Serious HL2RP - Moving Forward

[Simman102]

Bit unfortunate that the concept of CityRP will be judged by the most recent 'attempt', but that's the way she goes.
Here's what I said before the server even launched:

Spoiler: big screenshot

Unfortunately most of my then-concerns came to life very quickly as the usual suspects who'd already mysteriously disappeared during Helix 2 and Helix 3 pulled the same trick again, to nobody's surprise I hope. This left the city in this weird still-ruined spot and rebels in a progression limbo.

I've only skimmed through the thread, but it's kinda funny how much people deitize devwork.
Back in early 2019, I was approached by Jaydawg directly who identified me as one of the more regular players and asked me what my concerns about the server are; at the time, I replied lack of devwork. Years later, I realise that while it is a factor indeed, it never was devwork that doomed neb.
If you want my extremely novel opinion on what the real problem is, it's that people straight up don't roleplay. A once commonplace art, it seems to have reached critically endangered levels somewhere in late 2020.
When was the last time you've seen a flow of 6-7 lines long /me's? (not last iteration for sure because some SA lowered the text limit lmao)
People RP in games completely unsuited for it, like @fofa mentioned - hell, they'll RP in plaintext, like through discord for instance. What keeps these people going aren't flashy features, it's a compelling story of fleshed out characters.
If you've played during the final weeks of Helix 4, you might remember the KING-5 and McKenzie situation; something that engaged both sides was simply an organic byproduct of people playing actual characters. There wasn't any devwork or events involved, and yet it was one of the most influential scenarios of the iteration (significance scaled to the playercount).

 

[Oswald]

I personally think hl2rp has gotten stale and I don't see the reason why it should be hl2rp. There are hundreds of different worlds that could be portrayed so why stick to the half life universe?

Fallout would be wonderful, halo would be great for a more story driven akin to numbers hl2rp with all of the rebels having to work together to some extent
Skyrim or oblivion with a vast array of different options to be. Be it a mage or barbarian or a bandit or a scholar

Or even better yet. Do something completely new, take inspiration from different sources and build something that no one has seen before.

I'm rambling but I'm personally not tired of gmod RP, I'm just tired of watching the "new thing to fix all the problems" fall flat on it's face and then people just blurt out "GMOD IS SO DEAD" when Willard is just doing fine lol

 

[Lewis!]

the usual suspects who'd already mysteriously disappeared

If you want my extremely novel opinion on what the real problem is, it's that people straight up don't roleplay.

??

How can you possibly complain about this when the overwhelming majority of Civil Protection including you (despite being in an important leadership position) only ever flagged on to engage in mind-numbing 3 frame S2K?

There was plenty of RP, you just refused to engage in it.

 

[MaXenzie]

If you want my extremely novel opinion on what the real problem is, it's that people straight up don't roleplay. A once commonplace art, it seems to have reached critically endangered levels somewhere in late 2020.

admittedly, even if this is the problem, it's a problem that is utterly unsolvable beyond "encourage and hope people roleplay"

unlike the problem of devwork or negligent management, which can be concretely fixed, a community that doesn't engage has no solution that is guaranteed to work. the best you've got is "hope they become engaged"

and as a personal aside, i hate long /me's. brevity is the soul of wit, etc, etc.
workshifts have always sucked.

 

[Merlinsclaw]

my examples were willard (a wildly different concept that has unarguably never been done on gmod)

Despite Willard's title of an "HL2RPG", it's literally just HL2RP with some development features. It's nothing special and gets a lot of things wrong.

Source:

(also was staff)

and if im wrong and it isnt gmod that's dead, then that clearly means neb is doing something incredibly wrong

doing the same shit over n over again probably the reason

Spot on but I think it goes a bit deeper than just doing the same shit again and again.

Bit unfortunate that the concept of CityRP will be judged by the most recent 'attempt', but that's the way she goes.
Here's what I said before the server even launched:

Spoiler: big screenshot

I'd like to make two points here.
1. I think part of the reason you didn't see things like a fleshed out loyalist system, gear balancing, pk guidelines, etc etc. is because of the rush to always put out another server/iteration. My understanding, again, is this is due to the fact that legal guidelines around premium require the server to be up.

In my personal experience working on Netspark, we've literally been working for a year on lore, rules, economy, and dev work for a year now and we're still working on it. Who can expect someone to push out something innovative, cool, and interesting in a few weeks?

2. To my understanding, all of the points of things like the loyalty system just come from historical understanding of City RP. If that's the case, it's fine. However, I personally don't think those are the core things that need focused on. And if you believe they are, why wouldn't someone just go play Willard where those systems (scripts, loyalism, etc.) are 10 times more engaging?

I've only skimmed through the thread, but it's kinda funny how much people deitize devwork.
Back in early 2019, I was approached by Jaydawg directly who identified me as one of the more regular players and asked me what my concerns about the server are; at the time, I replied lack of devwork. Years later, I realise that while it is a factor indeed, it never was devwork that doomed neb.

People deitize devwork but you are correct, it isn't everything. I could point towards Willard as proof that devwork, when done improperly, can greatly hinder RP and the server as a whole.

However, devwork inherently keeps new faces coming in. Gmod isn't dead (surprise!) There's a huge community of RPers (and HL2RPers) that could get into serious HL2RP. Synapse has like 3,000 people in their discord as is a serious-ish voice HL2RP server. How many do you think would eventually try out a serious server?

Point being this. People leave communities. Good devwork keeps new players flowing in which brings in fresh faces and new ideas which keeps things alive. Neb fell behind in that field and Subeh echoes this here:

nebs pretty good at keeping the same old people interested but the chances of kiting in new people is pretty fkin slim

If you want my extremely novel opinion on what the real problem is, it's that people straight up don't roleplay. A once commonplace art, it seems to have reached critically endangered levels somewhere in late 2020.
When was the last time you've seen a flow of 6-7 lines long /me's? (not last iteration for sure because some SA lowered the text limit lmao)
People RP in games completely unsuited for it, like @fofa mentioned - hell, they'll RP in plaintext, like through discord for instance.

I disagree. Roleplay isn't dead at all. I've seen great roleplayers (and roleplay) recently. Also 'good roleplay' doesn't have to be 6-7 lines. It's about content and the story, not the size. If there's two hundred messages of 1-2 lines, is that not roleplay?

What keeps these people going aren't flashy features, it's a compelling story of fleshed out characters.

Yes!!! My point is what brings people in is flashy features, what keeps them is a compelling story of fleshed out characters. My personal opinion is that City RP can't really provide that compelling story anymore.

If you've played during the final weeks of Helix 4, you might remember the KING-5 and McKenzie situation; something that engaged both sides was simply an organic byproduct of people playing actual characters. There wasn't any devwork or events involved, and yet it was one of the most influential scenarios of the iteration (significance scaled to the playercount).

This is epic and true. Organic roleplay is what keeps things going.



----

All of that being said, however, I don't think organic roleplay or devwork alone is going to save Nebulous. There needs to be radical change. If it's HL2RP, change up the setting, come up with cool ideas, do devwork. Even if the next big project isn't HL2RP, don't throw up some server in a month on a near barebones Helix schema. It needs time, it needs passion. Headstaff needs to get involved because 1 or 2 eager players alone aren't going to fix this. If this isn't willing to be done then it might as well be over and this thread should be locked.

 

[Tinbe]

There are hundreds of different worlds that could be portrayed so why stick to the half life universe?

Because it's the one with the most readily available content on workshop. Especially with so many different bodygroup/skin variants for each HL2 citizen heads that've been stitched on countless models, most of which are based on HL2 stuff.

 

[Subeh]

It's just Lewis, like cns he just likes goading reactions so its best to just ignore him

yep

Despite Willard's title of an "HL2RPG", it's literally just HL2RP with some development features. It's nothing special and gets a lot of things wrong.

Source:

(also was staff)

Spot on but I think it goes a bit deeper than just doing the same shit again and again.


I'd like to make two points here.
1. I think part of the reason you didn't see things like a fleshed out loyalist system, gear balancing, pk guidelines, etc etc. is because of the rush to always put out another server/iteration. My understanding, again, is this is due to the fact that legal guidelines around premium require the server to be up.

In my personal experience working on Netspark, we've literally been working for a year on lore, rules, economy, and dev work for a year now and we're still working on it. Who can expect someone to push out something innovative, cool, and interesting in a few weeks?

2. To my understanding, all of the points of things like the loyalty system just come from historical understanding of City RP. If that's the case, it's fine. However, I personally don't think those are the core things that need focused on. And if you believe they are, why wouldn't someone just go play Willard where those systems (scripts, loyalism, etc.) are 10 times more engaging?


People deitize devwork but you are correct, it isn't everything. I could point towards Willard as proof that devwork, when done improperly, can greatly hinder RP and the server as a whole.

However, devwork inherently keeps new faces coming in. Gmod isn't dead (surprise!) There's a huge community of RPers (and HL2RPers) that could get into serious HL2RP. Synapse has like 3,000 people in their discord as is a serious-ish voice HL2RP server. How many do you think would eventually try out a serious server?

Point being this. People leave communities. Good devwork keeps new players flowing in which brings in fresh faces and new ideas which keeps things alive. Neb fell behind in that field and Subeh echoes this here:



I disagree. Roleplay isn't dead at all. I've seen great roleplayers (and roleplay) recently. Also 'good roleplay' doesn't have to be 6-7 lines. It's about content and the story, not the size. If there's two hundred messages of 1-2 lines, is that not roleplay?


Yes!!! My point is what brings people in is flashy features, what keeps them is a compelling story of fleshed out characters. My personal opinion is that City RP can't really provide that compelling story anymore.


This is epic and true. Organic roleplay is what keeps things going.



----

All of that being said, however, I don't think organic roleplay or devwork alone is going to save Nebulous. There needs to be radical change. If it's HL2RP, change up the setting, come up with cool ideas, do devwork. Even if the next big project isn't HL2RP, don't throw up some server in a month on a near barebones Helix schema. It needs time, it needs passion. Headstaff needs to get involved because 1 or 2 eager players alone aren't going to fix this. If this isn't willing to be done then it might as well be over and this thread should be locked.

thank you merlin for the actual constructive reply and yes ur probably absolutely right in saying it goes a lot deeper than i think it does

best of luck to u ppl w/ whatever u do

 

[DormNes]

DPIXEL! MY FAVORITE ADMIN TO EVER TO ADMIN AMDIMHYFEAUAEGAEHAE

 

[Aether]

Personally, I think the people suggesting different settings aren't wrong. The brief success of GTA5RP before the slow development and red tape pulled it into stasis showed that the community is still interested in roleplaying, but as others have said, Neb's time in HL2RP imo is over and that's literally fine; we've been in the game for over a decade, we've been there, done it, we can retire and find new pastures. People saying there's better HL2RP options, great, let's find a different niche - and I don't mean GTA5RP (Though I do still hope eventually it will be playable, but it beating out other competitors is unlikely to me).

It could be in games beyond Gmod too tbh, I've mentioned this before but honestly having a text-based modded Project Zomboid server (especially with Build 42 supposed to come out within the next couple of months) that's open at set times (to prevent day 2 being 6 months later) would be cool as I've honestly been unable to find a consistently good PZRP server. However, if people are so hellbent on remaining in Gmod for whatever reason, you could do other dystopia or things that (god forbid) aren't inherently dystopia.

It could just be my current hyperfixation, but I kinda think a Vampire: The Masquerade server could be really fun with all the different factions at play and with all the different available play styles. You could maintain the dice-roll aspects too considering the tabletop, and what's more, Bloodlines 1 was built on the Source engine so Gmod should be able to rip everything from it pretty easily and from a two second glance at the workshop there's already files on there, slap all of it into any city map and decorate as needed and honestly, I genuinely think it could work. You'd have all the good parts of the civvie RP but without cops ruining the mood every second and with the lack of dystopia you'd be able to actually have pleasant times. You'd also still have the politics and backstabbing of our House of Cards era CAB, with a fun twist of the supernatural puppeteering, along with the competing interests in the underground and you could have hunters too.

 

[MaXenzie]

Personally, I think the people suggesting different settings aren't wrong. The brief success of GTA5RP before the slow development and red tape pulled it into stasis showed that the community is still interested in roleplaying, but as others have said, Neb's time in HL2RP imo is over and that's literally fine; we've been in the game for over a decade, we've been there, done it, we can retire and find new pastures. People saying there's better HL2RP options, great, let's find a different niche - and I don't mean GTA5RP (Though I do still hope eventually it will be playable, but it beating out other competitors is unlikely to me).

It could be in games beyond Gmod too tbh, I've mentioned this before but honestly having a text-based modded Project Zomboid server (especially with Build 42 supposed to come out within the next couple of months) that's open at set times (to prevent day 2 being 6 months later) would be cool as I've honestly been unable to find a consistently good PZRP server. However, if people are so hellbent on remaining in Gmod for whatever reason, you could do other dystopia or things that (god forbid) aren't inherently dystopia.

It could just be my current hyperfixation, but I kinda think a Vampire: The Masquerade server could be really fun with all the different factions at play and with all the different available play styles. You could maintain the dice-roll aspects too considering the tabletop, and what's more, Bloodlines 1 was built on the Source engine so Gmod should be able to rip everything from it pretty easily and from a two second glance at the workshop there's already files on there, slap all of it into any city map and decorate as needed and honestly, I genuinely think it could work. You'd have all the good parts of the civvie RP but without cops ruining the mood every second and with the lack of dystopia you'd be able to actually have pleasant times. You'd also still have the politics and backstabbing of our House of Cards era CAB, with a fun twist of the supernatural puppeteering, along with the competing interests in the underground and you could have hunters too.

vtm is way too political for the s2k mind-addled neb players

 

[Aether]

vtm is way too political for the s2k mind-addled neb players

I mean, I'm not suggesting we limit it purely to VTM, but a WoD setting overall, take bits from all of it. Let S2K'ers form their Hunter cells or Werewolf packs via faction systems as we have in the past, plus the Sabbat exists, they're pretty much S2K by default lol

 

[Coldflame]

theres no way you could have gmod s2k make any amount of sense if people are ICly WoD chararacters lol

 

[Der Mansk]

I've played on both servers (mainly on willard recently but did join nebulous a bit when it was more popular) and generally only post on willard's forums but it's hard for me to resist not responding to a few of these posts

I for one am of the mind that Nebulous’ story with HL2RP is not yet run.

How long until you accept that it has run its course? Nebulous was objectively the best server in hl2rp for many years when there were a plethora of passionate, intelligent people at the helm. Now that they've left, I don't see what else there is to do with it. It died (coincidentally) when development work stopped on the server and when headstaff took their focus off of the project

I fondly remember the 2020 days, and when I look at the announcements section of this forum, it is no surprise to me that during those times events, updates, announcements, etc were plentiful. Now, it seems like all of the development focus, or what is left of it, is on the GTARP project

the people dooming a 24/7 server, saying that the olden days of hl2rp are dead need only to look at our competitor to see how they're flourishing, and perhaps try to imitate some of the stuff that gives them success.

This is kind of crazy to hear because it is my understanding that neb players for years have been talking about how willard steals ideas... anyhow as people have been mentioning, willard doesn't have any secret sauce or formula. They have (mostly) competent people at the helm who clearly want to see the project develop, good ideas that are developed into the game, and run somewhat frequent events, just like what neb used to do

Its incredible to see regardless with how long you've been in the staff team that, that you think that the development is the 'biggest drawback'. ( It's not. )

but it is though? Literally every game in existence that desires a constant influx of new players has to bring updates and new content. There's no mystery as to why neb fell of right when those new updates and content stopped

The eternal curse tbh. A lot of people have said the same for years; part of the problem is most of the players who are willing to engage and do get burned out because of that very fact, and the rest just want to be fed 24/7 rather than doing things themselves.

a big reason why willard has done well is because it (generally) does a good job at fostering players who are willing to engage and change up the story. I've played many unique characters that have actually made an impact on the storyline and brought big changes on that server, but on nebulous it never felt like that was encouraged/rewarded which is probably why they get burned out so fast. I don't know why you are surprised that people want to be "fed" 24/7 either, the server is a videogame that people want to play and have a good time on, they don't want a second job

Take it from me it's never as simple as that, that's the kinda stuff I dealt with all the time and it was disappointing when even when you feel like you did everything that was suggested or asked of you; it still didn't work out. Be it because of bad luck, your heart not being in it or maybe other factors relevant to the situation.

I've spoken to a ton of people who came to willard from neb and I can very simply say that this is just not true... you can look through the bugs/suggestions subforum in hl2rp and see a ton of suggestions that made good sense, were very popular, and wouldn't have taken a massive amount of dev time/effort to implement, but they were shut down/ignored. Saying that neb losing playerbase was ”bad luck" or people's "hearts not in it" is kind of crazy considering all of the work the players put in trying to rescue the server that were ignored by the admins in charge

 

[MaXenzie]

I've spoken to a ton of people who came to willard from neb and I can very simply say that this is just not true... you can look through the bugs/suggestions subforum in hl2rp and see a ton of suggestions that made good sense, were very popular, and wouldn't have taken a massive amount of dev time/effort to implement, but they were shut down/ignored. Saying that neb losing playerbase was ”bad luck" or people's "hearts not in it" is kind of crazy considering all of the work the players put in trying to rescue the server that were ignored by the admins in charge

shame that i can back this up

a majority of my suggestions were met with "good idea, shame no one will implement it" responses

 

[Blackquill]

I've spoken to a ton of people who came to willard from neb and I can very simply say that this is just not true... you can look through the bugs/suggestions subforum in hl2rp and see a ton of suggestions that made good sense, were very popular, and wouldn't have taken a massive amount of dev time/effort to implement, but they were shut down/ignored. Saying that neb losing playerbase was ”bad luck" or people's "hearts not in it" is kind of crazy considering all of the work the players put in trying to rescue the server that were ignored by the admins in charge

Back when I was leading things, we were talking about suggestions 24/7 and were always trying to implement stuff people were asking about.

There were some ideas we talked about and didn't go through with, that's enough of a consideration if you ask me.


As much as I'd like to take your argument in good faith, the fact you're an alt account of PootisMan makes that kinda difficult

 

[Der Mansk]

As much as I'd like to take your argument in good faith, the fact you're an alt account of PootisMan makes that kinda difficult

Certainly impressive even if it was through some steam familyshare info

Then you should know I've been apart of the community since 2013 and administrated for the server for a solid portion of time, and have known you and interacted with you many times, both on the forums and in game, since you were an operator on lemonpunch. I hope that those facts alone can show that I certainly cared for the community and had many great times on it. I still feel this way even if you banned me on the forums

In no way did I want the server to fade out or die, but after a number of changes that I repeatedly criticized were implemented, along with alex's blatantly rude, condescending attitude directed at the playerbase and unwillingness to change, it's very difficult to not grow jaded with the way things were being run

Back when I was leading things, we were talking about suggestions 24/7 and were always trying to implement stuff people were asking about.

There were some ideas we talked about and didn't go through with, that's enough of a consideration if you ask me.

There were a plethora of massively popular suggestions that flew completely under the radar before the server began to wane, most of them never getting a valid reason for denial other than alex coming in and saying "Not happening." and leaving without any further elaboration. Based, maybe, but not really the most effective way to retain a playerbase

I also feel that the consolidation of power was a massive hindrance to the function of the server. EVERYTHING had to go through you, which meant that applications, appeals, approvals, etc. all took forever, and senior administrators were always afraid to approve just about anything in fear that you'd disagree with their decision. This became even worse when the headstaff clearly grew burned out and the time it took for such things to get approved grew even greater. This could have been partially mitigated if SDs rotated out as they frequently did in lemonpunch, helping make it so that the leadership position was always held by someone fresh with new ideas, but unfortunately that never happened until after the playerbase already suffered

 

[Der Mansk]

shame that i can back this up

a majority of my suggestions were met with "good idea, shame no one will implement it" responses

Indeed, and many of them didn't even require development work. Just a few passionate people (which there were many at the time) to switch some things around. Even if the ideas were implemented and didn't work, I feel that it would have kept things fresh and interested. But unfortunately there was always a severe unwillingness to try new ideas it seems

 

[Blackquill]

Certainly impressive even if it was through some steam familyshare info

Then you should know I've been apart of the community since 2013 and administrated for the server for a solid portion of time, and have known you and interacted with you many times, both on the forums and in game, since you were an operator on lemonpunch. I hope that those facts alone can show that I certainly cared for the community and had many great times on it. I still feel this way even if you banned me on the forums

In no way did I want the server to fade out or die, but after a number of changes that I repeatedly criticized were implemented, along with alex's blatantly rude, condescending attitude directed at the playerbase and unwillingness to change, it's very difficult to not grow jaded with the way things were being run

You didn't really do yourself any favours tbh with you because my latest memories of you and neb is just you complaining about people being banned for saying slurs or bypassing the in game filter. That is legitimately the only thing I can think of you complaining about. So, I'm not y'know saying you didn't have valid issues with the server - you just didn't really do much to be constructive, at least in my memory.

There were a plethora of massively popular suggestions that flew completely under the radar before the server began to wane, most of them never getting a valid reason for denial other than alex coming in and saying "Not happening." and leaving without any further elaboration. Based, maybe, but not really the most effective way to retain a playerbase

I'm not really interested in getting into specifics but like I said I was in constant talks about stuff like this, they just never worked out unfortunately.

I also feel that the consolidation of power was a massive hindrance to the function of the server. EVERYTHING had to go through you, which meant that applications, appeals, approvals, etc. all took forever, and senior administrators were always afraid to approve just about anything in fear that you'd disagree with their decision. This became even worse when the headstaff clearly grew burned out and the time it took for such things to get approved grew even greater. This could have been partially mitigated if SDs rotated out as they frequently did in lemonpunch, helping make it so that the leadership position was always held by someone fresh with new ideas, but unfortunately that never happened until after the playerbase already suffered

That's not exactly true, see - I tried delegation. The problem is, people kept coming to me anyway and being the way I am - I tried my best to help. Whatever "consolidation of power" system you think there was, didn't exist. It was just how it ended up. I didn't want to do everything myself I literally never found time for myself when shit was at its peak.

Either way I don't really have to defend myself - had my run, did my best and people made good memories. That's all that matters tbh.


Though, all that being said - I never claimed to have ran things perfectly. With the benefit of hindsight I'd def do some things differently. I'm not really super interested in dwelling on the past or still staying mad about server related stuff from years ago, I'm past it at this point. I don't know how some people still can't move on from it and get over it.

I find myself often reflecting on it but I try to focus on the positive rather than the negative. I think stewing in negativity 24/7 is bad for your mental health and probably doesn't do your physical health either. Def one of the reasons I'm never touching GMOD again on a personal level.

I've moved onto other hobbies since my time running stuff. I've still tried to help out when asked over the time since. I spoke to numbers here and there, I tried to chip in on GTA RP for a time.

End of the day I'm just one dude y'know?

 

[Der Mansk]

You didn't really do yourself any favours tbh with you because my latest memories of you and neb is just you complaining about people being banned for saying slurs or bypassing the in game filter. That is legitimately the only thing I can think of you complaining about. So, I'm not y'know saying you didn't have valid issues with the server - you just didn't really do much to be constructive, at least in my memory.

Yes, I certainly disagreed with the slur filter and thought it to kind of be ridiculous in an RP game, but I accept your reasoning for implementing it. The BIGGEST reason why I brought it up many times and felt so negatively about it was because the co-leader of my group was permanently banned because he said ch**k in LOOC when he was talking to someone about how he found it funny that the word was filtered. It wasn't directed any anyone and he was deep in the sewers away from people when it happened and he didn't even think twice of it. Then, on the forums, his name was smeared and he was branded a racist by the administrator who banned him (who only discovered he used the word when combing through logs, actively hunting for people to permban for bypassing the filter)

After 2 weeks he finally was unbanned, but considering his importance to our group, people now thinking that he's some abhorrent racist, and his extended absence we lost a ton of momentum. So that is why I have a grudge against the slur filter

I'm not really interested in getting into specifics but like I said I was in constant talks about stuff like this, they just never worked out unfortunately.

I wish that this was more transparent, then. If the old HL2RP subforum wasn't hidden (which I also think is absolutely a ridiculous fact) I would love to go back and find the countless suggestion threads, many with large support, that were locked with little more than a couple words saying it wouldn't happen. If there were constant talks about this, why never publicly post about them and involve the community? Many people I have spoken with agree that they felt the headstaff were extremely apathetic to new ideas which largely led a great deal of them to leave. If these constant talks involved the community this would have been greatly remedied

That's not exactly true, see - I tried delegation. The problem is, people kept coming to me anyway and being the way I am - I tried my best to help. Whatever "consolidation of power" system you think there was, didn't exist. It was just how it ended up. I didn't want to do everything myself I literally never found time for myself when shit was at its peak.

Whether or not there was a system in place or not, that's exactly how the server operated. If I remember correctly, just about every kind of authorization had to go through you and SAs alone did not have the power to approve them/did not feel they could without your blessing. It's completely understandable that you didn't want to do everything yourself, but it's undeniable that mentality of the playerbase and staff felt that you were the sole driving force for the server. I feel that if you stated this publicly and encouraged SAs to take more responsibility upon themselves this wouldn't have been as big an issue

Tbh though, all that being said - I never claimed to have ran things perfectly. With the benefit of hindsight I'd def do some things differently. I'm not really super interested in dwelling on the past or still staying mad about server related stuff from years ago, I'm past it at this point. I don't know how some people still can't move on from it and get over it.

I find myself often reflecting on it but I try to focus on the positive rather than the negative. I think stewing in negativity 24/7 is bad for your mental health and probably doesn't do your physical health either. Def one of the reasons I'm never touching GMOD again on a personal level.

I've moved onto other hobbies since my time running stuff. I've still tried to help out when asked over the time since. I spoke to numbers here and there, I tried to chip in on GTA RP for a time. End of the day I'm was just one dude y'know?

Yeah I mean sure, what's done is done. I have no doubt that running a community this large for 8 years was not easy and I can respect the effort

 

[Blackquill]

Yes, I certainly disagreed with the slur filter and thought it to kind of be ridiculous in an RP game, but I accept your reasoning for implementing it. The BIGGEST reason why I brought it up many times and felt so negatively about it was because the co-leader of my group was permanently banned because he said ch**k in LOOC when he was talking to someone about how the word was filtered. Then, on the forums, his name was smeared and he was branded a racist by the administrator who banned him (who only discovered he used the word when combing through logs, actively hunting for people to permban for bypassing the filter)

After 2 weeks he finally was unbanned, but considering his importance to our group, people now thinking that he's some abhorrent racist, and his extended absence we lost a ton of momentum. So that is why I have a grudge against the slur filter

My main point though was that whole thing was the only thing i can remember you specifically complaining about because you did it so often, aside from these posts today I can't really think of anything you complained or criticised back then. Granted, my memory isn't up to snuff since I've not thought about individual situations like that in years but yeah.

I wish that this was more transparent, then. If the old HL2RP subforum wasn't hidden (which I also think is absolutely a ridiculous fact) I would love to go back and find the countless suggestion threads, many with large support, that were locked with little more than a couple words saying it wouldn't happen. If there were constant talks about this, why never publicly post about them and involve the community? Many people I have spoken with agree that they felt the headstaff were extremely apathetic to new ideas which largely led a great deal of them to leave. If these constant talks involved the community this would have been greatly remedied

I just remember talking about ways to improve shit/suggestions all the time back on the tailend of my time. Obviously before then as well but that's like the period of time that sticks out in my memory where suggestions were being mentioned internally a lot. It's why I said I felt disappointed because I felt like I'd tried everything and things didn't seem to work out. At least that's how I felt at the time

Whether or not there was a system in place or not, that's exactly how the server operated. If I remember correctly, just about every kind of authorization had to go through you and SAs alone did not have the power to approve them/did not feel they could without your blessing. It's completely understandable that you didn't want to do everything yourself, but it's undeniable that mentality of the playerbase and staff felt that you were the sole driving force for the server. I feel that if you stated this publicly and encouraged SAs to take more responsibility upon themselves this wouldn't have been as big an issue

I dunno about that, I wanted to be kept in the loop on a bunch of stuff but I don't think it was to the point where literally everything had to go through me. There were some times it got like that throughout the 8 years for sure, but there were other times I remember where I'd delegated a bunch to try and take some stress off myself. Were I to tell my past self what to do now I'd prob tell him to get a 2nd SD.

And maybe a 3rd but that's neither here nor there

Yeah I mean sure, what's done is done. I have no doubt that running a community this large for 8 years was not easy and I can respect the effort

It felt even longer if you count LP as well.




But yeah I think I've said all I can atp. Gonna go play vidya or smth.