Open Letter - Tough Decisions

[roxxkatt]

interesting new sig

[Left_Eye]

I was ordered to make a new sig, and fiS volunteered to do it. My old sig still had me as Event Coord. You can thank fiS for that new sig. I'm nowhere near as competent on making graphics.

[Zeebu]

hey person who created pub bux: your baby is ugly

[Pressure]

Please, don't drastically change, or take Trench Wars away from the players who love it just because a minority of the population replied to this thread. I am not sure what has staff convinced that this game is completely finished, but every off-season has it's downs and every time a TWL season is about to start we see a bit of a spike in activity--what we need to do is capitalize during that time and encourage people to play.

As far as the current structure of the zone, I do agree, this needs to change to accommodate the current size of the population, and also needs to act to add appeal to the game for new players. I suggest dropping the actual arenas of base, javduel, and elim, and merging them with pub to form "TW-General." That would be the arena name. Any other TWD/event related matches can be played in extraneous arenas. If go base, pub, wbduel, javduel, and elim were all capable of running in the same arena, about 80% of what is going on in TW will be going on in not only one arena, but the arena that all new players will see as soon as they enter TW. This would make it easier for new players not only to navigate TW, but to be exposed to all aspects of play in each ship and league, without ruining the integrity of pub or the other games. If anything, players who are normally just "hanging out" in wbduel/base/javduel/etc would be forced to populate TW-General. Players who wouldn't normally play javduel or base, and would rather afk in wbduel, might find interest in playing something just because it's running.

TW is still competitive in some respects. It would be impossible to recreate the activity of the early-mid 2000s, but there are still at least a few TWD games per day in each league. You guys forget that TWL ended rather recently, and people are on vacation/enjoying their Summer until next TWL. People will slowly return, of course not to full form, but there is still hope for another TWL imo. Don't ruin it for the people who still enjoy playing just because some people who rarely play but sit on forums have opinions that stir stuff up in staff. Quite frankly, I think it is pretty premature that staff posted this potentially radical idea without consulting the true veterans of this zone who may not sit on forums all day. I rarely check SSCU Trench Wars threads, I usually stick to the leagues, and I'm sure plenty of other people miss threads like this for the same reason.

[Pressure]

Wouldn't let me edit my previous post so..

In order to effectively run all of those automated matches at once, all you have to do to allow players to designate themselves to a specific event would be coding a command like :basebot:!p so that they can signup to "p"lay a basing match. To see a list of available players to pick from, captains can type :basebot:!sl for "s"ignup "l"ist. This eliminates adding potential AFK's, and also takes away the "notplaying" problem.

[Shaddowknight]

I am planning to hold a public meeting between staffers and players to discuss such pressing matters. It was just a recent thought, but it will be happening. I have yet to plan it and figure out exactly what I want to discuss, but I have some thoughts and ideas. Expect an update within the week on this zone meeting, at least for a potential date for it.

[Fem.]

I apologize if some of what I write below is found in other posts. But here are some of my ideas concerning Trench Wars as a whole, in no particular order.

1.)
Staff should not be allowed to participate in TWD squads under their staff names. There should be a squad set aside specifically for "Staff" and all staff members should be required to be a part of it, so that it will make those who are staff distinguishable simply by looking at the squad list. An exception should be made for staff so that they may play on other names, but require an exception to be approved by another staff member. Why the separate Staff squad?

a.) To distinguish them from the rest of the players
b.) To keep TWD game play fair because they have access to bots
c.) To make it easier to host squad-based events (which was brillaint on pOiD's part) so that there can be staff vs. everyone else competition
d.) Shows continuity and makes it easier for the rest of the community to know that there is fairness in TWD participation.

On the same note, private chats should not be allowed, and there should be a ?list of some sort to list all chat channels and their owners. More transparency is necessary.


2.)
Players should not be allowed to create their own arenas, and get rid of private arenas. The creation of arenas should be a staff-only privilege. It also creates a consistency in arena organization, and that ESC-A list should be reorganized to something like:

Close arenas that are not in use to free up the bots, or set a 30:00 or 1:00 time limit so players can have some time to mess around in them after the event is over, but they must get shut down after that timeframe, and using this as a timeframe, limit hosting to every 30:00 minutes. So once one event is over, give 30:00 minutes before next hosting of event, so that 30:00 minutes later, one arena gets automatically shut down and another one gets opened if another event is hosted after that. Creates a sort of alternation system that would not be as taxing on the bots. During Distension, for example, pub should get features while that's being hosted, or, for example, halfway through the amount of time Distention is hosted, in the same pattern as I mentioned for regular events, start hosting pub features, gifting supers or huge bounces like on Pictionary, maybe Public trivia or acro, some Enigma features (to make it a little more difficult), allow for BUGS IN PUB during that time, etc so that when Distension stops getting hosted, those who go back to pub will be able to participate in the pub features for the other half of the time the features are allowed. Distension time should be fun for everyone.

3.)
Start adding some of the designs into pub here and there, such as the Elim trees, or the lettuce from ?go rabbit and PLEASE PUT THE OLD ROCKS BACK! The new rocks implemented in pub are so dark that even with LCD brightness to 100% they are difficult to see. Pub should be the central place of the zone, where people go to congregate in droves, and where people base their playing from, unless they're dedicated to Elim or TWD matches. Add a little more rock variety to the pub map, and add a few elim trees or lettuce in base itself and a little more visual appeal and it will be more playable.

4.)
The spectator list in pub, and in all arenas, should be on the bottom of the list, not the top.This will make it easier for people to see teams and how they're divided with a quick run through the names list, without needing to scroll down to see who is on what team without giving a command to the bot. It should be in the order: pub teams/private freqs/spectators, from top to bottom.

5.)
There needs to be more transparency with contact information concerning complaints/compliments, forums, website, and things. A ?links command would be sufficient to provide a player with all relevant links, so that they're clickable in chat window for the player's convenience, and e-mail addresses should be listed under a ?contact command, for things like complaints, compliments, or general inquiries (with a link to the forum here also). And kept updated so that proper information channels, are reached by players without needing to tax staff for inquiries that are answerable in this manner.

There also needs to be a set of guidelines and rules that a staffer must follow, and though I am sure this is already implemented, that must be followed at all times while under the staffer name. If you already have a list of staffer guidelines for conduct, I would be more than happy to amend it. If you don't, I would be more than happy to assist in the construction of one.

6.)
Esc Menu needs to be rearranged and updated, needs to have the option to be transparent like the rest of the screen objects, and should have ESC in the menu title to let the player know that it is specifically the ESC menu. The order would be more like:

A Arena List
B Set Banner
I Ignore Macros
M Help Menu
F2 Stat Box (Maybe rename this command)
F3 Name Tags On/Off <<the On/Off would be new to the menu
F4 Radar On/Off << sam as above
F5 Messages
F6 Help Ticker
F8 Engine Sounds
Q Quit game


However, I think that options such as "ignore macros" and "engine sounds" aren't that helpful, and since pub implemented a huge bot change, I think editing the options here to reflect new game features would be helpful also. But that order for now makes more sense.


I will limit this post to these suggestions for now, however, I think that the game limit for 500 players should be kept, and not changed because once this game gets greenlighted on Steam there will be, or should be, an influx of players at that time, and I think this game needs to be focused on making it worth playing for new players. I have an entire list of suggestions that would benefit new players, but I will reserve that for another post unless someone wants me to post those suggestions in this thread instead. This game/zone could also do with a few common-sense updates, and with a few common-sense improvements to both the logic/organization and basic aesthetics to the way things look to make it more appealing for new players to stay without needing to be told to go in and turn off a bunch of options to make the game playable.

I have all of those fancy features turned off, and it's playable. I actually reinstalled the game with all the new options and I will be frank: It was nearly unplayable for me. Not because I was used to the way I had the options set up, but because it is just not that user friendly.

[Shaddowknight]

Fem.
1: no
2: the arena list is created automatically, its alphabetical (capitalozed arenas shown first)
3: sure, not bad
4: again a game thing, nothing we can do anything about.
5: another game thing, we cant really juast creat commands like that. We can male bot commands sire though. As for contact info, a number of us have emails on the staff page on trenchwars.org. Also, we do have a guide for staffers.
6: more client stuff we cant do anything about

[Fem.]

Fem.
1: no
2: the arena list is created automatically, its alphabetical (capitalozed arenas shown first)
3: sure, not bad
4: again a game thing, nothing we can do anything about.
5: another game thing, we cant really juast creat commands like that. We can male bot commands sire though. As for contact info, a number of us have emails on the staff page on trenchwars.org. Also, we do have a guide for staffers.
6: more client stuff we cant do anything about

You telling me this does not change the fact that these would be improvements to the game. Also, just telling me "no" about staff not being able to play TWD is in no way helpful as to why. There's no reason for that to be allowed. People who have access to start/stop bots should not be allowed to squad in TWD. Why say say simply "no" to my pointing out that that is blatantly unfair? I would like more of an explanation from you.

[Ephemeral]

With full respect to everyone who has poured endless hours in developing and improving the zone over the years – you need to step back and understand the big picture.

It is completely understandable that anyone who has dedicated hours into building something is heavily invested in it; but this is exactly what works against you when trying to form an objective opinion. Throughout my career I have sat with coders and other technology innovators who simply suck at making decisions regarding future product direction. They were all great thinkers, logical and cool headed. But things change drastically once you have become invested at the development level, I can only think of 1-2 developers whom I have known that were capable of the required detachment.

The big picture is simply this; without new players being retained nothing else matters. Leagues, events, quotas; none of it matters if the Zone continues to operate below critical mass population numbers.

Think of TW as a retail store. Over the years the TW store has added a lot of new products (arenas, events, leagues) to the store. Most of these new products have been made and promoted by store employees (TW developers). Additionally, the staff controls the store layout, shelves and how/where the products are displayed.
But bottom line is sales; can the store bring in enough money to keep it moving forward?

Of course we can re-arrange the shelves, doing so means increased sales as the regular customers now ‘find’ things they never saw before. But this is short-lived and doesn’t really represent a large amount of increased income. If we move Coke Cola to the end of the aisle and put it on sale, we can see sales improve for Coke. But wait, we also see a drop in the sale of Pepsi and other drinks. We are simply taking sales from one product and moving it to another product. But does this have any real effect on improving overall customer traffic and increased store sales? Not really.

So the day has come when the store overhead no longer comes close to covering the amount of money coming in. The store employees are circling the wagons trying to protect the things that they have dedicated so much of their lives to. The remaining customers, sensing that the store is in decline, is fighting for the specific things they get out of the store.

It should not be surprising that the store employees or customers see things in this perspective. But leadership means understanding the big picture. And in this case the big picture is the balance sheet. The only way to improve the balance sheet is to bring new customers into the store. Period. Nothing else matters. If this is not done the store will fail. If we keep trying to debate this issue from a selfish perspective (“well, I am a vet and I think leagues are important” or “we put 450 hours into coding pub bucks”) we are fiddling while Rome burns.

Stop deflecting the big picture, the zone needs to start retaining new players or none of this other shit matters. If what you are suggesting or promoting can be shown to have direct positive impact on new players for the zone then fight for it. If what you are suggesting or promoting doesn’t have an immediate and positive impact on retaining new players, you are wasting time. Time the zone does not have.
eph

[Fem.]

Fem.
1: no
2: the arena list is created automatically, its alphabetical (capitalozed arenas shown first)
3: sure, not bad
4: again a game thing, nothing we can do anything about.
5: another game thing, we cant really juast creat commands like that. We can male bot commands sire though. As for contact info, a number of us have emails on the staff page on trenchwars.org. Also, we do have a guide for staffers.
6: more client stuff we cant do anything about

Why tell me "no" to a blatantly unfair policy? Staffers who have access to bots should not be allowed to play in TWD. I would like more of an explanation as to why you feel the way that you do. The rest of your reply is a dismissal; please don't dismiss me in that manner; these are not me saying "do this or else" but they are suggestions on which things could be built so just having the command as a !links or !contact command to the Welcome bot would be another idea. And having e-mails on the website does not make it easier for the player to access some information without going to the website. So already having the e-mails listed on the site is not the concern; its about giving players more access to information directly in-game, to, in the end, cause them to be more likely to visit the website.

What do you think of the way the game is for fresh installs for new players?

[Shaddowknight]

Most of your idead are thongs we can not control. As for 1. We staffers were players once, we still play with our friends, and want to continue playing with them. I am always on my staff name, and saying i need to pause my staffing duties to play with them is just stupid. Also allowing ONLY staff to doublesquad as it would be, would be unfair. So how does having access to bots make it unfair?
I did say a !command could be made, which we can actually do. It would also be a good idea IMHO to have more of this info available in-game. For fresh installs, its okay, but not great. Again though, we cant change it.If you want to buy the code from Priit so you can, by all means do so. Till you do, or one of the new clients gets completed, we are stuck with it, and have do make do with what we got.

[Shaddowknight]

Having just seen your reply on the previous page, I will respond to that. Staffers arenot permitted to stop twd matches they are involved in (or their squad) without a damned good reason. Edging on abuse that will potentailly get them axed. I also dont see how this is relevant otherwise.

[Bioture]

I'd also like to make a comment that you super upper staffers should solicit the opinion of the current players perhaps 2-3 years in, and not wrinkly old players who don't really play anymore. I've been in and out of TW for 12 years now, and would love to go back to the days where we had to go to private arenas to do squad matches for street cred. But that's with my old squad, and none of them are around anymore.

Another thing is that the current pub map is meant for at least 30+ active players in order for it to be interesting. Maybe backtrack to the original base map?

In any case, thanks for your efforts.

[Vehicle]

My two cents:

The zone is now squad-centric which wasn't always the case. Players (with the minor exception of those who only pub) log on and they see that their squad doesn't have 4 on so they go afk until there's enough to TWD. This means that pub remains mostly docile, subarenas flounder, and the zone is generally dormant.

I do not claim to know the solution to this but I think it's something most people choose not to recognize. As much as TWD pretty much IS TW at this point, this fact works both ways. TWD is also simultaneously keeping the rest of the zone back.

If you guys are serious about creating more of a buzz of activity outside of TWD you need to recognize that this can't really be done without doing something to limit TWD in and of itself. People are conditioned to log in and TWD and do nothing else. Until that is changed, you will be stuck with the current zone meta regardless of what you do.

It's a classic catch 22 if you ask me. TWD is what's keeping the zone as a whole even remotely active but it's also what is keeping the rest of the zone from being active.