All communities have their ups and downs and right now AG is in a bit of a slump. Over the last couple of months we discussed several options of how to manage AG more efficiently both for management and for the members themselves. AG was at the edge of shutting down completely but Meo and I did not want to give it up. AG has some infrastructure issues that need fixing, as Meo and I can no longer put in the 40+ hours a week due to real life issues. Therefore, we had to make some serious but needed changes in order to keep AG alive.

The most dynamic change is that AG will not be sponsoring any TF2 teams of any sort for the next season. We were hoping to keep the invite position in ESEA but we unfortunately cannot 100% support a team to attend LAN without a sponsor. Even though the invite teams were fine with the contract we put in place, it is still not in the best interest of AG or the team to not be able to guarantee LAN at that level. Therefore, AG will not sponsor another invite level team until we can 100% guarantee LAN. We will have discussions with all the AG teams about what went well and what things were of concern during the sponsorship period. We want to let all the teams know that we appreciated the time they spent with AG, the people/teams they have mentored, and bringing the community some exciting games.

The second majour change we are enforcing is the applications and membership process. Applications will be opened again in the beginning of August. When the applications are opened there will no longer be a mandatory orientation session. In place of orientation there will be a letter of response that outlines the community expectations. We hope all current members will remain and be active in the community.

The Mentoring program will also be under reconstruction. We will currently keep the mentors we have and try our best to accommodate those who need/want assistance with their game play. We are always searching for more mentors and assistance. Please feel free to ask on an individual basis and we will do our best to accommodate.

As for our EOR sponsorship nothing will change here as EOR is in support of AG on many different levels. As a community we still want to support our gracious sponsors by promoting their servers and service. In addition, AG will be holding monthly TF2 events which will be starting after this season which is in April. The specific event will be announced soon. EOR, eXtv and AG have now joined forced as “The Unit” to bring the TF2 community monthly events.

We apologize to our loyal AG community members for any confusion or disruption during this break. We are hoping that this much need pause will rekindle AG in August and bring back its spark that it once had. There are several things you can do as an AG member. We ask that you remain and post on the forums, be active in events and join us on a regular basis in the mumble. We are always open to feedback and want to hear from you about what you would like to see AG do in the future. What kinds of things do you see as being issues of concern? Is there a team picking process you would like to see, an event that you want held, maybe you know of a mature, experienced admin who wants to help us lead the community? All of these things you as a member can bring forward.

AG has come too far in such a short period of time that we do not want to see it fall. Please help us in keeping AG alive so we can continue to be a positive force in the TF2 community. If anyone has any questions or concerns about this post you can contact me through steam, catch me in mumble or e-mail me at nahanni@agcommunity.org.