Shelby
District 13
- Joined
- Sep 1, 2013
- Messages
- 2,344
- Reaction score
- 1,825
Hello everyone! You may or may not remember me, but I am a former senior moderator who has resigned well over a year ago now from Australia. I used to be in charge of MCGamer maps for a spell, leader of the old build team Team Invictus and general all round doer of things. My last hurrah on this server was the Valentines Day party event of 2015. I am permanently banned from reapplying for staff, so I can not 'come back' as requested.
With that introduction out of the way, I wanted to come here and write about some things that have recently happened in a mostly positive/constructive light. There's a lot going on, and I'm sure a lot of the staff members are pretty freaked out about it all - a similar thing actually happened way back when I was a mod when an admin and 24 moderators resigned within 24 hours of each other. It all went haywire.
So I want to start this off by addressing those spooked moderators.
In my position, it's easy to be cynical and rude about the server after some events, but I know this means a lot to you - and just know that regardless of what happens, in some way shape or form this server will carry on as it always had, even if that means it gets downgraded to having just a handful of SG servers - it will probably continue existing. Right now I've seen a lot of moderators doing a really good job with damage control, which is great to see - but please remember to look after yourselves and each others. Have rant sessions with each other, get out your frustrations and get enough sleep. This game drama isn't worth losing sleep over.
Following on, leaving MCGamer did not mark the end of my moderating career. I moved on to different game servers and I've learned a lot outside of Minecraft and outside of this server. At the place I work now, we have a leader who is sort of similar to Chad in some ways - for the public, very hard to contact and rarely seen. The difference is is that this person is highly communicative at least to his staff, whereas Chad is AWOL for everyone.
I probably won't have to remind some people - but years ago Chad went for a 'walk' and didn't come back for months. He came back only when a senior mod desperately grabbed him as the admins at the time were debating over who should have ownership over the network since Chad had vanished. We always joked that this would never be able to happen again because we all had Chads phone number and contact details - but it seems like to a degree, it has. Not that we can really say it's the same situation but in this situation you really have to wonder where he is?
Chad has always been notoriously hard to contact. I texted him daily three weeks straight about a meeting I needed with him back when I was a senior mod and got it eventually. Granted he is a super busy dude, he runs his own business and that takes a lot of time up. I understand that. But even making an appearance in these situations would make it so much better. Just an hour or two where he is visibly on teamspeak conferring with his staff - that would improve morale so much. I think what there needs to be is a set hour or something each week at minimum that he shows up, chats with people and gets some stuff done. Chad is a really good person and a good friend, and people miss him.
Once he appeared on at a very weird time and he, Nick and I spent 4 hours talking and catching him up on things because he was so out of the loop and people were talking about quitting cause he'd been so AWOL. He's not here to hear these things himself a lot of the time.
The AU situation could've been handled a lot better. If it wasn't so sudden, there might be less complaints - reportedly Chad cancelled the server hosting weeks ago, which is also when he should've made a post warning people of the closing day of AU approaching. He could've turned it into something sad but happy, people would enjoy their last weeks playing on the servers and Good I could even see people coming back for like a 'closing day' SG party or something, you know?
On the topic of the AU server in general, I have to point something out - AU servers are some of the most expensive in the world. Which is Good. I know the hosting company the AU servers were previously hosted through and god they were expensive. Previously before the AU servers were even hosted in AU, they were actually hosted in Singapore! And when they moved, the Singapore servers became what we knew to be 'AS' or Asia servers.
Anyway, it's no secret that MCGamer is down on players and therefore down on funds for the server network. I can't blame Chad for this decision since he was actually talking about shutting down AU way back when I was a senior mod - so it's taken him a year to get to this decision, but he could've given others the same heads up.
My idea for adjusting this issue would be to look at hosting a tiny amount of AU servers for SG only, because AU players never seemed to like doing much else. No Battlegrounds, no survival bingo, no nothing. Just SG. The bare minimum. Even ditching the hub servers for AU and switching back to individual connections should it save money might be an idea for the future - like all of MCGamer used to have before hubs were added.
Additionally, games that are not up to scratch and playable need to have their servers switched off and those areas of the hub closed. There's no point in letting new players wander in to these unfinished messes that are broken and have them go 'oh this server doesn't work, lets go to a new one'.
If it's not playable, even take it off of the front page of the website. Survival bingo is great.. when it works! Deadly descent is too.. when it works! It's like going into a grocery store and seeing half the products moldy but still on the shelves and advertised. People aren't going to want to shop there, even for what is good still. I personally do not play on this server anymore, I play on Hypixel when I do play Minecraft.
Hypixel do not release anything that isn't 100% up to scratch. So perhaps, work on just one project at a time? I know the developers have a lot on their plate and if I'm correct in thinking very little has changed since I was a senior mod, they're probably working on multiple projects at a time.
This brings me to another point:
Zed Chase. Stop beating a dead horse. It's not an innovative game anymore. It'll never work and it'll never hold up to the standards expected of servers in the current state of its concept. Every few months it makes some sort of resurgence in discussion, and I just wanted to put this here - please let this game die. Maybe down the track you can rework the concept but right now it feels pointless and uneventful when it is playable.
I know that the senior staff team has reverted to its old ways instead of these teams as of all these resignations - which is good to see, genuinely. I feel like MCGamer was trying too hard to have a team system like other networks rather then being themselves.
I feel like at this point you guys need a brain storming session and write down two lists. One, of things that are very 'MCGamer' and need to stay and give us that 'i'm on MCG' feeling like positive unique things about the network and then a list of things and ideas that are bad and just need to go. Then work on that first list - what can be done to improve those unique things and bring back the community feeling? Let the mods work on it - they have some good ideas!
Anyway, I hope things get better. It's sad to see it fall as much as it has. I hope that Chad makes the right decisions.
With that introduction out of the way, I wanted to come here and write about some things that have recently happened in a mostly positive/constructive light. There's a lot going on, and I'm sure a lot of the staff members are pretty freaked out about it all - a similar thing actually happened way back when I was a mod when an admin and 24 moderators resigned within 24 hours of each other. It all went haywire.
So I want to start this off by addressing those spooked moderators.
In my position, it's easy to be cynical and rude about the server after some events, but I know this means a lot to you - and just know that regardless of what happens, in some way shape or form this server will carry on as it always had, even if that means it gets downgraded to having just a handful of SG servers - it will probably continue existing. Right now I've seen a lot of moderators doing a really good job with damage control, which is great to see - but please remember to look after yourselves and each others. Have rant sessions with each other, get out your frustrations and get enough sleep. This game drama isn't worth losing sleep over.
Following on, leaving MCGamer did not mark the end of my moderating career. I moved on to different game servers and I've learned a lot outside of Minecraft and outside of this server. At the place I work now, we have a leader who is sort of similar to Chad in some ways - for the public, very hard to contact and rarely seen. The difference is is that this person is highly communicative at least to his staff, whereas Chad is AWOL for everyone.
I probably won't have to remind some people - but years ago Chad went for a 'walk' and didn't come back for months. He came back only when a senior mod desperately grabbed him as the admins at the time were debating over who should have ownership over the network since Chad had vanished. We always joked that this would never be able to happen again because we all had Chads phone number and contact details - but it seems like to a degree, it has. Not that we can really say it's the same situation but in this situation you really have to wonder where he is?
Chad has always been notoriously hard to contact. I texted him daily three weeks straight about a meeting I needed with him back when I was a senior mod and got it eventually. Granted he is a super busy dude, he runs his own business and that takes a lot of time up. I understand that. But even making an appearance in these situations would make it so much better. Just an hour or two where he is visibly on teamspeak conferring with his staff - that would improve morale so much. I think what there needs to be is a set hour or something each week at minimum that he shows up, chats with people and gets some stuff done. Chad is a really good person and a good friend, and people miss him.
Once he appeared on at a very weird time and he, Nick and I spent 4 hours talking and catching him up on things because he was so out of the loop and people were talking about quitting cause he'd been so AWOL. He's not here to hear these things himself a lot of the time.
The AU situation could've been handled a lot better. If it wasn't so sudden, there might be less complaints - reportedly Chad cancelled the server hosting weeks ago, which is also when he should've made a post warning people of the closing day of AU approaching. He could've turned it into something sad but happy, people would enjoy their last weeks playing on the servers and Good I could even see people coming back for like a 'closing day' SG party or something, you know?
On the topic of the AU server in general, I have to point something out - AU servers are some of the most expensive in the world. Which is Good. I know the hosting company the AU servers were previously hosted through and god they were expensive. Previously before the AU servers were even hosted in AU, they were actually hosted in Singapore! And when they moved, the Singapore servers became what we knew to be 'AS' or Asia servers.
Anyway, it's no secret that MCGamer is down on players and therefore down on funds for the server network. I can't blame Chad for this decision since he was actually talking about shutting down AU way back when I was a senior mod - so it's taken him a year to get to this decision, but he could've given others the same heads up.
My idea for adjusting this issue would be to look at hosting a tiny amount of AU servers for SG only, because AU players never seemed to like doing much else. No Battlegrounds, no survival bingo, no nothing. Just SG. The bare minimum. Even ditching the hub servers for AU and switching back to individual connections should it save money might be an idea for the future - like all of MCGamer used to have before hubs were added.
Additionally, games that are not up to scratch and playable need to have their servers switched off and those areas of the hub closed. There's no point in letting new players wander in to these unfinished messes that are broken and have them go 'oh this server doesn't work, lets go to a new one'.
If it's not playable, even take it off of the front page of the website. Survival bingo is great.. when it works! Deadly descent is too.. when it works! It's like going into a grocery store and seeing half the products moldy but still on the shelves and advertised. People aren't going to want to shop there, even for what is good still. I personally do not play on this server anymore, I play on Hypixel when I do play Minecraft.
Hypixel do not release anything that isn't 100% up to scratch. So perhaps, work on just one project at a time? I know the developers have a lot on their plate and if I'm correct in thinking very little has changed since I was a senior mod, they're probably working on multiple projects at a time.
This brings me to another point:
Zed Chase. Stop beating a dead horse. It's not an innovative game anymore. It'll never work and it'll never hold up to the standards expected of servers in the current state of its concept. Every few months it makes some sort of resurgence in discussion, and I just wanted to put this here - please let this game die. Maybe down the track you can rework the concept but right now it feels pointless and uneventful when it is playable.
I know that the senior staff team has reverted to its old ways instead of these teams as of all these resignations - which is good to see, genuinely. I feel like MCGamer was trying too hard to have a team system like other networks rather then being themselves.
I feel like at this point you guys need a brain storming session and write down two lists. One, of things that are very 'MCGamer' and need to stay and give us that 'i'm on MCG' feeling like positive unique things about the network and then a list of things and ideas that are bad and just need to go. Then work on that first list - what can be done to improve those unique things and bring back the community feeling? Let the mods work on it - they have some good ideas!
Anyway, I hope things get better. It's sad to see it fall as much as it has. I hope that Chad makes the right decisions.
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