Spectating NS2
Slyfox101
Join Date: 2012-11-11 Member: 169370Members
Join Date: 2012-11-11 Member: 169370Members
<div class="IPBDescription">Oversight?</div>Currently I'm loving NS2 as a game and I can't wait to see where it goes in the future. My only problem is that I can't ever seem to watch the game without getting harassed by community server admins or the players themselves.
Here is the problem: NS2 has no built-in spectator mode that doesn't take up a server slot. In spectating a game I am required to take up a player slot which bothers people. I won't comment on the people that get bothered by it, but it is an obvious problem. Either the server is full and I get the classic "we don't care, other people want to play, kicking you for spectating" or I can join an official server and get harassed by the players because there are only 16 slots and the teams are imbalanced.
I enjoy watching the game when I am eating or in a conversation with a friend, etc. I know many others who enjoy watching as well, but constantly run into this problem.
Is anything being done to implement a spectator mode in NS2?
In my opinion it hurts the game to have people, who want to watch/stream it in spectator mode, have to deal with this.
Here is the problem: NS2 has no built-in spectator mode that doesn't take up a server slot. In spectating a game I am required to take up a player slot which bothers people. I won't comment on the people that get bothered by it, but it is an obvious problem. Either the server is full and I get the classic "we don't care, other people want to play, kicking you for spectating" or I can join an official server and get harassed by the players because there are only 16 slots and the teams are imbalanced.
I enjoy watching the game when I am eating or in a conversation with a friend, etc. I know many others who enjoy watching as well, but constantly run into this problem.
Is anything being done to implement a spectator mode in NS2?
In my opinion it hurts the game to have people, who want to watch/stream it in spectator mode, have to deal with this.
Comments
I agree, I'd like this feature. There was the old HLTV thing for GoldSrc games.
I'm not sure if we can expect this to be universal for all servers though, because sending spectator data to every client requires a fair bit of data transfer. I think many servers wouldn't want spectator slots open anyways.
Here is the problem: NS2 has no built-in spectator mode that doesn't take up a server slot. In spectating a game I am required to take up a player slot which bothers people. I won't comment on the people that get bothered by it, but it is an obvious problem. Either the server is full and I get the classic "we don't care, other people want to play, kicking you for spectating" or I can join an official server and get harassed by the players because there are only 16 slots and the teams are imbalanced.
I enjoy watching the game when I am eating or in a conversation with a friend, etc. I know many others who enjoy watching as well, but constantly run into this problem.
Is anything being done to implement a spectator mode in NS2?
In my opinion it hurts the game to have people, who want to watch/stream it in spectator mode, have to deal with this.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
www.ensl.org
Either watch recorded games from matches or ask people in the current gathers if you can join and spectate. (people always say yes)
Hope this might fix a few problems.
And, maybe that would make the waiting queue a bit more interesting (while shortening loading times before play) - how about combining that?
And when youre on it: Seeing the name of the player you are watching would be nice, you cant do that, can you? First person view would be kind of nice, too
And yes, I'm one of those people that gets annoyed when you're spectating a pub because there's no way I don't know if you're giving out what either team is doing and you're making the teams not balanced.
Hit 2 and you'll get the overhead view with the nice spectating system set up. But yes, in free float or follow there's no names, and First Person spectating isn't in yet as it's not coded in the engine yet. They're still working on making the game more playable, and first person spec takes time.
Camera distance adjustment for 3rd person is also needed, as well as a means to keep the camera from getting outside the game world.
Being able to hear voice chat would be nice, too. I assume this sort of feature would be optional for administrators.
I appreciate all of the links to streams/YouTube channels but I was aware of those links before I made the thread. The problem I am asking about is the fact that in-game spectating is simply not supported very well. I am someone who is used to being able to transition from playing to watching very easily (DotA 2) and I'd like to see the support for spectating vastly improved in NS2. Especially if they hope for the NS2 eSports scene to take off. Any information regarding this would be helpful.
<!--quoteo(post=2039933:date=Dec 4 2012, 09:32 AM:name=greenpee)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (greenpee @ Dec 4 2012, 09:32 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=2039933"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->And yes, I'm one of those people that gets annoyed when you're spectating a pub because there's no way I don't know if you're giving out what either team is doing and you're making the teams not balanced.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
A. Not everyone is out to get you. Most people who spectate do it to watch, not to cheat. Delay on spectating matches would fix that issue entirely.
B. Moot point. Sometimes spectating actually balances the teams because you have an odd number of people. Even when you imbalance them, the game has auto-balance built in.
C. You have no reason to get annoyed by spectators. They do not affect you in the slightest.
D. I'm not a moderator here but I would guess that a rule is to not double post. Please use the Edit button.
Paranoia, paranoia everyone is coming to get me!
I have been regularly watching games in the past few weeks and not a single comment on my taking a slot yet. Guess I have been lucky, but its probably better not to leave this to luck. If there was a way to formalize the spectator slots in each game/server (inlcuding booked slots maybe with a max cap for spectators, same as for players. And possibly a specific ad hoc ban from entering the spectaded game as a player) that d be great indeed.
I always knew somebody is watching me from above...
I have been regularly watching games in the past few weeks and not a single comment on my taking a slot yet. Guess I have been lucky, but its probably better not to leave this to luck. If there was a way to formalize the spectator slots in each game/server (inlcuding booked slots maybe with a max cap for spectators, same as for players. And possibly a specific ad hoc ban from entering the spectaded game as a player) that d be great indeed.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I am very glad to hear that you have been getting good responses from players regarding spectating. This gives me hope that it won't be a problem forever, perhaps a mod will be created to help solve it.
One thing I notice is that such harassment is much less common on Official servers, as there are no admins to kick you, and therefore no one for the players to complain to. This might be why you are experiencing good/no feedback.
A shame really, because between the delay and performance issues and the constricted flow of the game, it's sometimes more enjoyable to simply spectate than play for a few rounds. Too bad there's there's always a few people that are so adamant against spectators you'd think I killed their dogs or something (incidentally, these are usually the guys on the team that's stomping or stacking, go figure).