Dear EA,

I have been thumbing through your site in the wake of the Battlefield 2 release, and I came across this gem of a community update at http://www.eagames.com/official/batt...yupdate_060305. For reference, I have reproduced it below.

Community Update - 6/3/05

To Play (Ranked) or Not to Play (Ranked)
Now that Battlefield 2 has gone Gold, we felt it would be a good time to share our plans for Ranked server configurations with the community. Also, we thought that some insight into these settings would be useful for prospective Battlefield 2 players (those new to the franchise as well as those who are not so new) in determining which servers will provide the best possible player experience for a given player. Obviously not all players are built the same and while some players will take to the highly competitive Ranked servers like fish to water, we are also certain that many other players will prefer to play in relative safety on Unranked servers.

Ranked Servers
Ranked servers will be where the hardcore bump heads and clash knives. All Ranked Servers will be configured to provide the definitive competitive Battlefield experience. Friendly Fire is on, and TK will be punished by default, so all players will need to use their tools wisely and watch out for the tools that have been deployed by their teammates. If, for example, you have a hankering to be the best sniper to ever stare down the sights of an SVD in Battlefield 2, these are the servers on which you will have to walk the walk. If you’d rather not spend your time trying to figure out where the world’s #1 sniper is popping your melon from, see below.

Ranked servers will be heavily administrated and have Punkbuster on. The integrity of the stats system is of paramount importance to EA (and of course to those participating in it) and so we will be monitoring things constantly. At the end of the day, Ranked servers will be a safe, regulated environment on which the most competitive players will be spending their time. If this environment doesn’t sound right for you, that’s great. That’s what Unranked servers are for.

Unranked Servers
These servers are the wild cards – every one will be different, set to suit a specific part of our community (that part can be an individual player turned server operator, whole clans or even fan websites). The one thing these will all have in common, however, is the lack of pressure to meet the high standard of play we will expect on Ranked servers (i.e. don’t be a nuisance, don’t break EA’s Terms and Conditions and strive to be a team player).

Unranked servers will be the best environment for new players to learn Battlefield 2, though you will need to find a server that best suits your learning needs. Peruse the settings that we highlight for you on the Internet browser when you select a server – we encourage new players to learn the game on servers that have Friendly Fire set to off. On these servers, you won’t need to worry about your Commander’s errant artillery strikes, or the mines your buddy left covering each route out of a base. Even if you screw up, nobody’s likely to care more than a couple of seconds – after all there are no long-term consequences. That said, always be aware that there will be Unranked servers that are configured with more hardcore settings. Choose your server wisely.

Ranked Servers – A Higher Standard of Play
To play online, all users will create new user accounts for Battlefield 2, and in creating an account, you are accepting EA’s Terms and Conditions.

We will be enforcing these Terms and Conditions across all Ranked servers, whether they are operated by EA or by one of our partners. We encourage all prospective Battlefield 2 players to become familiar with these Terms and Conditions.

Be ready. You won’t be able to hide behind "game.changeplayername" any more.

Now that we are post-release, we can more thoroughly assess your claims from June 3rd. And in that assessment, I find that you have misled the public, shown a great deal of ignorance towards Unranked servers, and shown a great lack of foresight with regards to your Ranked servers.

The Ranked server situation is chaotic at best. The overflowing population of BF2 competes for precious server space in a quest to legally unlock weapons for themselves (as unlocking via Python earns a delisting). The teamplay and squad action promised is lackluster at best, as most players are passersby hoping to get a better sniper rifle on their favorite "Allow Global Unlocks 1" Unranked server. Those who are not hoping for a mere unlock -- "the most competitive players" -- seem rarely to identify with the concept of team, instead taking actions that improve statistics instead of gameplay. These are not the things promised with Ranked server play.

Hand-in-hand with this misrepresentation is the implication that Unranked servers are beneath Ranked servers, and beneath contempt. "The one thing these will all have in common, however, is the lack of pressure to meet the high standard of play we will expect on Ranked servers (i.e. don’t be a nuisance, don’t break EA’s Terms and Conditions and strive to be a team player)." To lump a group of servers together like that simply because they aren't EA-controlled is at best laughable, at worst despicable. As a counter-point, I offer the Battlefield 2 servers at www.tacticalgamer.com, where night after night one can bear witness to organized squadplay, a functional chain of command, and the high standard of play promised (and noticably lacking) from the Ranked servers.

I believe you owe the Battlefield 2 audience -- particularly Unranked server operators such as those at TacticalGamer -- an apology for your community update of 6/3/05. You also owe it to the community to find a way to make the Ranked server gameplay quality match what can be found in places with ostensibly lower standards of play.

Thank you for your time.
pokerface