Mann Versus Machine and Why I Hate the Profit Margin
Team Fortress 2's Mann Vs. Machine mode is nothing special. 6 players team up to fight off robots and defend a point right at the back of the map while collecting money and upgrading their weapons. The gamemode features a premium version called Mann Up which is full of players who are more dedicated to the gamemode since they pay the dollar to enter, and promise rewards and loot. In every other tour, it's all the same deal, hats or Strange (killcounting) weapons. But not in Two Cities.
Two Cities is a tour that promises kiltstreak weapons. These weapons count how many kills you have gotten in your current life and announce big streaks like 5 or 10 kills. There are three types of increasing flashiness, causing your weapon to glow and eventually flames or light to emit from your character's eyes. And then there's Australium weapons, shiny gold guns that are very rare. It's a 1% chance to find one per tour. This tour requires four tickets, which is 4 dollars. And these Australiums weapons is where a certain group of elitist TF2 players get sucked into a void.
Back in December, Valve gave out a free MvM ticket, so I decided to check out Two Cities. I had opened the maps in the Hammer map viewer and in Garry's Mod, but had yet to play a game. I went Pyro, since that is my favorite class for MvM. I actually own a very expensive flamethrower dedicated to the gamemode since I loved it so much at the time, which had a diamond robot head dangling from it and counted each robot I killed. As soon as I went Pyro, they tried to kick me, claiming Pyro was an inferior class. I did get kicked, and decided to go back. This time, I brought a friend of mine. Duckii plays Demoman and has played through Two Cities a few times. I checked the scoreboard and noticed something off. In most other tours, most people had 0, 1 or maybe 2 or 3 completed tours. When Ducki explained to me he had completed 12, I was shocked. But here, 12 wasn't that many. Every one else had completed over 50 tours and were now mocking us for not completing that many. Especially me for going Pyro. Duckii tried to stand up for the class, since Pyro has heavy defensive capabilities with airblast and afterburn. They kicked him just so they could kick me.
And now here we are. Yesterday, Killstreak kits started appearing in Mann Co. Crates and the forum exploded. Fans have been complaining that Valve is crippling their Profit margin and that they deserve better rewards so they can afford their next round of tickets. In short, what these people are doing is playing through the tour, getting their killstreak item, and then selling it immediately so they can get back in the game. They are letting a random number generator decide how much of what goes into the market and this is crippling their worth to the community, which is making them angrier about playing for so long and getting so little and they sell that, causing a spiral. Saying this is short of what Valve anticipated for the gamemode would be an understatement. I then realized that they did not want me playing as Pyro simply because they hate them. No, they hate Pyro because it goes against the fastest method for playing Two Cities. Because a combination of Soldier, Scout, Heavy, Engineer, Demoman and Medic covers all the ground but fire and environmental damage, this covers more ground than, say, replacing area denial and heavy duty protection or speedy ambush and faster collection. Because Pyro goes against the tried and true grain, they risk taking longer, and time is money. They aren't playing MvM for the items or even for fun. It has strictly become about profit and the hopes of getting an Australium weapon.
Today I was playing an unrelated gamemode, PLR_Hightower, and people were complaining about the new crates. Word let out that I played Pyro, and they interrogated me over how many tours I have played. They told me to come back after I completed 200 tours and I would see the error of my ways. That's $800. They are spending just short of one thousand dollars simply for an attempt at getting something shiny they could buy for $100 on the Steam Market. I could buy a used car for $800. I could fly to California and meet my idols. I could hold a party for al my friends, but they are using the money just o they can hope to make 1/8 of that back. It's become a gamble, much like the lottery. Because with the lottery, the illusion of gains is masked by the crippling costs of winning.
