. If you were on twitch at any point in time, there were about 20 "#1" directors streaming at the same time. All of these directors had about 60 games and were committing what we considered "the sins of directing". After that wave came the wave of "I can't use all of my abilities so please make sure you rate me 5 stars no matter what". This was not a competitive system. There were so many people trying to find ways around the system. A competitive system doesn't have easy workarounds for the lazy.



After I was told that the "average rating" was mostly just the previous 10 games, it took all credibility from the director leaderboards. The average was being misrepresented, and I was very upset. we were back to the days of "play X games and then don't play anymore and you're at the top", and again, that's not competitive. I voiced my concerns to SCAV, and was met with "The director system is not what we want it to be, and it'll change soon". That was ok, but I decided to take a minibreak from the game.



I came back when the new system was released, and I like the idea of it. Directors were getting too competitive over a system that was broken, and it was affecting relationships in the director community, and really killing our role as a whole. This would be a way to just have fun again, because that's what games are supposed to do. The only problem I have is that it rewards "braindead grinding" as some directors have called it. I don't agree with the autobid to the top 100 tournament, but then again, the top 100 tournament isn't what it used to be now that a lot of the big players are gone.



This game is in a scary spot, and I really hope Scavenger can bring it back. I've always been the games biggest cheerleader, and I will continue to wish the best, but we're getting very close to the path of no return. Game participation is down, the Darwin Discord is a mess, and Directors are more interested in talking shit about each other than actually working as a collective to better the game. That's why I took a break from the game, and that's why I think a major overhaul needs to happen sooner rather than later.



I love you guys, if you managed to read this far, thank you for your support. I'll see you next time.





TL;DR Read it. It's important.

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