The CTF Refereeing Rant.

It took me a while to decide on whether I should start this rant or not. It’s only recent matches that has given me a ‘go ahead’ to write this along with a few players’ opinions on referees in general. I kindly want everyone to note that I am not directing this at any particular moderator on CTF, as this generally applies to the refereeing system and in some way all of them simultaneously. I am directing this at the flawed process of refereeing this gamemode.


I’ll divide this thread into different parts concerning different topics to minimise the length of the thread.

Spoiler: ”The Issue concerning this rant”

I’d like to assume that most of you reading this thread have had an experience with teams in CTF. That being said, I’d also take it into assumption that you’ve all at least played a couple of matches too. In the event that you haven’t, there are two types of matches (excluding squads) - Official and Unofficial. In officials members only can play and require the use of a referee. These referees, or in CTF’s case Mods, have to be present in every Official match. They make sure the rules are followed and inflict consequences upon anyone who goes against the rules.


Here’s the catch though : Mods in CTF almost never inflict consequences upon rule breakers unless they were trash talking other members. Of all the matches I’ve played in and watched from POVs, almost never has there been a case where the mods took action. It was always a case of , “While you have just capped I am going to have to give a warning to [Team] for [Rule broken].” or “Warning to [Team] for [Rule broken].” In a nutshell, warning, warning, warning. Not a single time have I ever seen that a ref has set back a cap or force restored a flag for breaking a game changing rule. Before you consult me with “Referees do take action like this” I am going to ask you when was the last time you witnessed this? A few years back when the Paladin class was a thing?

Spoiler: ”How did this Issue happen”

Before diving into solutions and ranting about how the refereeing system is trash, it’s important to understand why such things are happening, and the answer can be given in one sentence. The referees in CTF are also Mods. This is probably the biggest reason as to why the refereeing system is flawed.


Referees are generally viewed as unlikeable people in the sporting and gaming communities around the world. They keep any match/game in order and are the officials to keep the rules intact. They normally receive heavy criticism if they take an action and when they don’t see an illegal action. Needless to say hence it is a tough job to be a ref. They can be sometimes seen as biased and heavily disliked by major groups of people.


A moderator is the last person you would expect to be heavily disliked or criticised. While it may be true that CTF mods are criticised with every change they make to CTF, it is undoubtedly futile to think that any of them would be disliked for taking action in a match. It is against a mod’s reputation to be disliked and criticised. It is part of a referee’s reputation to be criticised and disliked. Mixing those two roles into one in the same is a very large problem, as it would affect the way the moderators are seen as staff members and also the way they are seen as refereeing.


Because a Referee and a Moderator usually have different personalities, it is also a difficulty in getting newer referees that actually want to referee matches, simply because they have to go through the process of becoming a mod to gain the privilege of refereeing. Given that it would take them at least 2 months to get a moderator rank and finally get the chance to referee a match, they then would have to still be liked by the community to maintain their rank to referee, hence why little if none action is taken when a rule is broken.


Another thing to note is that referees can make mistakes often. It should be noted that the CTF staff are too afraid to take action in the event that they make a mistake. This is not natural for a referee. Trying to be perfect and not doing anything is the worst type of refereeing. Obviously calling out broken rules every 5 seconds isn’t good refereeing either, but trying to be perfect and accurate with your calling out for rule breaking isn’t good.

Spoiler: ”What can be done to solve the issue”

The answer is probably a bit vague, but honestly it saves the mod a lot of hassle and prevents people from disliking them, and finally get someone who would take action and wouldn’t mind being criticised for refereeing. Establish a god damn referee rank. While we all know giving the CTF staff suggestions that most of the community likes is utterly useless, just as with every other suggestion in the Server ideas section, this rank should be essential for CTF matches.


Obviously don’t make it an easy to get rank, otherwise it would be very stupid and could result in a lot of consequences, so these are the following steps that should be taken to making a Referee Rank.


-Create a Subsection in Teams called Referee Applications.


-Apply the terms and conditions to be that the Referee has to be mature and respectful and non biased, meaning they shouldn’t be in any team (before you criticise me for this one, just remember that any biased referee first starts being biased when they start supporting a team and that team loses to another and so on, so it’s best if referees stay out of being part of teams.)


-CTF staff should review your application and if they deem you responsible enough they grant you the ref rank.


-The only privileges it contains would be match oriented stuff, such as setting back caps, setting class limits, setting maps and the ability to enter in gamemode 1/2/3.


-Should the Referee abuse his power with his commands, their rank is revoked.



With a referee rank, mods won’t any longer have to be restricted to taking only so many actions to the point where they can be disliked, criticised for making mistakes and what not, all in their own free will. A Referee will be able to take the criticism and dislikeness received by teams and it won’t affect their reputation that much, simply because they are doing their job.

TLDR: Moderators try to be accurate and make sure they aren’t wrong when calling out for a mistake, hence being hesitant, which is not the nature of a referee. In that case a referee rank would be suitable to help future matches and in the event they make a mistake, they do not affect their rank status. Refereeing shouldn't be a privilege for mods only, it should be for anyone who does wish to referee but does not wish to be a mod. Before you say that the referee would have to be either way responsible, they are, otherwise they wouldn't be refereeing official matches.


unfortunately and most probably, the ctf staff won't even consider this rant and in the end won't listen.

 

Maybe you shouldn't be prejudice about the post and read it first before you comment about it?

I'm pretty sure you guys do read over the ideas, but I highly doubt you ever implemented any of some of the best suggestions on the ideas section (Soldier XP suggestion took months if not years to implement). If they aren't out to get the community, i.e most of the players that play this forsaken gamemode, what's the use of the ideas section?

What is the issue with a rank displaying "REF" instead of "MVP, PRO, VIP, MOD" etc? Why is then the rank "BUILD TEAM" a thing? Also in case you didnt realise, ranks can be server specific, case in point Sheriff rank on wildwest. SoCool21 is a sheriff on wildwest but I do not see his tag popping up on CTF. What's your excuse now, that referees shouldn't be known if they are referees, that only mods should maintain the privilege to referee when it's absolutely flawed?

 

Not everyone is responsible enough for being a Referee though. Build rank is different