Discussion: Healing discovery

[Ash]

The community is what keeps the mod alive. People will always leave, but when it happens at an accelerated rate it suggests that there is a catalyst at play.

A week ago I posed the question to you all "What do you feel Is disincentivising you to play discovery freelancer?". The aim was to clearly identify what issues are of most concern to community members and clear some of the fog that has come with our desensitisation to negative feedback.

The responses in that thread were from a concerned community, seemingly exhausted by frustration and very much at the end of a rope. I'd like to thank those who contributed to that thread, it has certainly brought some much needed clarity.

Here is a selection of the matters which were most frequently voted for as points of concern. To keep a focused approach, we'll be capping what qualifies as a 'serious concern' to matters that received 36 votes or more:

• Storyline management (48)
  
• Staff conduct {covers options 12(41), 13(39) & 14(36)}
  
  
• Low player count (46)
  
  
• General hostility from other community members (43)
  
• Poor sportsmanship (38)
  
• Elitism (44)
  
• Polarisation of PvP skill amongst players (36)
  

Now we have identified what is of most concern. It's time we discuss how we as a community (that includes staff) choose to deal with each of these problems.

Lets take a look at each of them in turn.

There seems to be an overwhelming opinion of unprofessionalism, incompetency and bias of staff. Whether these facts are true are not up for debate here. However this is clearly the opinion of many. To me the recourse is clear: if these allegations are true then the staff need step up to the responsibility of running the server more efficiently, or pave the way for others to take the reigns. If they aren't true, then staff have realise the damaging effect their reputation is having upon us all, and that current methods of shaking this reputation are not working.

Low player count is discovery's cancer. It is arguably the most difficult mountain to climb in the list above and many believe it is an inevitability. However there are ways that we as a community can reach out and draw in new players. But, (while this is just my own opinion) doing this prior to improving the disposition of the community will be pointless. As a counterargument, an inundation of new players could in fact dilute many of the negative aspects of the community. But how can we expect any of them to want to stay? Consistent activity will only be established by players who feel comfortable here. This is a major point for discussion.

The remaining points all point toward toxicity. Many of these final points go hand in hand as they're all caused by each other. Reeves quite aptly said:

We're horrible to one another

This is a fact. When did we lose our sense of commonality? Here we are, all playing this game that's older than the PlayStation 2 and we're swinging at each other over what?

You may not give the slightest damn about the other guy's feelings but you sure as hell care about keeping this community together. Am I the only one seeing the paradox?

It's a small town, word gets around. It's not as simple as yelling at the guy and finding a quiet corner anymore. We have to learn to play nice and stop treating each other like dog crap over the slightest things like...

...what gets implemented

...management decisions

...events

Deep down we're all just angry at ourselves for investing so much time and effort into something that has amounted to nothing. The fact that another person has been the instrument of that eventuality is not that person's fault unless it's against the rules of play (which only got 11 votes, so you must be content with them). On the other hand, if the system distills angst in players by demanding extraordinary investment of time to get anywhere then perhaps it's time to revise the system.

All that to say, this is where we are, in the hole.

What would you do, as a community member, to dig us out?

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