- Joined
- Mar 10, 2013
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When it comes to new things being added or changed in the community, you have to remember that the changes come from one of three sources: the playerbase, the staff, or the owner. The examples you've explained mostly fall into the latter category.
The hub was done for a number of reasons for the creation of MCGamer, including displaying and encouraging players to check out the other gametypes we offer. The decision was made long before people even had an idea of what MCGamer even was, and it was put together confidentially for security/NDA. For that reason, the community wasn't supposed to know or give input. Chad gave the order with the best of reasons and intentions for the community as a whole, and I think that it's doing the good as it's intended to be. It's good and bad in different ways, but we shouldn't jump ship just because we prefer one type of Different over the other, especially when we lose a number of features and hours of work to do so.
The Lobby was another situation that is a case of, "working with what we were given". As this (admittedly agitated) post in the previous thread points out, the circumstances regarding the revamp were difficult to say the least. However, the orders were given with expressed intentions of bringing the community a lobby that was larger, updated, and fully functional for a community as large as ours. The original lobby couldn't be recreated perfectly, especially in such a small amount of time, and I'm impressed that the build team pulled off what they did in such a short amount of time as they did. In truth, a combination of a lack of time, lack of detailed references, and some Minecraft changes hindered the efforts to completely remake the lobby. But- and let me be clear- it was not for lack of effort, nor lack of willingness, nor out of some "do-it-our-way" mentality. We got our orders, and we did the best we could with what we had, but there simply wasn't time (or a definite need due to Chad's approval) for community input.
The other topics I don't feel comfortable talking about, either because I can't or because more research is necessary.
Look folks: we do care about you guys and this community, and we do everything we can to make things better for the population as a whole. However, remember that we sometimes have to do things that circumvents the necessity for community input. The wishes of Chad himself is something that circumvents popular approval because he's the owner of MCGamer, and it's his vision that's helped get this community to where we are today. There are plenty of features that were implemented because of his wishes that have become either fun features or overlooked necessities, so our trust in him isn't undeserved. But heck, how could we say no to Chad, the founder and owner, anyways?
We are making efforts to improve community involvement with decisions such as these. But the circumstances surrounding these instances in particular required us to side-step such efforts. These examples will be rare, should our efforts succeed and not be hindered by negativity and pessimism (on either side of the isle, may I say).
I also want to state that not everything is set in stone, and can be subject to change. If people don't think that the lobby is fun or is missing some features, feel free to suggest them. If you have a criticism, please be sure that it's constructive and detailed enough to say why something feels wrong and how to fix it. But also remember that general negativity, belittling peoples' efforts, and demanding the impossible are sure-fire ways to cause drama and prevent progress.
On the topic of the map approval... know that we're already in the process of improving it (which is another initiative ordered by Chad).
TL, DR: "I'm too lazy to read."
