To Hell, with Action maps – An Oswald Rant

Preface:

This is a rant, but unlike its predecessors, I feel it has a different feel to it. I am not here today to scream down the bad maps, comment on illegal textures, rant on scripts and cheats or even bitch about newbies and their ridiculous questions. Today is a reponse to Hellchick and the entire Planetquake Staff for their choice of maps: Quakeham Asylum, Sludge, Inc., Crack Down, Church of Doom, Altar of Kumanru and Urban3 to represent Action Quake 2 during Map Week at Planetquake (my warm and cuddly host =)

Like many of you out there, I was shocked…taken back…elated…floored, down right pumped up when I saw a post, outside of The 6th Floor making the Planetquake Daily News that related to Action Quake 2. PQ was presenting a feature titled, ‘Map Week” and ‘Map Pack Two for Action’ kicked off the festivities for Tuesday, representing Action Quake 2. This of course peaked my interest, so I furiously continued to click to investigate further. I finally came to what I was looking for…The Motherlode! The maps which were “the favorite picks” of the Planetquake Staff and their map week event. I took a single glance at the six, individual maps which were included and was quite disappointed by the way Action Quake was being depicted.

The comments I left on the daily news, here at The 6th Floor did some justice for those of us who “live, breath and sleep Action.” Damn, now I sound like a fanatic! Or is that a cyber geek? I received further feedback via ICQ, e-mail and posts on the AQMD forum regarding these maps, which helped spawn the reponse I left. Later that evening, I received e-mail from the PQ Site Director herself, Hellchick regarding the news I left on The 6th Floor. This by no means brought any closure to the situation, as most agreed, the choice of maps could have been improved, but as Hellchick told me, “I think the problem is that there’s SO many good maps for Action Quake 2 that it was tough for me to narrow my choices.” That statement alone sums up many maps which are available to supplement Action.

With that e-mail and a few other comments, I decided to think a bit longer and harder on a more mature reponse, instead of an all out offensive on Hellchick (Fact: Did you know she even did the female radio voices for them?) and PQ (my loving host). I decided what doesn’t hurt us, The Action Community, can only make us stronger. The Action mod is being p1mped by the site that started it all, Planetquake. There is no reason to go calling for heads or to continue marching on, like some witch hunt. In effect, PQ is doing what Suislide and the A-Team unsuccesfully attempted last year, when trying to promote Action Quake in PC Accelerator. Unfortunately, we know how ugly and out of control that situation got. Why have another similar incident?

Hellchick went on to say, “these were our favorite picks, which is why they were credited to those who picked them. My opinion is certainly not the deciding opinion of the AQ2 community, as evidenced by your reaction.” I will consider my initial reaction as an over reaction, not only are Action maps being p1mped by Planetquake, the mod is being seen by more prospective players who may say, “Hey this mod kicks ass! I wanna check it out!” I myself, like most of you, have your individual opinions as to the maps you and/or clan enjoy week in, week out. I know my clan. Netzwerk Terror does. Believe me, I get an earful when I insert new maps into the rotation they dislike. Sort of like getting mass amounts of unfavorable e-mail, unfortunately it is on a personal level and I cannot just click delete.

The eternal flame of Action Quake 2 continues to burn brightly, even as better looking “action” based mods are showing up, using the newest engines. As long as there are people dedicated to keeping the Action going, the game will never die. Planetquake does their part, by giving web sites like The 6th Floor, the spotlight every so often in their, “Site of the Day,” or mods like Action, “Mod of the Week.” Thanks to Planetquake for bringing the Quake Community’s attention to Action, even if for a brief minute in their “Map Pack Two for Action” as a salute to a long running and successful mod, Action Quake 2.

https://web.archive.org/web/20000920002523/http://www.planetquake.com:80/6thfloor/rants_oswald6.html