My name is Phoebe; which... in a very uninspired matter is also my nickname in Trackmania. I'm 38 years of age at time of writing and I currently live in Norway - and if you're a TM2 Canyon player there is a chance ever so small that you've heared of me or seen me around and about.
Truth be told I've only been playing TM2 Canyon since late June/Early August 2018 and with that I am likely one of the newest Canyon players that plays competitively or semi-competitively - but if it weren't for a few factors and events that occured I likely would never have gotten to a point where I would still be playing today.
I would like to discuss these factors with you and share with you how I became part of a community that I didn't know existed in the first weeks of playing.
The beginning
When the download of my game finished on Steam and I managed to get everything to work in Maniaplanet for the first time I was completely hyped up and excited - it was just after my 38th birthday and I kind of bought myself TM2 Canyon as a treat for myself. Little did I know though how empty the servers would be when looking at the Multiplayer list.
I remember quite clearly it was 6 players on SSM Shorts server, 2 players on some private server - and just a long list of empty servers following them.
So... Solo Campaign it was. Played through the campaign and learned how to handle the car a little bit and got bored after 2 or 3 days. I decided to check out Multiplayer again and was disappointed again but this time I decided I would join the "SSM Shorts" server which had 11 players then - the only server with people online.
It was kinda fun eventhough the server has a time attack mode where you get 5 minutes per map and I was getting ab-so-lutely wrecked. I couldn't even finish a map before the time was over because I was clueless - BUT IT WAS FUN!
because it was actually online with other players and it was insane to see how fast these guys were. I was determined to at least practise the game a bit throughout early August and see if I could become decent at it at least so I can finish a few times.And so it begins....
So alright - I had my first online racing experience in TM2 Canyon and the coming two weeks I would spend about 10 minutes to half an hour a day just going back to the same server just to practise a little bit and get to know some of the recurring players that seemed to be there everytime I joined. At this point I did notice that every once in a while it would get a bit more crowded with 10 to 15 players - but still.... that's not quite the online community is it?
If it wasn't for a few friendly individuals on SSM Shorts that were there everytime I would play - to just help me out and talk to me and feel like I was interacting with other players - I probably would have deinstalled the game by late August already and just decide I needed to learn how to drive TM2 Stadium (because of popularity differences). Instead I started finishing maps and sometimes I could *even* get a top 500 local. Woop Woop!
- started really having a blast with the game but still somewhere disappointed, "How dead multiplayer was".At least so I thought.
We're gettin' faster!
Second month of my Canyon Career. Now - I'm a talented videogamer; I've played videogames my whole life but especially race games I tend to pick up quite fast. So on the 4th week of Canyon I'm getting pretty decent times and I am determined to do "at least as well" as some of the friends I've made. Little did I know they were really fast players -special shoutout to SSM regulars Gunni, Noeh from HyperioN and Caz Shumiko for cheering me on and letting me know I started doing really well for such a new player - and as I'm starting to creep into the top 20 dedi's on some maps people started noticing me a little bit.
Some maps that load by now are maps I remember I played in my first week and I improve my "personal bests" from my first few days by 10 to 15 seconds..... on a 30 second track, ahum! - I learned how the jukebox works so I start requesting maps that I felt I could learn something on. I had the drive to get good, fast..... But it was still.... only about half an hour to an hour a day, casually... with a few people, wondering why such an awesome game has such a dead multiplayer.
HYPE!.....boys
Week 5 of owning the game. I'm fast. Very fast. I was in love with the game and I made it my mission to get good - I could smell the dedi's, I was getting so much positive attention from people around me and it gave me the drive to improve even more.
When at the end of my 5th week someone by the name "Hypeboys.Bull" joins the SSM server late at night and starts a friendly conversation with some of the veteran players.
I had no idea what the teamtags meant yet because "obviously" the game was dead - but this person Bull ended up chatting with me a little bit about random trackmania things. I didn't know he was spectating me; but when I told him how much I loved the game and that I think I was doing alright for just 40 or so hours in 5 weeks - he didn't quite believe that at first. Having casual fun for hours that night; he ended up spectating me through all of it - and suddenly he offered me, "A spot in Hypeboys" because "He couldn't ignore that amount of talent for this game, I was going to be insane one day". I accepted it because he stimulated me and triggered a small part of ego in me I didn't know I had.
And thus Hypeboys.Phoebe entered the world of Discord. AND BEHOLD!
I ran into a massive amount of players hidden away in their discord channels. I discovered a segmented TM2 Canyon community spread out over Discord in their own channels, their own teams, their own communities and their own private servers.
Finding my place
It was quite confusing at first because I was not sure what it meant to be a hypeboy. Bull had told me that hypeboys was considered one of the best, if not the best team in Canyon when it gets to competitions and I took it with a grain of salt because 1) I was so new, and 2) I still considered the game to be dead so what competition?
Bull pointed me in the right direction to practise competitive play by participating in this "Weekly Smurfs Cup" every saturday - which is how I found out about the awesome Smurfen community and met wonderful personalities and players.
It was also in the middle of SCL competition - so I got to see my newly aquired team mates battle it out against teams I never heard of - an actual competition!. Canyon multiplayer wasn't dead at all. it was just invisible.
At this point I still didn't take my place in the team serious because I was nowhere near as good as the previous slowest hypeboys player - but I did realise quite soon that I was going to have to really step up my learning process and get way better than what I imagined was required to be considered a fast player.
And then I fell into the same trap.......
Segmentation
Instead of tuning back in on SSM Shorts - I started practising maps over and over and over... on the private hypeboys server. I really wanted to learn how to set good times on the SCL maps that were being played. I played...and I played... and I started talking to people on Discord.
I participated in the first Smurfs Cup of my life and did quite averagely at 9th place and noticed that straight after the cup was over - people would just one by one close the game down again and head back to their private groups on Discord.
For a brief moment I felt both happy that I didn't quit playing TM2 Canyon because of a dead multiplayer community - and sad that the ALIVE community I found - was so segmented and isolated from new players, and players who do not get proper guideance towards the competitive side of the game.
This is a problem.
Today
Today.... I am fast. I've gotten good - but nowhere as good as I want to be.
I am the slowest hypeboys player; and there's no way I could beat anyone from HyperioN yet. I don't stand a chance against the fastest smurfs.
But I'm having the time of my life right now - because I was lucky enough that someone like Bull took the time and energy to head over to SSM Shorts and pick me up and show me that the game has so much more to offer than at first glance. Showed me that there is a community and online multiplayer activity if you know where to look.
Food for thought guys.... maybe a cry for help too.
A cry for help to all of you noteable players and team leaders to maybe sometime take the time to visit a public server once in a while. Observe the immense amount of talent present there - and maybe slowly guide players into your teams, and onto our discord communities. WE NEED IT.
I have seen over 300 different names come and go on SSM shorts in the short period I used to visit it regularly. Those players I don't see anymore. They might still play from time to time - but they sure as hell either don't know about us or they quit because they don't know how to bridge that gap between casual play on a public server and the spot I am in.
It's easy to claim that a game has a dead multiplayer - but in the end it's the players that control this. It's also in our hands to provide proper guideance and come together more often and show not only ourselves - but also new players with interest in the game - that there are WAY more active players out there than it appears.
Plans
And thus I have plans for 2019. I am working on a couple of projects that I will not bother you with at this point and stage. I am communicating with absolute sweethearts of men to make something big happen next year that could very well be a very positive injection into the online community and longevity of the game.
I will reveal more of this as time passes - but for now... maybe I inspired some of you to also take matter in your own hands.
I'm Phoebe, I was an absolute nobody and random shitty player on public servers. Now I'm a nobody that a handful people have at least heard of.
Who am I next year? I hope I'm even less of a nobody next year because you all helped me introduce new superstars to Canyon multiplayer. Players you have helped me guide towards our communities and teams and online events.
We'll see....
Phoebe out!
<3
