Written on mobile in one take, no need to sugarcoat it. Genuine spontaneity or nothing.
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THE JOURNEY ENDS
Hey you,
Last Saturday, you may have watched the _Raiden_ (Hasan) vs Spring showmatch (Twitch replay available), which in many ways was primarily a gift to those two veteran players:
— Giving Hasan the chance of facing pro players in a big event, after a six year break from AoE2;
— Handing Spring the opportunity to prove himself as a legit pro, as his recent evolution on the leaderboards showed a lot of promise.
These players were inaugurating The Seven Deadly Sins, a brand new 1v1 RM showmatch series organized by me, casted by
_Ra_ and
bruh.
Last Saturday, you may have watched the _Raiden_ (Hasan) vs Spring showmatch (Twitch replay available), which in many ways was primarily a gift to those two veteran players:
— Giving Hasan the chance of facing pro players in a big event, after a six year break from AoE2;
— Handing Spring the opportunity to prove himself as a legit pro, as his recent evolution on the leaderboards showed a lot of promise.
These players were inaugurating The Seven Deadly Sins, a brand new 1v1 RM showmatch series organized by me, casted by
A HARD-EARNED SUCCESS...
Contrary to what some folk thought, the genesis of this event was spontaneous (idea came 1st of March), just like my two previous events were (Noobs of AoC aka NAoC, and Squires).
The short amount of time led to some issues — more on that later — that needed to be resolved swiftly, as there was merely twelve days between the Hasan vs Spring idea germinating in my head, and the showmatch itself.
Quite a bouquet of mishaps (no main caster / prize pool person at one point, he just left!!), when you have lots advertising at hand, in order to farm the 250$ you promised to the players.
Advertising only is the tip of the iceberg. Admin work requires a lot more of behind-the-scenes work, in order to make sure the show meets your vision and runs without hiccups.
A mission to pursue without me even having a computer, but a simple phone.
I should've advertised on Reddit way earlier than the day before...
Still, raw post-event numbers showed T7DS was a convincing success:
— All players and casters showed in time (except Grathwrang due to some starting hour confusion), the seven games were short and aggressive, the viewers were present and liked the show.
We hit a cumulated +700 viewers peak when Memb streamed part of the showmatch on his channel.
Notably, Hasan and Spring had a blast! They're sharing a 255.83 USD prize, and got their payment on Monday. What Philippe promises, he delivers!
Apart of rare people disappointed by the final score — one player had some preparation brainfarts the day of the showmatch —, the reception I got from T7DS was very positive, positive enough to warrant a sequel.
I was impressed by both players performances:
I have never seen Spring play seven games in a row that clutch, that precisely well in my life, I really recommand a watch if you missed it.
Hasan also played very well, especially after being back after only four weeks. Last game aside, it was a close series throughout.
I consider it my best event to date without a doubt.
An AoEZone member missing the mark by 245.83 USD.
...BUT YOU ARE WELCOME TO SAY OTHERWISE!
...BUT YOU ARE WELCOME TO SAY OTHERWISE!
Let's hear your opinion, and make T7DS II even better!
(Initial maps/rules/settings here for reference)
How much did you like the settings?
(Seven game format, maps, no ban/snipes/steals civ draft, etc.)
How much did you like the players featured and their performance?
Do you have any other remarks on the showmatch?
Do you have any suggestions for The Seven Deadly Sins II?
GONE BUT NOT ENTIRELY
My plans after the showmatch were clear and as firm at it gets: The Seven Deadly Sins was intented to be my swan song to the Age of Empires II people.
I was determined to leave any AoE2 related activity, for at least two years, but it would most likely be four or five.
You might wonder what is the point to leave, especially at a time where AoE2 scene is in an upward trajectory, and is at its most exciting point. That, when I still love the game.
I need to leave because of the bitch that real life is. I am a very private person on the internet, so I'm keeping in short and undetailed: my life is endangered, as crude and literal as the word gets, if I don't spend my AoE2 time in other projects right now.
Everyone's interest is better than mine
The reception of The Seven Deadly Sins simply has been too kind to me.
I've been getting 15+ messages, from noobs, trolls, unknown fans, experts, very old-school players, all kind of people I love in the community, saying they liked T7DS a lot, praised this simple working formula, and can't wait for what comes next from me. I didn't expect that much.
As T7DS was meant to be a pilot episode from the beginning — plan was to reboot it after my 2-5 year break —, as I recieved a huge promise of donation for a next iteration, it was an evidence I couldn't just call it quits.
I got to find a solution in the middle, between saving my life, and making sure the legacy of The Seven Deadly Sins and Philippe's spirit still remains in the Age community.
Community first, especially with all the great moments it has given you, for eight years in my case.
I've been getting 15+ messages, from noobs, trolls, unknown fans, experts, very old-school players, all kind of people I love in the community, saying they liked T7DS a lot, praised this simple working formula, and can't wait for what comes next from me. I didn't expect that much.
As T7DS was meant to be a pilot episode from the beginning — plan was to reboot it after my 2-5 year break —, as I recieved a huge promise of donation for a next iteration, it was an evidence I couldn't just call it quits.
I got to find a solution in the middle, between saving my life, and making sure the legacy of The Seven Deadly Sins and Philippe's spirit still remains in the Age community.
Community first, especially with all the great moments it has given you, for eight years in my case.
Softening up or trying too much? Philippe knows where the line is.
Let's not bullshit each other: internet trolling has much more chances to go wrong, in this 2021 world.
A world where trigger warnings for children movies are now a thing, and social justice issues seem more important than the impoverishment of the low and middle class, and the declining of our liberties / our quality of life in general.
"Just don't hurt my feelings and you'll be allowed to talk to me."
This narrative has extended to AoEZone where annoying dramas can be triggered out of vapor (when no one would've bat an eye eight years ago).
Dramas are well on their way to be the #1 subject on this website, dethroning discussions about the game itself. If it's not the case already.
This has gone so bad that even private discussions from years ago have been scrutinized, to try and feed the DramaZone monster.
In this context, is there still a place for a character like Philippe le Bon, who has built his reputation among the community as the #1 noob & troll master?
Short answer: I don't really care, when I'm here, I'll keep doing what Philippe does.
Long answer: Strangely enough, from the discussions I had with AoE2 people these last two years, there are more people thinking that I've gone soft!
Not like they want me to go Deathcounter mode either. They think my more approcheable behaviour, is more of a maturity thing, that makes me less feral than before. Which it probably is.
The guys in the AoE2 interwebs who find me offensive above reason, are actually rare compared to the ones saying I should be more vindicative. And these nay-Philippe very often follow the same profile:
"I'm a content creator"
Hi i'm Jesse Wellens...i'm a creator...ummmm- E3
Nice save there jessejesse wellens messes up at the EA E3 2017 Press Conference
youtu.be
Undesired AoEZone wurst
The perks of defining yourself as an Age of Empires II player second, and "content creator" first, whether you prefer to dub yourself a profesionnal streamer, a YouTuber (or videast), an influencer, a gaming comedian... are multiple:
— You appear have a much closer, genuine, respectful relation to your audience;
— You appear less self-centered, as dedicating hours and hours to become the best to one game is viewed as one of the most selfish activities ever, right?
Training hours and hours, often off-stream just to get money from tournaments? How greedy.
The reality couldn't be more wrong.
In Age of Empires II, you can't really make a living from tournaments alone, unless you're like in the top 2-8.
That's why you have to diversify your activities in order to make your two ends meet: AoE2 coaching (with current prices varying from 7 to 500$ an hour), streaming, YouTube content, influencer with social media exposure...
...to an extent where your AoE2 skills become less important than your subs and ad-revenue, and where you fear for your own image at the first gust of wind.
STEP ON THE TROLL DAD! STEP ON IT!
This self-image obsession of these content creators lead hyperbolic reactions when:
A) They meet the most minuscule criticism on their actions, present or past;
B) They are seen associated with controversial figures of the community, including people with right-wing political stances, people who have suffered any sort of controversy in the past, people who are viewed as trolls, attention whores, drama-makers, etc.
In short, people with a strong personality 11.
Their reactions can be very aggressive in private:
It was cute and funny to witness a random dookie wurst on the Seven Deadly Sins thread, with the main caster / prize pool person leaving me forever, since sausages are immensely scary.
Sometimes, it's not that funny.
Some messages I recieved 6 to 10 days ago were (I'm sparing you the typos and the caps lock):
"I hope your showmatch fails" // "Haha get rekt you're alone now, enjoy your failure" // "Hope it serves you a lesson" // "I'd rather suck a (racist remark) **** than helping you advertising your (homophobic remark) pathetic event".
Surely the most UFOesque lesson on respect I've recieved in my life.
I won't give any names, but two of them are sub-2k streamers, chances are you've watched them once.
Protecting the community from its "problematic" elements, merely means splitting the community in half
For how few men and women who actually keep the tournaments going are, I strongly believe the AoE2 community should work as a whole.
Barring extreme nuisances like hackers and cheaters, trying to pushing individuals outside from the party doesn't help the integrity of our community, but effectively:
A) Makes MUCH more vindicative the ones that are left out, or feel left out;
B) Creates two caricatural camps, the "good innocent sheep" camp and their followers, often new-school leaning...
And the "look we're extreme and subversive", often old-school leaning camp and their followers.
By trying to weed out AoE2 main party, of some big-tempered major casters / members that have given for the community for years...
(since 2013 in my case, with AoCZone postings, creating guides on Steam, mods, events, participating in community games as Harald Hardrada here, tournament participations — here's me vs DauT, cocasting notably with Katsuni, general friendly help, etc.),
... you're not cleaning up the community, by creating a big party bubble, and a small pathetic baby bubble, like you think you're doing.
You're just artificially creating two camps of the same size in the same game.
The AoE2 community as a mass of players and viewers don't care about your egoistic petty dramas, about the "who hosted what".
They're just avid to watch good games, wherever they can find them.
That's it. I know my values. I only had three regrets in my whole AoE2 adventure, and I've already done the reparations to the people I owed.
So I'm just deaf from lessons about """ muh respecting the community""" from people wishing me harm by DM, or selling their AoE2 guidance at laughable prices, when I didn't pay myself a cent for all my admin work in T7DS, despite all the turbulences you shat on me.
God those pitiful DMs...
"Laugh and party at the sight of my event being crashed"? What were you thinking?
Future events — What's next?
Working with expert players instead
On the flipside, one lesson I learned from T7DS...
(apart that passion, grit, goodwill, and genuine friendships allows you to create awesome 250$ events with a damn phone!)
...is even with large ambitions for an event, I should always favor casters who are pro players and I'm in friendly terms with, even if they have a small audience.
I should always favour this way of collaborating, over the traditional pro-caster / pro-player casting model AoE2 generally favours.
The casting is better, as pro players have a better grasp of what other pro players are doing. The anecdotes are golden, as both the casters played the players featured in the event hundred of times. The banter is better, as they just say what they think, raw and unfiltered.
And it's more enjoyable to work with friends, as it doesn't feel like work.
You get it, everything's better!
I love this concept of a pro player duo casting T7DS. This concept will be cemented for the next editions.
Lending T7DS, not giving it... as the latter means giving up on it
If I must take a break from the community for life obligations, how could I ever be the admin of a demanding event?
Believe it or not, I already thought myself this question seven years ago.
Back then, I was working on a weekend event, 100% noob and troll as I loved to say. It was called Noobs of AoC, or NAoC for short.
Seven years ago for legimate personal reasons, I had to take a break from AoC. Then some person went to me and was like "Hey look Philippe, I'm reviving NAoC"!
I was like "k".
We had NAoC 2, and NAoC 3 a few months later.
It was horrendous. Like, I was ashamed of it, to the point I refused to participate in NAoC 3. Really terrible, as half the essence of the tournament vanished.
Look at all these beautiful AoCZone trolls... this is what NAoC was about!
Indeed, the AoCZone troll part was completely gone.
It wasn't NAoC anymore, just a 1v1 tournament devoid of identity with expert tournament-like settings.
Slapped with 11xx boys and girls unknown from the community, who posted like seven times on AoCZone, and three times to schedule a time to play NAoC.
When you remove half the feet of a table, you don't get a table anymore, you just get a weird plank with weird appendages.
Since then, I was categorically against giving my event IPs to anyone. It just would never be a good fit.
Truth is, there is only one Philippe le Bon in the community.
Noob and troll, with AoE2 knowledge and little past mod/event contributions, and contacts with pro players simply don't exist.
Yet earlier in this post, I wrote "community first" and "what Philippe promises, he delivers".
After days of research in order to find a good match in an other person, the idea of giving T7DS a worthy continuation, with me stepping back to take care of my life, finally came into fruition.
Believe it or not, I already thought myself this question seven years ago.
Back then, I was working on a weekend event, 100% noob and troll as I loved to say. It was called Noobs of AoC, or NAoC for short.
Seven years ago for legimate personal reasons, I had to take a break from AoC. Then some person went to me and was like "Hey look Philippe, I'm reviving NAoC"!
I was like "k".
We had NAoC 2, and NAoC 3 a few months later.
It was horrendous. Like, I was ashamed of it, to the point I refused to participate in NAoC 3. Really terrible, as half the essence of the tournament vanished.
Look at all these beautiful AoCZone trolls... this is what NAoC was about!
Indeed, the AoCZone troll part was completely gone.
It wasn't NAoC anymore, just a 1v1 tournament devoid of identity with expert tournament-like settings.
Slapped with 11xx boys and girls unknown from the community, who posted like seven times on AoCZone, and three times to schedule a time to play NAoC.
When you remove half the feet of a table, you don't get a table anymore, you just get a weird plank with weird appendages.
Since then, I was categorically against giving my event IPs to anyone. It just would never be a good fit.
Truth is, there is only one Philippe le Bon in the community.
Noob and troll, with AoE2 knowledge and little past mod/event contributions, and contacts with pro players simply don't exist.
Yet earlier in this post, I wrote "community first" and "what Philippe promises, he delivers".
After days of research in order to find a good match in an other person, the idea of giving T7DS a worthy continuation, with me stepping back to take care of my life, finally came into fruition.
Two tournament administrators?!
The Seven Deadly Sins II will have two tournament adminstrators.
The second administrator is a person who already proved his trust in managing part of TD7S.
We share the same noob spirit, coupled with a heavy passion for the game, and its experts that made the scene rumble for two decades.
I'm lending it to him, not giving it.
I will still be behind the theater wings, but he will take care of most of the heavy lifting, so that I can concentrate on my personal life, as I urgently need it now, and for the couple years to come.
/thread /Philippe le Bon
As I said, I'm gone but not entirely.
This is my last message as an "active" poster in the Age of Empires II community.
I'll try to keep reading AoEZone like twice or thrice a month.
Daily, even weekly posting is out of question, but if I ever give necessary news, it will be on this thread.
I doubt I'll even have the time to lurk on AoE2 streams...
If I come back full-time in 2-5-whatever years, I'll have a good computer, a nice stream, and money to keep you guys providing the finest AoE2 entertainment, including dope new tournaments.
The Seven Deadly Sins II will happen very soon, all the settings will be approved by me beforehand, in order not to kill its original spirit.
The announcement thread will come after Hidden Cup IV closure. It will very likely not be posted by me, but by the second administrator instead.
You will love the two new players — they're already training! — and the pro casters we've prepared for you.
We already have a 200$ donation for it, hopefully the prize will keep growing thanks to you.
Lots of surprises to come.
We are making The Seven Deadly Sins II harder, better, stronger
(hopefully not faster as this time, one Imperial war would be nice :3).
Wait next Monday to know everything!
(This post has been edited once to fix a picture. Stupid AoEZone.)
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I'm going to miss you guys.
I kinda hate big ups and thank you's, because I will surely forget a lot of people. So my thanks will be sent in private.
The Seven Deadly Sins weekend series is in very cautious hands and will remain alive, because you crazy AoE2 community matter so much to me, even with all your imperfections.
I don't ****ing care about these, they give you charm. 11
Just take care of yourselves, family, friends and loved ones okay?
Remember we're weighing down this Earth only for a brief moment. So try to make your steps history.
Philippe always wins in the end despite the smelly haters.
So grateful for all the good moments we shared together. Love you all. Gone but not entirely.
Philippe le Bon,
#1 noob and troll™ in Age of Empires II since 2013.
This is my last message as an "active" poster in the Age of Empires II community.
I'll try to keep reading AoEZone like twice or thrice a month.
Daily, even weekly posting is out of question, but if I ever give necessary news, it will be on this thread.
I doubt I'll even have the time to lurk on AoE2 streams...
If I come back full-time in 2-5-whatever years, I'll have a good computer, a nice stream, and money to keep you guys providing the finest AoE2 entertainment, including dope new tournaments.
The Seven Deadly Sins II will happen very soon, all the settings will be approved by me beforehand, in order not to kill its original spirit.
The announcement thread will come after Hidden Cup IV closure. It will very likely not be posted by me, but by the second administrator instead.
You will love the two new players — they're already training! — and the pro casters we've prepared for you.
We already have a 200$ donation for it, hopefully the prize will keep growing thanks to you.
Lots of surprises to come.
We are making The Seven Deadly Sins II harder, better, stronger
(hopefully not faster as this time, one Imperial war would be nice :3).
Wait next Monday to know everything!
(This post has been edited once to fix a picture. Stupid AoEZone.)
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I'm going to miss you guys.
I kinda hate big ups and thank you's, because I will surely forget a lot of people. So my thanks will be sent in private.
The Seven Deadly Sins weekend series is in very cautious hands and will remain alive, because you crazy AoE2 community matter so much to me, even with all your imperfections.
I don't ****ing care about these, they give you charm. 11
Just take care of yourselves, family, friends and loved ones okay?
Remember we're weighing down this Earth only for a brief moment. So try to make your steps history.
Philippe always wins in the end despite the smelly haters.
So grateful for all the good moments we shared together. Love you all. Gone but not entirely.
Philippe le Bon,
#1 noob and troll™ in Age of Empires II since 2013.
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