A few suggestions.

Wow, nice to see this thread actually come together in the end!

I understand why suggestions come from a layman's point of view (eg ME!) can be frustrating for staff.

There's obviously a real art to trying to sift through comments and see what the players actually want from their gameplay experience, and see what could be reasonably implemented.

Also, comments and criticism can really hit hard sometimes, when in written form

bkoch5 you've obviously got real passion and enthusiasm for getting stuff done (that's what makes you a great assistant for Megaton!) - KEEP IT UP!

ezeiger92 you've clearly got a ton of things in line to get done, and it's appreciated. (same for other staff that work hard behind the scenes)

We have been getting more people coming through to the server, so the advertising and changes must be working. As already said, I too have seen lots of people struggle with the quiz, and some just leave because they can't find the answers on the wiki. So I'm looking forward to seeing that improved, and I'm happy to help out in anyway I can.

As for the player mall/shops at spawn, I'm interested to see what comes of that, it sounds like it's got potential!

I'll bear in mind the suggested 'Legend' format for any future suggestions I might have, anything to help keep the ideas flowing, and possibly going somewhere!

Regards,
Mega.

 

We are aware the quiz is a big barrier to new players staying. It's why the #1 priority right now is replacing the quiz with more of a tutorial which has been in development the last couple of months.

 

I just wanted to write one final point here and please THINK about this for a bit before you reply.

For many of the long time, good staff members, the reason why we are staff is not because we enjoy power, not because we're part of a good o'le boys club, not because we're masochists. At one time we had staff members who were in it for power or to be part of a club. I've done a good job of maintaining staff that I trust either help with system design, public relations, are active at helping people in game, and/or actual scripting / implementation. Every staff member I know does play their own niche role on the staff team. We all do it because we care about the server, have a vision of the kind of server we want to make and we want it populated with lots of players. No one likes investing hours and hours and hours into something for 10-20 people a week to enjoy it. Hell, I had more participation in my WoW guild I ran for 7 1/2 years.

The key take away I hope non-staff take from this post is that YES, there are times we feel disheartened because we put in a lot of work and don't see immediate gains in player count. This is one of the biggest contributors of burnout in any volunteer community. Put in work, people like to see results. Put in work and see flat or negative results and it breaks your drive. Sometimes things we think will help get players end up not getting much of any. Sometimes we just get burnt out on the long journey toward where we want to go. In the end, the best thing we can do is try to keep morale high, especially amoung the staff if you want to see positive change on the server. Admittedly this is one of my primary duties as lead admin is keeping that morale high, keeping my own morale high, and leading by example. Admittedly it's been a little low recently, but it has more to do with work stress and not having enough time for Shadecrest in the last two months.

What we don't need is negativity. We also don't need people throwing ideas which make no sense. It's frustrating. We can understand somethings players don't always think though (they aren't game designers, they are players). But when we are bombarded with pages of it, it's easy to get frustrated. We need people to first UNDERSTAND our vision and give constructive criticisms and reasonable suggestions about the vision. Get to specifics, understand where the server is and where we want it to go. Then make suggestions about what you disagree with.

The best thing you can do is ask meaningful questions. Sometimes asking questions not only helps you understand our vision, but helps us work out the vision. Sometimes questions break out things we haven't though of. We also need help understanding what things in the vision people think will have a bigger impact sooner than later. Some things in the vision only make sense to be implemented after other things are in place. Some rely on inter-connected systems.

We need partnership. We want the player base to trust that we have their best interest in mind. We need player support in crafting, perfecting, and guiding the vision of where we want the server to go. Then other than that it just comes down to staff time and prioritization.

 

Out of curiosity, what timezones are most staff members in?

 

EST, CST, otheramerican/canadiantimezoneST

 

Gee Ginger, when did you become staff and have access to the staff contact spreadsheet?

PST
EST
EST
EST
PST
PST
PST
EST
EST
EST
EST
AEST
AEST
EST
CDT
AEST
CEST

PST -7
CST -5
EST -4
CEST +2
AEST +10

Note to self, need to add more timezone details to these timezones for quick reference.

 

Looks like you don't have enough in EST, heh. Well, you don't have a lot of people playing during EST's early hours, so not as much staff power is needed then (though if something DOES happen, it's annoying). Of those timezones, which corresponding staff members are active? You don't have to give names, I'm just wondering at what time of day the staff is working the most/least.

 

If this is implemented will it still cost rupees or VPs. I understand if the decision has not been made, but i found a spawner that I don't need and could sell

thanks

 

OH! Will it be like this?

/movespawner
"This will cost 10,000r, type '/confirm' and left click mob spawner to confirm expenditure"
Player does so, and receives spawner to place.

Also, /cprivate will work on spawners to keep people from breaking them other than yourself. Any way to make it cheaper?

 

That would be awesome!

 

Words from moose:
"When somebody is willing to establish a new (good) mega shop i'll remove mine"

 

If only it was that easy. I want to, and I've actually tried a couple times in the past few months, but even now I still feel burnt out. I'm considering at one point starting completely from scratch again to see if that does something for me, since I won't have a shop to worry about and I'll have stuff to do. That said, I probably won't have much of an opportunity to play with work and such.