Decreasing playerbase

[Eiforia]

I saw 0 suggestions from You, Stanky, about maps.Topics on forum and etc. If you say about bad map choice.
Players don't like to play same maps? There are tons of map which never being played on the server.

[bOnO]

Most of the regular player base would like to have the regular players that did not follow these "rules" (whether they understood their indiscretions or not) unbanned to help increase player base.

Didn't someone say it concerns only 2 players? Great increase indeed. And since they are banned, have you stopped playing for this reason? ...

[Butcher]

Those 2 players were fun to play with and against was even more fun... many of us miss them...

[iRobot]

There are the many people who would have left the server permanently when they got banned previously also. Some come to the forum to try to make the team see reason, but are swiftly shunned.

It boils down to, do you want to have clean games with 6 players, or games with a little camping and back alley tactics that have 18-22 players.

[Earl_Vencar.:LLS:.]

There are the many people who would have left the server permanently when they got banned previously also. Some come to the forum to try to make the team see reason, but are swiftly shunned.

True, many casual players won't return after a ban, whether session or otherwise. But there is a good reason why many of those who complain on the forum are 'swiftly shunned' - have a good gander through a number of complaints and sieve through the countless lies and insults we have had to deal with. A good chunk of our bans are akin to common decency - Nazism, racism, sexism, harrassment; players who make such remarks, and have the cheek to complain about such, deserve what they get. In comparison to many servers, we're very lenient.

Additionally, I would wager an equal number of players have left the server citing the exploitation of weapon bugs and underhand tactics, hence why the specific BW 'banned strategies' exist (https://ldg-gaming.eu/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=3073). I don't find it surprising that this hasn't popped up for discussion, yet for me this is the reason why the playerbase has decreased. I find it uncomfortable that certain players here almost want a reversal of the rules, mistakingly thinking that such tactics are a). fun, and b). tantamount to keeping the playercount high.

For the more specific bans relating to BW, I think we'll all acknowledge that some bans were impulsive, but I've already stated that we rarely ban nowadays. It's a misnomer. The general consensus during this discussion seems to imply that the amount of bans is to blame for the decreasing playercount. Now, if anyone has any evidence of this whatsoever then I'll change my tact. Personally, I refuse to acknowledge this.

Also, i have noticed that there is a group of people here who are talking. They include admins. But they are not the whole 100% of players. Who are the rest we simply dont know. We were talking about things, admins were deciding things. But the rest were simply had to face the facts.

The forums needed to become more active. There are still players who constantly bitch and moan ingame, yet ignore the functionality of a forum in getting their points of view across. We can't do more in emphasising the existence of the forum.

Most of the regular player base would like to have the regular players that did not follow these "rules" (whether they understood their indiscretions or not) unbanned to help increase player base. Admins think that whether they understood their indiscretions or not, they should still be banned, which obviously continues to reduce player base. Some of the regular player base also think adding more maps, primarily because they are bored with the current map selection, would help to increase the player base, but some admins don't agree.

Unbanning the two permanentely banned players is not going to solve anything, and doesn't continue to reduce the player base. No admin has disagreed regarding reintroducing old maps, but as I stated we don't want to add back maps considered utter bollocks (those in the stats that result in a net loss of players, and those with a very high 'RQ' value). Your suggestion of adding everything is quite frankly ludicrous; it'll only result in more confusion, and a greater tendency to vote the same maps. Nothing will change. We need suggestions for maps, not continuous admin bashing ... your comments are not very helpful.

I feel like this week we're actually getting somewhere. It's been fun playing.

Just a suggestion: I still feel we need a noob friendly guide. We still get the odd randomer joining every night, but they have no idea what to do and so we lose them. I can write something up, no problem, if implementation can take place.

[Azarael]

Ultimately, what I think some people need to accept is that in a world where thousands of video games exist, no one game can be expected to hold attention for a lifetime. No proof has actually been offered that the loss of playerbase is anything other than natural degradation over time in an old game which lacks a source of new players, yet we have rife speculation being treated with the weight of fact.

My opinion's simple, if at risk of portraying me as arrogant; I abandoned the server.

[focus]

The forums needed to become more active. There are still players who constantly bitch and moan ingame, yet ignore the functionality of a forum in getting their points of view across. We can't do more in emphasising the existence of the forum.

In original, i meant guys who were not talking, moaning, etc at all. Who were
simply silent, but playing the game.
Ok, its possible to widen this group with guys who dont say anything informative.

I thought it was possible to take them into account when adjusting games.
For example, its you could imagine various kinds of them, like "complete stranger who just joined", "silent player, who repeatedly plays here", etc. Its possible to
think about what they might want. What they see. What they know. How they perceive things.
And then, adjust server accordingly.

My opinion's simple, if at risk of portraying me as arrogant; I abandoned the server.

I want to thank Aza for adminship. Of course, its your right to leave. And its great that we had such an commited admin,
who was doing so much. Had to endure our complaints and dumb cries.
And as i understand, not getting paid for that. Who have put several years of his youth of his single life
for supporting this. Its not easy, i know it from my personal experience.
Guess, lot of players here have no clue, how hard it is. They just take it for granted.
I hope you enjoyed those cries, coz it meant that the work is appreciated and public is not indifferent.

[Greedisgood]

My opinion's simple, if at risk of portraying me as arrogant; I abandoned the server.

Erasing a huge post. I enjoyed every moment.

[iZumo]

Ultimately, what I think some people need to accept is that in a world where thousands of video games exist, no one game can be expected to hold attention for a lifetime. No proof has actually been offered that the loss of playerbase is anything other than natural degradation over time in an old game which lacks a source of new players, yet we have rife speculation being treated with the weight of fact.

According to Gametracker, playercount of RACE / AS has not degraded, same goes for other servers (Freon at Core, ABA BW is roughly where it was before, etc.). While of course certain degratation comes to every server as UT2004 loses players, the other servers have not experienced recline of players like our BW Pro. I would find very strange, that the decline rate of our server would be higher than for other popular servers.

My opinion's simple, if at risk of portraying me as arrogant; I abandoned the server.

You know, the thing is, when improving the server, you don't proactively go and check if the playerbase is with you, or not. You just go in a way: either you're with me or GTFO (alias stuff like forced aim, bans for cheap tactis, and also as you say above with abandoning the server), rite?

The way the thing work IMO is that if you want to have a populated pro server, it has to have farming grounds that enable new players to build skill. Like it or not, part of those farming grounds are cheap kills in limited areas - which in our case unfortunately is the hip spamming. And also we know how pro players reacted on AS with balance modifications (like Calum) - dislike, as they were not used for them - which also means that skilled BW players were not likely to be with you, when you made many changes.

I fully understand that your (and other content creators) motivation was creating deeper and richer gameplay, and of course, one has to be motivated to support the server. But still, you got to know the impact of the things that you change and will not avoid making unpopular decisions.

[Azarael]

The problem with the other two servers is that they're uniquely designed to cater for the unskilled. Race is what sustains AS/Race, and nothing like it exists anywhere else. Invasion, similarly, is riddled with flaws and loved because of that.