Grate-Camper or *Great* Camper?

Deep breaths, 4:20 my lad, deep breaths.

I've been on a real Team Fortress 2 kick that past week and I just came out of a particularly grueling match on the Newbs 2Fort server. I have to say that occasionally I get ... overcompetitive. I suppose you could call it that.

Fortunately for me, I am exceedingly laconic sort of fellow except on the rare chance I've had too much Pabst Blue Ribbon. So I'm not particularly known for being the asshat in the crowd. Like some good middle-manager with two divorces, three mortgages and a four-martini lunch I bottle up all the anger and frustration. Instead of taking it out on the wife and kids, however, the very violent and bloody nature of Team Fortress 2 ensures those bad feelings find release fairly rapidly.

Tonight I snapped a bit, though. And the reason I am even bothering to mention it is because I had to step back and examine why I was bothered.

There are all kinds of little strategies for each class on the various TF2 maps. I play almost exclusively on 2Fort maps, so I've found a lot of little ways to make the environment work for me. I suppose I should write about them, but for now I just want to focus on one technique that I have discovered which is somewhat controversial.

Grate-camping.

As every 2Fort player knows, there is a small hallway between the front door to your base and the long hallway that connects it and the sewer to the sink room. And almost the entire hall consists of a see-through grate that can be used as a choke point for an invading group. I've seen Soldiers, Engineers, Snipers and even Pyros use it fairly effectively. But if you are keeping in mind I am writing about something controversial, then you know this technique must be specific to the Demoman.

Because damage can be taken through the grate, it makes a lovely little hanger to hold a full load of sticky bombs. Then you simply detonate them when someone walks underneath and ... you get the picture ... a lot of blood and entrails.

For an example of what I am talking about forward to around 1:00 in the video below:

OK - I am already aware that many people find spawn camping lame - there have been times when I agree with that sentiment. In fact, on the Newbs server the only stated bannable offense is sticky-camping a spawn point. Yes, there are a lot of sticky bomb haters out there but now they can vent by taking shots at the stickies with their pea-shooters.

When I say this was a grueling match, what I mean is the match hung at 2-2 for at least two hours. A few of the better players on the server were playing and eventually it dwindled from about 20-24 players down to nine of us near the end.

So this is where I tie this pointless story together with a dick move. By the time there are only nine of us left slogging it out, I have already had to mute one of my teammates for referring to me over voice as the "Gate-Camper." And asking to kick me from the server - my own teammate!

So basically I noticed that I am on the side with five players (nine players = 5v4) and switched sides in a huff and went on to get my former team's intelligence to the their front door. Of course I died there from wounds inflicted by a rather incensed heavy who dropped on top of me from the battlements, but my new teammates were able to successfully cap. It almost makes the ulcer worth it.

So I was all angry about this guy and his douche-baggery. In fact, I suppose I still am a bit simply because, judgmental name-calling aside, I found that particular player to be of the rather odious sort - the type who likes to order people around and critique their performance in real-time. The kind I seem to encounter en masse in WoW battlegrounds.

But it made me think - is gate-camping something to be derided or praised? I am generally not surprised if an opponent cries about it, though I was taken aback that a teammate would QQ a tactic that was successfully repelling an assault on our front door.

I can understand why some people are completely against spawn camping, though I myself have a much more open view of that topic. But seriously? Grate-camping? I'm sorry, but if you can't get around a demo-camped grate then, to put it in the patois of WoW: L2P.

In fact, I'll follow up with the exact way to completely avoid the grate without needing to weed the pesky demo from his perch: come up from the sewer and take the long hall into the courtyard. It's a sub-optimal route, but the demo won't be able to touch you with his sticky bombs. See, not so hard.

So whatever, tonight I tasted revenge ... and it was sweet! Isn't Team Fortress 2 wonderful?