(01-01-2020, 08:09 PM)Lythrilux Wrote: If anything I feel like this system has evolved into a mostly automated chopping block with minimal admin, or staff input required; providing a dirty means to reduce the number of factions, and therefore requests/development needed to sustain them, that the staff would otherwise have to invest time into.
The issue is clearly bigger than the OFs themselves as indicated by the majority of factions on that list having little to no indies, or secondary groups that could swiftly replace them if they were to disband or die out.
If this was the case, then I appear to be spending a lot of time doing Staff 'things' with which I could be doing more productive things, like playing.
5 Factions lost Officialdom today and 5 had their first failure. Of those 10, 7 failed to achieve, in 3 months, the minimum time required for an Indy Faction to remain on the Activity List. The other 3 were slightly better in their times.
There are currently 8 other Factions going for Officialdom, of which 3 of them are in the voting process.
Quote:New players would rather apply for official factions. Having your own structured subforum also helps to handle things. You may have fun promoting your faction if your threads fell down onto page 5 or deeper in unofficial factions forum.
Most of the Ships, at any time, I see flying around are Indies mostly without any Tags.
All well and good having an 'easy to find' OF Application Thread, but if the Players don't actually see the Faction in Game (except for the last few days of a quarter, where there is suddenly a big push to achieve the required activity), why would they bother applying? Just look at the handful of Factions that achieved the 3 days in the last month (quite a bit of that was achieved in the last few days).
This is why I mentioned, earlier, about OFs just sitting on their laurels. You want people to join? Then the Factions need to 'fly the flag' and be noticed.
People may throw up their arms and blame the Staff for everything, but it is about time some of the Players took a bit of the responsibility for a few things.
You want people to join and stay, then you need to do some of the work. Make Discord a more friendly place for newer Players. Make the Forums somewhere you can be proud of, instead of the constant 'sticking in the knives' to all and sundry.
In Game, the OFs are supposed to set a high standard, I have many a time said 'Good day' (in one form or another) on my Indy Ships and have been totally ignored by OF Ships (I am not saying everyone is bad, but there are a few out there). It doesn't say much for the OF and give a good impression.
When you meet the newer Players in Game, on your Pirate Ships, try and make it an enjoyable encounter. '5 mill or die' encounters are quite frequent with a 5 second countdown before the shooting starts. Maybe try and explain things, to them. You don't have to 'splash' the target every time even though we know your Bombers can 'eat' a Trader in a couple of seconds.
Try to remember how bewildered you were when you first stepped in to Disco. The older Players (when I joined), even the pirates, would talk to you and explain things.
One of my first encounters, with a pirate, was in California. I had just bought a bigger Trade Ship (Mammoth, I believe) and had spent all my money buying it. He caught me at Riverside with 2 LR Pilots in my hold. He asked me for 2 million and I told him I was completely broke. He then demanded the 2 Pilots and flew off. About 30 seconds later, he sent me 10 million. I was shocked.
The long and short of it is, the new Players need to be nurtured and the OFs are the people that the Indies should looking to get that from. There are Indy Factions that also do it, but they are not as prevalent as the OFs.
Log and show them that it is worth staying around.
'I would like to be half as clever as some people like to believe they are' Life is full of disappointments, it is how we handle them that helps to define us, as a person