Gauntlet has been thrown down. Or at least, it sounds like it.

As you are probably well aware, Valve angered about 30,000 plus (and at this rate, it’ll grow to a hundred times that before the game launches) when they announced Left 4 Dead 2 at E3. They all formed a Steam Community Group saying that they were boycotting the game: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/L4D2boycott.

Now, apparently, someone has decided to counter. According to Blend Games (which the author of its story seems ready to agree with the latter, even refusing to link you to the boycott page, calling THEM “whiners” and that they “don’t deserve anymore hits”, along with them hoping that other outlets pick this story up. Too bad they didn’t say how other outlets would react), about 500 members have joined a “L4D2 Enthusiast Group”. This is basically a “PRO-cott” group to counter the boycott one. Democracy is here, right: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/L4D2Enthusiasts

Not so fast. See, for one, there’s only 500 members, far from the 30K plus on the boycott page (and that’s only those that found that page that want to say that they are boycotting the game, so that number could actually be bigger).

More importantly, though, the procotters got the entire POINT of WHY the boycotters are mad in their manifesto:

Hello all, and welcome to the Left 4 Dead 2 Enthusiasts! I would love to say, thank you all for joining.

Left 4 Dead 2, which is coming out November 17th, is supposed to be a great game. It has;

- 5 new campaigns.

- 4 new characters.

- 3 new special infected.

- 2 new common infected.

- 1 new campaign, where the infection has not hit.

- 20 new weapons.

- New graphics, and so on and so forth.

This really is a respectable sequel to the original game.

This was in response to the L4D 2 Boycott group, because a lot of people were against their opinions. Right now I will say, there is a freedom of speech, and I respect their opinion. But this isn’t just a group created against the L4D2 Boycott group, it’s also a group for Left 4 Dead 2 Enthusiasts.

We have only hit a short milestone in our expansion of players, but we have come a decent way. While the L4D2 Boycott group has around 30,000 members, we have around 255, and growing.

There are a lot of stupid things that the L4D2 Boycott group are complaining about. Here are some to name a few;

- The music played.

- The character design.

- The color of the game, etc…

In my opinion, these are some pretty stupid arguments, where all evidence came from a Left 4 Dead 2 Beta teaser trailer. May I remind you, a beta is not the full finished version of the game.

They are also saying things like; “Valve is a greedy company, only releasing L4D2 to get money!”

Okay… Well, guess what? Sequels happen! Lets see, hmm… CoD: World at War, Modern Warfare 2, a new Madden game practical every 9 months, and the list goes on and on… But no one has ever made such a big deal like this in respond to a sequel until now.

Valve is moving forwards. Yes they promised new content for Left 4 Dead, and guess what? They’re releasing it! Left 4 Dead 2 is a game for people who wanted a sequel, who will buy, and enjoy it!

I would also like to say this. From my knowledge, we have done nothing to the L4D2 Boycott group, but yet they seem to make themselves look worse each day by spamming this group. The only point they’re making, is how stupid they look. You know, not sure if you noticed this, but there’s this great invention called the “Delete button”, works well. See, when you post one of you attempted spamming, that probably took who knows how much time you had to make, I can get rid of it in a blink of an eye.

One last thing that I would love to say is; Thank you all for joining, I really appreciate it, I really do! I love the comments, and opinions that you guys have been leaving, and I read every single one of them. I am hoping that you all do your part by spreading the word, and keep this group alive.

There are several places where the manifesto is wrong. To prove this, I will just post the BOYCOTTERS manifesto for you to compare:

Want to contact the team? Write us at — l4d2boycott@gmail.com

The Left 4 Dead 2 Boycott is a group of individuals who have pledged to boycott Valve’s upcoming release of Left 4 Dead 2 on November 17th, 2009. We have assembled a manifesto outlining the basic consensus of many members of our community. (Note: this manifesto is a new version, which we have recently posted to keep our manifesto in line with the middle ground of our members. This is the correct group for the boycott)

WE RECOGNIZE:

-Valve is a company with financial needs and cannot be expected to survive without the release of new games.

-Judgment cannot be passed on the quality of Left 4 Dead 2 until its release.

-Left 4 Dead was, and is, a quality game which deserves the praise of the entire gaming community.

WE ARE COMMITTED:

-To holding Valve to its promise of free, continual updates to Left 4 Dead in order to build and sustain the community.

-To keeping the Left 4 Dead community together in order to improve the quality of online gaming.

-To supporting the model of continual updates Valve has set forth with its staple products like Team Fortress 2.

WE BELIEVE:

-The release of Left 4 Dead 2 as a stand-alone sequel will split the communities and decrease the quality of multiplayer gaming.

-The announced content of Left 4 Dead 2 does not warrant a stand-alone, full-priced sequel and should instead become updates (free or otherwise) for Left 4 Dead.

-Left 4 Dead has not yet received the support and content which Valve has repeatedly stated will be delivered.

-The release of Left 4 Dead 2 will make Left 4 Dead an obsolete purchase and inferior piece of software after only one year since release.

WE REQUEST:

-That Valve honor its commitment to release ongoing periodic content for Left 4 Dead.

-That Left 4 Dead 2 not be released as a stand-alone, full-priced sequel but as either a free update to Left 4 Dead or an expansion with full compatibility with basic Left 4 Dead owners.

-That Left 4 Dead owners be given discounts for Left 4 Dead 2, should it be released as premium content.

Therefore, we – the members of this Left 4 Dead 2 Boycott – promise to abstain from the purchase of Left 4 Dead 2 until our requests are addressed.

(Thanks to member “afternine” who wrote this manifesto, from which the staff made some slight modification)

На русском: http://l4d2boycott.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=announce&thread=194

Deutsch: http://l4d2boycott.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=announce&thread=195

Español: http://l4d2boycott.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=announce&action=display&thread=196

Français: http://l4d2boycott.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=announce&action=display&thread=234

***Please note: racism, profanity, and sexual content are not allowed in any form in our chatroom.***

So either the procotters got this wrong or they were flat out lying. Plus, I would LOVE to know who sent the pros those e-mails. And by the way, while sequels do come out all too often for the games listed in the procotters’ manifesto, Valve has not been one of those companies before, and they had promised content updates with L4D. And Valve has recognized the threat that this boycott is for them several times.

Finally, shame on the Blend Games reporter, Ryan Rigney, for being as biased as he was about this. Apparently, according to him, you can’t be a Valve fan unless you support everything they do, and you can never feel betrayed about anything they do. Even if he agreed with them, he shouldn’t have made it seem like you can only be a Valve fan if you fully support the Left 4 Dead 2 decision.

(A disclaimer, by the way: I, darkpower, fully endorse and support the Left 4 Dead 2 boycott. I think Valve deserves this backlash that is long overdue after using an outdated engine for all their games, and being way too lazy when it comes to even TRYING to develop for the PS3, in case the procotters forgot THAT little part of this equasion).