What do you want from OB?

[Futurebounds 72]

The server may be dead to some but tbh I see new people on everyday. Still growing imo 

[Rachel 385]

2 hours ago, Joji said:

- All I'd want is a larger variety of rooms for different games, such as OSU and Minecraft.

There are games rooms for a reason. Too many rooms for games that people may not play everyday aren't really needed. A general room is fine.

[VENGA BUS 2,027]

49 minutes ago, UnSeen said:

- Different servers based on temporary trends
Don't get me wrong, I do agree that we need something fresh soon and I'm not saying no to that at all. I also wouldn't say the 'effort' of setting up a single server to a playable standard is the issue either.
However purely setting up random servers temporarily for a few members isn't really helping develop the community, giving a basis for OB to work from and seeking growth. My point here is that I'm all for expanding to other servers/games, but having them last for a short period of time and not be fully developed with more time would be kinda pointless as it would hardly bring in any repeat players (due to lower rushed quality) and those that do would be put out when the server is removed. People who want something temporarily are more than welcome to set up their own thing during fads of amusement, as OB has always done anyway.

 

If effort isn't the problem, then what is the issue?

Can you please clarify why this wouldn't help develop the community, given the below:

 

3 hours ago, VENGA BUS said:

You'd have engagement from members who are thoroughly done in with JB and possibly MG in the future on these more flyby servers. That way, you get to use the characters around here who often can really help in drawing in new members, on this quick servers. If someone isn't a skid, I imagine they'd be encouraged to join the Teamspeak by members/regulars in-game. I think a good way of viewing this is that OB is like a ship, which moves from port-to-port, and it owns a couple of constant ports in the form of a JB and/or MG server. Essentially, it allows us to cast as wide a net as possible without detracting from our existing servers.

 

You'd have a recurring fanbase on those two platforms, as well as people who, like many, fatigue quickly of one game mode, but who end up sticking around for the people rather than the gamemode (which really is the litmus test for anyone who's actually gonna' be around here longterm anyway).

You get to keep the constant server(s), as well as spreading the net wider to find people who would be great community members, but aren't actually that keen on jailbreak or the thought of it.

You say that 'effort' of setting up a server isn't a problem - then what precisely is the problem? You've mentioned something 'not helping' (which I don't agree with, tbh), but not that it causes any harm. If it doesn't cause any harm, and it has a negligibly positive impact (as well as being fun for the members already here, to play on), then why not do it?

I'm genuinely trying to understand your reasoning for blocking off what can be a positive move forward, both for the members of the community and the people we'd end up meeting and recruiting into the fold.

[Revan The Dragon 121]

Spoiler

dragon roleplay server

 

[M1nt-l0u 1,235]

1 hour ago, UnSeen said:

 

The only 'criticism' I will address is Sniffles talking about staff putting 'more effort into OB' and us stopping 'accepting people who just keep the server clean'. I know you tried to re-clarify what you meant afterwards but that entire statement is still bull. If you think we are dense enough to purely take people because they are 'just able to keep the server clean' and if you believe that none of the mods don't do more beyond JB (spoiler alert, they all fucking do more) then you are borderline retarded. The amount of flak and overview people receive nowadays for trying to put something into this community compared to those who just got on with what they were told back in the day is just disgusting imo, but it won't ever stop so what can I do.

 

"Get 7 hours a week or get out" is a meme and a joke shared among everyone. You've got good people stepping down because they know they can't commit that much time to play a single game mode on the one server that Outbreak operates on. I know that rule isn't actually that strict, but I know that you will monitor people and ask them regularly why they haven't put much time into it. That as a concept is negative at the core. Who are they helping exactly? What are they getting out of it?  Mods aren't praised enough when they do well, but ousted when they do little. 

The whole point of this thread is to remind the staff team that just because lots of people don't play Jailbreak, there are still plenty of people here who would willingly support some new ideas. It might even motivate the current team to actively mod something else for a bit and enjoy it, rather than staring at the Gametracker page.

The staff response time and time again on these topics inevitably fizzles out until they've convinced themselves that the JB players are happy. Then a few months later it happens again, decreasing playerbase, staff jumping ship and a group of unsatisfied members who know Outbreak has the potential and the capacity to become a multi-game community. 

Stop blocking these ideas with meaningless stories and potentialities, and start getting everyone involved. 

You all do a great job, you've all got life stuff going on and I accept that. But really, for a forum browser and bored JB player, what more does this community offer? What is background work when you've got smaller startup communities chucking up servers every few months which are full of paying players?  It also doesn't help that people stepping down are suggesting that there isn't any background work going on at all....

 

Edited February 21, 2017 by Mintlou

[Joji 235]

56 minutes ago, Rachel said:

There are games rooms for a reason. Too many rooms for games that people may not play everyday aren't really needed. A general room is fine.

Fair enough

[Fluxy 1,660]

As someone who is easily the biggest moaner that the staff team do nothing, I do find it slightly funny that Mintlou is the one criticizing measures to make sure people are pulling their weight the most. 

[Lewis 1,276]

(lazy to quote)

@Rory (Regarding the harmful part). Point I was just alluding to there is about the fact that OB isn't exactly Trump. Not entirely sure about the financial stats but I'm fairly sure a second server would begin to put pressure on the funds. JB is the most successful server we could have, so it seems appropriate to keep it there. By all means I'd be for a second server if it was successful (who wouldn't) but from precedent MG, Minecraft, Surf all these servers have never been close to as popular OR as consistently popular as JB

@UnSeen (Regarding your thoughts on my suggestion) - I hope you're not referring to me in not fulfilling demands they say - you know I'd be perfectly happy to set something like this up in the holiday/ a stray weekend even if I can't commit to the playing. I see what you mean about the difficulty in external competitions, frankly I don't know too much about other communities or their infrastructure, but I certainly wouldn't mind expanding on some talks you've had with leaders of other clans, especially regarding competetive CSGO. Or even new communities (they don't necessarily have to be JB). 

I think an inter-community long term competition would work well (something like my dad used to have at university for tennis). Could have 6 teams or so of equal balance, all in a ladder type system, you can challenge the team to a bo1 who is above you in the rankings and if you beat them - you take their place. I know it's a lot like I've suggested in the past, but I think a longer term - fixed/established tournament where teams can challenge/plan games in advance could work. The ladder could remain untouched for a month and it wouldn't matter. Prize for the team finishing 1st at the end of the month (credits) to encourage more server playing. Would be a nice team spirit thing, encouraging people who may not know each other to 'bond' more. TLDR - Long term (forever?) ladder system CSGO tournament. (How a long tournament may be able to work)

 

[VENGA BUS 2,027]

It's a dedi. No extra strain on funds as servers would be hosted on what is already paid for. @Lewis

[Lewis 1,276]

Just now, VENGA BUS said:

It's a dedi. No extra strain on funds as servers would be hosted on what is already paid for. @Lewis

lewis clueless at technology version 564

well WTF THEN @UnSeen @Sir_Conor u lazy fucks, why don't we have more servers?

[Skeff 289]

I'd like for us to have a game server in which we play games we enjoy so we can have as many members playing together. This should hopefully make the community more welcoming and interesting together. I don't always think Jailbreak is the most appropriate gamemode and we could try anything else. That being said I have a strong conviction that we should stay with Counter Strike and Jailbreak the majority of the time or we keep the Jailbreak server on full time and add more frequent servers such as minigames, surf, ark and minecraft.

I'd love to see some more membership perks. If we don't have any by the time I finish uni I'll come up with a few basic things we could have on a CSGO server. Hopefully we can get things to represent ourselves and inspire the regulars to join the community fully.

AND.... It'd be nice to calm the teamspeak down.

Edited February 21, 2017 by Skeff

[UnSeen 1,036]

@Lewis I just had a massive paragraph typed out and lost it when you made your new post. Basically I agree that it is definitely something to look forward to in the future, it's just dependent on the reception of other communities (I also didn't just mean JB ones, I just meant community based CS groups). I might have worded something wrong but I don't think I was talking about anyone OB about not fulfilling demands or anything? The only thing I mentioned was other communities possibly not holding up our standards/bans (ie. someone who was permed from OB but actively plays for them and wants to represent them, could make for an awkward/controversial encounter).

Otherwise I'd be all for this at some point, though I don't know how reliable a longer term competition would be in comparison to a jumbo event between multiple communities. We could barely run a league within OB, people just don't turn up week in and out for responsibilities behind a screen - it's sad but true. At the very least I would want to do a more confined event first before trying a longer term one, but these are all things to look at perhaps towards summer when people have more time.

@VENGA BUS You misunderstand me. My comment about effort being an issue was in regard to the capability to set it up, which was brought into question by your point that 'it would take max 4-5 hours' or along those lines. Obviously setting up a fresh server frequently would still be a haul of effort (while still maintaining long term servers, managing people, having a life and not trying to overload OB with a billion different things to focus on like was attempted with all the different scattered 'projects' when Gaz was owner). On top of the setting up they would have to moderated - you might argue that these would be members and the idea is that it should be above that, but this is OB and that is naive. People already complain that we're apparently too harsh on moderators and that the potential pool is slim. 

I'm not against the idea completely of bringing in something relatively fresh, but some sort of roster of servers wouldn't work because people change what they would like to play all the time. It would provide another spot of game play for current members/regulars but I don't see it bringing in a wider net of players at all - these temporary servers wouldn't be given half as much attention as core servers so they would be lower quality than other servers of similar type, they would also be gone by the time they would actually bring in 'regulars' therefore not actually expanding the community at all. Temporary servers would only provide a different platform for people who are already part of the community to play on, something which many members are very capable of setting themselves without piling on more work for the staff team when it isn't necessary.

I think the reason we're getting conflicted is because I don't think it will end up in us meeting and recruiting many people at all. Those that would be recruited I think would be recruited regardless of the server circumstance, they'd join because of the people - which is achievable by members who are wanting a particular thing during a certain phase anyway. This isn't me saying no to more servers in general, it's me saying that at this time the idea of temporary servers isn't worth the effort - especially when we are yet to even establish a second core server and maintain it for longer than 3 months.

@Mintlou I never know which side to argue with you Mintlou, one moment you are criticising staff and saying they don't do enough in certain areas and then the flip side is that we are too harsh. I'm telling you now, as someone who has been part of the staff team during both CSS and CSGO when we actually had an actively filled server, we are far more lenient and you can be a member of staff by doing things beyond 'meeting JB hours' than it ever was before. The only period of time that it was easier to 'hold onto staff' per say, was the period of time when frankly it didn't really matter about being staff because gameserver wise OB was dead and it was just the core lot on TS.

I'll admit we do keep an eye on people's hours and if they are lower we'll ask them what's up, but that isn't because we are overtly mad or bothered that they have lower hours but rather we want to establish better communication with them. I'd rather ask if there is a reason and have that conversation than not have that conversation and out of the blue say to them 'yea you've not been doing anything CY@' a few weeks later. Further to that the '7 hours per week' - people seem to think we base that purely on JB, we don't. It's based upon contribution. Moderating, events, meetings, tech projects, graphics projects, video projects etc the list goes on they all contribute to this.

You might still argue that we have that minimum requirement, but obviously we expect those who hold a position of power to be putting time into using it and contributing - otherwise the system wouldn't work. Your point also is based on the idea that you need a staff position to contribute, you talk about including everyone and yet we've never said no to people actually putting effort in rather than just talking shit and saying that they would if they had a different colour name and some permissions - the only reason there is an expectation of moderators is to justify the power they then have above others. People who have recently stepped down realised they haven't been able to contribute as much to justify said power, that doesn't mean they aren't able to continue putting stuff into the community (Rory stepped down, was able to create this discussion etc).

In regards to 'smaller communities chucking up servers every few months', yes and 90% of them are empty. We might be flawed in our approach but we prefer the idea of having developed servers that have a relatively active player base, we want them to be the best of their kind. Admittedly we need to be more liberal in this regard so we can have a bit more variety, but stretching to chuck so many up in a short space of time won't do any of them any justice. I would be interested to know who these anonymous sources are who have stepped down and claimed no 'background work is going at all', because either they were completely inept during their time as staff, misunderstood things that were going on or have had their words taken out of context.

The whole point of this thread was for people to post their suggestions for Outbreak, what they would want to improve the community. It's typical of you to see it as a means of pandering to the group that applies to you though :^)

 

Again I typed this in breaks so some of it might not be worded in the intended manner. My previous point about seeking fresh suggestions in this thread rather making digs still stands though. I am more than interested in what sort of physical ideas (like what Lewis had) people actually have - I don't need the grumbles about what you think is currently wrong, 99% of the time I see these criticisms long before you do and I'd rather quietly work on them over time than make a deal out of them.

[IrishChamp 641]

4 hours ago, Sniffles said:

-No defense for Atzul I just wanted two examples  but if you think that new players feel welcomed and a part of the community in the majority of cases you're wrong

If you're talking about the new player experience in terms of the Jailbreak based community not welcoming new players, I can understand that. 

Jailbreak has a lot of toxicity and it's up to the Moderators to not only enforce game rules but to cut out people treating others like shit

 

However if you're talking about their treatment on TeamSpeak, that's a load of shit. As somebody who sits in the OG Channel for an ungodly proportion of his time, the older, less JB based part of the community (I'll generalise the group as the "OGs" for convenience sake) are very good at giving people a chance to introduce themselves and give input to the conversation. 

After people have got to know the person and THEN they feel that the guy is a cunt... Well he's gonna get treated like a cunt. Also if the majority of the people have read forum posts the person has made before talking to them, they are obviously going to pre-judge the people but that's human nature.

 

If you're not talking about JB people, and you're not talking about the "OGs", then there leaves one major group that might be making new players feeling unwelcome, and that is the group that YOU reside in. I don't talk to said group enough to know how you treat new people but if it doesn't fall under the first two categories, it seems clear that you need to self-moderate and just try make each other be less shitty people.

[M1nt-l0u 1,235]

What power does a member actually have?

What can we actually do to help this community? We can help type ideas for events, we can come up with competitions (which need staff approval). We can play the server. Or we can suggest things that are acknowledged and then forgotten about. The fact is, we have to commit several hours of our lives potentially to a server we don't want to play just to have any amount of clout with some idea or initiative. You say that the colour doesn't matter, but it does. Because the kind of response I'd get from Conor is "Well Mintlou, if you had some JB hours, perhaps you could actually be on the team that makes these choices". So as members, we have very little power other than these threads.

How much more can we actually do to help than a thread like this. You've got a collective group of long-time members telling you what we want to see happening, for most of it to be dismissed and counter-argued for no good reason.

The responses given are just textbook about mods keeping their rank. "not really 7 hrs, we do other stuff as well, we give people chances". But we all know that activity on JB is the only thing which keeps people's mod. Why did Weezy go? Why did Rory go? Activity. They're regulars on TS and the forums daily for many years for Christ sake, how can you even argue that their input wasn't well rounded enough? It's all about JB

By saying that 90% of the many servers hosted by someone are dead isn't me suggesting that we get 5 surf servers up. It's me suggesting that we have a capacity to expand our playerbase, and ultimately our income with no loss other than the time it takes to get these servers running. What is the background work? What is the actual goal? Is it written down anywhere? No one seems to know what it is other than "Background work".

I know it's probably some forum work, Gunstar working on a new splash screen. I know that the security of the website has been getting some needed changes and work. But I struggle to believe that was something written down a year ago, which is basically how long that excuse has been used for when people ask what you are all doing.

 

It might be better to talk about this kind of thing. You might see it as Mintlou being a pedantic prick. You'd be right, but only because we all know there's more to get out of this community. How much longer can our current infrastructure survive with the current donation income? 

 

[The Untainted One 452]

I think the problem that OB has is pretty clear and simple.

1) There is nowhere to expand to in CSGO that would actively maintain a part of the community and help OB grow.

2) How can you set up a long term server on a new game when nobody who is already in OB will actively support this game until an actual membership base is established for the server. 

If you can actually suggest a game that at least 50% of this community will actively play enough to grow into a thriving server that could hold it's own without member support anymore then you will have solved the problem. But that answer doesn't currently exist.

3) Any idea that is given is normally met with quite a lot of resistance from the community. The ark server is a great example of this. A temporary server that was FREE and yet still people complained about it because it didn't accommodate half of the member base.