So I'm going to weigh in here from a server admin perspective. Personally, it seems to me the thrust of this debate so far has revolved around petty complaints of semantics and name calling.
The facts as I see them are: 1) Valve included a documented and supported plugin interface allowing for a menu system requiring the user to press escape and use a mouse to access. 2) Valve also included a documented but not apparently supported method for creating in game menu's 3) early plugin development used the first method and server Admins universally requested a better method for menu's similar to the old AMX system from HL1. 4) The mod community responded to this by using the second method and plugins using this method were widely adopted by the server admin community, because it allowed them to administrate their servers mid-game with only a minimum disruption to their game. 5) Valve released an update which disabled this functionality and nowhere in the release notes did they mention this functionality would be going away. The closest they came was this line "Made the radio menu more responsive" 6) The mod community was bombarded with bug reports of their plugins menu's suddenly not working and after investigation determined the menu function they had been using had been deprecated. What needs to happen in my opinion is that Valve needs to respond to the needs and wants of the server admin community by extending their menu API t allow for in-game menu's and further they need to at the very least provide complete changelogs for releases so we know why a plugin suddenly breaks. It would of course be far better for Valve to work more closely with the mod community to warn them of impending changes and this is exactly what they have asked for. But more importantly they need to either listen to the user community and provide the tools they ask for or allow plugin developers to find their own ways to satisfy public demand without actively trying to limit their capabilities. Just my opinion Brian "Duck" Holmes [H]ard|Gaming founder www.hardgaming.com _______________________________________________ To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list archives, please visit: http://list.valvesoftware.com/mailman/listinfo/hlds_linux
