I think this thread has run it's course, both sides have made their arguments and Asch has graciously stepped in with instructions on how to bring everyone's ideas to the higher-ups.

The system in it's current incarnation will stay, if anyone has ideas for improving it please contact our Game Officers.

Here's Asch's post for reference:

Originally Posted by asch

Off topic (not directed at any one person)...

I don't like to see community members being condescending or disrespectful to each other. We're a community! We all have different perspectives and opinions. There is nothing wrong with that. We'll disagree. That's ok. But let's keep it respectful and still have a good time talking about and playing games.

When it comes to subscribing to TG, it comes down to choice. If someone believes in what TG tries to offer and can afford it, then great. If one of those two isn't true or there is another reason that someone chooses not to subscribe, then that is ok. They are still a member of this community as any other.

On topic...

Squad leaders being kicked can break the continuity on the server. That is a valid point. It is one that has been discussed over the years because we do struggle with the balance of providing benefits to supporting members and providing a quality teamwork experience.

The CO does not get kicked because we do try and promote the idea of folks stepping up into that lofty chair.

At one point in time we did have the SLs exempt. That did lead to an excessive number of smaller squads and broke down the teamwork. I don't remember if we ever tried to base it off of the number of people in the squad, however I would imagine that may lead to folks trying to game the system. If we were to exempt a SL of a certain sized squad that doesn't mean they are always contributing to teamwork. It would also mean SLs of smaller asset-based squads (e.g. attack chopper, tank, etc.) may get kicked more frequently.

We discussed and looked at more complicated algorithms over the years, however in the end we decided to keep it simple to implement, manage, and deploy over multiple servers. We chose to remove the longest playing non-SM. That provided non-SMs a chance to experience the game play on our server.

In the end there is no perfect solution. We've decided to reward the subscribers as best we can. It is up to all of the players to educate and teach new players how we play. It is up to the players to report folks that don't utilize teamwork or are disruptive. And It's up to the admins to remove those players and make the server as high a quality of play as possible.