This submission aims to integrate community-created game modes into a new matchmaking mode called “Arcade”. The intention is that these community game modes will be added into this mode. Furthermore, it aims to prevent these modes from impacting your statistics and skill rating (MMR) in Casual mode, and to clean up the Casual Mode map list to make it more organized.

Future game modes will be added by the TF2 team, not by me. This is a mockup; the TF2 team would need to add the necessary code to make this work.

For Arcade mode, have the Matchmaking/game coordinator identify it the match type as Bootcamp (and if possible, as Arcade but without using the Casual/Competitive components) and in the ZIP file contains textures and strings for "tf_english" and "tf_richpresence_english" to make reference to the Arcade mode.

Yes, but its current implementation is pretty chaotic. One of the problems is that the community game mode maps end up in the Misc category, which complicates when browsing. Having the Arcade mode will greatly improve browsing and will remind players (including new ones) that there are more game modes than just the main ones. It is also intended to avoid using the Casual Mode system and separate the official game modes from the community ones.


Community servers and official Valve servers offer different experiences. Official servers can support more regions, something that community servers commonly do not offer. Also, it would be friendlier for the fresh players.

The main reason is that Arcade is separate from Casual mode, which makes it impossible to add XP in Arcade. Also, some community game modes do not generate many score points, which would not contribute significantly to XP. In Arcade mode, the main goal is just to have fun.

The purpose behind keeping it separate is to avoid using the Casual Mode system. Both Casual Mode and Competitive Mode make use of the Glicko skill rating system. In Casual Mode, attempts to match you with players of similar skill group, which can make queues longer, especially in Alternate Game Modes or less populated servers. Community Game Modes are meant to be fun, not competitive. In Arcade mode, there is no need to use the Glicko skill rating system, which could significantly speed up queues by simply entering a server where there are people.

No, this has been done on purpose to avoid splitting players and generating more queuing time. However, I am open to the idea of adding the ability to choose maps.

The main goal is to have the community game modes exclusively in Arcade Mode, as both modes are official. However, I am open that those modes should be added if queue times improve significantly in Arcade after release.