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I've been there, done that for pretty much everything in ZH. Note that I will say right now that I did not start off as a massively uber-turtling noob, nor did I finish as an elitist, rushing prig. Whenever I have played (and I have played most of the people on FS currently) I have always played to have fun. It has never been in my mind 'Oh no I won't do that' or 'Screw the lot of you I'll do it my way'. It's always been 'Lets have a laugh and see where this goes'.
As a ZH player I would say that I was always quite strategic in my play - I knew my opponents and how they played by the end of my time on ShW, and as a result, I would adapt my playstyle to the faction they were playing as. So yes, sometimes I rushed. Sometimes I turtled. Sometimes I played to turn players on each other. Whatever suited me. So I've played through pretty much every style (although I never did manage to beat Erik iirc). Aaron, I remember the days when you were a little noob yourself, desperately imploring people for hints and for them to go easy. We did, but we also gave you a run for your money when we thought you could handle it. In this essence, we held the middle ground that Wiz mentioned earlier - the 'tough love' area. As we are (nearly) all friends here, we are capable of pushing each other should we need to, but most of the time, we play for the sheer love of playing, and whatever comes out of that, so be it. I'm not going to get angry at somebody turtling their life away in ZH or TF2, as there is always a way around it. But likewise, you can beat a rush, and if you do, you're likely going to have chance to kill the opponent off.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that there is no right way to play a game of ZH anymore. As Soup rightly states, by altering the ruleset you're inherently altering the balance of the game, thus why I always stay well clear of any server/game that has been modded outside of a way that the producer has creatd it unless it is a legit mod. For example no-crit TF2 servers. I don't go near them because the crit system is part of the game, and I refuse to play without it - I curse and swear when I lose out to that bastardised critrocket that has just wiped me off the face of the earth, but I also love it when I do that to someone else. In turn, I hate losing to a rush, but pulling one off is great too. Gaming inherently causes us to have emotions at both end of the spectrum, both love and hate. To be a real RTS gamer you have to know and experience both, and realise that every cheap tactic can be beaten, and every cheap tactic can be used. If you refuse to both love and hate every part of the game, you don't know the game in full. I could be a lame little shit in ZH, but I also had some great moments, and I don't think anyone would have called me arrogant, or irritating. Gaming is a passion, but you have to separate that passion from your opinion of the game - the game is what it is, and no manner of crying, bitching, moaning, or forcibly trying to change people is going to make the game change.
Finally, to quote Aaron earlier:
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More or so "Thanks for teaching me how to play dude i appreciate it"
That's great. But you need to remember none of us are noobs here. We've been playing games for years, and whether you love us or hate us, we're probably not going to change our playstyles now. All we can guarantee is that we will provide good conversation, and a fun game if it's not taken too seriously. Part of the thing that drove me away from ShW was the sheer ultra-competitive nature it began to develop. We all knew the rules regards the balance/etc, sometimes we broke them. It was fun. Bitching about broken balance was the most infuriating thing there was when it was serious, but also quite fun when it was lighthearted. You just need to trust the people you play with to do the right thing for them, and to enjoy the game. Setting too many rules just makes people more likely to break them.
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