HalfSquirrel
Diamond
- Joined
- May 4, 2012
- Messages
- 10,839
- Reaction score
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In the last few months, there have been many dramas over things that could have been simpler. Mistakes made by everyone to make it a lot more complicated than it was by exaggerating the problem. Situations and misunderstandings such as these are generally caused by a lack of information on the community’s part. This thread is directed more towards the staff, but I want everyone to see what I've brought up in this thread.
The first problem is you guys keep a lot from us. That's a subject I discussed earlier, but I never specified what I wanted to know because I had no idea how to start explaining what I thought we ought to know, let alone how to go about requesting that of you guys. Well, how about you start by instead of making simple posts occasionally on what's going on, all explained in one sentence, take the time to really tell us what's going on in that subject.
Be like G33ke always was, because whenever he posted he explained his subject in several paragraphs rather than a sentence or two. Making the questions thread has not helped in that aspect, because you guys still explain in barely a paragraph (also because most of the questions are directed to the developers, but I’d also rather they helped in that field too).
The reason I think the community deserves this information is because a lot of us really are moderators, we just don't have the rank or the title. Many of us can help with a situation just as well as any moderator when in possession of the necessary background knowledge.
A community is nothing without sharing. Here I am sharing my point of view on this topic, and I expect you to do the same. A community needs to share information, opinions, help, and a lot more to succeed and be as amazing as this one is most of the time.
I respect the staff for keeping our servers free of rule-breakers, but I’ve recently noticed that many staff members don’t really do much as members of the community. Being a member of the staff in such a big community isn't simply about keeping the servers free of rule-breakers, it’s also about keeping your peace and being able to handle situations maturely and properly, which I believe the staff can do, but in addition it’s about being a member of the community. On many occasions, I feel this has not been true.
An important aspect of being a staff member is also being a member of the community. Not a single one of the admins regularly posts on the forums, plays in-game with people outside the staff or other things to get involved. It's the same with the community managers, and how can they manage the community when they aren't a true part of it?
This is a great aspect of the mods, because the reason they applied for staff is because they like our community and want to improve it. Many of the mods are members of the community as well as the law enforcers. I understand you guys do stuff behind the scenes, but most of the time that isn't enough, especially as a senior member of the staff. That's why we often point out mods that seem like they aren’t doing anything, then you guys say they do things ‘behind the scenes’.
I know you guys have lives, but can you not take 10-15 minutes to write a nice post and explain some things? Community members have lives just as much as the staff do, and we manage to do that on a regular basis most of the time. Take this thread for example. It took me more than 10-15 minutes to make, but the idea is the same because I put effort into getting my point across.
This also goes for playing a game. Can you not play 1 game every so often, have a little chat with some people in-game and then play a little? Someone like Blamph also has a life, with school and things like that, but he still managed to put out a video every once in a while when he was in school.
Edit/Note: I don't mean you have to team with people! Just join a server and chat with people, maybe ask how stuff is with the game and all that. Play a game and see how it all goes. This is also directed more towards Sr Staff.
I used this thread to try and point out some things the staff could work on and try to improve in. That may not have been perfectly clear. All I want is to improve the community as a whole to therefore improve the gameplay experience and the forum experience for everyone.
The first problem is you guys keep a lot from us. That's a subject I discussed earlier, but I never specified what I wanted to know because I had no idea how to start explaining what I thought we ought to know, let alone how to go about requesting that of you guys. Well, how about you start by instead of making simple posts occasionally on what's going on, all explained in one sentence, take the time to really tell us what's going on in that subject.
Be like G33ke always was, because whenever he posted he explained his subject in several paragraphs rather than a sentence or two. Making the questions thread has not helped in that aspect, because you guys still explain in barely a paragraph (also because most of the questions are directed to the developers, but I’d also rather they helped in that field too).
The reason I think the community deserves this information is because a lot of us really are moderators, we just don't have the rank or the title. Many of us can help with a situation just as well as any moderator when in possession of the necessary background knowledge.
A community is nothing without sharing. Here I am sharing my point of view on this topic, and I expect you to do the same. A community needs to share information, opinions, help, and a lot more to succeed and be as amazing as this one is most of the time.
I respect the staff for keeping our servers free of rule-breakers, but I’ve recently noticed that many staff members don’t really do much as members of the community. Being a member of the staff in such a big community isn't simply about keeping the servers free of rule-breakers, it’s also about keeping your peace and being able to handle situations maturely and properly, which I believe the staff can do, but in addition it’s about being a member of the community. On many occasions, I feel this has not been true.
An important aspect of being a staff member is also being a member of the community. Not a single one of the admins regularly posts on the forums, plays in-game with people outside the staff or other things to get involved. It's the same with the community managers, and how can they manage the community when they aren't a true part of it?
This is a great aspect of the mods, because the reason they applied for staff is because they like our community and want to improve it. Many of the mods are members of the community as well as the law enforcers. I understand you guys do stuff behind the scenes, but most of the time that isn't enough, especially as a senior member of the staff. That's why we often point out mods that seem like they aren’t doing anything, then you guys say they do things ‘behind the scenes’.
I know you guys have lives, but can you not take 10-15 minutes to write a nice post and explain some things? Community members have lives just as much as the staff do, and we manage to do that on a regular basis most of the time. Take this thread for example. It took me more than 10-15 minutes to make, but the idea is the same because I put effort into getting my point across.
This also goes for playing a game. Can you not play 1 game every so often, have a little chat with some people in-game and then play a little? Someone like Blamph also has a life, with school and things like that, but he still managed to put out a video every once in a while when he was in school.
Edit/Note: I don't mean you have to team with people! Just join a server and chat with people, maybe ask how stuff is with the game and all that. Play a game and see how it all goes. This is also directed more towards Sr Staff.
I used this thread to try and point out some things the staff could work on and try to improve in. That may not have been perfectly clear. All I want is to improve the community as a whole to therefore improve the gameplay experience and the forum experience for everyone.
