Voting

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This article explains the voting engine that is included in the game, not any custom voting systems added by mods.

Voting is a game feature added in the Hatless Update (April 14, 2011 Patch). It enables players to call out a suggestion for players to either approve or disapprove. If enough approval votes are casted, the suggestion is implemented into the server.

A player can initiate a vote by clicking on the checkbox in the main menu next to the "Resume Game" button. The game will then exit out of the main menu where a voting panel is placed in the middle of the screen. Players make their suggestion on the type of vote they want along with any additional options before clicking on "Call Vote" below.

Servers can disable the in-engine voting feature by entering sv_allow_votes 0 in the console. It is recommended for any servers that rather want to use custom voting systems implemented by mods.

Voting Types

In the voting panel, players select the type of vote they want under the Issues column at the right. Currently, there are five types:

• Kick: Kick a selected player out of the server.
• RestartGame: Restarts the current round. If this comes to pass, then a notification will be given out to all players that the round will restart. A set number of seconds past before a new round begins, neither team getting any points.
• ChangeLevel: The current map changes to the selected map.
• NextLevel: The next map is changed to the selected map. Unlike ChangeLevel, the current map doesn't end.
• ScrambleTeams: The players are put in a random team. Note that this will immediately scramble the teams rather than until the end of the round. A notification is given to all players that a scramble will commence before it happens.

Any voting type that has a (Disabled) tag in front of it means it cannot be selected. Server owners can change what types are and aren't allowed using server commands.

Functions

Server owners have several commands to not only allow voting and what types of votes, but also several other functions as well. Through the use of server commands, the in-game voting engine can be customized to fit the server's needs.

Currently, these functions can be changed in voting:

• How much time must pass before the same type of vote must be initated again after it has failed the first time around.
• Whether spectators are allowed to vote or not.
• Whether the NextLevel vote includes extending the current map or not.
• Whether the NextLevel vote is a yes-or-no vote on a single map or a selection of choices of other maps that have the lowest playtime.
• How much time (in minutes) must pass after a player has been kicked before said player can rejoin the server.

Update History

March 9, 2011 Patch (Beta)

• Added in-game Voting system

March 11, 2011 Patch (Beta)

• Tuning pass on CallVote cooldowns/timers:
  • Increased the cooldown before a player can call another vote
  • Increased the cooldown before a failed vote can be resubmitted
• The CallVote screen now hides issues the server has disabled
• Increased the percentage of players required to pass a vote
• Kick issue: the player calling the vote no longer appears as an option in the Kick issue parameters list
• Temporarily disabled Kick and Changelevel
• Enabled nextlevel_choicesmode by default (to test it)
  • The server will automatically ask players to select the nextlevel shortly before the current map is over

March 18, 2011 Patch (Beta)

• Voting keys changed to F1-F5
• Further increased a vote calling cooldown

April 14, 2011 Patch (Hatless Update)

• Added a new vote system
  • Server convars added to control the vote system