"A Call for Communication's" Red Letter Day

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"A Red Letter Day" is a community event, hosted by the A Call for Communication group and ValveTime.net, for fans of the Half-Life series. If you want to participate, all you have to do is play Half-Life 2. From the group's Steam page:

"Why are we doing this? It will be a fun way to rally together, put Half-Life back in the spotlight and draw more people to our cause. We are not asking or demanding for anything; it will simply be a huge group of Half-Life fans playing one of the best games ever made. Who knows, maybe Half-Life 2 will even reach the top ten games played for that day."​

It's scheduled for February 4, from 11:00-11:30AM PDT (-8GMT).

If you do not own Half-Life 2, but you do own another Half-Life title, you are more than welcome to join by playing it. And you do not have to be a member of the Call for Communication group, either.

 

[Omnomnick]

I'm up for this, should be interesting if enough people take part.

 

[Xendance]

I'll do it too

 

[sixteenth]

Eh, why not.

 

[Vegeta897]

And Valve likes their data, so they will definitely notice the spike in HL2 activity.

And? Do you think Valve will be like "Oh! People must really like HL2! Let's get Episode 3 finished!"

 

[-smash-]

And? Do you think Valve will be like "Oh! People must really like HL2! Let's get Episode 3 finished!"

No one's looking for them to release the game quicker...

The groups bio explains what it's about.

 

[Vegeta897]

Oh yeah, that group. Right, I'll be on my way then.

 

[-smash-]

And what has this group done that you don't like exactly? I don't want to sully this news post by responding to your BS. But you're being negative for no reason at all.

I hope the rest of you take part. It's going to be a fun day.

 

[Vegeta897]

lol, jesus, calm down eh? I'm not being negative, I'm questioning the purpose. I think it's a fun idea by itself, but the reasoning behind it seems questionable to me. No need to get all defensive.

If you want to see real negativity for no reason, look at Darkside in this thread: http://www.halflife2.net/forums/showthread.php?181730

 

[surfrock22]

lol, jesus, calm down eh? I'm not being negative, I'm questioning the purpose. I think it's a fun idea by itself, but the reasoning behind it seems questionable to me. No need to get all defensive.

If you want to see real negativity for no reason, look at Darkside in this thread: http://www.halflife2.net/forums/showthread.php?181730

Hey, the purpose of the event is to give our group something fun to do, instead of only trying to gather members. Many people have responded positively to the idea, and I think it would be cool to see Half-Life 2 on the top 10 games played after so long.

You're right, Valve knows people care about Half-Life, and no one is questioning that -- the point of our event is to give 27k people something interesting and fun to do together, as a group, and even draw more attention to the Half-Life series.

Regardless of what happens, this entire process -- gathering as many Half-Life fans as possible around our idea/message -- has been a really cool experience. Personally, I've met a ton of nice Half-Life fans. I think it's really awesome to see thousands of fans come together in a positive light.

Anyway, I hope you'll join us.

 

[Vegeta897]

Right see, that explanation sounds much better. The part in the news post about Valve "noticing" just really seemed silly to me, as if it's going to mean something other than a big steam group got a bunch of people to play HL2 at the same time.

It is a cool thing to "bring back" hl2 like this, and I never intended to imply differently.

Good luck with your turnout!

 

[surfrock22]

Right see, that explanation sounds much better. The part in the news post about Valve "noticing" just really seemed silly to me, as if it's going to mean something other than a big steam group got a bunch of people to play HL2 at the same time.

It is a cool thing to "bring back" hl2 like this, and I never intended to imply differently.

Good luck with your turnout!

I think it's really a matter of getting a lot of people to notice and take part in the event/group, such as gaming sites and other fans, not just Valve (I'm sure they've been keeping an eye on us to some extent. )

Thanks for the kind words.

 

[adamkz]

YES lets do it!

 

[-smash-]

lol, jesus, calm down eh? I'm not being negative, I'm questioning the purpose. I think it's a fun idea by itself, but the reasoning behind it seems questionable to me. No need to get all defensive.

If you want to see real negativity for no reason, look at Darkside in this thread: http://www.halflife2.net/forums/showthread.php?181730

That post just sounded so dismissive to me. Sorry if I misinterpreted.

 

[Chris D]

Now everyone group hug!

 

[ríomhaire]

hosted by the A Call for Communication group[...]

We are not asking or demanding for anything[...]

And Valve likes their data, so they will definitely notice the spike in HL2 activity.

So what, they're demands for info have been met with silence so they've decided to start being passive aggressive about it instead? I find this far too amusing. Might join in this event though if I'm free to do so. It's an excuse to play Half-Life 2 again.

 

[Asknoone]

Apart from the novelty of it, this entire endeavour is pointless.

 

[Naph]

I am not waking up at 5:00 am to play a shitty game.

 

[Chris D]

I am not waking up at 5:00 am to play a shitty game.

...he says, posting on a fan site for said shitty game...

 

[Naph]

Who are you people?

 

[caste]

How interesting, if you are like a hamster who are sitting at home then do this.

 

[GeorgeWLucas]

Why are they doing it on a Saturday when the people at Valve will be out of office?

 

[ríomhaire]

Why are they doing it on a Saturday when the people at Valve will be out of office?

Because that's when people have free time to play video games all day instead of work.

 

[Chris D]

I guess so more people will be able to take part not being at work or school.

The statistics will still be there on Monday morning when Valve go back into the office though, I imagine.

 

[Omnomnick]

Apart from the novelty of it, this entire endeavour is pointless.

Watch out everybody, here comes Captain Samon McNofun...

Personally I think we all need to try extra hard to get Valve to notice us, just to prove Samon wrong.

 

[Cogen]

When I saw "Red Letter Day", my first thought was that they wanted everybody to send a red envelope to the Valve offices on the same day. That would have been kinda cool. Imagine their office just being swamped with thousand of red envelopes, all with nothing inside but a lambda symbol or something like that. Haha.

But meh, whatever... I'll play HL2. Why not... haven't played it in years!

 

[SWAT Pointmann]

It will be like throwing sand on a beach in regards to getting Valve to talk about Half-Life 3, but do what ever makes you feel good.

 

[surfrock22]

So what, they're demands for info have been met with silence so they've decided to start being passive aggressive about it instead? I find this far too amusing. Might join in this event though if I'm free to do so. It's an excuse to play Half-Life 2 again.

Yeah, I mean, I really imagined it as a fun event. It's not serious and it's something positive, so I don't really see why we all can't have a good time and relive some great Half-Life memories.

 

[Shem]

Déjà vu.

 

[brad92]

Apart from the novelty of it, this entire endeavour is pointless.

I think that's completely beside the point.

 

[Ennui]

Apart from the novelty of it, this entire endeavour is pointless.

About as pointless as playing any video game, sure. Or posting on a VG forum

I don't think anybody, even the people organizing this, believe it's going to cause Valve to do anything... it's just a fun little event to go back and relive the glory that is Half-Life 2. And maybe Valve will get a kick out of seeing HL2's play stats spike randomly on Saturday. The amount of negativity in this thread - on a Half-Life 2 forum no less - is a bit astounding to me. If you don't like playing HL2 then what the **** are you doing here?

 

[Shem]

About as pointless as playing any video game, sure. Or posting on a VG forum

I don't think anybody, even the people organizing this, believe it's going to cause Valve to do anything... it's just a fun little event to go back and relive the glory that is Half-Life 2. And maybe Valve will get a kick out of seeing HL2's play stats spike randomly on Saturday. The amount of negativity in this thread - on a Half-Life 2 forum no less - is a bit astounding to me. If you don't like playing HL2 then what the **** are you doing here?

Look at the group's page, if not their title. The only reason they're doing this is to provoke the beings of Valve to say something. Anything. And believe me, I'd be a millionaire if some guy gave me a nickel for every similar attempt that's been tried and came to naught. I love to view the glass as being half-full instead of half-empty, but the glass, due in no small part to Valve's wonderful clarity, has been undeniably drained to a drop.

 

[Ennui]

Being a glass half-full guy myself I view it more as a group of Half-Life fans just wanting to have some fun and play HL2 together. Sure the group that brings them together is one with the questionable (and rather entitled if you ask me) intent of "forcing" Valve to say something about Ep3, but this seems more like an event for fun than any kind of campaign to that specific end. Since that's also how they themselves are referring to it, I say we give them the benefit of the doubt rather than taking the opportunity to shit on them for something that is arguably only tangentially related. A simple analogy might be if the L4D2 boycott folks had organized a L4D gaming day - sure, the L4D2 boycott was the pinnacle of entitled fanboy stupidity, but there's nothing wrong with them taking advantage of the fact that the group is comprised of L4D1 fans to organize a day that everyone plays L4D.

Just my 2 cents. It just seems to me that all the hostility here is a bit silly seeing as how all they are doing is asking people to play HL2 at a certain time. I'm all for calling them spoiled brats for demanding things of Valve but I'm also all for playing and appreciating Half-Life 2

 

[surfrock22]

Being a glass half-full guy myself I view it more as a group of Half-Life fans just wanting to have some fun and play HL2 together. Sure the group that brings them together is one with the questionable (and rather entitled if you ask me) intent of "forcing" Valve to say something about Ep3, but this seems more like an event for fun than any kind of campaign to that specific end. Since that's also how they themselves are referring to it, I say we give them the benefit of the doubt rather than taking the opportunity to shit on them for something that is arguably only tangentially related. A simple analogy might be if the L4D2 boycott folks had organized a L4D gaming day - sure, the L4D2 boycott was the pinnacle of entitled fanboy stupidity, but there's nothing wrong with them taking advantage of the fact that the group is comprised of L4D1 fans to organize a day that everyone plays L4D.

Just my 2 cents. It just seems to me that all the hostility here is a bit silly seeing as how all they are doing is asking people to play HL2 at a certain time. I'm all for calling them spoiled brats for demanding things of Valve but I'm also all for playing and appreciating Half-Life 2

I really appreciate your last two posts and feel like you're spot on. While people may not agree with our general message and/or purpose, I just wanted to remind everyone that we aren't demanding anything. I think it would have been very easy to take the route of say the L4D2 boycott and feel "entitled" to something that is taken for granted and create another campaign of negativity. My original goal was to create a positive environment for fans who agree and choose to become members. Trust me, I've had my fair share of valid criticism taken from opposing viewpoints, and I think taking those perspectives into consideration has only bettered our group/general ideals.

I completely understand if you're not for what we are doing. I just had a few conversations with some of my Steam friends who have explained to me why they will not join the group, and they made terrific points. I think it's really easy to tear into our efforts, especially considering the parallels with the boycott group. Our argument/general message isn't perfect, much like no one person is; it has its flaws, but I am very happy with where we stand. Half-Life in general seems to be a touchy subject, and that's why I carefully planned a "letter" that I feel is both respectful and fair.

So, what if nothing happens? What if, in the end, Valve chooses not to address our concerns? That's perfectly fine. I've already gotten a lot more out of the group than I had originally intended, such as uniting thousands of Half-Life fans, making new friends and participating in fun events related to the Half-Life series; it's also an awesome feeling to know that others express those same emotions. I think this is the strongest showing we've seen for the series since the release of Episode Two, and that, to me, makes it all worth it.

 

[simon]

Perhaps do this for a mod afterwards as well, they need support as well

 

[Laivasse]

Fuggit, I'll be playing it. Don't need much excuse.

 

[Tony]

Like it or not, this is the only Half-Life related event going on these days. Episode 2 almost feels nostalgic because it's been so long.

 

[brad92]

I think the condemnation I'm seeing in general is absolutely ridiculous.

I’ve known Surfrock for years. He’s a great bloke, and he’s never been self-interested or harbored malicious intentions. He believes that Half-Life fans should be spoken to, not necessarily because he believes he deserves it or Valve owe it to him, but because it’s simply the best thing to do for everybody involved. Trust is maintained, conflict is lessened, expectations are kept relatively in check, and people are generally happier. Whether the group achieves its goal or not is irrelevant. Unifying the community and reinforcing people’s appreciation of and support for the series is enough to call it a success.

 

[-smash-]

Well said, Brad. That's spot on.

 

[MuToiD_MaN]

I'm going to be hosting a bachelor party that day, so I won't be joining in after all.