Jess Cliffe Q&A

[CSN NewsBot]

Valve Software's Jess Cliffe has been interviewed on gotFrag, an esports website. The interview is actually pretty short, with around five questions. Thankfully, Jess is quite garrulous and his responses aren't one-liners. Here's a neat response:

gotFrag: We hear in our forums time and time again how Valve does not listen to the community. I personally think the people are mistaken, but I am sure you hear the same things day in and day out. When decisions like the shield are kept in the game even when there seems to be an almost unanimous outcry against it, it can appear that the developer does not care what the players want. Is there a better way that the players could have some direct impact on changes made to the game? A voting system or a forum of some sort where constructive ideas could be heard by Valve, basically, some way for our voice to be heard and responded to in changes in the game.



Jess Cliffe: Since launching Half-Life, Valve has developed and released free updates to its games (including free games such as TFC, DMC, etc.), issued multiple SDK releases, held the annual MOD Expos, and helped the CS and DoD teams take their MODs to full retail products. Given all of this, it's a little surprising to hear folks say Valve isn't listening or supporting the community. While Valve may not be garrulous on the forums, we're certainly listening. A very recent example of this is the money issue that Griffin "Shaguar" Benger raised in his GotFrag editorial during the 2003 CPL finals. This was something Valve was tracking and the community's response to his article played a major part in the decision to go ahead and make the following changes:



» Disabled round timer when bomb is planted

» Winning defensive team now gets the same amount of money whether they win by round timeout or not ($3250 instead of $2000)

» Players on the offensive team who survive the round due to a round timeout no longer receive money the next round

» Terrorist team now gets an additional +$800 per player if they plant the bomb but still lose the round

This list of changes will surely bring a smile to those in the esports community. Check out the whole interview here, and be sure to look up the word garrulous some time tonight.



A few months ago, CS-Nation interviewed Jess Cliffe as well. Our interview focused on CS for Xbox, but we love self-promotion.

[a_russak]

I like the last addition:

» Terrorist team now gets an additional +$800 per player if they plant the bomb but still lose the round

[Gpig]

» Players on the offensive team who survive the round due to a round timeout no longer receive money the next round

» Terrorist team now gets an additional +$800 per player if they plant the bomb but still lose the round



Ha, I like those ideas more than the solutions brought up by others and I had never heard anyone say something like that. Now you'll see teams buy deagles and rush a site to plant the bomb and get the money back on deagles if they die but still planted.



Shield is a bit weird but eh, as long as it stays glitchy it will be out of match use and all but one of the servers I play on hate the shield so it isn't used almost at all.



Time for me to find something else to bitch about. My job is never done.

[Buddah]

T's plant and win first round could make an ugly 2nd round for CT's now. That extra $800 could be used to slip in more round 2 AWPs or be saved just to keep a steady stream of funds.

[Spoonman]

It's times like these I wish I played more CS. That way I might be as good as I used to be (average) and could possibly join a clan again.



In fact, you can discuss clan recruiting in the forums.

[Gpig]

Edited by [user="17662"] @ [time="1073968666"]

Yeah, if t's glock rush and plant pistol round they'll have 3000 bucks for galil, full armor, and no ammo. It will be different but not really harmful to overall gameplay. At least now the speed for tourneys and annoying teams you play in CAL has been fixed.



Eh, forgot to mention. The befenits of the 800 bucks for pace far outweigh that different second round which isn't a big problem. Teams might still might attempt to camp out with glocks so the ct's don't get the measily 300. It doesn't seem likely, but don't forget money screwing people didn't seem likely a year ago. Now the teams are rewarded if they manage to atleast plant, which is quite possible. Top level games could end up being 10-15 minutes shorter on average than they have been lately. Not to mention teams can win deagle rounds and with deagles it's very easy to at least enter the bombsite and plant thus getting your money back. Seeing TEC winning deagle rounds was cool, now more teams will do it .

appended @ [time="1073968868"]

Then again, can't you glock save first round with one guy somewhere safe and rush at the very end to kill some ct's and plant to get an advantage second round now anyways? zEx did it at eswc.

[JRules]

interview was kinda short makes you think that maybe cliffe didn't want to answer some questions i.e. where the hell is cs:cz/hl2!

[sphyx]

He was so fresh evading questions, ROFL. Valve wants $$$.

[Supersonic^]

I'm glad that Valve are adding these changes. I like that any campers on the attacking team don't get ANY money at all if they survive the round, and time runs out.



Oh and...

A few months ago, CS-Nation interviewed Jess Cliffe as well. Our interview focused on CS for Xbox, but we love self-promotion.

rofl. n1 rizzuh :)

The addition of the shield and the change of the running system(I.E. stopping after a jump, after a bullet hit, etc) have been two of the more controversial changes to the game of Counter-Strike. The community has adjusted to both changes but have not been happy with either.

Many (including me) liked the jumping changes in 1.4. I don't like the shield, but not because it's hard to kill them (It's not), but because it doesn't fit into the theme of CS at all.

When we released the first CS beta in June 1999, we were amazed when we discovered 50 people had downloaded the game.

Awwww... how sweet :)

[bozer]

Teams should win automatically if they can define the word "Garrulous" without hitting up dictionary.com

[Bokuho]

While Valve may not be garrulous on the forums, we're certainly listening. A very recent example of this is the money issue that Griffin "Shaguar" Benger raised in his GotFrag editorial during the 2003 CPL finals.

That doesn't mean they're listening to the community at all, it just means that they'll listen to a top player if he pisses enough (before anyone asks, no I'm not speaking literally). Through that 'whole' thing (it's pretty hard to call it a complete article or Q&A when there's hardly anything there) he just avoided the (few) questions and didn't really give any certain answers.

[gemini]

i think these changes are great. First of all because they are spot on for the league's problem of camping out rounds as terror, but also because they might actually have an effect on publics where people dont plant or camp as terrorists with awps. I dont think the effect will be that big on publics but its certain to be and that is good thing.



Winning a first round as terrorist and planting the bomb could be devastating indeed.



all in all i think these changes will mean that the better team will have more chance of winning both sides, and that is not so bad in my opinion.

[Gooch_GrG]

i still dont understand what trhey are basing the shield on? it certainly isnt based on a real life shield. when they first introduced the shield in the beta of 1.6 it was perfect. it only stopped smg's and pistols with the excepetion of the deagle. imho this was the closest representation of a riot shield but for some reason "they" being the great minds at valve decided too make it more like a tank where it is unpenatrable unless the guy runs by you or you and your team combine too nade him

if they would reverty it back too what it should be then cs would be perfect imho. #GrG too bitch

[f0liage^]

Bokuho wrote..

That doesn't mean they're listening to the community at all, it just means that they'll listen to a top player if he pisses enough (before anyone asks, no I'm not speaking literally). Through that 'whole' thing (it's pretty hard to call it a complete article or Q&A when there's hardly anything there) he just avoided the (few) questions and didn't really give any certain answers.

what you forgot to mention in your quote was the line

This was something Valve was tracking and the community's response to his article played a major part in the decision to go ahead and make the following changes

It wasnt just a single top player complaining, it was a view reflected by a large majority of the community. The money system atm is flawed and doesnt account for de_ maps so essentially this is a bug fix.

[lopinboy]

Not very convincing that he only posted the most recent change and that was only after a certain few people who actually talk to him brought up the issue. I want to see more changes that he actually listened to the community over, not just this one single instance.

It wasnt just a single top player complaining, it was a view reflected by a large majority of the community. The money system atm is flawed and doesnt account for de_ maps so essentially this is a bug fix.

Actually, only a small amount of people replied about the money system. Majority of the community didn't even and still doesn't even know it exist, nor do they seriously care.