How I *personally* see the current state of MCGamer.

[reven86]

Greetings everyone,

My name is Fancy, or Zach. I am a Moderator here at MCGamer, and have been for 11 months. With my 1 year anniversary just around the corner I can definitely say in my time as a Moderator I have gone through a lot of drama within the MCGamer community, including the current issue of the 'Gamma' rule. With that being said, here I am presenting to you my personal opinion on everything.

Yes, I am aware of a broken relationship between the Community and Staff at this moment. Since then MCGamer has really been split into two, and this isn't something that I am totally cool with. To you, it may seem that the Staff really don't care about your opinions, but really, we do. The topics being addressed lately has started discussions within Staff team also. Personally, I do not like the way that MCGamer is at now, I want to encourage the server to come together, and work together but we cannot do this without acknowledging each other. I do see the frustration of the community. I do want change.

Addressing the recent issue with the Gamma rule. I can see how this frustrates you. But the way you are going about it and bashing on MCGamer as a whole for a rule is incorrect. If you really want to see change, I suggest we all come together, get a solid argument together and respectfully approach a member of 'Higher' rank with our proposal. Yes, the way you are doing it as of now may seem like it is the only way but it isn't. I guarantee that someone will still listen if we slightly change our approach to this topic. As a Moderator, I feel that I can speak for other Staff Members also, that we do want to see change, we can recognise that for the better of the community and future of MCGamer we need to change things, and fast.

In conclussion, I feel we can all agree that there is a division within the Community as of now, and that there are some things that need to be tweaked for the future of MCGamer. But at times like this we need to come together rather than being two different sides and rambling on about something without seeing action (Ramble ramble). So let's do this MCGamer. Let's see a change.

This is solely my opinion.

I've been playing on these servers longer than most people, and if there is one thing I've realized, is to get high ranking staff members attention, is to make a huge deal about it. I've been here for when we had countless wrongful BSM bans, the 1.7 update, questionable rules being made, staff abusing powers, etc etc. One thing all these things have in common, is unless you make a big deal about it, unless enough people let their voices be heard, nothing is done about it.

Do you honestly think that 1.7 would of came back at all if people weren't consistantly saying "this servers sucks now, 1.8 update ruined it"? Do you honestly think they would even be considering the topic of gamma right now if people weren't making it a huge deal now? Even now, with the all time leaderboards not being updated in like 4-5 months after telling everyone they would after the reset happen, people are starting to complain.

Heck, even with back when people were getting banned for BSM unfairly, the banned player would make his ban dispute and be denied, if not for a certain group of people getting involved, a lot of these people would still be banned to this day.

My point being, I don't blame people for making a huge deal about things to stand up for something they believe is wrong. Let your words be seen. I'm not saying you need to rage and take shots at staff, but getting their attention sometimes requires that. Gamma has been an issue on this server since back in 2012-2013, and to this day nothing has really changed. Now it is at least a topic that staff is aware of.

 

[itsbeny]

Nice post

 

[OhFancy]

I've been playing on these servers longer than most people, and if there is one thing I've realized, is to get high ranking staff members attention, is to make a huge deal about it. I've been here for when we had countless wrongful BSM bans, the 1.7 update, questionable rules being made, staff abusing powers, etc etc. One thing all these things have in common, is unless you make a big deal about it, unless enough people let their voices be heard, nothing is done about it.

Do you honestly think that 1.7 would of came back at all if people weren't consistantly saying "this servers sucks now, 1.8 update ruined it"? Do you honestly think they would even be considering the topic of gamma right now if people weren't making it a huge deal now? Even now, with the all time leaderboards not being updated in like 4-5 months after telling everyone they would after the reset happen, people are starting to complain.

Heck, even with back when people were getting banned for BSM unfairly, the banned player would make his ban dispute and be denied, if not for a certain group of people getting involved, a lot of these people would still be banned to this day.

My point being, I don't blame people for making a huge deal about things to stand up for something they believe is wrong. Let your words be seen. I'm not saying you need to rage and take shots at staff, but getting their attention sometimes requires that. Gamma has been an issue on this server since back in 2012-2013, and to this day nothing has really changed. Now it is at least a topic that staff is aware of.

Agreed. Thank you. The main thing I want fixed is the relationship between Staff and Community.

 

[Trilexium]

<--
I don't know about anyone else, but I feel like any change in relation to the damaged relationship between the staff and the players would come a bit too late now. It's been damaged for quite a while now, and it's caused a lot of people to just lose faith altogether; that somehow, the powers that be (the staff) are fine leaving the network in this broken, damaged state. It's a bit too late to start doing something about it now, but that's just my opinion.

And it's not like this kind of stuff about the player-staff relationship among other things hasn't been said before; it's happened numerous times. Every time, the effort that the staff make on their part to contribute to the ongoing problem is quite unnoticeable- whether that's just because normal players seldom ever see the activity that goes on behind closed doors or whether they truly choose to ignore the problem, idk. It's this ongoing lack of care that the staff seem to want to show that has already caused trust issues.

There are other matters that I would say are more important right now ie. the disastrous state of the anticheat, but that's more in the realm of the game itself. This problem with the relationship is in the realm of the community surrounding that game.

my 2c
-->

 

[Giggums]

is to get high ranking staff members attention, is to make a huge deal about it.

I would have to strongly disagree with this point. I've been a member of this community for over three years. From what I remember, making a big deal out of things and complaining all the time only made matters worse. The Sr. Staff team may notice the issues at hand quicker or take action quicker, but it is not the action you always want. All this does is rush things and forces the hands for the Sr. Staff. I would say that a large majority of the Sr. Staff team and even the Moderation team leaves because of the stress. It is very difficult to provide for the community in ways they can't always see at times and they expect you are doing nothing. For all you know, they could be working on a very valid and promising solution to the problem at hand, but have to rush it out and it can be a complete and total failure because the community decided to "make a big deal" about it. Sometimes, you should know that it doesn't always work in your favor. Shall I bring up the Summit V1? I was at the forefront of that disaster and it is what initially damaged the relations between Community & Staff. Not one side is to blame for that, either.

Let your words be seen. I'm not saying you need to rage and take shots at staff, but getting their attention sometimes requires that.

This is not true. This is how you get things to never see change. Have you ever heard the expression "telling me to do something I was just about to do makes me never want to do it" or anything similar? Taking "shots at staff" only makes them not want to better a community that seems to be ungrateful of the work already being done. Remember that we decide to take this position. It is not a job, it is a hobby. Many of us look at each other as representatives of the community, but who would want to be a representative of people that try to belittle the ones trying to help them? The kind of actions such as "raging" and "taking shots at staff" are counter productive. You say that they are the only way of getting the attention of staff, but that is just not true. They understand the issues that plague the community. You must realize that what may be affecting you at that moment is not the only issue at the time. The forums and the community are not the only aspect to this server. We have a very small and thinly spread staff team contrasted to our enormous player base. 132 staff members as of this very moment typing this. 14 of them are Sr. Staff that can make changes to the community. 14. That is all. That's 1 Owner, 3 Admins, 10 Sr. Mods. This means that we do not have the numbers to have focal points on all matters of the network at the same time, but rather focus heavily on one issue at a time. Let's take the Xime - Anti-cheat for a second here. When everyone was concerned about that (rightfully so), the Sr. Staff team was still focused on the forum update; another thing that the community was asking for for a long time. And before that, it was improving our game types. So on and so on.

Realize that these types of actions DO NOT benefit our community. Instead, they only discourage those who want to help it.


Another point I'd like to address:

It may sound crazy but... what about a community meeting with people like bcfcAnt Ceroria etc talking to Chad and the devs with everyone listening?

I, myself, have not been keeping up with the bcfcAnt situation, so I will not speak on that; however, Ceroria is one of my very best friends, so I will speak on him. Why is it that whenever I come onto the forums, I see nothing but individuals thinking that Ceroria is the saving grace of our Network. I love Ceroria. He loves me. We are married. We have three children together, but he is not the only staff member here. He is not the only staff member that cares. He is not the only one that has good ideas. He is not the only one that can help this network. To be quite honest, he is probably not the best candidate of a representative and he will tell you that himself. The point of this is not to down talk Ceroria. I am not attempting to belittle someone so close to me. I am assuring you that although you may see him post everywhere, that does not make him any more valid than any of the other staff members. Ceroria has been here a long time, but so have plenty of other staff members. Most of the Sr. Staff has. He's only 1 month older than myself. Many of the members of the community that would take the stance of saying that Ceroria is the sole representative of the staff team are the ones that only congregate on the forums where you may see him most often. There are Moderators that are much more active than him. Not that he is inactive, but from knowing him personally, he has a busy schedule outside of MC Gamer that he must attend to. Think of this as a warning/advisement. Do not rely on one individual to promote your ideas. You will be shot down. For all you know, the Sr. Staff team might have a very different opinion on him than you do. Perhaps they see him the same as you do, but know that he is too large of an asset to listen to. Putting all your faith of the network into one individual again discourages most other Moderators from attempting to reach their goals in the community.

Please. Reconsider the ways that you all go about responding to issues you see. Realize that there is a small, but humble staff team here to answer to your every beck and call. We are small and are constantly working, so give us a minute to get back to you and I promise you, we will do the best we can. I've been a staff member here for 7 months and a community member for over 3 years. I've seen both sides to this coin and understand the actions you must take to see pure progress over manufactured placement of "progression." If you want to see a serious change to this network and restore it to the "Golden Age" of 2013 then you need to follow appropriate and respectable actions to get it there. Belittling to the ones that you don't think are doing anything and promoting someone you think is the only one helping is counter productive and that sort of approach needs to end. Does the staff team have its problems? Absolutely. I keep so frustrated sometimes by the things I see inside and wish so desperately that I could fix it, but I know that I cannot. I do realize, however, that the Sr. Staff team understands the issues I have and is working to fix them. I hope that the community can realize the same from the staff team. We're here to listen to your problems and most importantly, we are here to fix them.

 

[elmagarate]

Honestly, the developers and even Chad himself need to interact with the community alot more. I never see him nor developers talk to anyone that might have helpful opinions that could really help MCSG out. And yes I do know there is a recommendations page on the forums but i'm talking about Vocals to Vocals. Just talking about things that should be fixed/added to MCSG. Honestly if I had the opportunity I would go teamspeak with a developer or admin right now and talk to them about everything MCSG needs to fix. But not like that's gonna happen :/

 

[Giggums]

Honestly, the developers and even Chad himself need to interact with the community alot more. I never see him nor developers talk to anyone that might have helpful opinions that could really help MCSG out. And yes I do know there is a recommendations page on the forums but i'm talking about Vocals to Vocals. Just talking about things that should be fixed/added to MCSG. Honestly if I had the opportunity I would go teamspeak with a developer or admin right now and talk to them about everything MCSG needs to fix. But not like that's gonna happen :/

Outside of MC Gamer, Chad runs his own business, so he cannot be the most involved guy. I'm sure that you are aware, however, that he does plenty of work that we do not see behind our field of view.

As for the Developers, they were just changed recently. Rather than working whenever they seem fit, they are on a schedule now. So, they work and work until that bell rings, then they are done.

All three individuals, Chad, Devin, & Gideon are working very hard to promote our servers the way they can. They are very busy people that in all honesty, don't really have the time to poke their head in a lot. From speaking to them myself, however, they would love nothing more than to sit down with the community and hear its grief. They simply do not have the time.

 

[reven86]

I would have to strongly disagree with this point. I've been a member of this community for over three years. From what I remember, making a big deal out of things and complaining all the time only made matters worse. The Sr. Staff team may notice the issues at hand quicker or take action quicker, but it is not the action you always want. All this does is rush things and forces the hands for the Sr. Staff. I would say that a large majority of the Sr. Staff team and even the Moderation team leaves because of the stress. It is very difficult to provide for the community in ways they can't always see at times and they expect you are doing nothing. For all you know, they could be working on a very valid and promising solution to the problem at hand, but have to rush it out and it can be a complete and total failure because the community decided to "make a big deal" about it. Sometimes, you should know that it doesn't always work in your favor. Shall I bring up the Summit V1? I was at the forefront of that disaster and it is what initially damaged the relations between Community & Staff. Not one side is to blame for that, either.

I would be inclined to agree with you if I hadn't been part of this community for even longer than you have been and seen things like this happen none stop since the beginning. I have tried talking to sr staff and admins multiple times about multiple things on teamspeak, forums, etc and ignore countless times. The few staff member who actually would respond, end up leaving for their own reasons.

For all you know, they could be working on a very valid and promising solution to the problem at hand, but have to rush it out and it can be a complete and total failure because the community decided to "make a big deal" about it.

This may be true, but how are we supposed to know anything when they tell us nothing? I see countless threads about people raging about certain things, and how often do you see a sr staff or admin respond? Not often at all. Col_star was maybe the 1 exception to this, but hes gone. If you want to have a community that thinks that their staff is doing something about the issues at hand, then SAY SOMETHING. Not a normal staff member saying " i'm sure the sr staff is hard at work trying to fix this". I'm talking about an actual person who can fix it letting us know that they are aware and working on it. The longer the community goes without high ranking staff responding, the more upset they get and the more they think the "staff doesn't give a crap".

Besides, with like the big topic currently, gamma, this is a rule that take 10 seconds to get rid of and that should of been taken care of years ago when we decided to allow texture packs that have raised gamma like shaders, but not allow people to raise their gamma themselves.

This is not true. This is how you get things to never see change. Have you ever heard the expression "telling me to do something I was just about to do makes me never want to do it" or anything similar? Taking "shots at staff" only makes them not want to better a community that seems to be ungrateful of the work already being done. Remember that we decide to take this position. It is not a job, it is a hobby. Many of us look at each other as representatives of the community, but who would want to be a representative of people that try to belittle the ones trying to help them? The kind of actions such as "raging" and "taking shots at staff" are counter productive. You say that they are the only way of getting the attention of staff, but that is just not true. They understand the issues that plague the community. You must realize that what may be affecting you at that moment is not the only issue at the time. The forums and the community are not the only aspect to this server. We have a very small and thinly spread staff team contrasted to our enormous player base. 132 staff members as of this very moment typing this. 14 of them are Sr. Staff that can make changes to the community. 14. That is all. That's 1 Owner, 3 Admins, 10 Sr. Mods. This means that we do not have the numbers to have focal points on all matters of the network at the same time, but rather focus heavily on one issue at a time. Let's take the Xime - Anti-cheat for a second here. When everyone was concerned about that (rightfully so), the Sr. Staff team was still focused on the forum update; another thing that the community was asking for for a long time. And before that, it was improving our game types. So on and so on.

Realize that these types of actions DO NOT benefit our community. Instead, they only discourage those who want to help it.

I understand that being a moderator is a hobby rather than a job. I was a staff member for 6 months myself. But with that hobby, there is a lot of responsibility involved.

You talk about people looking up to staff as Reps of the community, I couldn't agree more, but as reps of the community you gotta use your words. You can't always do things "behind doors" was staff seems to always want to say. You need to let it be know that things are being done, and not take forever to do it. People are impatient, we all are.

You want the community to respect the staff, the staff has to show that they care. It's like when you have parents that care for you. It is a lot more comforting to hear it, than to just think it or hope it. The staff here has lost a lot of that respect and it's not something easily to get back.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying staff is bad or anything. We have some great staff member out there, but you guys need to show that, instead of what you are currently doing. Moderators do a TON for the community, but how can people appreciate things when they don't know? Look at like how when the devs post updates on things they've fixed or are trying to fix. People LOVE seeing things like that. You see thanks to them and tons of gratitude.

 

[Ceroria]

I love Ceroria. He loves me. We are married.

Fact.

He's only 1 month older than myself.

One month older community wise, but I've gotcha beat by quite a few more staff team wise ya big nerd :^)

Do not rely on one individual to promote your ideas.

Fact.

Putting all your faith of the network into one individual again discourages most other Moderators from attempting to reach their goals in the community.

^

 

[Cameron]

No don't say that fancy I like that drama!!1!1

All jokes aside I think it's about time we form that connection we had back in 2012/2013 when everyone was happy playing survival games. This is a great server if one of the best to be around in minecraft and it would be a shame to just let it die because of the broken relationship between the community and the staff. Great thread Zach!

 

[Giggums]

I would be inclined to agree with you if I hadn't been part of this community for even longer than you have been and seen things like this happen none stop since the beginning.

If you've been here longer, then it must be by a very short amount of time. I joined in August of 2012. That's only 4 months after we were released from Beta. So, were you here before, that time would not have been much different than when I joined.

I have tried talking to sr staff and admins multiple times about multiple things on teamspeak, forums, etc and ignore countless times.

You state you've been ignored, but are you sure that you were ignored rather than disagreed with? I'm not stating that this is how it is with you, because I do not know you personally. Many times, people feel ignored a lot when they think they are right all the time. I can admit that I've had this happen to me countless times in the past. Sometimes, things are silently shot down because they are not what is in the best interest. It's easier to hear nothing than to hear that the idea wasn't a good one, at least to that person.

I see countless threads about people raging about certain things, and how often do you see a sr staff or admin respond?

I see them respond all the time. Go look in the Clans & Teams section. Vanessa was very responsive to most of the issues there. Just the other day, I saw Cam respond to a post about nepotism. I also noticed Razz discuss something on that thread as well as a Mooclan thread. All of this in the past month alone. Perhaps you are just not looking at the same threads. That doesn't meant that either one of you aren't active or involved.

You can't always do things "behind doors" was staff seems to always want to say. You need to let it be know that things are being done, and not take forever to do it.

Remember that all of the Administration team is in an NDA contract and legally cannot talk about certain things. Most of the Sr. Staff is unable to say a lot because they are told not to. Same goes for the Moderation team. You were a staff member, as you said. You should know the going ons.

People are impatient, we all are.

This is not true. Many people practice patience very well. I consider myself to be a very patient person. The only thing that I really have no time for is ignorance.

Besides, with like the big topic currently, gamma, this is a rule that take 10 seconds to get rid of and that should of been taken care of years ago when we decided to allow texture packs that have raised gamma like shaders, but not allow people to raise their gamma themselves.

This was a matter discussed long ago after I believe Kosmish ran into trouble with it. It's in the rules, so you are expected to follow it. If you believe that the rules should be changed, you can bring it up with civil discourse. Attacking the staff team does not help your case. From personal experience, it only makes leaders want to enforce stricter rules and punishment.

The staff here has lost a lot of that respect and it's not something easily to get back.

It's difficult to believe this because the staff team is constantly changing. We do not have the same mebers we had a month ago. Each month, we cycle out about at least 20 people. There are only about 15 Moderators that have been here longer than 5 months. Most of the Sr. Mods are newly hired in the past 4 months. It's constantly evolving and changing out people. That means the staff team is only what you make of it. If the community believes that it is corrupt or that it is unconditonally absent, that is what it makes of it. You are the ones that apply for staff. They are not pulled out of thin air.

 

[reven86]

If you've been here longer, then it must be by a very short amount of time. I joined in August of 2012. That's only 4 months after we were released from Beta. So, were you here before, that time would not have been much different than when I joined.

joined the forums in november of 2012, but I was here for a little bit of beta, quit for short peroid of time afterwards.

You state you've been ignored, but are you sure that you were ignored rather than disagreed with? I'm not stating that this is how it is with you, because I do not know you personally. Many times, people feel ignored a lot when they think they are right all the time. I can admit that I've had this happen to me countless times in the past. Sometimes, things are silently shot down because they are not what is in the best interest. It's easier to hear nothing than to hear that the idea wasn't a good one, at least to that person.

No, no, I'm talking ignored like I asked them something, and got no response lol. Even if it's something "that is not in the best interest", responding at least would be helpful. Again, not all the time does this happen, some sr staff and admins will respond right away every time, others never respond.

I see them respond all the time. Go look in the Clans & Teams section. Vanessa was very responsive to most of the issues there. Just the other day, I saw Cam respond to a post about nepotism. I also noticed Razz discuss something on that thread as well as a Mooclan thread. All of this in the past month alone. Perhaps you are just not looking at the same threads. That doesn't meant that either one of you aren't active or involved.

I'm talking about controversial threads. Ones that are causing rage. Ones that make people think the staff doesn't do anything or w/e. Like we have like 2 or more threads currently out there about gamma, how many high ranked staff members have responded? None. It's nice of them to respond to threads about nepotism and whatnot, but they need to respond to the ones that get people worked up and upset. Cam is probably the only 1 in recent memory that I can remember responding to a controversial thread and people LOVED IT. Btw, you named 3 and I'm not sure if that's all you had, but 3 in 1 month, isn't exactly a lot :l.

Remember that all of the Administration team is in an NDA contract and legally cannot talk about certain things. Most of the Sr. Staff is unable to say a lot because they are told not to. Same goes for the Moderation team. You were a staff member, as you said. You should know the going ons.

Certain things, yes, but things such as simply things as gamma, very simple things to respond to. We aren't sitting here asking you guys to tell us everything, people just need some comforting words to make them feel better. Silent just makes them wonder, and sometimes upset. It makes them feel like you don't care.

This is not true. Many people practice patience very well. I consider myself to be a very patient person. The only thing that I really have no time for is ignorance.

Lol you proved my point, everyone is impatient over certain things. You might not be over some things, but something gets to everyone. Heck, I can deal with ignorance, I worked in customer service for like all of college xD. You deal with a lot of blown light bulbs if you know what I mean.

This was a matter discussed long ago after I believe Kosmish ran into trouble with it. It's in the rules, so you are expected to follow it. If you believe that the rules should be changed, you can bring it up with civil discourse. Attacking the staff team does not help your case. From personal experience, it only makes leaders want to enforce stricter rules and punishment.

Kosmish aka lovelights. Think in real life, how many laws have we had irl that have been changed due to times changing? The world changes as does these servers. Gamma isn't a thing that should be banned anymore. If you allow texture packs such as Shaders that have increased gamma in them, then you CANNOT ban players who's computers can't handle shaders but wish to have the same benefits as a person who can use it.

It's difficult to believe this because the staff team is constantly changing. We do not have the same mebers we had a month ago. Each month, we cycle out about at least 20 people. There are only about 15 Moderators that have been here longer than 5 months. Most of the Sr. Mods are newly hired in the past 4 months. It's constantly evolving and changing out people. That means the staff team is only what you make of it. If the community believes that it is corrupt or that it is unconditonally absent, that is what it makes of it. You are the ones that apply for staff. They are not pulled out of thin air.

That's what I'm saying, it's not the individual staff members that are what make people hate, its the Rep that the staff team has in general that is tarnished over the years in a whole. You could sit here and replace every single staff member you have with new ones, it won't make a difference if the ones who can actually do something and make changes don't do anything differently. You can't deny something like this. You see it all around. People consistently basing staff. I'm not here to bash, I'm here to give constructive criticism.