Hello guys,
McLovin here.
I have this habit to sometimes scan this forum and look how OB is doing. Normally spoken I would not go on the stage and tell you what my thoughts on the matter would of been. This time I am going to make an exception, mainly because like it or not I have been in this same situation with Kriss many times. Also before I go on and tell you what I think is the best course of action, let me make it clear that I in no way can make a just judgement on the matter mainly because I have not been involved for many years. This means that I will only advice you from what I have experienced in the past.
Some of you have been here when similar drops in popularity have happend, you might have noticed that Kriss and I tried to solve these problems in several ways over the years. One time we tried to open a new CSGO server which was not met with success, one time we tried to open a different kind of server which was again not met with success. There is only one change that whent successful really. Downsizing the player amount on the JB server, giving players the idea the server is "nearly full". If a player sees a JB server and the amount of players it states is: 15/30. He will think ah it's half full, let's look for another, however if the server states 15/20. The player might think, damn the server is almost full it might be worthwhile checking out that server. In reality the difference is only in the perception the players will experience, but this small change helped OB and older communities two times.
Then I want to point out the following, you guys already know what you have to do and some of you have stated exactly what needs to happen. Putting time in the server, remember that Kriss and I and several admins were spamming people invites on their steam lists to populate the server. It might sound stupid, but this little trick started and renewed this community and several other communities.
And Lewis is right, use the drive of new players who have not lost interest in JB and make them moderator. This will only give them more drive to play JB, the same drive and energy that kept most if not all of the players in this community. People did not join for the game mode, they joined because of OB's member-base.
I know this is a long post for a forgotten old man, but I just wanted to confirm that most of what people have said in this thread is exactly what needs to happen. And the truth is, just like Conor said, OB can't survive without some sort of money income. JB has always been this income, so for as long as OB has not found a game or game mode that can really utilize OB's full potential it seems that JB is the only option.
Thanks for reading & Sorry for the long post. (Oh and I am aware that this is an old thread.)
PS. Conor I forgot my PW for my McLovin account.