For quite some time now we pondered different things that could make our servers even more interesting to play on. And we came up with this:

Starting tomorrow, every day will have one dedicated map that is played on TC1, TC2 and TC3 in their respetive modes, if possible. For example, if the map is urban_c, TC1 will have iCTF on it, TC2 regen capture and TC3 instagib team.

Also, the maps won't have the regular 10/15 minute play time. Instead, it will keep going until a team scores 10 flags in iCTF or captures all bases in regen, after which the map will restart. This of course means that on TC3 there will be a true 24h marathon map for your fragging entertainment.

I hope that you can all enjoy this idea as much as we had fun coming up with it. We would love to hear feedback, questions or additional ideas from you - just comment here or join our IRC channel!

I recently stumbled upon www.lar.net, which is a blog by Swen Vincke, founder of Larian Studios.

You might have heard of them if you are playing RPGs - they are the ones who made Divine Divinity and its successors.

The blog deals with some interesting aspects of game design, and I found it quite interesting - so, if you are too, give it a read!

Joseph Kony is an Ugandan warlord, abducting children and turning them into sex slaves and child soldiers, even forcing them to kill their own parents. This has been going on for more than 20 years now. The KONY 2012 campaign aims at making him visible and help the Ugandan military forces to arrest him for his crimes against humanity.

Watch this video. Spread the word. Take action.

KONY 2012 from INVISIBLE CHILDREN on Vimeo.

It pains me to have to write this post, but some recent events led me to feel compelled to do so. Much like lots of people don't know how to google or ask questions properly, in the SauerWorld some people have no idea how to report cheaters, teamkillers or whatever issue there may be on a server to the admins.

Now, some servers do not have admins who specifically care about their players. However, there is a bunch of people that can handle anything problematic on ogros, PSL and of course TC servers.

Since the last server update there is a command dedicated to make reporting incidents easier (as explained in the previous news post). So, if you have a server account, all you have to do is type in #report name reason and a message will be delivered to the admin crew previously mentioned. Most of the time someone should be around to help you. Be sure to use it properly though - put a few important keywords in the reason. Sentences that are too long will get cut, so it suffices to include "teamkilling on purpose", "jumphacking" or the like there.

Previously we encouraged people to come to our IRC channel to request help - and despite #report being there, you are of course still welcome to report things "the old fashioned way". Also, some more complex issues are better discussed in IRC. WebIRC, as accessible on our website, is a nice and easy way to connect. But there are some things that you should keep in mind. If you can't do that, write it on a sticky note and tape it to your monitor. Here's some DOs and DON'Ts:

• DO connect to the right chatroom. For a TC server, #tc is the one to go to - PSL and ogros: #ogros
• DON'T ask any other questions that are of no significance to what your problem is. "Can anyone help me?", "Is anyone there?", "Does anyone have auth?" are some of them.
• DO include all relevant information in your first message. That way you can contribute to a fast solution to your problem. Relevant information are essentially answers to these questions: WHAT is the problem?, WHO is involved?, WHAT server is it on?
• DON'T immediatly leave the channel after reporting or when you don't get a reply instantly. IRC stands for Internet Relay Chat. It is not necessarily INSTANT.
• DO highlight server admins you know or operators (the ones with @ before their name). Those are people likely to be able to help you, but
• DON'T spam!

Maybe it's a little much for a sticky note... But then again, with a little bit of thinking and a little bit of training that routine can be kept in mind, don't you think?